My Experience applying for the Monbukagakushou Scholarship aka FULL RIDE TO JAPAN!

Firstly, my journey to applying for this scholarship began January 2014.

I was already out of high school because I graduated high school a semester early so decided to get a part time job whilst figuring out how to go to Japan.

I actually found out about the Monbukagakushou scholarship from another blogger who actually got the scholarship. Just some background information about the scholarship you basically submit a huge pile of papers, hope you pass that application screening, get summoned to your local general consulate of Japan or Embassy, take several tests in different subject all day with a panel interview at the end, wait some agonizing months till you get called that you passed that screening and your papers will be sent to Japan to be selected, wait some more then get called that you got the scholarship and now prep yourself to live in Japan for 5 years!!!

Sounds awesome right!

Well, flashback to January 2014. I discovered this scholarship and began doing immense research only to discover that there is NO INFORMATION (personal like blogs or blogs) of people in America getting the scholarship. All the person information I find in from people from Malaysia or what not. So I just decided to call my General Consulate for my state and ask a boat load of questions. 

Took quite a bit but finally got my head around the scholarship. My next challenge was the application which I despised (Im not very fond of applications, especially since it was that time of year for applying for scholarships so I was just tired of them).

I piled all my transcripts, essays, pictures and other important documents and shipped them to Houston, TX. Now the wait!

I finally got an email that I had been chosen to come down to Houston in August to take the exam and interview.

Now let me give you a time span of the application and deadlines. The application opened up June 2014 and was due at the end of July 2014 and my interview was August 8, 2014. Yeah, crazy right?

Since I had done my research before hand and knew that things rapidly happened I had to prepare for the trip in case I got selected and if I didnt then I had a lot of money to spend.....or save. So the time I STARTED my application was the same time I began saving for the trip I hoped I would take. Since I would have to drive all the way across Texas to get there (I wanted to fly...alone...but my family insisted on coming so I saved up extra money for the yummy China Town I heard Houston has).

Let's fast forward to the day of the test and interview. My intended major was Mechanical Engineering so the tests I had to take were: Math B (there are two kinds of math tests but depending on your major you only take one), physics, chemistry, english and Japanese.

Ugh, just letting y'all know I only know a few words or sentences in Japanese but you still have to take the test and it will still count against you but as long as you do well in the other exams it should be okay. If you are a native English speaker the English test is a piece of cake, as for the math and science....holy cow they are hard!!! And that's coming from a student who got her Associates of Science when she was 17!

Okay, moving on! I got there at 7:30am on test day and they literally put me in a room by myself(I was the only person who passed the application screening) all day with restroom breaks between each test and one lunch break. The Japanese test looked simple but yet I had to guess on all the questions. Hiragana, katakana and basic kanji!

AFTER ALL DAY ON TESTING, my panel of judges arrive and I get put in a room with them.

3 of them were Japanese and professors at respected Universities and the fourth was a General Consulate employee(spoke fluent Japanese).

Now they asked questions you would expect like Why Japan or my background and what not.

WHAT I DID NOT expect was for them to turn on me and begin probing that why don't I just stay in America and get an education here. They went on and on at how fortunate I am to be in America with a great education system and that I was lucky and what not. One of the interviewers even said if I get my degree in Japan it won't get me a good job and even offered me to come to the University they taught at.

The BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT was when they told me straight up that I WASN'T RIGHT FOR JAPAN! Who has the right to tell someone that!

I was crushed, my heart sank and I was forcibly holding back tears. I was stunned! Here I am trying to apply not just to go to Japan but to get my college education paid for and they just toss me aside.

I answered every question to perfection even their probing ones! I was strong, smart, open minded and charismatic for their culture and all I got was a punch in the gut. 

After that, the interview was over the a woman led me out. I was silent for a long time even after I got in the car and explained to my family what happened in the interview.

The moment that lady told me I wasn't right for Japan I knew I wouldn't move on to the next stage.

The kicker is, they never even looked at my test scores. An entire day was wasted and over NOTHING.

