MEXT Scholarship Journey [part.4]

The Interview, July 21st

The interview itself separated into 4 days and all of them began at 9 AM or 9.30. I think it is based on their field of study. I got the last day.

To be honest, this is the second most worrisome part of the primary screening. I am so afraid if they asked me about "Why Japan?" because I can only answer with "I want to study in Japan with this scholarship and somehow got accepted by this Prof in this Uni.". Not a good answer.

From the experiences of those who passed this step, there will 4 people in the room. 2 Japaneses and 2 locals. If you can't speak Japanese, at least show a little Japanese interview manner and introduce a bit about yourself; Name, city of origin, where you studied/work, age, hobby, etc. because the Japanese will ask this for sure: "日本語を話せますか？"  and it is a good point if you can demonstrate that you, at least, has began to prepare for living in Japan.

The Preparation

I practiced to speak with confidence, read several resources on the internet of people who failed at this step, and try to figure out how to avoid those question as much as possible. In other words, don't give misleading answers. I can't speak much about this step. Because I don't really know what I did. I just googled people's experience from all around the world from time to time. That's all.

The Waiting Room 1

I met my one friend who I met during the written exam there together with the other 7 people. We entered the same hall used for written test. This time, the tables were mostly gone, enough for about 20 people. The lady form the education who served our questions and took care our documents
were there announcing what should we do if we passed the interview while giving out A3 sized application form and one health examination form which should be submitted back in case we passed this step. (Hopefully!)

They called 3 people at once upstairs, guided by one embassy lady. I with 2 people was called at the last batch. The remaining, while waiting anxiously for the first batch returned with some info asked several questions regarding the scholarship and the probability to pass until things about departure and luggage capacity. Well, there were quite a lot and I can't write them all here. But for me the thing at the moment is to relax and let everything flows. One girl there was going to get married in the following year before departure, but why? I didn't ask anything personal. Another serious looking girl graduated from US. Then my friend graduated from Korea. Jesus! I'm nothing compared to them.

Then the second batch called followed by the return of the first batch. I asked them what happened up there. Well, they said the interviewer somewhat in a hurry. Oh well, it was Friday. Why the hurry? So they can have lunch on time I guess. Lol. If they are in hurry, the questions should be quick answerable and straight to the point. Surprisingly enough it put my mind a bit of ease.

The Waiting Room 2

Finally my name and 2 other called upstairs after the two from the previous batch returned. All of them reported the same. The interviewer were in hurry. Alright. But none of them been asked about their research in detail. There I met one person who studied Math and going to research about a formula i don't know what. I don't understand a thing. But good for him.

The Interview Room

It's my turn. The person who checked the name softly whispered "Nervous?", "Yeah" I said. She told me to knock first and wait to be permitted in before opening the door.

First, I bowed to three of them, there were 2 local interviewers and 1 Japanese. The next was as expected, the Japanese asked me whether I can speak Japanese or not. I'm glad I prepared a bit for this one. I felt a bit uneasy because during the rest of the interview he just read my documents back and forth and finally asked me one last question if my former employer agreed with me resigning for the scholarship.

The two local interviewers were a man and a woman. The man was from national research institute and the woman was an expert in some fields [told but literally forget], and she has been invited numerous time before to interview the scholarship candidates.
The questions were around these, I don't know the order and also can't remember everything:

• Why apply this scholarship?
• What contribution would you like to give using this scholarship?
• Why choose Japan over other countries?
• How you handle your stress?
• Can you cook?
• You are not from this city. Do you live alone? How long?
• What do you want to achieve in your research?
• Do you apply for another scholarship?
• What would you do if you don't get the scholarship?
• I know your thesis supervisor. He is a reputable researcher, why don't you continue with him?

Well, I think that's all I could remember. [I can't give all the detailed and personal questions though.]. After that, they called the last 2 people and then we go back downstairs and go home hoping everyone passed the interview. Ah, and yes. The interview was somewhat really hurried. One person took around 15 minutes or so.

The Waiting

During this waiting time, the applicants have to prepare the health certificate and that A3 sized application form has to be filled handwritten along with other original and copy of the documents that we had submit in the document screening. They only gave us 1 original form for each. So that if we make any mistakes, it is better if it is not written by pen. The solution of this is to copy those documents and practice filling it because you can't edit the columns. You need to adjust your font size to fit those tiny columns and well, some columns are allowed to be filled in separate papers (especially when your publication is a lot).

