2016 Applicants

[Praxi]

Hi all. I found this forum accidentally but it is awesome that such a place exists. I was pleased to read that I am shortlisted. Do you know what is the next step ?

[anaximandro]

We should receive an email with further instructions by today (maybe). Let's hope for the best because the waiting is killing me!

[yez]

My advise, start writing your two company letters ASAP if you haven't already started on that.

And be prepared to have your professor/IO office to sign a document of acknowledgement (unless they changed that crap).

[adam1991]

Maybe someone can tell us how long these letters should be? One page like with first motivation letter or longer?

[Airdawg]

My advise, start writing your two company letters ASAP if you haven't already started on that.

And be prepared to have your professor/IO office to sign a document of acknowledgement (unless they changed that crap).

We would, but the placements list and instructions email haven't been sent out yet. We could write "blindly", a general cover letter that we may adjust and adapt later, but I personally prefer to know the assigned placement and details about it beforehand.

@adam1991 I still have the specs from two years ago, I assume the requirements haven't changed. The basic gist is 1 page, justified, font 11 and above (no narrow fonts), spell check it and don't be aggressive/inappropriate in writing.

[yez]

My advise, start writing your two company letters ASAP if you haven't already started on that.

And be prepared to have your professor/IO office to sign a document of acknowledgement (unless they changed that crap).

We would, but the placements list and instructions email haven't been sent out yet. We could write "blindly", a general cover letter that we may adjust and adapt later, but I personally prefer to know the assigned placement and details about it beforehand.

No placement list at all? Not even one during January? Okay, that makes it really hard then . Sorry for the advice then... in that case...be prepared to shell out two letters within the next few days .

Maybe someone can tell us how long these letters should be? One page like with first motivation letter or longer?

Pretty much the same limitations. One page.

[Praxi]

How was it in the past ? You had to choose two companies and write cover letter for each one ?

[Airdawg]

@Praxi
(Last time I got shortlisted) In my case, a company was assigned to me by the centre (the first option) and the second one I got to choose myself from the host companies list. How I see it, in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all. You have to write a cover letter for each of the companies. The second option is rarely taken in consideration, though. Of course there are also cases (happened two years ago) where some companies drop out and are replaced by others, and you are given the opportunity to a third option (assuming the first two failed), and you write a third letter.

[Praxi]

Check Your inbox, I got mail. As I see there are 60 positions

[pietro93]

@Praxi
(Last time I got shortlisted) In my case, a company was assigned to me by the centre (the first option) and the second one I got to choose myself from the host companies list. How I see it, in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all. You have to write a cover letter for each of the companies. The second option is rarely taken in consideration, though. Of course there are also cases (happened two years ago) where some companies drop out and are replaced by others, and you are given the opportunity to a third option (assuming the first two failed), and you write a third letter.

Is it true? I have been matched to a company which I am kind of reluctant to apply for, for the reason that they are looking for Masters and PHD students while I am still an undergraduate (I am not sure how I have been matched considering this...) although I guess I could put it as my second choice. I definitely want to select something else as my first option though as I think my skills are more suitable for that.

[Airdawg]

in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all.

Looking at it from a logical stand point: you have been assigned placement A as option 1 and you also choose placement B for option 2. Now, as a primary option, you and everyone else who has been assigned A have priority in the selection process. Now, if you have not been selected by A and you fallback to B, if B already has plenty of people who have been assigned there (as option 1), you are more or less left either at the end of the queue or on a separate queue which gets "processed" if there's no one selected from the people with B in option 1.

Of course, there's an exception this year with placements 24+.

Once again, I don't know any of the details regarding the selection process, but judging by the lists in the former years' threads, very few people got selected by their second option. There have been more selection cases where the applicant chose something else than what was assigned by the centre though.

[Praxi]

What do you think about placement 23 ? "Expecting to receive the application forms bythe end of Feb" does it mean that I have to send them application till March or they are expecting to receive special application form for HITACHI ? I would say that second one is true because details are to be given on 1.03.

[Airdawg]

Second one definitely. Our deadline is 7th for all placements.

[pietro93]

in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all.

