fuujintoraijin

I ended up accepting the offer for Columbia's PhD in EALC! In the end, it was overall the best fit for me in terms of faculty as well as location and funding. Really excited and can't wait for the fall!!

Sorry for the long reply, but one more note - talk to grad students. Some programs actually provide bios for this PhD students on their websites. Read through those and ask potential advisors to talk to grad students. They're often very honest and upfront about the program, the professors, the other students, and their own backgrounds. You may find that you have more academic preparation than they did when they entered.

I think you're looking at this the wrong way. Rather than hoping to "coast in" because you have language skills and therefore might save them money, I'd recommend highlighting the fact that you'll be able to dig into your future research right away. Most likely, they will still want you to apply for language grants to improve your level even further. And any time or money that they'd be saving with you could be cancelled out if you need to take additional courses to address any methodological gaps you may have. Changing disciplines can be tricky, but it's not impossible (and certainly not unheard of!). However, you do need to make a compelling case for it. Your letters of reference should be from people who not only address your intelligence and work ethic, but who also are familiar enough with your field that they can describe your fit and suitability for it. Your writing sample should be related to the subject matter and show evidence of being able to engage with the material. You should also be able to show that you can do the analysis and work in the writing style typical for your field (or at least show potential). Don't talk yourself out of this if it's what you really want. Spin your negatives into positives. Talk to you potential advisors. Put time and thought into why you want to do this change in study and what you'd be willing to do (are you open to MA programs? Are you open to possibly taking additional undergrad classes if accepted to a PhD program?). One thing that a professor once told me is that you want to be sure that at least one person in the department will read your application and say "I want to work with this person." They will fight for you, no matter what your perceived "weaknesses," and that is truly invaluable. So, don't be afraid to email and introduce yourself. You should also ask whether or not they will be accepting new students for the upcoming year; if they're retiring or going on sabbatical, then you need to know not to apply there. Just so you know, I also applied for programs this year after taking a multi-year break to experience life in the working world. I feel that this time off really grounded me and made me more prepared and certain that I wanted to return to academia. I was worried that I wouldn't get in many places, but actually the response has been amazing. You can definitely do this, particularly if you have the passion and relevant language skills.

It seems they're not doing a recruiting welcome day for prospective students, but I'm planning to go visit in April. Will you be visiting the campus at all? Have you already done so?

Ah, sorry to hear that. But yeah, USC is hardly a consolation prize! Princeton was the last one I was really waiting to hear from, but I still want to see what the specifics for funding from USC are and visit the campuses.

Funding is a bit uncommon for MA's, although not impossible (it depends upon what resources they have available). It's not unreasonable to express your interest and ask about possibilities for funding and TAships. A lot of programs will also list if they have funding opportunities for both MA and PhD students on their webpages.

Just heard - did not get into Princeton. First rejection, but considering I got into my top schools and had a really good response overall, I'm actually not disappointed at all

I agree with this sentiment too! I also found a funded MA program in Religious Studies, and I am so glad I did that before the PhD. It really focused my studies and interests, and it made me a better scholar. I also took a few years between my MA and PhD to get some working experience and make absolutely certain that was the direction I wanted to go. I think that perspective helped me write a stronger SOP.

Yes! I will be going to the USC meeting day. I'm curious to see what will happen with Princeton, but I really think it's going to come down to Columbia and USC. I want to visit Columbia too, but they don't have a set meeting day that I'm aware of. I think I'll aim to go up at the end of March or beginning of April.

Just joined, so a bit behind! I applied to 9 programs: University of Southern California (History, PhD) - Accepted, 5 years funding University of California, Los Angeles (Asian Languages & Cultures, PhD) - Accepted, 4 years funding University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (East Asian Languages & Cultures, PhD) - Accepted, 5 years funding University of California, Santa Barbara (Religion, PhD) - Accepted, in line for funding but no details Columbia University (East Asian Languages & Cultures, PhD) - Accepted, 5 years funding University of California, Berkeley (Asian Studies, MA) - Accepted, no funding Harvard University (East Asian Languages & Cultures, PhD) - Not accepted for PhD, waiting to hear for AM University of Alberta (Asian Studies, MA) - Haven't heard yet Princeton University (Religious Studies, PhD) - Haven't heard yet Alberta and Berkley were backups, so I'll be crossing those two off the list (probably Harvard too). I haven't decided 100% about the others yet. I'm waiting to hear back from everywhere and compare funding packages and overall fit with professors. My area is premodern Japanese religion and history. I really didn't expect such an incredibly positive response, so this is really quite overwhelming (in the best way possible!).