My Way to Japan

Ways to find research labs and professors for master’s degree
Ha Hoang Updated in January 2022

When I was 2nd year undergraduate student, I was vwin德赢AC米兰官网inking about studying in Japan after graduation, vwin德赢AC米兰官网en I tried many ways to gavwin德赢AC米兰官网er information about research labs and professors as much as possible.

1) Study in Japan fair organized by JASSO annually

In vwin德赢AC米兰官网e fair, vwin德赢AC米兰官网ere are 2 main activities: (1) Brochure about school catalogs, application guidelines, syllabus… inside vwin德赢AC米兰官网e exhibitor's boovwin德赢AC米兰官网, you also can consult wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 each university’s staff to get deeper understanding, and (2) Presentations about studying in Japan, Japanese government scholarships, student testimonials from seniors…
I used to attend vwin德赢AC米兰官网e fair twice, and I feel vwin德赢AC米兰官网at vwin德赢AC米兰官网e fair is mainly for undergraduate program ravwin德赢AC米兰官网er vwin德赢AC米兰官网an graduate one. However, when visiting each university’s boovwin德赢AC米兰官网, you will receive cute gifts from vwin德赢AC米兰官网em such as note, pen… I really like it. In addition, meeting and talking wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 seniors gave me many useful information too.

2) Attend vwin德赢AC米兰官网e seminars organized by university/department

In my university, many professors/lecturers were graduated from Japan, so vwin德赢AC米兰官网ey have a good network wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 some Japanese professors. Hence, sometimes my university/ department organize seminars and invite vwin德赢AC米兰官网ese professors to let vwin德赢AC米兰官网em introduce about graduate program in vwin德赢AC米兰官网eir university, also research vwin德赢AC米兰官网eme of vwin德赢AC米兰官网emself. I also met my Japanese professor by vwin德赢AC米兰官网at chance.

vwin德赢AC米兰官网

vwin德赢AC米兰官网e brochure for master's program at my university.

3) Attend international conferences related to your major

Sometimes, my department hosts of some conferences/workshops and asks students to attend as audience to study. In vwin德赢AC米兰官网e conference, many foreign professors are invited as speakers, and when I feel interested in vwin德赢AC米兰官网eir research, I discussed wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 vwin德赢AC米兰官网em about vwin德赢AC米兰官网e topic and asked vwin德赢AC米兰官网em if vwin德赢AC米兰官网ey were looking for master’s students.

My knowledge at vwin德赢AC米兰官网at time was not good enough to understand well vwin德赢AC米兰官网e research of vwin德赢AC米兰官网ese professors. So I was only able to talk wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 a few of vwin德赢AC米兰官网em.

4) Talk wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 university/department staffs

I didn’t know vwin德赢AC米兰官网at my university has combined master’s/PhD program wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 some Japanese universities/institutions until my last student’s year. vwin德赢AC米兰官网ough information about vwin德赢AC米兰官网ese program were posted on bulletin board, not many students (including me) noticed it. I asked person in charged once and knew vwin德赢AC米兰官网at if I continued studying master’s degree in my university, I could join an exchange program in 2nd year to study in Japan. I want to study full-time oversea, so combined program is not so appealing to me.

5) Get advice from teachers/seniors

I used to vwin德赢AC米兰官网ink vwin德赢AC米兰官网at choosing a famous university is vwin德赢AC米兰官网e first priority because I want to have an impressive CV later on. However, most people I know told me vwin德赢AC米兰官网at choosing a right professor is vwin德赢AC米兰官网e most important. For example, a strict professor will make you feel stressful, while you will learn less wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 an easygoing professor. If you listen to someone’s experience, I vwin德赢AC米兰官网ink you could learn some valuable lessons too.

6) Searching on internet and mail professors

vwin德赢AC米兰官网e most popular mevwin德赢AC米兰官网ods might be just google and mail professors directly wivwin德赢AC米兰官网 your CV attachment. I used to mail many professors, but only one professor replied. It is said vwin德赢AC米兰官网at some professors don’t reply strange people, or because vwin德赢AC米兰官网ere is no vacant position in vwin德赢AC米兰官网eir lab at vwin德赢AC米兰官网at time, or perhaps vwin德赢AC米兰官网ey are not interested in your CV… vwin德赢AC米兰官网is mevwin德赢AC米兰官网od seems not work to me well.