Looking at it from a logical stand point: you have been assigned placement A as option 1 and you also choose placement B for option 2. Now, as a primary option, you and everyone else who has been assigned A have priority in the selection process. Now, if you have not been selected by A and you fallback to B, if B already has plenty of people who have been assigned there (as option 1), you are more or less left either at the end of the queue or on a separate queue which gets "processed" if there's no one selected from the people with B in option 1.

Of course, there's an exception this year with placements 24+.

Once again, I don't know any of the details regarding the selection process, but judging by the lists in the former years' threads, very few people got selected by their second option. There have been more selection cases where the applicant chose something else than what was assigned by the centre though.

Thank you for the explanation, I think that makes sense. I'm still a bit unsure about being given priority for a placement that explicitly requires level M and D students while I classify as U... Does anyone know if this has ever happened before? I initially thought that as an undergraduate I would be automatically excluded from applying for most placements

[Airdawg]

Yeah, the U M D classification is not a strict requirement, it's more of a preference/recommendation. It's not uncommon for undergraduate applicants to be assigned/selected for M D positions.

[Mettaton]

in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all.

Looking at it from a logical stand point: you have been assigned placement A as option 1 and you also choose placement B for option 2. Now, as a primary option, you and everyone else who has been assigned A have priority in the selection process. Now, if you have not been selected by A and you fallback to B, if B already has plenty of people who have been assigned there (as option 1), you are more or less left either at the end of the queue or on a separate queue which gets "processed" if there's no one selected from the people with B in option 1.

Of course, there's an exception this year with placements 24+.

Once again, I don't know any of the details regarding the selection process, but judging by the lists in the former years' threads, very few people got selected by their second option. There have been more selection cases where the applicant chose something else than what was assigned by the centre though.

So, you are saying that if, for example, the Centre suggests that I apply to the position X, but I decide to apply to the position Y because of reasons (I'm talking only about the first option), I have less preference in being chosen than someone who the Centre suggested to apply for the position Y?
That doesn't make any sense to me, I think that everyone who applies to a specific position, wether it is the suggestion by the Centre or not, have the same possibilities (again, I'm talking about the first option). What does you make think like that?

[Airdawg]

in the majority of cases, you are either selected by the company that the centre assigned to you or you don't get selected at all.

Looking at it from a logical stand point: you have been assigned placement A as option 1 and you also choose placement B for option 2. Now, as a primary option, you and everyone else who has been assigned A have priority in the selection process. Now, if you have not been selected by A and you fallback to B, if B already has plenty of people who have been assigned there (as option 1), you are more or less left either at the end of the queue or on a separate queue which gets "processed" if there's no one selected from the people with B in option 1.

Of course, there's an exception this year with placements 24+.

Once again, I don't know any of the details regarding the selection process, but judging by the lists in the former years' threads, very few people got selected by their second option. There have been more selection cases where the applicant chose something else than what was assigned by the centre though.

So, you are saying that if, for example, the Centre suggests that I apply to the position X, but I decide to apply to the position Y because of reasons (I'm talking only about the first option), I have less preference in being chosen than someone who the Centre suggested to apply for the position Y?
That doesn't make any sense to me, I think that everyone who applies to a specific position, wether it is the suggestion by the Centre or not, have the same possibilities (again, I'm talking about the first option). What does you make think like that?

In my first quote I might indeed implied that it's either what the centre chooses for you or nothing. This was an error in my formulation at the time - my bad. What I really meant (which is probably a bit more clearly phrased in my second quote) is the fact that chances for anyone to get selected by their second option are pretty slim.

What you say about taking another first option than what the centre suggested and getting pushed down on the preference level is something that might also be plausible though, but not as threatening to one's chances of selection as getting rejected by the first option (if you take a look at the placement lists from the former years, there are people who changed their 1st option and still got selected. But what makes me think this is also plausible is this post:

Hello there, I am in as well, from Italy.

I have been matched with 14,4 which technically is great (Hitachi in Tokyo!) but it's completely out of my field. I am a M level of Electrical/Computer Engineering, while that placement is for "Computer Science/Mathematical Science" on a D level.

I wrote to Ms. Rosada and she said the matching have been done thoughtfully (I thought it was random honestly, seeing my match) and if I change I will unbalance the number of applicants thus having slightly lower chances of getting the spot.

