FAQ – Prospective Students

Frequently Asked Questions:- Prospective Students

There are mainly two phases you could be in currently if you stumbled upon this page.

  1. Pre-acceptance (before getting confirmed admission letter from The University of Tokyo or another university): You need to do it yourself, although we are kind enough to guide you at this phase!
  2. Post-acceptance (after you are admitted to a university in Japan): This is where the Indian Student Association can assist and help you with when you need specific help. Kindly proceed reading with an understanding that this group’s site is not intended for career counselling but instead it is a step-wise guide and information about some widely used external links to ease the application procedure for prospective applicants.

*DISCLAIMER: This is not the definitive and only way to do it and also we do not endorse or are not liable for the information shared in the external website. They are shared only for information.

Remember, no matter what phase you are in, the process to come to Japan is a fun, challenging and time absorbing journey of countless hours of internet searches and website search. There is no short-cut to hard work, unfortunately! Take it in the stride and enjoy the process. Below we have provided you with some widely used external links.

  1.  PRE-ACCEPTANCE PHASE: *Friendly advice, start at least 1.5 to 1 year in advance and build a list of deadlines of applications (for scholarships and universities).
  2. How to apply to a university in Japan.

Step 1: Decide the stream/subject you wish to apply in.

Step 2: Choose the level of the degree you wish to apply to (undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, doctoral, professional degree)
Step 3: Find universities that offer your course in English. If your course is not listed here, that means that course is currently being offered in the Japanese language only (you can choose to learn Japanese and study there). You can try with a different course or degree for other English courses. If not, tough luck!

External link to see the availability of the English course:
https://www.jasso.go.jp/en/study_j/search/daigakukensaku.html

External link to the University of Tokyo’s prospective students’ page (contains all your queries about the university): 
http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/prospectivestudents/prospective_students.html

TIP: The University of Tokyo has an office in India too. You can seek additional help in finding universities and course prospectus by contacting or visiting them. You can find more information from the following link:

2. Steps to follow after finding the course and university of your choice:

 Step 1: Go to the link of the course/University of the choice from the MEXT page (link
 above) and then go to the external link of the university’s website (alternatively you can
 google it) and find the relevant course information, application period etc from the
 department website.
 Step 2: Explore the course/department website as much possible as the admission
 requirements are department-specific and cannot be generalized.
 Step 3: Review and find the admission requirements in detail and plan and mark the
 deadlines for submission of admission forms.
 Step 4: Find out the qualifying requirements (English proficiency exam requirement like
 TOEFL, TOEIC, GRE score submission) and plan to take those tests in advance
 accordingly if required.
 Step 5: List down and prepare the documents required for admission application
 (transcripts, recommendation letters, attested mark sheets/certificates etc)

 Optional: Contact the student centre of that department if you have specific queries
 regarding that department.
 This is the most important and challenging phase! It requires a lot of internet 
 crosslink searches but you will get a hang of it after some time. Just spend a lot of time  
 searching the department website sections.

3. Scholarships/Tuition arrangement: The external link pages to the University of Tokyo’s website and the embassy of Japan, India website are very well explained and well written. So explore them! It lists all the important scholarships you could apply to at Todai and deadlines for MEXT.

External link to UTokyo website: 
http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/prospectivestudents/tuition_scholarships.html

 External link to Embassy of Japan in India (for MEXT scholarship deadlines): http://www.in.embjapan.go.jp/Education/japanese_government_scholarships.html

 External link to JASSO website:
https://www.jasso.go.jp/en/study_j/scholarships/index.html

 4. Application procedure: Application procedure is department-specific. Make sure you meet the deadlines and wait in anticipation!

5. Post-Acceptance Phase:
  1. Confirm admission and enrollment: Things get a lot easier after this phase. Things to look out for at this phase relate to visa application and requirements, preparing documents for that process, (External link to the Japan embassy in India: http://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/visa%20info.html),bank transfers for admission fee/enrollment (*if required, will be notified by the student section), planning date of arrival, finding and arrangement of accommodation, (external link to Utokyo’s housing page: http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/prospective-students/housing.html). Looking forward to coming to Tokyo and getting information about life in Tokyo (various Facebook groups and websites like Gaijinpot may be useful at this point)
  2. Adjusting to the ‘Tokyo life’: That’s what we’re here for! Contact us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/310291691107/ (for general queries/anxieties like accommodation, shopping, language-related help) before your arrival and we can guide you through the process smoothly. For specific and more ‘official’ queries write to us on email. (utisa.india@gmail.com)
Some useful facebook groups/pages you may wanna explore further:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/111139462302653/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/indiansinjapan/
https://www.facebook.com/GaijinPot/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/UTokyo.News.en/?fref=ts

6. Information on Campus life :

Enrolled students and prospective students can get information about Campus life from UT-Base.

UT-BASE (https://ut-base.info/en) is a campus media website run completely by UTokyo undergraduate students, which has information regarding all the essentials of campus life such as circles and clubs, classes and so on. The website has quite a fan following and is widely used by 1000s of UTokyo students, with UT-BASE boasting over 5000 followers on Twitter (https://twitter.com/UtBase )! 

In order for even international students on campus to enjoy the contents of UT-BASE without hassle, UT-BASE has English language content now as well, collectively termed UT-BASE English. Written by a mix of both Japanese and international students who know the campus and its offerings well, UT-BASE English has articles on:

  • Circles and clubs which actively accept international students
  • Campus life
  • Campus facilities and so on  

For more information log on to:




















































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