MA in East Asian Studies 19fall

[meemeee]

Hi all!

Looking for tips on application for MA/ PhD programs in EAS (GRE and statement of purpose in particular) 

I want to apply to the following programs(maybe just some preliminary ideas): RSEA at Harvard, MA in East Asian Studies at Yale, MAPSS at UChicago, PhD in Sociology/ History/PoliSci at Michigan, and maybe some others. 

I graduated January this year and am working in an unrelated field right now.TBH, it was a hard decision that I've made up my mind to pursue an advanced degree in social science/ humanities. I've been caught up by the dilemma between 1. doing meaningless corporate job but thereby having a reasonable degree of financial security 2. taking a risk to do what I've been truly passionate for. Since I don't want to go deep in debt, I have to count on the financial support from these graduate programs (which limited my choices to a few).

I did take GRE once earlier this year; I got V165, Q165, AW3.5. My writing score was surprisingly low and I suppose I can still improve on Q. (dunno how good is good enough to receive full package ???) 

 

 

Some background info about me:

graduated with honors from a top Asian university 

polisci major, minor in Japanese Studies

Bilingual in English and Chinese, understand Japanese

One-year study abroad in Japan

Did some RA work under an IR professor who promised to publish my report as a book chapter (on Japanese politics)

 

Senpais, pls enlighten me on what to do next! Thank you all in advance!!!

 

 

 

 

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

2 hours ago, meemeee said:

PhD in Sociology/ History/PoliSci at Michigan, and maybe some others

I don't know that much about Sociology, but PoliSci and History are very different programs to apply to, e.g. in terms of preferred methodology and focus, the understanding of which you will need to demonstrate in your SOP and writing sample. Speaking from personal experience, I wouldn't just casually decide between these two and start applying.  I once had to write two different writing samples, one for PoliSci programs, another for History programs, the results weren't good at all and i was quite torn apart in the process.

The following part may not apply to your situation, but if you studied PoliSci in mainland China/Japan/South Korea, the PoliSci you studied can be quite different from the PoliSci in the US. I'd highly recommend that you read through some of the works recently published by professors from the programs you are interested in, and see if you truly wanna apply to PhD programs in PoliSci/History/Sociology.

Best of luck!

[meemeee]

4 hours ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

I don't know that much about Sociology, but PoliSci and History are very different programs to apply to, e.g. in terms of preferred methodology and focus, the understanding of which you will need to demonstrate in your SOP and writing sample. Speaking from personal experience, I wouldn't just casually decide between these two and start applying.  I once had to write two different writing samples, one for PoliSci programs, another for History programs, the results weren't good at all and i was quite torn apart in the process.

The following part may not apply to your situation, but if you studied PoliSci in mainland China/Japan/South Korea, the PoliSci you studied can be quite different from the PoliSci in the US. I'd highly recommend that you read through some of the works recently published by professors from the programs you are interested in, and see if you truly wanna apply to PhD programs in PoliSci/History/Sociology.

Best of luck!

Thank you for your advice!!

I studied at a university in Singapore, and almost all my profs were once PhDs from the Ivies so I am not so worried about the different methodologies or approaches to study PoliSci. Rather, what worries me is that our "peripheral"- geographically speaking- status does not reward us many EAS research/ exchange/internship opportunities that students from top universities in China/ Korea/ Japan enjoy. 

SOP is gonna be my headache...

As an undergrad, I was always inspired by scholars who use knowledge in one discipline to illuminate another field or whose works in one field have significant implications for other disciplines. Skocpol and Elizabeth Perry are the names on the top of my mind right now. It's nothing like a concrete study plan or anything but I guess I'm leaning towards what some people call "interdisciplinary approaches"- and I need to operationalize that in my SOP.