There are many other matchings that suit me well (14,1 or 14,2), and I fear that if I accept their suggestion I will be easily beaten by someone with more background than me in that. I'm kinda stuck, I feel I'm set for speedy elimination

Any suggestions? What would you do?

Hopefully this clears thing up a bit

[Kzrnfs]

Hello,
I seem to have lost the email with the shortlist link. If someone can send it to me via private message, I will be very thankful. I know I can ask the center directly but I don't think this would be a great idea.

Thank you.

[Mettaton]

Hopefully this clears thing up a bit

I understand what you are saying now, however this arises a new question.
If I (I'm talking in first person for convenience but obviously this applies to anyone ) accept the placement suggested by the Centre (place X), BUT other people change their suggested placement to apply to place X as well, would this reduce my chances of getting selected even if I did not change the suggested placement? (I guess the answer is yes, unless there is preference for people who applies to the suggested placement, which I doubt there is, but you never know.) If this is the case, then even if we accept what the Centre suggests us, we are at the mercy of other candidates that may change their placement to ours

[yez]

Because I have been stuck with that same problem before, and people are every year...

If you don't feel comfortable with the placement you get by the Centre then change it by all means.

If there is a placement, where you are a better match -> take that.

If the assigned placement is outside your area of expertise -> change it. If there is only one person who sucks a little less than you at the requested skills (even though you are a better overall candidate), he might get chosen. There is no point in applying for something, that you a) neither want to do b)not qualified to do

[Airdawg]

Yup, @yez sums it up much better.
Also, you might be overthinking this a tad bit

[sakura]

Hi everybody!
I am a Master degree IT student in France, and it is the first time that I applied for Vulcanus in Japan. I did a research internship in Japan during 4 months in Japan, and I passed a JLPT N3 (intermediate) on July 2015.
Do you know how they choose student to be shortlisted? Actually, I have not been shortlisted. Are the marks or rank in university more important than previous experience in Japan? I guess I am a "average student".
Thank you, and good luck for shortlisted people. There is no denying that Vulcanus will be a great experience! Enjoy!

[FlipFlopJK]

Hi sakura, I think that university rank is not that important, while marks may have some weight in the final decision. considering that you have previous experience and solid japanese proficiency I suppose the reason you were selected was that you didn't have a competence profile that was exceptionally fitting for this year companies.

[Praxi]

Are always all placements taken ? I mean that mentioned in document, so 60 this year.

[yez]

No, not necessarily. I think last year we had also roughly 50. In the end we were 45. The center said back then "max 50. placements" (look for it in the forum).

Sadly, companies drop out and in even at a late stage.

[Praxi]

So even if you were suggested to take specific placement, it can vanish ?

[Airdawg]

Mine vanished two years ago, never to be heard from again

[Praxi]

Can someone describe the job and duties in HITACHI Research Laboratory ? I noticed that they have always placements. But so far there are no details about it in document.

[fml]

Mine vanished two years ago, never to be heard from again

Hey guys,
Well, I think it's also time for me to participate in this awesome forum. Question to you Airdawg: so basically every year companies drop out? I also assume that the chance of a smaller company dropping out is higher compared to a larger company withdrawing one of their placements (for example Hitachi or Mitsubishi).

[VLC89]

Hi everybody!
I am a Master degree IT student in France, and it is the first time that I applied for Vulcanus in Japan. I did a research internship in Japan during 4 months in Japan, and I passed a JLPT N3 (intermediate) on July 2015.
Do you know how they choose student to be shortlisted? Actually, I have not been shortlisted. Are the marks or rank in university more important than previous experience in Japan? I guess I am a "average student".
Thank you, and good luck for shortlisted people. There is no denying that Vulcanus will be a great experience! Enjoy!

I've been shortlisted and I don't have any previous experience with Japan or its language, so don't worry too much about it.

[wasabiman93]

Hi guys!

I have also been short listed, and I just started writing my motivation letters. This forum is really useful and it helped me a lot during my application.

So the center made a recommendation of a placement for me, which kind of suits my studies and I'm quite interested in it. However, they updated the list of placements today and I found a placement that would suit me better and I find way more interesting. Do you guys think it would have a negative impact to put the placement recommended by the center as second choice and the new one as the first one? My common sense tells me I may have more chances of being elected if I follow the centers recommendation, but I'm certainly more interested in the other placement. Whats your opinion on this?

