<p>I am currently a sophomore looking at applying to some MA programs in the United States in the future. I am an international student and I will need some type of financial support to afford everything if I get admitted.</p>
<p>I am interested in the variations of East Asian Studies MA at Harvard, Yale and Stanford and was wondering how I can better my chances of gaining admission. Here is my current situation:</p>
<ul>
<li>4.0 GPA at a university in the East Asian country I am interested in for the MA.</li>
<li>Recently started working as a research assistant.</li>
<li>Over 200 hours of teaching English in the country in question.</li>
<li>Engaged somewhat with different projects and people with ties to one or more of the universities I am interested in.</li>
</ul>
<p>By graduation, I imagine that my situation will look like this:</p>
<ul>
<li>3.75+ GPA (degree in economics, with most courses taken in economics and sociology)</li>
<li>One year spent at American top 10 university. </li>
<li>Some research experience, not necessarily great.</li>
<li>300+ hours of English teaching. This is related to the area I want to focus on. </li>
<li>Moderate to high proficiency in language spoken in the country of interest.</li>
<li>Has worked with some projects and made several connections with people who have ties to one or several of the universities I am interested in applying to. </li>
</ul>
<p>Any tips or comments would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Note that MA programs in East Asian studies in the US are rarely funded with non-repayable aid. Most US students who attend those programs pay for them primarily with federal loans; those loans are not available to international students. As an international student, you will have to prove to the university that you have the funds to completely cover the cost of the program (including living expenses) before they will sponsor your student visa.</p>
<p>Now, otherwise you look to be a competitive candidate.</p>
<p>I agree with juillet. I know that Harvard has one kind of scholarship available to international students, the Harvard Yenching Institute Fellowship. Perhaps the others have something similar. My D has just been accepted to both Harvard and Stanford, and Stanford offered her the FLAS fellowship. But that is available to US citizens only. She is still waiting to hear from Harvard about that same fellowship.</p>
<p>You might also want to consider Cal-Berkeley as an option. Their East Asian Studies program is considered one of the best as well, along with the ones you mention. Although I don’t know about Yale, my D didn’t apply there so maybe it is not as highly thought of? Don’t know, maybe she had other reasons for not applying there. Columbia is another that at least used to be very highly thought of in this area, perhaps it still is. I know she applied there, but she is focused mostly on Harvard and Stanford.</p>
<p>A proxy thank you on my D’s behalf, @juillet. She doesn’t have the FLAS from Harvard (yet!!). If she doesn’t get it, then Stanford is a no brainer, even if Berkeley came through with it. I know she was focused most strongly on those three schools, but I think Berkeley has been edged out, even if the scholarships were equal. I could be wrong, we will see when all the offers are in. I know the others she applied to (UW-Seattle, already accepted but no word on the FLAS from there; Columbia where she has heard nothing yet about even acceptance but they have the FLAS as well; Princeton & Johns Hopkins for their International Relations Programs where she also hasn’t heard a peep yet) are all pretty much off the table since she had Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley all ahead of them on her personal list. If she does get the FLAS or something comparable from Harvard, I know it will be a tough decision.</p>
<p>Are you a student in this field? Where do you attend university?</p>
<p>No, I’m in a completely different field - health psychology. I attend Columbia, and will finish up my PhD in June. My limited knowledge comes primarily from friends in the humanities (one of my closest friends, once upon a time, was an East Asian studies hopeful) and talking, and learning, a lot from other forums where graduate students gather. Typically I try to stay in my lane when it comes to answering questions about grad school, but given that CC has a dearth of humanities students answering questions I sometimes like to drop the little I do know (mostly about the funding).</p>
<p>Stanford’s a pretty cool “back up” plan to have in case Harvard falls through, so that’s awesome for her.</p>
<p>That’s great, @juillet. Congrats on your soon-to-be Ph.D. I looked up some of your other posts after I wrote the above, and saw that you are a bit of a generalist. However, you and I agree on almost everything(!!!), at least from what I read. I have focused mostly on Tulane (guess you figured that out from the icon, lol) for entering freshmen because that is where both I and my D went undergrad, but I wander into other areas from time to time.</p>
<p>And yes, I consider Standford and Harvard to be equals in prestige, name recognition, call it what you will, and more importantly equal in quality. I think my D does as well. That is why funding will rule on this one. After all, why in the world would she accept Harvard’s offer of admission if it costs her many thousands of $$ when Stanford will be free for sure? I believe they will serve her equally in terms of her career. We will see. Not an issue until Harvard follows up their offer of admission with some talk of $$.</p>
<p>Kind of a repeat of the undergrad process. She got into several schools that are more selective than Tulane, but Tulane offered a full tuition merit scholarship and the others didn’t. Given that the education at Tulane is very high quality, not to mention that experiencing New Orleans is hard to beat, why in the world would one spend $200,000 more, even for an Ivy? Obviously it all turned out pretty well.</p>
<p>Hey vulmer, this is a late reply but maybe you’ll come back and see it! </p>
<p>Harvard offers grants for tuition to MA students, I believe including international students, on a case-by-case basis. So if your stats are good and a professor wants to take you on, then they might offer you some support. There’s also, as explained above, the Harvard Yenching Fellowship which is offered to certain international students and pays for a lot. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about the other two programs. My understanding is that it’s unusual for universities to give grant funding for MA programs. You should look into scholarship sources from your own country as well. </p>
<p>fallenchemist - congrats to your daughter! If it’s not obvious, I’m in Harvard’s East Asia MA program and think it’s a great program BUT you gotta go where the money is and Stanford is also a great program.</p>
<p>Besides the possible limitations in terms of scholarships, would any of you have any particular comments about applying as a special student? I am not sure I want to spend two years, for example for the Harvard East Asia MA, but would probably be satisfied with one or two semesters. As someone who often has problems with standardized tests, this would allow me to apply to Harvard without a GRE score (should I not be able to get a high-enough score). This was just a thought and is in no way a path I have decided upon–I see it more as a plan B, perhaps.</p>
<p>Looking at my background, how competitive would you in the know deem me to be for these programs? I am thinking Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and as someone recommended, possibly Berkeley, etc. Do I stand a decent chance without strong research experience? Or would I do best to get into some serious research? Also, for one of these universities, I have a bit of a history in terms of working with alumni, taking continuing education courses there, as well as <em>possibly</em> being able to land a recommendation from an alumni from the same university who is a professor in the relevant field. </p>