#exchange application process

Convincing University of Oulu to send me away for a year was easy and quite painless. It's all the rest that's been a total war.

Before applying, I went through most of the student feedbacks about Japan, and they all had two things in common: 

Either you have NO TIME AT ALL TURN EVERYTHING IN NOW or you have so much time you could sleepwalk through the process.

Japanese are good at taking care of exchange students.

In other words, there has not been a moment in all these months when I would have been overly anxious or worried about practical matters about moving to Japan for a year. But getting useful information, and timely information out of the UO international coordinators is more painful than pulling teeth. I should know, I have had over a dozen teeth pulled over the years.

Anyway, once I'd been selected, along with three other students, there was no time to celebrate, because the actual HUSTEP / Hokudai application process started, and there was less than a week to turn in all the required documents. Less than a week. Four days, to be exact. That's the only problem with applying to Hokudai, the damn rush. Who's to blame? UO, for holding their own application period so late.

The HUSTEP application package itself is very straightforward, and every question you could possibly have has been explained by Hokudai, so yay for that. You need:

A filled in HUSTEP application form (4 pages + cover sheet)

A Certificate of Enrollment & a Transcript of Records

Certificate of Health

A Letter of Recommendation from an academic supervisor

TOEFL score / other proof of English skills

3 photos (30x40mm, not standard passport size)

A photocopy of your passport

The HUSTEP application form itself includes:

Personal info, family info, work history, study history, etc.

A question if you'd like to apply for a JASSO stipend (HELL YEAH YOU DO)

A Motivation Letter

A Plan for an Independent Study (basically a bachelor's thesis)

A Study Plan

All together, about 20 pages. Half of that stuff is easy, and you already have a copy of your Transcript of Records, can use the motivation letter you wrote before or at least modify it, and the same goes for the study plan. You don't have to do an independent study, but writing a plan for one anyway is a good way to hopefully be assigned an academic supervisor in Japan who actually knows or is at least somewhat interested in the same field as you are. As for the topic? I chose postcolonial literature, because I've done stuff on it before but would like to do more, and it's not the same topic as my BA/CA or MA. Also, I'd rather not do yet another paper on something or other Japanese, 'cause most of the courses will be about Japanese history and culture anyway.

Now, the problematic things are the ones that require someone else to do something.

My tip: Get a doctor's appointment the minute you decide to apply to Japan. The Certificate of Health includes a lung roentgen/x-ray, and you need a doctor to sign a form that states what long-term health issues you have, are you mentally and physically healthy, what medications do you take, etc. YTHS (student healthcare) is free, but they do have waiting periods for stuff like this. In other words: even if UO doesn't choose you, it's cheaper to waste your time by going to a pointless chest roentgen than to pay over 100€ for a private practice because you have three days to get it all done.

Besides, having your own chest roentgen is kind of cool, I mean, you can see all the blood vessels and your heart. Mine is big. I am officially a big-hearted person.

Another thing, you need weird-sized passport photos for three things, if you get accepted: the HUSTEP application, Japanese Student Visa application, and upon entry to Japan they make a residence card for you, so you obviously need photos, possibly.

I got all my photos done during one day, and if you go to an actual studio instead of a machine, they can get you the proper sizes and colours. Japanese government would love to have a colour-photo of you, because you look weird and they want to know the colour of your hair and eyes.

The third time-sensitive thing you need is the letter of recommendation. Because there is a form and specific instructions, you can't have the letter written in advance. But you can ask an academic supervisor of your choice if they'd be willing to write it for you if you make it through the uni's internal selection. Hokudai recommends that the professor should write the letter, but since I am sort of mentally avoiding mine, I asked my literature teacher instead. Richard knows me best, has seen my best work because I actually give a rat's arse about literature, and well. I just like him, and I know he is a fair and honest person. And he's my favourite, and he retired this spring, but that's neither here or there.

