kyjin

お久しぶり〜Long time no post EALCers!
I hope everyone is doing well and has decided their plans for next year!? I've accepted my offer from U-Michigan and I'm really excited! I went to A2 last week to take part in the visit day and really enjoyed it. It's a relief to finally know where I'll be this fall!

Oh my god, this week is finally looking up!! Just had acceptances from both U Michigan (Japanese MA) and Columbia (EALAC MA)!! I applied for FLAS at Michigan and the results will be out by 3/15, so I'm hoping that application will be successful as well. *fingers and toes crossed* No word on any support from Columbia. I don't think they have much for MA students, but I'm going to look into in just to cover all my bases. I don't want to go into Columbia-level debt, lol, but it's exciting to finally have other accpetances after getting 4 rejections.
Now to wait on funding, and my final app: USC EAAS!

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! 

This is Oh So Not the way to decide on where to obtain your graduate education. Talk to your advisors, consider fit, funding, location, placement records of your potential schools, and go from there. Rankings on this piece of paper aren't worth the electronic ink that's spilled on them as far as graduate education is concerned. 

@kyjin Thanks for your words! I'll try and relax about the GRE a little and focus more on my statements in the next month. 

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. 

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. 

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!!

Can you arrange to refund me the 90 minutes I spent reviewing your application? How about the other 72 apps in my pile this year?

Yeah, it's kind of a well-kept secret! I found out about it from my undergrad advisor who knew a prof there who ended up being my advisor. Yes, I TAed in my first semester, for an intro East Asian history course. I had a discussion section I led and graded papers. I also had to attend all lectures, and met with the prof and TAs once a week to discuss the course/what we were doing. I believe most of the language TAs for the first semester mainly did grading, but unfortunately I never did that. Some went on to teach full classes in their second year for language. I also got the opportunity to teach a class by myself during the summer session between my first and second year (for extra funding), where I devised the syllabus, led lecture and discussion, did grading, etc. They give you a lot of support there so you should be fine.  

I don't think that's necessary. But it's nice to contact them and keep them updated on your semi-finalist status. I'm sure they'll appreciate being in the loop. 

It's been fantastic so far. I'm on a research grant to Japan; been here since September. 
For those who didn't make it past the first round: I am so sorry. Do not take it personally; tons of qualified people do not make it every year. Please, apply again next year. I know a number of Fulbrighters (myself included) who didn't get in the first time they applied but have succeeded later! 
For those who were recommended: Congrats! Celebrate; this is an accomplishment. Try not to stress over the upcoming months while the final selections are made. You'll know when you know. Just enjoy this victory for now.

It's been fantastic so far. I'm on a research grant to Japan; been here since September. 
For those who didn't make it past the first round: I am so sorry. Do not take it personally; tons of qualified people do not make it every year. Please, apply again next year. I know a number of Fulbrighters (myself included) who didn't get in the first time they applied but have succeeded later! 
For those who were recommended: Congrats! Celebrate; this is an accomplishment. Try not to stress over the upcoming months while the final selections are made. You'll know when you know. Just enjoy this victory for now.

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Current Fulbright here. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck tomorrow! All the current Fulbrighters are rooting for you! 

Beyond stats, I think your language skills, research interests, and writing samples matter a ton too. Your advisors will know best how competitive you are. I'm assuming you're going for Chinese History, but what period? Best to be more specific; for example I'm a Japanese Historian and what I consider top east asian history programs in my subfield aren't necessarily the same for your specific subfield of Chinese history. 

Managing to get a cat in grad school can be hard, but it's doable. Personally, I'd highly avoid schools that require the GRE- cats are notoriously bad at sitting down for lengths of times, much less at inputing a 90th percentile response into the computer. That said, it might be worth trying to get your feline into a European program. Italy has lasagna, I hear.