Hige

Laser beams

Thanks for your advice everyone. Sounds like this can be a good thing. I think I am going to go with the peer-reviewed journal. It won't be submitted until April-ish, so I should already have my decisions from my schools. While I did submit it as my writing sample for this application cycle. The next time I submit a writing sample for PhD programs, I reckon I will have some newer and better to submit. Thanks again.

I hope you didn't misspell Washington University in St. Louis on your application, because that seems a surefire way to get rejected.

I asked sent an email asking about this. I explicitly asked if I needed official transcripts and I for an email saying they were not necessary at this point. I am seeing the same thing on my app, but I can only assume what the person from the department told me is correct. ;

I am currently in the process of applying for graduate programs in East Asian Studies in the U.S. and as such I wrote a new writing sample for my application (on a Japanese short story). Also, I am currently a student at a Japanese university. One of my letter writers reviewed the sample and gave some good remarks about it. Last night, I met with him and he asked if I had considered trying to get the writing sample published. I had not even considered this, but he said that if I was interested in having it published in Japan he was pretty certain that it could happen. He said there were two places that I could decide to have it published, one is the University's bulletin and as he is a member of the faculty/review committee he was certain it would get published. The other was a peer-reviewed cultural studies journal in Japan. I was rather excited by the notion, but there was a catch - I would have to share authorship on the paper with him. The reason is that for for the university bulletin, only faculty can publish in it. For the peer-reviewed journal, you have to be a member of the association and it would cost like $700 to publish in it (though he said he would use his research funds from the school to cover all this). This peer-reviewed journal is the one I was more interested in. Thus, regardless of which publication I would choose to go with, both our names would be attached to the article. I would of course be first author. My question is: is dual authorship something you see in the humanities or it is to be avoided? I know with STEM stuff it is common, but I don't recall seeing it before in my research. I like the idea of having something published before I enter school and it seems pretty much guaranteed it would happen. However, I wonder if having the article published as such would be a benefit or not. I am still very new to the grad school game, so I don't want to make any silly mistakes right out the gate, I'd appreciate any thoughts.

I don't believe the works cited will count as one of the pages. You could also just include it right at the end of the essay, rather than making it a separate page. I would ask a professor/someone in admissions just to confirm. This is a simple yes/no question you can get a reply back for right quick.

steelkokoro, sounds like you have a solid application I sure hope you didn't mention you have never written an English paper though I'm sure you don't want to out yourself out on the boards here, but I must admit I'm curious where/what school you are at... I reckon your Japanese is killing it, but based on those GRE scores I don't think your English has slacked off too much! Best of luck with it all!

Thanks, I think I'll keep this is mind as I contact the programs. The time difference between the U.S. And Japan is killer so I have been left to glean as much as I can from programs' websites. Ultimately the decision is hinged on funding versuses my chances at getting in. The PhDs tend to offer more money but are also competitive.... Alas, thanks for your advice again. I suppose I just get to get to writing some emails to these programs.

Hi folks, I know this may be a little off topic in here, but the Interdisciplinary Studies board is snoozeland, and you folks are pretty close to what I'm looking to do. My focus in undergrad was literature and I want to continue studying Japanese literature at an East Asian Studies program. I currently have a B.A. (Liberal Arts) and have been in Japan for the past few years. However, I am having a hard time making a decision between applying to either the MA program at one school or its PhD program. I have read that if you don't already have an undergrad degree in the area you are applying to (which I don't my school only did liberal arts and there wasn't a East Asian program) then it is a good idea to apply to a terminal MA program pertaining to the field you want to ultimately get your PhD in. Funding however seems precarious at the MA level so I am little concerned. Does anyone have any insight into this predicament? Or perhaps they can point me to a thread where this sort of thing has been discussed? A few of the schools I am thinking about specifically are UCLA, Oregon and Berkeley. Thanks for your time.

I am considering retaking the GREs the last week of November to bump my V score up from the low 160s. However, I am not sure if I will have the money to do it yet (I will have to buy a plane ticket in addition to the test fee) so I am putting of the decision until I know my financial situation better. Does anyone how soon before the actual test date one can register for the test? Or is it based off of if the seats filled up? Thank You.

Thanks for the response! I'm a native English speaker so I don't need the TOEFL. I have taken some Japanese language certification tests and passed them so I hope that fits the bill in that regards. I'd rather not take the GRE again and like I said, I don't see the math going up much (or maybe I'll do worse), the verbal I can see going up to 165 or so (based on practice test stuff) but I don't know if that will make a difference either way. Thanks again for your reply.

U of W is currently my top choice but I have had no luck hearing anything back from the department (Asian Languages and LIt.) I am curious as to what your GRE scores were like, if you don't mind sharing.

Hi all, I'm wondering on your thoughts of how important GRE scores are when applying to East Asian/Japanese departments. I am applying to a number of schools but my GRE scores are pretty pathetic with a 161 verbal and 145 quantitative. That said, I have not had a lot of success finding any information regarding the GRE in relation to East Asian studies. It seems to often to lumped in with "English" though I am not sure that is a true reflection of the admissions qualifications. For what it's worth, I have talked to a couple of the programs I am applying to (both top tier) and they said they don't place much emphasis on the quanitative score (but that may be just be lip service?). I'm wondering if I should re-take the test or forge on and work on my writing sample (which I think is pretty solid). If I took the test again it would be in 3 weeks and I don't see my math score going up all that much, I haven't really studied math in 10 years and even the. I was dismal. I could improve the verbal score, I tp have confidence in that - but I wonder if it will make a big difference. I am teetering along financially and another test would be a hit, but one I'd have to take if necessary. Any thoughts? Advice? Any other East Asian students/applicants care to share their impression of the GRE? Thanks! PS I made this thread originally in the wrong section but I don't know how to delete posts, if someone could tell me how that would be much appreciated.

Hi all, I'm wondering on your thoughts of how important GRE scores are when applying to East Asian/Japanese departments. I am applying to a number of schools but my GRE scores are pretty pathetic with a 161 verbal and 145 quantitative. That said, I have not had a lot of success finding any information regarding the GRE in relation to East Asian studies. It seems to often to lumped in with "English" though I am not sure that is a true reflection. I'm wondering if I should re-take the test or forge on and work on my writing sample (which I think is pretty solid). Any thoughts? Any other East Asian students/applicants? Thanks!