Asian Studies 2010

[kandeya]

Keep the good news coming in--tell us how y'alls visits and POI calls went--it'll probably help out the next bunch of poor applicants who have to run through the gauntlet.

Leafytea, I really loved Berkeley! It was a really different vibe from Chicago, where I did my undergrad. My program doesn't have a guaranteed set package of funding, though none of the students I talked to felt compelled to take out loans, so I think it'll work out in the end, through some combination of FLAS/teaching/sheer desperado action. But what's an affordable price range of housing that I should look for on craigslist/cal rentals etc?

And a heads-up for people who applied for FLAS: this year is a reapplication year for many universities, so the results won't be out until June because that's when the federal government will approve the funds. It's keeping me on my nervous toes, that's for sure.

[FDT]

Hey guys,<br><div>Does anybody know here, if you can apply for a Full Year FLAS at one institution, and do the coursework at another university. For example if I am at U of M could I take Hindi on a Flas funding at NYU or Columbia?</div>

[kandeya]

Academic year FLAS grants are only tenable at the home institution, as far as I know. They don't carry over to another university, because each university gets its own allocation to divvy up. Summer FLAS grants can be applied to external programs, though.

[Leafytea]

Hm, yes--I've been a FLAS baby for my whole time here =) It helps if you're studying a lesser-studied language...I got it for Korean, and the other person I know who got it for AY is doing Urdu. It's probably more difficult to get it for Chinese or Japanese. It's just more competitive.

For housing, I know someone who got a studio for $700, so that seems pretty decent. However, if you don't mind living with a roommate, you'll be able to get more space for around the same price. I'm actually living in slightly more expensive housing, which was made doable by the fact that I'm on the FLAS, and also the fact that I worked as a reader (a paper grader) my first semester. I've actually made it work, since then, by taking other odd jobs here and there to supplement the stipend.

[mistaajg]

Keep the good news coming in--tell us how y'alls visits and POI calls went--it'll probably help out the next bunch of poor applicants who have to run through the gauntlet.

Leafytea, I really loved Berkeley! It was a really different vibe from Chicago, where I did my undergrad. My program doesn't have a guaranteed set package of funding, though none of the students I talked to felt compelled to take out loans, so I think it'll work out in the end, through some combination of FLAS/teaching/sheer desperado action. But what's an affordable price range of housing that I should look for on craigslist/cal rentals etc?

And a heads-up for people who applied for FLAS: this year is a reapplication year for many universities, so the results won't be out until June because that's when the federal government will approve the funds. It's keeping me on my nervous toes, that's for sure.

Yeah I also heard from a couple schools that FLAS funding would not be allocated until late spring or summer and thus awards can't be completely confirmed until after the April 15 deadline to accept admissions offers at most schools. Does that really mean that I should more or less rule out making my decision based on the FLAS (the main source of funding I was hoping for)? That is really frustrating! I would think that most schools should have a general idea of how many awards they'll be able to give out...but maybe they're afraid of promising fellowships they could later have to retract. What do you guys think?

Also, any thoughts on Harvard RSEA vs. Yale MA. in East Asian Studies? Yale's program's just being one year long concerns me a little as far as getting letters of recommendation and making decisions about next year, but it does sound like an amazing program. On the other hand, Harvard seems to offer a lot of flexibility in choosing classes (even non-Asian ones), which should be advantageous to people with interdisciplinary interests.

Congrats to everyone and ditto as far as being grateful for all the advice, discussion, and positive attitudes!! This thread has been awesome!

[JBrodsky]

Yeah I also heard from a couple schools that FLAS funding would not be allocated until late spring or summer and thus awards can't be completely confirmed until after the April 15 deadline to accept admissions offers at most schools. Does that really mean that I should more or less rule out making my decision based on the FLAS (the main source of funding I was hoping for)? That is really frustrating! I would think that most schools should have a general idea of how many awards they'll be able to give out...but maybe they're afraid of promising fellowships they could later have to retract. What do you guys think?

