<p>I'm trying to decide on what kind of graduate program I should be applying for based on the kind of work I want to do. Little bit of background: I majored in East Asian studies and biology in undergrad but eventually found that my true interests lie more with the former degree. I've been learning Korean for 3 years and am about to finish a one year contract teaching English at a school near Seoul, after which I plan on enrolling in a Korean language school before heading home to attend graduate school. I'm interested in using my knowledge of the Korean language and culture in my future career, though I haven't quite decided on what I want that to be yet. </p>
<p>My future-brother-in-law, who has a master's in Russian literature and now works in the government, has told me to stay away from a broad international studies program, but also that a degree too focused (Korean studies) might limit my job opportunities, especially in government work. Is he right/ any advice on what type of degree I might want to pursue given my interests?</p>
<p>If you don’t know what you want your future career to be, then you should decide that before you head home to attend graduate school.</p>
<p>There are a lot of different ways you can use Korean language in a career. You could teach Korean language/literature/culture as a professor; you could be a Korean interpreter for a government agency; you could work as a foreign service officer; you could do security work for a private defense contractor; you could continue to teach English in Korea…the possibilities are vast in number, but each of these things could require a slightly different degree. So I think you should probably figure out the universe of jobs in which you are interested first, and then decide what you want to do a master’s in.</p>
<p>You may be interested in an MPA (if you are interested in public/government type work), or an MBA (if you want to use your Korean language skills in international business), or an MIA (if you want to do international relations/affairs work - I disagree that a general international studies degree is too broad, although it depends on where you go and what you plan to do afterwards), or an MPP (if you want to do public policy work) or an MPH (if you want to do public health works in Korea) or an MA in Korean literature (if you want to teach Korean)…do you see where I’m going with this? It really just depends on your interests and what you want to do.</p>