EALC 2018

[winterlover]

Has anyone applied to the Asian Literatures, Cultures & Media Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota? I submitted my application almost three months ago and have not heard of anything regarding my application status. I received several offers from other schools, and probably attending one of them. I feel like I deserve to know the result of my application, but my e-mail was ignored. Waiting is so debilitating.

[kotatsumuri]

@hairbrush Welcome! If you search the forums there are lots of past posts about the MAPH program. Since no one else has replied, that might be a good place to start if you're still looking for information.

@winterlover If you haven't heard via email, you should just call the department!

[winterlover]

6 hours ago, kotatsumuri said:

 

@winterlover If you haven't heard via email, you should just call the department!

 

Thanks! 

[hairbrush]

@kotatsumuri Thanks a lot for your reply! I'll go and check other posts for some MAPH information.

[kotatsumuri]

@winterlover How'd it go?!

@hairbrush Hope you find something helpful

[kotatsumuri]

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!

[archimon]

Hey! I received some very helpful advice earlier in this thread, so I figure that I should follow up and let everyone know how my cycle turned out. Ultimately, despite being told by my advisor that they "really wanted me to come," I was rejected outright at RSEA. At Columbia, my advisor had asked that I be admitted to the Ph.D. program, but, as he had a number of Ph.D. students already, had a fairly weak hand in the committee. I was eventually admitted to Columbia's EALAC M.A. program with a generous funding package (half-tuition + a $30,000 stipend), and will be heading to New York in the fall. Is anyone else here headed to Columbia?

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

32 minutes ago, archimon said:

Hey! I received some very helpful advice earlier in this thread, so I figure that I should follow up and let everyone know how my cycle turned out. Ultimately, despite being told by my advisor that they "really wanted me to come," I was rejected outright at RSEA. At Columbia, my advisor had asked that I be admitted to the Ph.D. program, but, as he had a number of Ph.D. students already, had a fairly weak hand in the committee. I was eventually admitted to Columbia's EALAC M.A. program with a generous funding package (half-tuition + a $30,000 stipend), and will be heading to New York in the fall. Is anyone else here headed to Columbia?

Congrats! I accepted the offer of admission to the History - East Asia PhD program through EALAC  Looking forward to attending Columbia as well~

[Naito]

Congrats @AnUglyBoringNerd 女史 and @kotatsumuri 君, and @archimon 先生 on Columbia and Michigan!

Just got back from Japan recently. The sakura, sushi, sake were all great, except there were too many salarymen also trying to 花見...Tokyo is always so crowded at this time of the year. Anyway, ramen and robots, samurai and shinkansen, tea and Toyota, wait for me -- I will return to Nippon again next year! I'm always very excited each time I am in Japan!

As for schooling, this will sound very unconventional, but I decided to decline Stanford, UPenn, UVA, and Georgetown. In some parallel universe, I would do academia, but not in this one.  I was never really a good student anyway, and just did the bare minimum to get by; grad school life seems too specialized, lonely, and difficult, so I might not do well anyway. My professors/recommenders kept pushing me to accept one of the offers, but I reached out to quite a few mentors who are still in or already left academia, and the feedback was not so positive -- almost unanimously the advice is the exact opposite of Nike's motto: "just don't do it".  

So I'm staying at my job and will get an MBA and then do something Asia-related. Who knows, I might get posted to Japan on an expat package...at least this plan was suggested by a good friend in Tokyo. With JLPT N1 I can probably get posted in Japan. If I can live in Japan for a few years while doing practical stuff, that will be the best of both worlds -- 不战而胜，两全之策。

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Naito

[Naito]

There is a classical song that is very popular among the Old Wind School (古风派） in the Middle Kingdom right now. Please allow me to use this song to congratulate 諸君 here for having gone through all this testing and application process! "踏書山百階 乘學海一舸 ... 學貫五湖 中西捭闔 ... 來鴻笑去燕 且行且高歌" Wine and music!  

 

Edited April 20, 2018 by Naito

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

17 hours ago, Naito said:

There is a classical song that is very popular among the Old Wind School (古风派） in the Middle Kingdom right now. Please allow me to use this song to congratulate 諸君 here for having gone through all this testing and application process! "踏書山百階 乘學海一舸 ... 學貫五湖 中西捭闔 ... 來鴻笑去燕 且行且高歌" Wine and music!  

 

This picture^, is that Sungkyunkwan Scandal? XD

[Naito]

@AnUglyBoringNerd Yes. They should have used a different picture...They should use this picture below, but it's a different song:

(I learned all my Chinese from YouTube etc.) 笑　ｗｗｗ 

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by Naito

[kotatsumuri]

@archimon Congrats on your Columbia news!!

[archimon]

On 4/30/2018 at 5:46 AM, kotatsumuri said:

@archimon Congrats on your Columbia news!!

Thanks!

[Naito]

Update: 人間万事塞翁が馬! Here's a twist. I still get to go to Harvard with partial tuition reimbursement! This isn't for RSEA or EALC though. But Harvard nonetheless and the issue of funding no longer exists! I'll be sure to keep in touch with East Asian Studies while focusing on my courses. Happy in Harvard! 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Naito

[AnUglyBoringNerd]

On 7/19/2018 at 1:48 AM, Naito said:

Update: 人間万事塞翁が馬! Here's a twist. I still get to go to Harvard with partial tuition reimbursement! This isn't for RSEA or EALC though. But Harvard nonetheless and the issue of funding no longer exists! I'll be sure to keep in touch with East Asian Studies while focusing on my courses. Happy in Harvard! 

Congrats!!!! Which program if I may ask? 

[Naito]

8 hours ago, AnUglyBoringNerd said:

Congrats!!!! Which program if I may ask? 

It's a professional degree -- but I shouldn't say more than this -- which leads to high-paying jobs and if I'm lucky I can make a lot more. I've been reading several books by another EALC-er -- Tim Ferriss, who graduated Princeton with an AB in East Asian Studies -- such as the 4-Hour Workweek (https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357) and I'm convinced a pragmatic approach might be more useful for me at this stage;  "it doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice it is a good cat," so said Deng! It's all a means to an end. I don't want to be like 陆游 who was evaluated by 朱熹 in《宋史：陆游传》" 其能太高，迹太近，恐为有力者所牵挽，不得全其晚节。”  I want to get to 天山 and found a way, even if it deviates from the poetic professorial path.

I wrote a poem to several of my professors thanking them for their support, but I am not going to be in academia like they wish, but I respect great scholarship. (Last poem, I promise...)

《贈我師》

都城語院中

受教自師宗

謝贈緋花植

稱揚樹業¹功

-- 无官居士

1. “一年之计，莫如树谷；十年之计，莫如树木；终身之计，莫如树人。一树一获者，谷也；一树十获者，木也；一树百获者，人也。我苟种之，如神用之，举事如神，唯王之门。” 《管子：权修第三》

 

 

Edited July 21, 2018 by Naito