kyjin

Undergrad: Lived on campus Language school: 5 minute walk, 15 minute subway ride, 10 minute walk through shopping district. The subway was usually packed, but I got a ton of reading done. MA: 15 minute walk across campus to office. (I lived just off the edge of campus in university housing.) PhD (current): 5 minute walk to transit, 30 minute subway ride with a transfer or 30ish ride on bus depending on traffic, 5ish walk to office. I occasionally drive down, which takes 20-25 on average, and then walk about 10 minutes from parking to campus since I utilize street parking. Research Year abroad: 50 minute walk from house to campus(!). Biking was about 20, but I liked to listen to audiobooks or podcasts and enjoy the neighborhood. (Walked through a whole district of temples.) Transit was possible, but would have been 25 minutes walking total, plus a crowded subway ride. I much preferred my walk. (Plus it saves money- and my waistline!)

I’m a fifth year at USC, and I also moved cross-country, knew nothing about California, and didn’t know anyone here. Join some graduate organizations on campus to help make friends! USC is huge, and you’re bound to make some friends The graduate student government hosts a number of social events that may help too. I also like meeting groups to meet people off campus. If you can, come down to LA to get a feel for the neighborhoods. I don’t like the area around USC to live, mainly because there are too many undergrads. Koreatown, Culver City, and Palms are quite popular for grad students depending on what neighborhood feel you want. I live in Los Feliz, close to Griffith Park, which means I pay a bit more for rent ($1100 for a room in a 2 bed/2 bath), but I live in an extremely walkable neighborhood. If you don’t want to get a car, be sure to live on one of the train lines; Expo line goes straight to campus, and grad students get discounted fare cards for Metro. A lot of my friends don’t have cars, though I bought one when I got out here. I like the independence and the ability to drive all over the area. Look at Padmapper to get a sense of apartment prices. I don’t recommend larger complexes that advertise as exclusive for USC students; they are very loud and cater to undergrads. Hope this helps, and if you have more questions, let me know!

Just a bit of intel if anyone is applied to EALC at USC: committee meets next week! So hopefully you will all learn soon. Rooting for you all!

I'm a current student at USC, and we do usually have a few people move from waitlist to accepted. Depends on the year, but I think the last few years have had at least one or two? It depends how many from the initial round choose to say yes. Just remember that you may be waiting right up to April 15th; I actually got in on the waitlist for Michigan on decision day my year!

Can't speak to the score ranges since I took it before the scoring changes occurred, but the GRE really is the least important part of your application. Some scholarships may take the score into account (verbal, not quant), but aside from that it's not too big of a deal. Try not to stress and good luck!

@AnUglyBoringNerd Huh, that doesn't seem right to me. I might consider applying just in case anyway. Honestly I wouldn't take any PhD program that didn't offer full funding, and they know applicants won't consider them if they aren't funded. Might be a UC policy about international applicants... @kotatsumuri Yes, another Heian/Kamakura person! Always excited when I see someone else working in my time period. In that case, I would also suggest looking at USC. You'll want more language work for the PhD level, but you could apply for the East Asian Studies MA which would allow you to work with professors across campus. (Particularly I'm thinking Joan Piggott in History and Lori Meeks in Religion.) They also offer some funding in the form of TAships. Glad to hear my posts about UAlberta helped. I came across the program by chance and it really was an incredible program to prep for a PhD.

Gonna pop my head in to wish luck to you two! I'm at USC, focusing on premodern Japan. If you have any questions about the process, please let me know~ @kotatsumuri: What period specifically are you working on? If you're looking at MAs, do take a look at UAlberta's East Asian Studies program. They have a premodern literature and religion specialist and usually have funding for their students. I'd also check at UMichigan if Hitomi Tonomura is still taking students. I have a few friends who went to UBC's MA program and loved it. Also may want to look at Princeton? @AnUglyBoringNerd: Seconding UC Santa Barbara for you! I have a lot of friends in that program and they love it. Might also want to look at UCLA.

@jakem1023: These vary a bit from country to country, and hopefully you'll get an info packet soon with the specific rules you're required to follow, but I'll let you know what I know from my case on a Research grant to Japan. 1) Likely when you arrive in country. I received my first payment when I visited my local Fulbright commission on day one. They also arranged my plane flight (so they may reimburse you in your case?) After that, I received payments every two months in my local bank account. They will likely discuss the payment plan during your orientation. 2) If it's an emergency, you're going to want to go to the nearest doctor, and not the US Embassy. We do have health insurance through Fulbright that covers emergency care. For Japan, my commission had us also enroll in Japanese National Health Care, and I've used local clinics since arriving a year ago. 3) Shouldn't be a problem. Just be sure to look up local insurance laws! 4) I think this is generally the case with most research grant countries, but in my case, I'm allowed three weeks outside of my host country during the period of the grant. They're not going to stay on top of you day-to-day, so if you want to take a "day off" and not study/research, no one is going to penalize you. But going outside of the country for more than the allowed time isn't allowed. (And your grant could be diminished accordingly!) Hope this helps a little bit!

I can't speak to applying to both at once, but often if you apply to a PhD program and there is a related separate masters program, the application committee may choose to send your application down to the MA program anyway if they feel you aren't ready for the PhD. This happened to me with a few programs I applied to in my first round, and I ended up with acceptances to a few MA programs instead. I would thus definitely recommend applying for the PhD at least, and it may get sent down to the MA level if they feel you aren't ready.

Yep, the MA dept shouldn't matter so much. I did my MA in an East Asian dept, then moved to History PhD. Much more language training in the regional programs, and your advisor may be in History anyway. My advisor was a historian. I've always done inter-departmental work; my BA was in History and East Asian Studies, MA was in East Asian Studies but I worked under a historian. In my case, I identified a POI in each History dept as main advisor, but also talked about how I wanted to work with people in EALC depts. My project, however, is very much under the field of "history" so this wasn't a stretch, rather I discussed using the EALC profs for reference and language work. In my case now, my advisor is a Japanese Historian in the History dept, and my committee is also made up of a Chinese historian, Japanese literature specialist, and Japanese religion specialist, the latter two of which are in EALC. Yes, this can also be the case! Apologies for not bringing this up. It does depend on the program, so be sure to look into your specific programs of interest to see if this is a possibility.

This is a quandary a lot of Asianists have. My MA advisor put it simply to me when I was applying to programs: "With a History degree, a History department will take you seriously. With an EALC degree? Less so." Basically, it comes down to the job market: where do you want to end up at the end of the day? Would you like to be in a History dept? If so, it might be safer to apply in History. If you're more excited to work in an East Asian specific dept, then you can go with either. (Similar quandary also for those who do Asian Religions in choosing between Religion or EALC.) In my cycle, I ended up applying to three History programs and one EALC. One thing to keep in mind: you can still use people from both departments in your quals and dissertation committees. In my case, I'm in a History department, but half of my dissertation committee is actually in EALC. I also am a member of the grad student association for EALC, and am heavily involved in both departments. It's a great balance because I get colleagues who specialize in History, but also colleagues who focus on my area (Japan) in a number of fields and topics. You can talk to POIs at the schools you're interested in about how much you might be able to work with both departments.

No idea I'm afraid. Sorry I can't be of more help!

I asked at the Japan-Fulbright commission last week during an event for current Fulbrighters

For East-Asia people: I know Japan has picked but is just waiting for final commission approval to announce. Hang in there! Congrats to everyone who heard today!!

Any news is good news. They simply won't contact you again if there is no more funding. (At least that was the case seven years ago.)