Also, any thoughts on Harvard RSEA vs. Yale MA. in East Asian Studies? Yale's program's just being one year long concerns me a little as far as getting letters of recommendation and making decisions about next year, but it does sound like an amazing program. On the other hand, Harvard seems to offer a lot of flexibility in choosing classes (even non-Asian ones), which should be advantageous to people with interdisciplinary interests.

Congrats to everyone and ditto as far as being grateful for all the advice, discussion, and positive attitudes!! This thread has been awesome!

Yes, any thoughts on RSEA would be welcome!

[WaitingImpatiently]

I have been in contact with two Yale students who got into the EALL phd program with no problem after the MA. They said it was extremely helpful because they got to know all of the professors. In fact one student (and myself as well) originally applied to the phd program in EALL but were referred to the MA with an implicit acceptance afterward if we did well and got what we needed. (Hoping this works out for me!!!!) So I think it is good. . .just very little funding. . .keeping my fingers crossed with everyone else for a FLAS fellowship! Anyone know just how competitive they are for Chinese? I would think less so than some other languages but not exactly easy to obtain. How do you find out if you got it?

Best of luck to all! This forum has been amazing during this whole process!

[gumbikim]

I just heard from UWSTL. I got accepted to MA-Chinese Studies!!! Its my first choice

I'm in, too ! It's my third choice, but hey !! I only applied to the three schools

that I had most interest in and I've got admission to one of them !!

Looks like we'll be classmates Haowanr (unless I hear good news from

Michigan)!!

Edited March 15, 2010 by gumbikim

[haowanr]

I'm in, too ! It's my third choice, but hey !! I only applied to the three schools

that I had most interest in and I've got admission to one of them !!

Looks like we'll be classmates Haowanr (unless I hear good news from

Michigan)!!

Yay! Congrats on the good news I was hoping you'd get some of that soon. And maybe you'll still get some from Michigan. Fighting!

[gumbikim]

Yay! Congrats on the good news I was hoping you'd get some of that soon. And maybe you'll still get some from Michigan. Fighting!

Thanks !! Fighting! kkk..화이팅!!

[WaitingImpatiently]

Yes! This whole process is finally over for me!

I just got my letter from Chicago EALC telling me that I was accepted into some MA in Humanities program, and I got my official rejection from harvard and official acceptance to Yale! I have finally heard back from all 11 schools I applied to and ended up with 5 acceptances (though some are strange) and 6 rejections. Not bad for a first timer!

I'm just so happy to be done with all of this and wish everyone still waiting the best of luck!

[gumbikim]

Yay! Congrats on the good news I was hoping you'd get some of that soon. And maybe you'll still get some from Michigan. Fighting!

Haowanr !

Are you definitely going to Washington or are you still waiting to hear from Stanford?

I checked Washington's program and faculty interests again yesterday and I actually

think it'd be a better fit for me than Michigan.

I'm no longer going to wait for Michigan (although I'm guessing that I've been rejected)

and am sending out the form that Washington has asked for us to fill out tomorrow.

Hope we'll be classmates!

Congratulations to everyone and for those who are still waitng for results!

I enjoyed exchanging information with all of you guys and best wishes for everyone in

their future endeavors !!

[waterdany]

hi all～～

This thread has been very helpful and thanks to all of your contributions.

I am a native Chinese and have been accepted to MA East Asian Studies at UCLA, Duke and Indiana, and my concentration is Chinese politics. Any thoughts on these schools?

Plus, I am also accepted to NYU's master program in comparative politics, where would you suggest to attend - eas or polisci - if I plan to do a phd's degree in politics afterward.

thanks!

Edited March 17, 2010 by waterdany

[haowanr]

Haowanr !

Are you definitely going to Washington or are you still waiting to hear from Stanford?

