<p>Looking for some suggestions of schools for the S of a friend. The young man will have 5 or 6 yrs of Mandarin prior to college. Looking for a school that would offer him the opportunity to continue his language study. Possible major or minor in Chinese or East Asian studies.
Merit aid would be a plus.</p>
<p>When you say 5-6 years, are we talking speaking and reading/writing newspapers/literary books or just speaking?</p>
<p>Am asking as 3 years of college level Chinese* at schools with topflight Chinese language programs are the bare minimum to be able to read a newspaper proficiently. Once you hit 4-5 years, you’re reading and writing essays in Chinese on literary works. </p>
<p>My LAC, Oberlin, offers a superb program in Chinese language studies and the instructors my friends and I had there are superb.</p>
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<li>Colleges with less intensive Chinese language programs may dilute this so one year at a school like Oberlin would be 2 years there. Avoid that if possible as then…the pacing is more at the level of a typical high school level foreign language class and may cause problems if you’re hoping to use the language for grad school or more advanced work.</li>
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<p>The University of Hawaii is very reasonably priced and has a lot of students from all over and I believe an excellent mandarin program.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ccs-uhm.org/[/url]”>http://www.ccs-uhm.org/</a>.</p>
<p>Any state school that has the Chinese Flagship would be a good program.</p>
<p>[The</a> Language Flagship - Chinese](<a href=“http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/chinese]The”>http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/chinese)</p>
<p>IU has automatic scholarships and a competitive full-ride, Ole Miss offers OOS waivers for some students.</p>
<p>Search on CC - there is an interesting thread about Ole Miss (of all places).</p>
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<p>While East Asian Studies…including Chinese is one of their top strengths, I’ve heard from many that UHawaii isn’t cheap for OOS students, especially when you include living expenses. </p>
<p>Moreover, I’ve heard from relatives, a former Prof who taught there, and online sources that UHawaii’s dorms aren’t maintained very well so they’d recommend finding an off-campus apartment if possible…and that’s a substantial added expense considering the state of Hawaiian real estate. Especially in and around Honolulu.</p>
<p>Actually they are improving their dorms considerably. There are also many reasonable rentals near campus. The bus is very reasonable as well
and does serve the U.</p>
<p>When DD was looking at schools a few years ago she was thinking about majoring in Chinese/East Asian studies. WUSTL, GWU, Wisconsin had programs she liked. She ruled out JHU because they required you to do two full years of a second Asian language (either Korean or Japanese).</p>
<p>Himom,</p>
<p>I mentioned that as the dorm/housing issues and basic living expenses are ones relatives, online sources, and that Prof cited as major issues with living/attending school there. Incidentally, those issues were a factor in why said Prof left.</p>
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<p>While this isn’t common, this will give JHU EAS grads a substantial leg up should they pursue a PhD in an East Asian related field because they do require all their grad students to be proficient in a second East Asian language along with a European language(French, German, or Russian usually). </p>
<p>For instance, a PhD program in Chinese history/poli-sci requires proficiency in Chinese, Japanese and/or Korean, and a European language. The one for Japanese history/poli-sci will often require Japanese, Chinese and/or Korean, and one European language. </p>
<p>Language requirements are dependent not only on the nation/civilization being studied, but also the topic involved.</p>
<p>Cobrat- I don’t have the answer to your question. He is going to be a HS Jr next year. He took chinese in 7-9 grade at his public schools. This year they lost the teacher and he is taking it online through John Hopkins CTY. According to his Mom the John Hopkins teacher is impressed with his tonation. He is bright but a bit lazy thus does not have a 4.0 GPA but close. He has no PSAT results yet. According to Mom he should score well in both verbal and Math. He does not want a tech or science school. He is more a liberal arts type.
Oberlin was mentioned.</p>
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<p>How’s his reading level? Can he read a Chinese newspaper in traditional and simplified characters yet? That’s the minimum to show one has demonstrated 3rd year proficiency at Chinese programs like Oberlin’s or other programs. </p>
<p>In any event, the college’s Chinese studies department will give placement exams to ensure he is placed in an appropriate level. </p>
<p>He may also want to look into Middlebury and check many other LACs and LAC-like universities like UChicago and Princeton*. </p>
<p>One thing to also consider is that there are many more excellent Chinese and East Asian language/studies programs nowadays than was the case when I was in college in the mid-late '90s. </p>
<p>Moreover, one reason why I selected Oberlin was because it has a strong East Asian Studies program alongside history and politics. The East Asian studies department and its students tend to be closely-knit like a warm family. </p>
<p>*Incidentally, the textbooks we used at Oberlin when I attended were the same ones used by Princeton’s Chinese language studies program.</p>
<p>Schools on the west coast often have a high Asian population and offer several programs in Asian studies/ languages.
One of Ds friends ( who is Japanese-american)majored in Chinese @ Reed and then taught in China.
[Reed</a> College | Chinese Department | Home](<a href=“http://academic.reed.edu/chinese/]Reed”>Chinese Department - Reed College)</p>
<p>UCSD:</p>
<p>[Chinese</a> Studies Program Homepage](<a href=“http://chinesestudies.ucsd.edu/]Chinese”>http://chinesestudies.ucsd.edu/)</p>
<p>My friends who attend BYU all gloat about how amazing their language studies are. However, they’re LDS affiliated so may not appeal to you.</p>
<p>Re: University of Hawaii</p>
<p>University of Hawaii is in the Western Undergraduate Exchange, so residents of those states can attend with tuition = 1.5 * in-state tuition.</p>
<p>[UH</a> Manoa Undergraduate Admissions: Financing Options: Western Undergraduate Exchange](<a href=“http://manoa.hawaii.edu/admissions/undergrad/financing/wue.html]UH”>University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa - Undergraduate - Investing in your future - Western Undergraduate Exchange)</p>
<p>If you are in California, the following state universities are indicated by [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) as having Chinese or similar majors:</p>
<p>Asian Studies B.A. (UCSB)
Asian Studies B.A. Comparative Asian Studies Option (UCR)
Asian Studies B.A. Concentration in Chinese Studies (CSUS)
Asian Studies B.A. East Asian Studies Option (UCR)
Chinese A.B. (UCD)
Chinese B.A. (CSULA, SFSU, SJSU, UCLA, UCSB)
Chinese, (East Asian Languages) B.A. (UCB)
Chinese Studies B.A. (UCI)
East Asian Studies A.B. (UCD)
Language Studies - Chinese B.A. (UCSC)
Languages and Literatures/Chinese, B.A. (UCR)
Linguistics - Chinese Emphasis B.A. (UCSB)
World, Language and Culture B.A. (CSUMB)</p>
<p>I second Oberlin (for the combination of strong Chinese/EAS plus merit money).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I am planning on making a list and passing it on to his Mom.
They are in California. Does anyone have experience with any of the state school programs? From the list UCBalummus gave he should be able to have some safety schools both academically and affordable.
I would like to also give them some smaller schools to look at. They see him more at a small school.</p>