I take it as a learning experience....a very painful one.

BUT, I WILL NEVER LET ANYONE TELL ME I CAN'T FOLLOW MY DREAMS!!!

I      WILL     GO      TO      JAPAN!!!!

End of story.

Any questions you all have, fill free to ask!

What I wanna do with this blog!

I really want to give personal experience of applying, testing, waiting, learning and receiving the Monbukagakusho scholarship to inform students in and out of the United States since there is limited personal experience information about this scholarship. I have this blog and my YouTube Channel.

At this point in time I will be at the testing stage. I know I won't be able to release information about the test but I can let you know the experience and whatnot. Follow me to get the latest info!!!!

And hopefully in a year, if and when I get selected to go to Japan I will share all my experiences as a student in the Land of the Rising Sun!

-BeruChan

Monbukagakusho Scholarship: I am trying to make my way to Japan!

How's it going readers?

Now I have a treat for you.

As a person who has a passion to learn so much about Japan and wants to study in Japan as an international student I find myself watching many vlogs and reading blogs from those who have already made the "BIG DREAM" come true.  Alas, it was difficult to find a path to Japan where it wouldn't empty my pockets.

Luckily, on one such day I received an email by a blogger that has his own company by the name of "Tofugu" that he uploaded a new post that was about how he basically went to Japan for free.

In my head I was like "LIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEESSSSSS, there is no such thing". As I read his post I came to find a scholarship given by the Japanese government called the Monbukagakusho Scholarship and the more I read the more it really did seem like it paid for everything. As every blogger would, he had advice that said to check out your local Embassy. With me living in America I looked up the Embassy which guided me to Consulate General closest to me which was the Consulate General of Japan in Houston. Sadly, when I looked up the information at that time (back in 2013), the scholarship deadline was past due. Funny enough, I had already made up my mind to enlist in the National Guard but once I found out I can accomplish my dream of going to Japan I deterred from enlisting (maybe one day...). For a whole year I researched and tried my best to find information on this wonderful scholarship other than what the Consulate General offered. I tried finding vlogs or blogs but none popped up from those who achieved getting the scholarship from America and went to Japan. I found a few but mainly from other countries which may have different guidelines. Okay sooooo, a year went by and out came the new application for the 2015 scholarship (You apply a year before to leave to Japan the following year). The application came out in April and I got right to work on my application. Since there wasn't a lot of personal experiences with this scholarship on the internet I made several calls to the point of contact for this scholarship at the Consulate General in Houston and asked all the questions I had.

In terms of my scholarship, I mailed it out a week before (Placed tracking on it to make sure it arrived) and just WAITED and WAITED till I got an email. The email is below.

Dear Isabel,

I hope things are well. We received your application for the MEXT Undergraduate Scholarship for 2015 and would like for you to come to our office on Friday, August 8th for Examinations and an Interview. Unfortunately, we do know that this will provide a challenge for you as you are in             and we have a very short time until that meeting next week, but we hope you will be able to attend.

I have attached a schedule for the testing. As you have selected Mechanical Engineering, there will be a rather rigorous selection of tests, but if you can make a day for us, I hope it will be worth your while.

Please contact our office if you have any questions or concerns.

Good Luck to you and we look forward to seeing you next week.

Sincerely yours,

Ryan Pauley

Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program
& MEXT Scholarship Coordinator

Consulate-General of Japan at Houston
909 Fannin Street, Suite 3000
2 Houston Center
Houston, Texas 77010

Basically, once you turn in your application, you wait about a week before the scheduled exam date and they send you an email whether or not your application passed an initial screeening.So I passed the initial screening and would take the exam very soon.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, if you apply, to apply with the mindset of knowing you will go take the exam and interview. I had a good feeling I would be selected so saved up for the trip, so when I got the email it was all downhill from there besides studying like crazy.

I'll write a post soon about the application process, or may just make a video and post it here.I also will be writing a lot about my journey of trying to get this scholarship and even beyond that.If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.