From Global Studies Undergrad to East Asian Studies PhD Candidate
Introduction
Jordan* was an only child, and he had always thrived in environments with smaller social circles. He attended a small private elementary school and then a large public high school. Attending a large high school didn’t allow Jordan to receive the extra attention that he needed for his mild dyslexia, and he became uninspired. With parents who attended college 30 years ago and with no older siblings to lead the way, Jordan didn’t have much guidance in choosing his undergraduate path. Even though Jordan ended up at a large public university with 30k+ undergraduate students, he benefitted from smaller classes because of his chosen areas of study: Global and East Asian Studies. It turns out not many people want to study Asian languages, even at large universities with 30k+ students! Outside of his core coursework, Jordan’s classes had only 10-20 students. Jordan maintained high grades and looked forward to digging deeper into his chosen disciplines in graduate school. This time, Jordan reached out to me to help guide him through the process of finding and applying to suitable graduate programs. Jordan’s only requirement other than his chosen area of study was that it be near a coastal area, since he had grown up next to the ocean his entire life. Jordan spent his free time sailing and working on campus in the Language Lab.
*(name has been changed for confidentiality purposes)
Methodology
First, we began by exploring different areas of study within Jordan’s realm of interests. Did he want to study government? Politics? Socioeconomics? Art, culture, and literature? We went through his coursework from his undergraduate program and discussed the highlights and lowlights. We also assessed his language skills, since many programs in Asian studies require a minimum level of language proficiency in an Asian language.
Solution
Since Jordan had spent a year abroad living and studying in a monastery in mainland China, his Mandarin was quite fluent. In addition, he spent one summer volunteering with a Christian organization in Japan, so his Japanese fluency was also rather high. After looking through many specializations within East Asian Studies programs, Jordan decided his preferences were history, religion, and film. Even though most of the programs that attracted Jordan were test-score-optional, he decided to study for the GRE anyway because his most favored program choices were also highly competitive. In addition, Jordan reached out to professors via email to ask about research opportunities, teaching methodologies, specialized institutes at the universities, and overall program emphases.
Results
After reaching out and talking to program directors and professors, Jordan had a much better feel for the behind-the-scenes activities of each place that appealed to him. Jordan continued his GRE study for 6 months and achieved a high score. Jordan applied to 7 schools and gained admission to 6. It was hard for him to decide, but after we looked over his options, Jordan ended up picking a program that allowed him to complete his master’s degree and continue directly into his PhD work. The program would take him around 6-7 years to complete, but when he was done, he would have both a Master’s degree and a PhD. The Master’s degree would allow him the opportunity to teach college-level courses in southeast Asia during the summers while he was working on his PhD.