The Interview Result, July 25

The email from the embassy come to my email inbox around 5PM. Opened it and there written my registration number along with the other 29 succeeded applicants. Yosh! Thanks God for all these things. Next one is the LoA request and submitting all the documents again to the embassy. This time, with the LoA and health certificate.

Health Certificate Form

The supporting documents for LoA request was given by July 28. The documents were the stamped copy of the previous documents submitted at the document screening. These are needed by universities to issue your LoA. They also gave one document stating that you have passed the primary screening by the embassy. It will look like this:

[Cont. to part.5] ...

MEXT Scholarship Journey [part.3]

The Waiting [part.1]

The document screening part is the most dangerous part of all the screening process. The first gate and also the cruelest part. This part pruned thousands of applicants to just several hundred people from my country, especially mine. I don't know about you guys, but in my case the education section employee in the embassy told me that if the documents are correctly printed and served accordingly to the rules which are clearly written on the website, everything should be okay. I have no more questions. Before I left the room "'Till we meet again" I told her. Smiled she replied "Good luck".

Document Screening Result, June 8th

Let God do the magic. There were 165 people who passed the document screening. I saw my name on the list. Never thought this could happen. Can't believe my eyes that my number showed up. I screamed with joy in my room. So the next step is the written test.

Written Test

The written test consists of 2 tests which you will have to take, Japanese and English, based on which certificate you gave in the language proficiency documents. If you gave JLPT certificate (min. N2),  you have to do the Japanese exam, but if you gave TOEFL, you will only have to do the English test. For example, if you gave TOEFL certificate, you will do the English exam and during the Japanese exam, you just have to sit, write your name and ID, and wait 'till the exam ends. So boring.
But wait, there's more! Even if you do both, only the highest score will be taken into consideration. So if you are good in both English and Japanese, you can do both even you gave either only TOEFL or JLPT. Although Japanese language proficiency is not a problem until here, the ability to communicate in Japanese will give you better opportunity to 'befriend' the Japanese interviewer and of course it will beneficial in the long run during and after your study in Japan.

The Preparation

I gave the TOEFL iBT certificate from last year, so I simply only have to take the English test. Nothing much prepared for this step, I simply used my time to browse for all possible labs and professors. The only preparation was collecting the previous years exams and do it within the time frame as good as I could. There's nothing much to do after the document screening, just pass the written exam and then get the LoA.

The Exam, June 15th

It started in the morning in the embassy so people from other cities have to come a day before. No need to dress up, I just simply wore my Polo shirt with jeans and thin grey jacket. I arrived at the embassy 45 minutes before the exam started. It began at 8 AM but actually 30 minutes before, the re-registration has begun, so please don't be late.

I made a new friend there during queuing. He just graduated from Korea using their govt scholarship and now hoping to continue to PhD in Japan. [Why so much PhD pursuers around me, huh?].

My cousin told me that her friend was there taking the exam too and asked me to take a photo of him. She told me that he will sit beside me. So I came into the room and sat beside a boy. I simply took a picture of him and sent it to my cousin. "It is the wrong person!" she replied. "He sat beside me" I replied. Then all of the sudden I realized, that I have 2 sides, left and right. She didn't mention which side! So then I made my 3rd and 4th friend. Sadly, the one I took the wrong picture of didn't make it further.

This year, the English exam took the first round. During the exam, I looked around me and heard some people who gave N1 certificates, and some of them graduated from overseas like my new friend did. Oh God, I feel so small and insignificant... We exchanged contacts after the exam in case of emergency because one of them live in the other city which takes 2 hours by plane and the other one around an hour by train.

The Waiting [part.2]

This time, the waiting time was not so long like before. The result announced on June 23rd. There was no development on my pursue of the professors, I can't find anymore which matches my topic. Sad.

Written Test Result, June 23rd

"Congrats!" said my cousin. She got the information from her friend that my number was on the list of those who passed he written exam. Actually I was not so worried about this, but why did I hadn't receive any email? I can't believe until now that I was so stupid waiting for the email. It announced on the embassy's website!! Damn. Yeah, confirmed kill. 57 people made it.

The next one is the interview. I'll continue it in the part 4...