MEXT Scholarship Applications: How to prepare for it...

We are a few weeks away from the applications for MEXT scholarship, and lately I have been receiving a lot of direct messages and connection requests from individuals who are prospective MEXT Scholars. I find it time-consuming to respond to each and every individual because I have a busy schedule. I intend to write this article to answer some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and maybe some general tips on improving one's application. However, a big disclaimer.

I was awarded the MEXT scholarship via the University recommendation route, and not the embassy route. Thus, I was first accepted to The University of Tokyo, and then recommended for MEXT by my professor, the admissions office of my program and my department. Moreover, I must also disclose that I had in fact applied via the Embassy too in April 2023, but I couldn't even make it past the first round of screening.

Therefore, I cannot vouch for the efficacy of my tips, and hence your application is to your own discretion. Getting that out of the way, let's get started.

What is MEXT? Why is it a big deal and how competitive is it?

MEXT is shorthand for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. It is part of the Japanese Government and is responsible for all of those listed in its name. Every year, they provide scholarships to students from across the globe to study or do research in prestigious Japanese universities. More information is available on their webpage. There are several categories of scholarships, beginning from those for Undergraduate students to Graduate students.

MEXT is a big deal because it lets you study in Japan essentially for free with no strings attached. Yes, you read it right. Your tuition fees to study at your university is waived, and you get a monthly stipend to cover your living expenses. Moreover, your first flight ticket from your home to Tokyo, and the last flight ticket from Tokyo back home is also covered by the scholarship. This makes obtaining the scholarship equally competitive.

The number of applicants are rising every year now, and thus the competition. Information regarding the stipend and the other benefits are listed on the webpage.

Application Process: How to apply?

Applications for these are done via two main pathways, the Embassy recommended route and the University recommended route. The embassy route requires you to apply via the Japanese embassy of your country, while in the university-recommended route, you first need to be accepted by your university, who will then recommend you for the scholarship if they find you eligible. Embassy route applications begin around the end of April and beginning of May every year.

Application guidelines every year more or less remains the same, and hence guidelines from a year back can help you prepare for the next year's application in advance.

The Embassy route (in India) requires you to send specific documents (the application form, research plan and the placement preference form) to the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi (for Indian applicants) via e-mail only. This is the procedure for applying to the first screening, and it may differ every year. Hence it is the applicant's responsibility to read through the application guidelines very carefully.

The results of the first screening are announced somewhere in May-June, and a month later successful applicants are required to visit New Delhi (for Indian applicants) to appear for a language exam (in English and Japanese). Upon completion, the students are then required to first approach the prospective laboratories they are looking to study in, and upon acceptance from the laboratories, they are required to obtain a Provisional Acceptance letter from the corresponding university.

Obtaining the letter makes the applicant eligible for the second screening. The second screening results are then announced on a later date, and those who make it past this screening are awarded the scholarship.

(I may have skipped a few steps in this route, because I am not sure about them. Any other scholar who views this article, please feel free to chime in and add to this!)

The University route requires you to be accepted by the University before you get recommended for the scholarship. There are several pathways to do the same.

I obtained the scholarship via this pathway, after I was accepted to the International Multidisciplinary Engineering (IME) program at the University of Tokyo, which is a special English program meant for international students looking to major in areas like Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Systems and Engineering, Materials Engineering, Precision Engineering, and Bioengineering.

Please note that, only the above listed majors are a part of IME, and courses like Computer Science, AI-ML, etc., are all from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at UTokyo. There may be other special english programs at other universities which may include your subject area, and hence it is a good idea to do a thorough search.

Some other FAQs

(Or messages that I have received over the past few days...)

1. How to write a good research plan? Can you send me your plan?

Having a good understanding of your subject area will help you write a good research plan. Be concise while also being informative. There's a chance that the person evaluating you initially is just an embassy staff, and has a limited understanding of your field (this is just a speculation). Having something like a timeline to support your research plan may help, because it shows that the applicant has done enough research related to the topic, and knows how to proceed further.

You are expected to write your own research plan because it is meant to test your ingenuity as a researcher. Studying my plan will not help with the same. Copying the template also won't help make a big difference, hence be original with your work.

2. Can you please be my mentor for the application process?

I got the scholarship without requiring a mentor, and everyone else I know has done it without anyone's mentorship. It is hard to predict or understand how the selection process works, and hence none of us can really "guide" you. We can only provide some tips which may help you. What worked for us may not work for you.

3. Any general tips for the application?

Read the application guidelines carefully. Pay attention to the wording in the guidelines. Write a good research plan with less grammatical errors, while also being understandable to people from different backgrounds. Be thorough with your research idea, and understand how you can proceed further. Have a list of prospective professors/laboratories, and understand the research methodology in the laboratory of your choice.

4. What are my chances of getting the scholarship?

I don't think anyone can answer this. I'll just say that if I could obtain the scholarship, so can you.

5. I don't know Japanese. What do I do for the language test?

As far as I understand, the language test is only a placement test based on which an applicant will be allotted to language classes. I don't know how much it affects one's chances, since a lot of my scholar friends here do not speak Japanese fluently (and neither do I).

6. I am majoring in a different field, and want to work in a different field. Will I get accepted despite this?

Your research plan speaks louder for you here. If your plan is good, and a professor is ready to accept you based on the same, you are good to join any program regardless of your past major.

7. Regarding attestation of documents.

As a university-recommended student, I had to submit my documents to the university only, and I submitted attested photocopies of my original documents like my graduation certificate and academic transcripts. I heard some other scholars talk about submitting some documents and getting them attested by the embassy, but I am not sure about it.

(Any scholar reading this may chime in here too.)

Final Remarks

I apologize if I sound blunt here. I believe the application guidelines are very clear. Approaching me or any other scholar without having gone through them, and asking us very generic questions wastes our time. I have summarised the process here such that anyone can refer to them in the future. Sometimes there may be some grey areas or circumstances which may confuse an applicant. In such cases, approaching the embassy directly is the best way ahead.

The embassy has a dedicated person for the same, and their details are available on their webpage.

I am open to any specific questions related to MEXT scholarship applications, provided that you have gone through the application guidelines. I cannot answer certain circumstantial questions, and those are better directed towards the embassy. My final tip to everyone is to take it easy, since being tensed will affect your own application.

To any other scholar reading this, please feel free to chime in wherever needed. I hope this article can become a good reference for prospective scholars in the future.

Good luck!

Originally published on LinkedIn on April 8, 2025. The original article features a photograph of Yasuda Auditorium, The University of Tokyo, taken in October 2024. Please consult the latest official application guidelines, as procedures may change from year to year.