[emcIV]

What if I have been suggested a placement X and there are n choices? Let's say I am interested in X.1 and as the 2nd preferencine I would like to choose X.3(because they are almost the same). Filling the application form I have to fill a box with placement number and check that I accept the recommendation X.1 even though the original recommendation was X...? And how about a motivation letter for a COMPANY if both placements are from the same company and the positions are almost identical? It would be weird to send two identical motivation letters

[Praxi]

What about Japanese proficiency ? Do companies know about our Japanese course ? I suppose that we would meet the requirement "Japanese : Communication level enough to daily life" after that but now I only know Japanese on lvl A1.

[antoniomc27]

Hi guys, I have received a mail from Vulcanus saying they updated info about 23 Hitachi, but I click the link, go to the file and see no changes :/ Am I the only one?

[emcIV]

Hi guys, I have received a mail from Vulcanus saying they updated info about 23 Hitachi, but I click the link, go to the file and see no changes :/ Am I the only one?

Just rename the file before saving or change the directory.

[Praxi]

So much placements. You also have hard decision ?

[jcarlosfg]

Hi everyone! I also got shortlisted and yes, I guess most of us are finding it difficult to decide, since some placements are so similar... I think I'm just flipping a coin

[Solstice]

So the center made a recommendation of a placement for me, which kind of suits my studies and I'm quite interested in it. However, they updated the list of placements today and I found a placement that would suit me better and I find way more interesting. Do you guys think it would have a negative impact to put the placement recommended by the center as second choice and the new one as the first one? My common sense tells me I may have more chances of being elected if I follow the centers recommendation, but I'm certainly more interested in the other placement. Whats your opinion on this?

I have that same concern and I have no answer for it . Ticking something like "I do not accept the recommendation because it does not fit my studies" is a pretty strong statement... so I feel it is meant to prevent us from doing those kind of changes you say.

Will it affect us if we still go on and switch the first option? I don't really know.

[wasabiman93]

So the center made a recommendation of a placement for me, which kind of suits my studies and I'm quite interested in it. However, they updated the list of placements today and I found a placement that would suit me better and I find way more interesting. Do you guys think it would have a negative impact to put the placement recommended by the center as second choice and the new one as the first one? My common sense tells me I may have more chances of being elected if I follow the centers recommendation, but I'm certainly more interested in the other placement. Whats your opinion on this?

I have that same concern and I have no answer for it . Ticking something like "I do not accept the recommendation because it does not fit my studies" is a pretty strong statement... so I feel it is meant to prevent us from doing those kind of changes you say.

Will it affect us if we still go on and switch the first option? I don't really know.

Yeah, that is exactly the same thing that I thought, "I do not accept the recommendation because it does not fit my studies" does sound strong. I guess I will finally go with the center's recommendation and put the other one as my second option. Good luck to everyone!

[Ktrn]

So the center made a recommendation of a placement for me, which kind of suits my studies and I'm quite interested in it. However, they updated the list of placements today and I found a placement that would suit me better and I find way more interesting. Do you guys think it would have a negative impact to put the placement recommended by the center as second choice and the new one as the first one? My common sense tells me I may have more chances of being elected if I follow the centers recommendation, but I'm certainly more interested in the other placement. Whats your opinion on this?

I have that same concern and I have no answer for it . Ticking something like "I do not accept the recommendation because it does not fit my studies" is a pretty strong statement... so I feel it is meant to prevent us from doing those kind of changes you say.

Will it affect us if we still go on and switch the first option? I don't really know.

Yeah, that is exactly the same thing that I thought, "I do not accept the recommendation because it does not fit my studies" does sound strong. I guess I will finally go with the center's recommendation and put the other one as my second option. Good luck to everyone!

Common sense: If there's a new suitable position that opened after you got the recommendation, the Centre just simply couldn't recommend the new one for you, right?

I don't know how the selection process goes in detail, but why would you not apply something that "would suit me better and I find way more interesting"? Also, not everybody has an exact match with the internship and their studies, but in the case the recommendation does not fit your studies at all, why would you apply for that one? Remember that if you're selected, you'll be in that internship for 8 months.

