kochan
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Got word this morning from my point person that I received a Fulbright-Hays, as well. Good luck to all!
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My campus rep told us we could find out anytime between June and September, but that's about all I know! I am in Japan studies and one point of concern for me is that she said Japan may not be accepting any applicants this year. They still wanted Japan folks to apply, though, because nothing had been decided yet. No news is good new on that front, but wonder if there are other countries considering the same thing.
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I also received a rejection letter from Fulbright iie today. Was told my application was pretty strong by the campus committee, so definitely saddened to receive a rejection so quickly. Fingers crossed for Japan Foundation.
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@Math48, @uniquesnowflake, @lordtiandao, congrats on UCLA! I did my BA and MA there for ALC (Japanese) and would be happy to give you any insight into living in LA and the ALC department itself! lordtiandao is a fellow alumn, so you've got a few resources! It's an excellent school with a wonderful ALC and history program. I concluded my cycle a while ago when I accepted an offer from University of Hawaii at Manoa. I've got two professors in the department who specialize in my era (Taisho) and I kept in pretty consistent contact with my POI throughout the process, so I'm really stoked to have an engaged advisor and be as close to Japan as possible (while still in the U.S.). I'm an American but I've spent most of the past 5 years studying here in Japan, and I expect to be going back and forth a lot. Best of luck to everyone still making decisions!
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I think it also depends on the UC. I heard recently that Berkeley has been hurting with funding. At UCLA, where I did my undergrad and MA, the ALC program actually has a lot of international students in the PhD program. They also have a lot of money these days, so that may have something to do with it, but even when they didn't have as much funding, they consistently took on a number of international students. It's possible that UCLA is an outlier, though.
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@lordtiandao, the professor was maybe just gauging other reasons why you are interested in their program. When I skyped with my POI at UOregon, she had also suggested I apply to Berkeley because she thought it would be a good fit for me. Her dissertation work is related to mine, but she has since moved into studying more contemporary literature. It caught me off guard, but in an email to me later, she also said she would love to work with me if I came to Oregon. One of the professors at Hawaii also recommended Berkeley while also saying he would welcome me in the program. When I talked to my POI at Berkeley, he also offered to discuss the pros and cons of other programs I was applying to. I think it is common for POIs to suggest other schools and also ask about why you would apply to their program when there are others that may look like they fit more. In my case, I've also applied to schools where there are advisors in other departments who do work on related fields (Buddhism, English lit, history), and I think sometimes professors want to hear about that, too. My POI at Berkeley told me that they like to hear about outside advisors at Berkeley that you would want to work with. It could be that way with other schools, too. Basically, I'm just trying to say that you shouldn't take it as a bad sign at all. It may be common practice for them to ask! I haven't heard from any schools yet. I've had some contact with a POI, but about research-related stuff, nothing about admissions.
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Congrats @costevens! I have a few friends who did their MA at CU Boulder on the Japanese side, and from what I've heard, that school is really, really great for the MA. I've been told that they actually devote more energy into their MA students than their PhDs (rare for a university!) It's a great stepping stone, solid program. No updates with my apps yet either, but I've only just submitted two on January 1st.
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I could be wrong, but it may also have to do with how much contact you've had with your POI prior to applying. If you haven't had much contact, they may request an interview to hear more about you and your project (but I'm not sure if this is the case). I do believe it depends on the school. I've heard from friends that University of Washington does not do interviews, while Princeton has consistently done so in the past. I've also known Columbia to do interviews in the past, but per @lordtiandao, perhaps they are not doing so this year. I know that UCLA has also done informal follow-up calls in previous years, but I can't say whether they are doing so this year. How much contact have people had with their POIs? I'm in Japan, so Skype or email were my only two options, but I had pretty lengthy Skype calls with 3 out of my 4 schools in October and November (For Berkeley, I emailed quite a bit with my POI but not call).
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Happy New Year! Newbie, here! I've submitted 4 PhD applications (CU Boulder, Berkeley, University of Oregon, UHawaii Manoa) for modern Japanese lit, specifically poetry. I haven't heard back from anyone yet, but the later two applications are due today, so I'm not expecting to hear anything for a while. I do feel pretty nervous about what @costevens said about CU Boulder since it may be my top choice. There's a professor there who focuses on modern poetry and she was very interested in my project when we skyped in October. Hoping they are doing some kind of rolling interview process!