I checked Washington's program and faculty interests again yesterday and I actually

think it'd be a better fit for me than Michigan.

I'm no longer going to wait for Michigan (although I'm guessing that I've been rejected)

and am sending out the form that Washington has asked for us to fill out tomorrow.

Hope we'll be classmates!

Congratulations to everyone and for those who are still waitng for results!

I enjoyed exchanging information with all of you guys and best wishes for everyone in

their future endeavors !!

Did you hear anything about funding from Washington? I decided to wait until April 1 to make my decision to do some more research on the two places I'm considering (Indiana and Washington), and I still haven't heard back from Hawaii. Funding is an issue for me.

[gumbikim]

Did you hear anything about funding from Washington? I decided to wait until April 1 to make my decision to do some more research on the two places I'm considering (Indiana and Washington), and I still haven't heard back from Hawaii. Funding is an issue for me.

Nope. I've already asked Paula about funding several months ago and she said that they rarely give out funding for

international students. So I'm assuming I won't get any.

You should probably ask Paula via e-mail or phone her about their funding situation.

Anyhow, hope that all works out well for you, haowanr~

Edited March 17, 2010 by gumbikim

[gumbikim]

hi all～～

This thread has been very helpful and thanks to all of your contributions.

I am a native Chinese and have been accepted to MA East Asian Studies at UCLA, Duke and Indiana, and my concentration is Chinese politics. Any thoughts on these schools?

Plus, I am also accepted to NYU's master program in comparative politics, where would you suggest to attend - eas or polisci - if I plan to do a phd's degree in politics afterward.

thanks!

Edited March 17, 2010 by gumbikim

[gumbikim]

I think it depends on what you consider as the most important when choosing a school.

Is it the research interests of the professors? The overall program? The Courses? Funding?

Location?.. Stuff like that..Also, for info, maybe you should ask some

students already attending the schools you've been accepted into.

I don't know about the other schools, but I think you should check out the works

of Professor Tianjian Shi for Duke. I was thinking of applying to Duke myself

, but withdrew at the last minute because I didn't think the research interests of the

faculty there overlapped with mine to a great extent. Before deciding to apply for Duke,

I asked a student already attending there and she said that the living environment and

the courses she was taking for that semester were great.

Anyhow, good luck !

Edited March 17, 2010 by gumbikim

[syakai59]

Hi, I am a native Chinese too, although my concentration is on Japanese literature. If you already have an idea of what you want to research in a PhD, then choose an advisor whose research interests best match yours. If not,I would personally recommend UCLA, since they have a good PhD program and you want to do a PhD in the future. But is funding an important issue for you? Did any of them provide financial support?

hi all～～

This thread has been very helpful and thanks to all of your contributions.

I am a native Chinese and have been accepted to MA East Asian Studies at UCLA, Duke and Indiana, and my concentration is Chinese politics. Any thoughts on these schools?

Plus, I am also accepted to NYU's master program in comparative politics, where would you suggest to attend - eas or polisci - if I plan to do a phd's degree in politics afterward.

thanks!

Edited March 17, 2010 by syakai59

[waterdany]

to the previous posts:

Thank you both!

Duke Prof. Shi's research interests do not actually coincide with mine, while two professors from UCLA do match my interests to some extent. So I'm more likely to attend UCLA. Actually I have an offer from University of Oregon's MA in East Asian Studies, but since I'm going to the States with my girlfriend and She's got into UCLA's EAS too, I figured we really like to stick together. None of the other schools offered me any funding, Duke explicitly pointed that out in the admission letter, but there is a chance that UCLA could have fundings, they sent me a very short email saying that I am accepted and an official letter will follow soon, hopefully with some $. If not, it definitely sucks but I could survive.

