To all of you applying to the MEXT scholarship

I will take some time to write a couple of notes that might be useful for scholarship applicants.

1) Carefully read and understand the notes, guidelines and the FAQ on the Embassy website.
2) Make sure to submit everything before the deadlines and the way you are required to submit it. (submit 3 copies of XX means THREE copies of XX!)
The embassy kindly provides a check list of the required stuff. Make sure to check it before submission.

*Research student? Entrance exams?
A research student is basically a non-degree student.
Before entering into the degree program,you have to pass the entrance exams of the university you are applying to. That's why the university first accepts you as a RESEARCH STUDENT (non-degree), until you pass the entrance exams.

So basically in the research student period, you prepare for your entrance exams and take Japanese language courses.

Entrance exams are held once a year (March) or twice a year(March and September) depending on your university and department.

To make things clearer, in my case I came here April 2008 as a research student. I took Japanese classes and prepared for the entrance exams during this period.
I took the entrance exams in September 2008 and started master officially in October 2008.

* Application forms : Study field? Study program?

As for the study field, just write about the knowledge you gained in the undergraduate program. I wrote stuff like :
In the OO course we were introduced to XX , YY , and how to ZZ ...
OO course provided me with a background on XX ...

For the study program, write about the things you want to study after you come to Japan and how you want to achieve your goals.
Make sure to make this field elaborative since its very important in the selection process.

For example,
I want to do my master program in the OO field.
I want to study OO from the XX perspective and investigate ways to YY.
Research goals can be achieved through experiments, evaluations to OO ...

Hope this was helpful.
Do your best and your hardwork shall be rewarded!