How to Find Your Best Degree Program and Advisor for the MEXT Scholarship: Mastering the MEXT Scholarship Application: The TranSenz Guide, #3

CHAPTER ONE: PREPARATION

Before you search for universities and professors in Japan for your MEXT Scholarship, you need to understand why this process matters - and why it matters to you. In this preparation chapter, I will describe the first part and walk you through the second.

Where You Should Be

You can read this chapter any time, but you will get the most benefit out of it if you have already prepared yourself to start your search for universities and professors in Japan.

Before starting this chapter, you should have a clear goal for how you want to contribute to society after completing your MEXT scholarship and understand how your research in Japan is essential to that goal. (Establishing these goals was the subject of Book 1 in this series, How to Apply for the MEXT Scholarship.) It would be better if you have also developed your (draft) specific research question before reading onward, as I described in the first half of Book 2, How to Write a Scholarship-Winning Field of Study and Research Program Plan. You do not need your research question for this chapter, but you will need it before starting your search for universities and professors in Chapter 2 or 3.

If you’re ready, read on!

WHY YOUR SEARCH MATTERS

Your relationship with your academic advisor in Japan is the most important factor in the success or failure of your studies. It is not something that you can afford to leave to chance. I know this from my experience and past MEXT scholars agree.

When I applied for graduate school, one of my mistakes was picking a program because of its course selection and scholarship availability, without giving serious thought to my advisor or research. I was pursuing a master’s degree in Japanese studies, and I figured that as long as the university had the courses I wanted, I could figure the rest out later.

It didn’t go well.

My program assigned an advisor during my first year, and I think I saw him twice outside of his mandatory class. When I chose a thesis advisor in the second year, I only ended up seeing him when I submitted my thesis for his review prior to my defense. Neither of them offered any help, and I didn’t feel like I could ask them. So, when I got discouraged or confused in my research, I had nowhere at that university to turn for help. I finished my degree frustrated and wanting nothing more than to get away from academia.

And that is just an example of a non-existent advisor relationship. Imagine what would have happened if we’d had a negative relationship!

Finding an advisor whose research relates to your interest and who can provide advice and encouragement along the way is essential. You want someone that you will be comfortable working with or talking to, both when you are excited about your research and when you are struggling. Your search for a university and professor in advance, plus reaching out to build a relationship before you apply, can go a long way to ensuring that successful and supportive environment.

Past MEXT scholars that I have talked to are almost unanimous in recommending that you contact potential advisors in advance to see if you can establish rapport and a supportive relationship. The only way to know if you will be able to work with this advisor long term is to interact directly to find out if your advisor is passionate about their research and supportive of yours, as well as whether they are internationally minded. If not, then you want to find out while you still have time to consider an alternative university and advisor.

Some of the work we will go through in the rest of this book may seem tedious. I will recommend that you create a long list of universities and professors and research each one to determine who you want to approach. But I hope you understand how important this process is to ensuring your success with the academic research you want to complete in Japan in the first place!

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Beyond the quality of your relationship, contacting a professor in advance is important to ensure that they can supervise you. You do not want to put all of your effort into applying for a university just to learn that the only professor in your field cannot supervise you because they are retiring, or they cannot take on additional advisees, etc. Contacting professors in advance can ensure you do not experience an unpleasant surprise when you go to submit your formal application.

Of course, saying all of this, I know that some of you reading this book are up against a deadline. In that case, you won’t have the time to reach out and evaluate professors through personal contact. But the research steps I describe over the next few chapters are still going to help you narrow down your advisor search to have the best possibility of success, so I encourage you to follow as many of these steps as you have time to do.

KNOW YOUR GOALS

Your relationship with your advisor matters because it will be one of the most important factors in determining whether you achieve your research goals in Japan. But what are your goals?

If you have read my previous book, How to Apply for the MEXT Scholarship, you’ll remember my recommendation that you build your entire application around specific practical and academic goals. You need to know what you are aiming to do in your first five years after graduation and how your studies in Japan will contribute to your goal before you consider universities. Different universities and different professors may be in a better position to help you toward different goals, even within the same research field.

Your goals can also help you narrow down your target universities before you even begin researching potential advisors. Based on your goals, you can decide what university characteristics are important to you. For example, does the university’s location matter? Its size? If you are going to consider any of those factors, make sure you understand how they relate to your goals.

Here are a few examples of university characteristics and how they might affect your goals:

Size:

A larger university will typically have more resources for research facilities and be able to support your research with conference funding, etc., but you may feel overwhelmed and alone as one of many students. At a smaller university, it is often easier to establish relationships and get more personal support. Also consider that at universities with fewer graduate schools each school will get a larger proportion of the funding, so even if there are fewer resources, it may be easier to obtain