<p>Exactly how useful are these programs? (and just how hard are they to get into, their requirements seem very vague)</p>
<p>I have been working in china for almost two years, now in journalism, and I would like to go to a graduate program where I could study chinese in a more formal academic setting, and possibly another (preferably Southeast) Asian language. I guess my ideal is to return to Asia afterward and keep working in journalism, though at a higher level than now (i am a researcher/writer/editor at a magazine that distills other media sources dealing with asia). For me these programs seemed like a decent fit, but do they ever give any funding? I really want to go back to school, but am not ready to commit to a PhD program (though possibly will be later on). My problem though is that I have a tough time justifying spending a huge amount of money on a degree program that doesn't really prepare me to do anything specific. So I am wondering if anyone can shed light on these programs, and their worth. I have been looking mostly at Columbia and Harvard's programs, I know Yale has a 1 year program as well as Duke, but don't know much about these. Any other good programs? Berkely? Also, any that offer instruction in Thai or Khmer(sort of an interest of mine that I would like to supplement my Chinese with, but not an absolute deal-breaker) Is there any federal funding for programs like these? Is FLAS only for exclusively language programs? Also, what percentage of people generally enter these programs hoping to jump off to PhDs versus professional work? What kind of professional work have people jumped off too, and for those with experience, did you feel the degree was absolutely essential in landing the job you landed, or do you feel like you could have done the same thing without spending the money?
thanks for any input!</p>