Hi there,
I am going to TUFS as an exchange student next year and I’m applying for JASSO. The requirement for this is 2.3 but my GPA is 2.25. However, I’m from Ireland so we have a different system here that doesn’t translate our results to a GPA accurately, so I’m wondering is there any leeway for this or are they very strict on the GPA? My Japan coordinator also explains this to Japanese universities every year because we cannot follow TUFS GPA system fully.
I also heard from past exchange students and Japanese students that study in TUFS that the people who decides who gets JASSO are very “chill” and seem to hand it out to people who need it most. I wrote in my explanation as to why I’m applying to JASSO that I receive no support from my parents (basically I am on my own) and I am recently homeless. To be completely honest, I am staying in oncampus accomadation at my university, which is the cheapest option here but it is burning away at my savings (I also stated this in the form), but once my lease is up in early summer I have no where else to go. I have linked in with housing/homeless services here for help but they won’t offer me anything as I have to study in Japan for my third year of uni. And because I’m not staying here in my home country “long-term”, they won’t offer me anything.
I’m sorry for the long rant, but it states that the JASSO Scholarship is a “hardship” fund, and I even spoke to my Japan coordinator that the Scholarship is more or less essential for me. I want to also say that even though I got a 2.25 GPA, I did study extremely hard so it’s very disheartening to work hard and receive no payoff and it is very frustrating that I am only 0.05 away from the criteria. I also have distinctions in Japanese so I’m one of the few that’s top of the class. I’m hoping that they can see my passion for Japanese and not disregard my application purely based on my GPA.
If anyone has any information or advice on this as to if I’m likely (or unlikely) to be offered JASSO, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
by Atomic_Owie