Anyway, as long as you don't have many or any questions about filling in the forms, you're all set. Seriously, the lady in charge of coordinating our exchange was on holiday that week we had to get all of these things done. And even then, your own guess was usually better than the international office's.

Anyway, after that rush and filling in the huge pile of paper and a month's wait, at the end of March the international office informed us that all four applicants from University of Oulu had been accepted to HUSTEP, and that Hokudai was applying for a JASSO stipend for 3/4, myself included, which is awesome.

JASSO is stipend programme by the Japanese government, and basically... it's student aid. It's 80,000 yen / month, which is more than the monthly student aid in Finland (loan excluded). Usually, most students don't receive it, but this year our university hit the jackpot. In other words, with Finnish student aid, I won't starve or freeze to death.

Oh, and sometime during June/July, Hokudai sent an e-mail with an internet form to fill in our dormitory preferences and our flight details, as well as the student package with all kinds of information on how to pack, what to pack, etc. There's no need to worry about practicalities, because apparently either the university or student tutors will take us by the hand and walk us through all of the practical matters of setting in, including a ride home from the airport and setting up our Japanese bank accounts.

TL;DR

There is a huge rush to get all the papers needed for an exchange to Japan, so prepare for stress

The Japanese want to know everything about you

The staff at UO International Office are clueless, even though knowing this stuff is their jobs.

Get a doctor's appointment & a lung roentgen the minute you choose to apply to Japan, or you'll have to pay shitloads of money

First things first: how to apply to get away from the University of Oulu (UO) for a year or so?

You can get all the general info from the International Office, so I won't go that much into all the wonders of applying for anything at UO. As long as you can navigate the uni website, which, lets be honest here, SUCKS. Google is your best friend.

The application period for Japan was late-Jan/early-Feb. We had a couple of weeks to decide the universities we applied to and to get all of our paperwork in order.

What do you need to apply for an exchange at University of Oulu?

To fill in and submit the SoleMOVE application during the set time period. It's easy to use, and has nice instructions incorporated. Which is good, because the staff at the International Office are hopeless at answering questions. Beware.

Choose where to go.

UO has, what, four... partner universities in Japan (though not all of them accept students from all faculties), and all of the exchange agreements are bilateral. I was a bit torn between Hokkaido University and Yokohama  National University, which was a new partner this year. 

In the end, aka five minutes before submitting my application, I chose Hokudai because I like my four seasons, the courses seemed more interesting, I had a friend study there this year, and it's closer to nature, I suppose.

Oh, the Study Abroad Fair (held in January, usually) is awesome, because all the elusive coordinators are present, as well as exchange students who can actually answer your questions.

 Create a preliminary study plan.

In other words, check out the courses offered at your chosen university, choose a bunch that seem interesting, slap them on a doc-file, print it, take it to your faculty coordinator, have them look it over and sign it to prove that you won't be wasting a year and can in fact include your exchange studies in your degree(s).

Transcript of Records, in English, from the Student Center.

You need to have a certain minimum average grade. Ah, strategic book exams.

Proof that you can speak English.

For example. TOEFL score, your Matriculation Exam score, whatever. I scanned my IB Diploma. (Who's academically bilingual, who? That's right, me.) And my Ylioppilastutkintotodistus. Don't know what papers to scan? Ask the person in charge of your exchange destination. This is one of the questions they can answer.

A Motivation Letter = The Most Important Attachment.

One-sided A4. All the reasons why it should be you. In English. The letter is the interview, the only way to distinguish yourself from all others, who are just as good as you are, and undoubtedly have even better reasons for wanting this than you do.

Basically, the format is: Who? Where to? Why There? How Will This Make Me A Better Student, Worker & Person? Like most people, I hate writing my own praises... which, incidentally, is what I wrote in my Motivation Letter. And they chose me anyway. Show that this matters to you not because it'd be kind of cool to go abroad but because going abroad is the only way you'll ever graduate and leave them alone.