My biggest concern is the major though. I want to do a Phd afterward in Political Science, NYU offered me admission to their master's program in political science, which was beyond my expectation. I did not major in politics or anything related so it's practically impossible to directly apply for a Phd. That's why I targeted at EAS as a step stone. Now that NYU liked me, I am leaning towards them, I mean, why bother taking another two years in a interdisciplinary program knowing that I could just hit my road and embrace polisci. Any thoughts?

Edited March 17, 2010 by waterdany

[waterdany]

Hi, I am a native Chinese too, although my concentration is on Japanese literature. If you already have an idea of what you want to research in a PhD, then choose an advisor whose research interests best match yours. If not,I would personally recommend UCLA, since they have a good PhD program and you want to do a PhD in the future. But is funding an important issue for you? Did any of them provide financial support?

My girlfriend's interest is Japanese literature too～～Which school will you attend?

[gumbikim]

to the previous posts:

Thank you both!

Duke Prof. Shi's research interests do not actually coincide with mine, while two professors from UCLA do match my interests to some extent. So I'm more likely to attend UCLA. Actually I have an offer from University of Oregon's MA in East Asian Studies, but since I'm going to the States with my girlfriend and She's got into UCLA's EAS too, I figured we really like to stick together. None of the other schools offered me any funding, Duke explicitly pointed that out in the admission letter, but there is a chance that UCLA could have fundings, they sent me a very short email saying that I am accepted and an official letter will follow soon, hopefully with some $. If not, it definitely sucks but I could survive.

My biggest concern is the major though. I want to do a Phd afterward in Political Science, NYU offered me admission to their master's program in political science, which was beyond my expectation. I did not major in politics or anything related so it's practically impossible to directly apply for a Phd. That's why I targeted at EAS as a step stone. Now that NYU liked me, I am leaning towards them, I mean, why bother taking another two years in a interdisciplinary program knowing that I could just hit my road and embrace polisci. Any thoughts?

Hmm..[uCLA EAS} info below:

The M.A. in East Asian Studies is not intended to provide the kind of advanced scholarly training in language and in a specific discipline necessary for advancing to the Ph.D. level though it may enable those with insufficient backgrounds to prepare themselves for the M.A. and Ph.D. programs offered by the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures or other departments. In most cases, the M.A. degree in East Asian Studies is suitable for those who seek to develop a general range of knowledge of the area as preparation for careers in fields such as journalism, business, law, government service, public health, or secondary school education.

So..probably NYU would be better for you. But then you have the situation with your girlfriend so..

[syakai59]

It is nice that you both got into UCLA. Congratulations! I will probably go to the PhD program at UW Seattle, but I am still waiting for another result. If you or your girl friend have msn, qq, or facebook, maybe we can chat online in Chinese B)

My girlfriend's interest is Japanese literature too～～Which school will you attend?

[kandeya]

I was curious to know how your funding situations are turning out--good, bad or otherwise. That, and the boards have been awfully quiet lately.

For me, Berkeley didn't guarantee a funding package, but the students I talked to during my visit said they didn't have to take out loans, and since I'm used to living lean I decided to accept the offer and see what came about. Now I'm waiting on the FLAS to see whether I'll actually be able to afford to go there. If I don't get it or any other funding, I'll probably pull out and reapply to better-funded universities for next year, and scrape up some work to do in the meanwhile.

What about the rest of you guys? Funding situations looking decent (or spectacular), or are you all waiting on tenterhooks like me?

[Mirabilis]

I'm looking into MA EAS programs for Fall 11 (a bit early I suppose, but starting my essay) and I'd like to know what are considered strong programs for Korean studies. Also, am I a competitive candidate for top programs, or should I aim for middling programs (OSU and IU-Bloomington look decent to me). I have no formal east asian undergrad work (history major) but have spent 3 years in Korea and studied korean to the intermediate level. Im also not really interested in PhD programs at this point, but may consider them in the future..So many questions, but thankfully, so much time..!

[haowanr]

Is anyone who got into the University of Washington and is considering it (or has accepted their offer) planning on attending the Prospective Student Days next week?