IMN22

Stanford

I got a lot of really good feedback from current and former students at Duke. It is a relatively small cohort but that means personal attention and the administration and professors got good reviews. If you are interested at all in pursuing doctoral work a lot of APSI students go on to excellent PhD programs. I don't really know anything about Michigan but as a large State school I am sure the environment is very different from Duke.

If you are looking to work/do doctoral studies in Europe or outside of the U.S. then Oxford might be the better option. However, if you plan to do further work and study in the States then UChicago (a great school) is definitely your best bet. The networking and internship opportunities for US PhD programs, companies, and organizations will be much better at Chicago, more so if you are looking at government work. The practical benefits of using the Oxford degree for future development stateside are limited and definitely now worth the added expenses. Your offer from UChicago also shows that there are professors/administrators who want to work with you in their program. The personal attention/recognition would probably be much more limited at Oxford.

GSPIA has solid and respected international public affairs program but if you want a policy studies curriculum with an East Asia focus then Pittsburgh is probably not the best choice. The main strength of Pitt's East Asia program seems to be in Japan related humanities. They were supposed to be adding China focused political science faculty this year but I am not sure if anything has happened on that front (they don't update their website and are somewhat unresponsive with email) . I applied to the China Studies M.A. program at UW and East Asian Studies M.A.programs everywhere else. My tentative focus is Chinese foreign relations and internal politics along with U.S.-Sino relations. My choices were determined mainly by the schools that offered me funding (Stanford, Duke, and UCLA). I don't trust the UC system at present because of a looming catastrophic state budget crisis. Duke had a tight-knit and interesting program but the its key China policy professor tragically passed away last December. The cost of living in Durham was also attractive but its on the other side of the country from my home and family. I decided on Stanford though it is a bit expensive even with the generous funding I was offered. It has the most solid program and extensive resources and its course offerings in East Asia politics/policy and foreign relations are probably matched only by Harvard and UW. Because EAS is an interdisciplinary program, students have access to a lot of the same faculty and research institutes as IPS students. Stanford is also generous with funding for internships and external programs. All of your choices seem to be good options with various advantages and drawbacks. If I were you I would also be hard pressed to choose between Fletcher, Stanford, and GW. I do not know much about GW or Tufts' strengths in Asia policy but I guess the choice would come down to whether you feel Stanford's resources and networking opportunities warrant the cost and whether GW's internship/work prospects are as solid as they appear.

In what ways does GSPIA not correlate well with your research interests? Have you looked at the specialties of the faculty and recent offered courses and compared them to those at the other schools? Graduating from a solid public affairs program without significant debt is a very attractive scenario that would leave you freer in your post-graduation options (Pittsburgh real estate is dirt cheap as well). Stanford might have the overall strongest program and greatest research resources and will certainly look good on a resume but the costs are a bit prohibitive and I believe it is a relatively newer program with a smaller alumni base. The only strong point about GW I really see is access to job/internship opportunities in D.C. ( which is a very strong plus). Tufts seems to an academic environment you would really enjoy spending the two years of your program in. I recommend trying to find more information about recent graduate job placement figures at each school. Also try to find out if students have been successful in finding related summer internships. Schools like Stanford usually providing funding for internships opportunities which might make it easier for you to do a summer internship in D.C. If GSPIA has good placements rates and internship opportunities it might be the best option, if not then perhaps Stanford and then Tufts I would only choose GW if it looks like the only place you would be likely to find a good internship or if you were sure you could find employment that would provide needed $$ and not adversely affect your studies.

If your decision was only between HKS and the state school or perhaps another ranked outside the top 20 I might say just bite the bullet and take out the minimum amount of loans needed to attend Harvard. But from what I understand you also have a great offer from Duke's Sanford school which has one of the top public affairs programs in the nation. I do not foresee a substantial difference in post-graduation prospects, salaries, or networking opportunities (unless perhaps you are thinking international) that would warrant the extra debt of choosing the Kennedy School over Sanford. Harvard is of course the "top" school in the world but Duke itself is in a handful of elite schools, especially in the area of public affairs. You should also consider the very significant cost of living differences between Cambridge and Durham. You have a range of choices from wildly expensive Harvard to the fully funded state school option, Duke seems to be a reasonable middle ground that would be hard to go wrong with.

If your decision was only between HKS and the state school or perhaps another ranked outside the top 20 I might say just bite the bullet and take out the minimum amount of loans needed to attend Harvard. But from what I understand you also have a great offer from Duke's Sanford school which has one of the top public affairs programs in the nation. I do not foresee a substantial difference in post-graduation prospects, salaries, or networking opportunities (unless perhaps you are thinking international) that would warrant the extra debt of choosing the Kennedy School over Sanford. Harvard is of course the "top" school in the world but Duke itself is in a handful of elite schools, especially in the area of public affairs. You should also consider the very significant cost of living differences between Cambridge and Durham. You have a range of choices from wildly expensive Harvard to the fully funded state school option, Duke seems to be a reasonable middle ground that would be hard to go wrong with.

I do not know about the Japanese Studies section but the University of Washington definitely has one of the strongest East Asian studies programs in the country. Just take a look at the course offerings and specialist faculty and compare them to those at other schools.

I got really good feedback from students at both schools. The Duke students were particularly helpful and just about each one I contacted got back to me. Both groups emphasized the flexibility of the program and quality of the professors. Students from both programs have also been successful in receiving funding for summer programs and projects (though the funding is mostly federal at Duke). Housing might be a more difficult issue at Duke if you want to be anywhere near campus but several students offered to help me find a place. Stanford area housing is not cheap but campus housing is guaranteed for students who apply by the deadline. Duke also seems poised to perhaps add another specialist in Chinese politics in the near future (their resident expert, Professor TJ Shi, passed away a couple of months ago). I am one Havard RSEA rejection letter away from completing this long process.

Thanks for the insights and encouragement. I received identical funding from both Stanford and Duke. I had similar thoughts about Duke being able to provide more individual attention and access to professors by virtue of it being a smaller program. I emailed several current Duke students and got mixed reviews though they all seem happy with their program. I am trying to contact some Stanford students as well. At this point I actually think I would choose Stanford over Harvard for a few reasons. What are your research interests?

2/3 of my results are in and I have done better in terms of funding offers than I initially hoped (Ohio is the only one out of these schools that didn't at least consider me as an alternate for a fellowship). I've been hearing that all the Harvard RSEA program offers have been made so it looks like I will be deciding between Stanford and Duke (identical funding offers). It will be a tough choice though the fellowship funds go a lot further in N.C. than they do in Cali. Does anyone have any special insights into either of these two programs (especially in the China/social science aspects of EAS) ?

I received one email from the graduate school dean then a subsequent one from the program director. You can log onto the Duke application and check your results.

Heard back from Duke. That leaves me waiting on 5 programs.

Yesterday I received an acceptance email from Indiana University's East Asian Studies M.A. program.

Did IUB mention anything about fellowships or funding?