I didn't change my 1st choice from the recommendation because that was clearly the most suitable position for me. But there are several people who changed their 1st option and got selected. The recommendation is just a recommendation after all. In my opinion, apply for a placement you feel strongest at and are actually interested in. You can also read the previous years shortlisted topics if you want more opinions, people have same problems/doubts every year.

[hqkqn337]

Hey there! Congradualations for all short-listed ones ! Well l applied for this programme without any hope cause my department is Food Engineering , but l still want to check the short-list like which company choosed which departments.And l havent got that e-mail yet ,l dont know why :/..How can l check that list now ? I really wonder that =/

[madalina.iovanica]

Hello guys I have a question hope you can help me.
I applied through my univeristy and they have received the mail of confirmation about receving the documents ,but i didn't.
Is there someone else in the same situation or know anything about it ,what about the shortlist is it avaible?
Thanks a lot !

[Airdawg]

o

Hello guys I have a question hope you can help me.
I applied through my univeristy and they have received the mail of confirmation about receving the documents ,but i didn't.
Is there someone else in the same situation or know anything about it ,what about the shortlist is it avaible?
Thanks a lot !

This is a rather weird situation since you are already on the shortlist (congrats, btw ). Regarding the confirmation email, that is less important now. What's more important is the second email that should've told you that you're shortlisted and have further instructions for you. I suggest you immediately write to Ms. Rosada setting things straight because there's plenty of things to do and the next deadline to do them is 10 days away!

Good luck!

[madalina.iovanica]

o

Hello guys I have a question hope you can help me.
I applied through my univeristy and they have received the mail of confirmation about receving the documents ,but i didn't.
Is there someone else in the same situation or know anything about it ,what about the shortlist is it avaible?
Thanks a lot !

This is a rather weird situation since you are already on the shortlist (congrats, btw ). Regarding the confirmation email, that is less important now. What's more important is the second email that should've told you that you're shortlisted and have further instructions for you. I suggest you immediately write to Ms. Rosada setting things straight because there's plenty of things to do and the next deadline to do them is 10 days away!

Good luck!

Can you give the mail of Ms. Rosada

[Airdawg]

See PM.

[Mettaton]

Hey there! Congradualations for all short-listed ones ! Well l applied for this programme without any hope cause my department is Food Engineering , but l still want to check the short-list like which company choosed which departments.And l havent got that e-mail yet ,l dont know why :/..How can l check that list now ? I really wonder that =/

Did you receive an email of confirmation after sending the documents? The link to the shortlist is there.

[Praxi]

It was mentioned here that placements can vanish. Is it more likely to be a placement from company that has only one (e.g. no.3), or a placement from company that has many (e.g. Hitachi).

[hqkqn337]

Hey there! Congradualations for all short-listed ones ! Well l applied for this programme without any hope cause my department is Food Engineering , but l still want to check the short-list like which company choosed which departments.And l havent got that e-mail yet ,l dont know why :/..How can l check that list now ? I really wonder that =/

Did you receive an email of confirmation after sending the documents? The link to the shortlist is there.

No l didnt get the confirmation e-mail thats the problem =/..I didnt pass the deadline and l added all the documents they need =S

[Solstice]

Hey there! Congradualations for all short-listed ones ! Well l applied for this programme without any hope cause my department is Food Engineering , but l still want to check the short-list like which company choosed which departments.And l havent got that e-mail yet ,l dont know why :/..How can l check that list now ? I really wonder that =/

Did you receive an email of confirmation after sending the documents? The link to the shortlist is there.

No l didnt get the confirmation e-mail thats the problem =/..I didnt pass the deadline and l added all the documents they need =S

If you didn't get the confirmation mail that's a shame... you should check the Spam inbox just in case, if not I am sorry but if the documents arrive there, they do confirm it. However, it seems you just didn't get shortlisted, right? (you would have got a second e-mail telling you the next steps). If you didn't get shortlisted you can't really know what is happening after that.

[Praxi]

1. Can I choose their suggestion as the second preference and other as the first one ? I should then tick "The recommendation does not fit my studies" but it is not true because it fits but less and i think that I would have better chance to be chosen for other.

2. How much can we "inspire" by our motivation letters sent with Vulcanus application ? Content needed for new letters doesn't really vary too much from the previous one. It only has to be more specific and refer to a company.