<p>I'm currently intending to major in Asian Studies, but I was recently accepted to my top choice school, American University, to transfer this spring semester. American University does not offer Asian Studies as a major, but they do have International Studies.</p>
<p>My questions are:
1. Should I just major in International Studies and concentrate on the Asian region and take East Asian Studies for my Master's in the future?
2. Or, should I push to transfer (AGAIN) to a school that offers EAS?</p>
<p>I am aware than AU allows you to "build" your own major. I should also mention that I am a Virginia resident, and UVa, I hear, has an excellent program in East Asian Studies. However, what's stopping me is my preference to AU's area, DC, because of the internship opportunities and the area overall.</p>
<p>Also, I really don't want to stay at my current university. This school is absolutely the wrong fit for me.</p>
<p>I also don't really want to take International Studies as it requires many courses that are mostly biased to Europe. I was in the IB program in high school, and I just want to concentrate on Asia and not Europe.</p>
<p>If you stay with AU, here are the options:</p>
<p>Option 1:You could do a certificate in Asian Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. Since the certificate only requires one year of an Asian language (ridiculously inadequate), you should take additional language courses and also study abroad for a year to foster some appropriate level of proficiency. Presumably, you would combine this minor with a major in one of the traditional disciplines. IMO, the traditional disciplinary major is a better way to go since interdisciplinary majors often have the potential disadvantage of scattering your coursework across several disciplines such that you might not get a solid grounding in the theory and methods of any single discipline. </p>
<p>Option 2: Alternatively, you could do a minor in Chinese or Japanese in the College of Arts & Sciences. Since AU only offers up to the third year in these languages, you should add a year via study abroad. You also could add a tutorial of some sort to obtain additional language work or participate in a summer critical languages institute at another university. Usually the later requires that youve completed the language through the intermediate level. You can complete a full year in such a course. Presumably, you would combine this minor with a major in one of the traditional disciplines.</p>
<p>Option 3: You could continue with the International Studies major with a regional focus on Asia. While you would have to take some foundation courses in Western traditions, I dont see that you would have to take an excessive number of courses focused primarily on Europe. In any case, these may be important for a comparative perspective and I doubt that you covered the topics/materials of all of the available courses in similar depth in your previous IB courses.</p>
<p>With any of these options, you should be able to apply for a masters program in East Asian Studies.</p>
<p>While Virginia and many other universities offer a stronger focus on Asia than AU, you indicated some good reasons to stay with AU (preference for the DC area, desire to leave your current school due to fit, and internship possibilities in DC).</p>