<p>Any suggestions from the MA holders 'round here on how to improve my shot for an MA at a top program in East Asian studies? I’m getting the typical broad strokes from administrators, so they’re not on my list of “go-to” people.</p>
<p>My GPA is good, got me cum laude. I haven’t taken the GRE, but I do well on those tests, and I kicked a practice test from here to tomorrow. I have tons of experience with East Asia both here and abroad, and will have a year or two more by the time I come back for my MA.</p>
<p>What else should I be looking at beefing up?</p>
<p>That’s what makes me wonder about all the kids on CC who feel they need to go to “prestigious” undergrad to get into med school. Almost all of the practicing physicians I know went to state schools; either undergrad, MD or both.</p>
<p>Audiophile - that is my drumbeat message, that plus you don’t need to go to a “prestigious” med school, either - it is all about the LAST TRAINING, which for physicians is either residency or fellowship. In fact, for lots of folks, money is the biggest arbitor - if you have huge loans, you can’t go to Harvard and do research on the immunologic reponse in mice - you have to become an ophthalmologist or ortho in some way out of the way area to get the big bucks to pay off the big loans.</p>
<p>By the way, I was recruited for a residency at Mass General out of med school - it is not the where, it is what you do when you get there, and how competitive the specialty of interest is.</p>
<p>UCLAri - Have you considered looking at the East-West Center grantee program in Hawaii? (<a href=“http://www.ewc.org%5B/url%5D”>www.ewc.org</a> - or maybe <a href=“http://www.ewc.gov%5B/url%5D”>www.ewc.gov</a>) - It is linked with the U. of Hawaii and if you are accepted as a grantee, they will pay for everything involved in your getting your MA or Ph.D. thru UH…(and I mean everything…airfare, housing, stipend, medical, cost share overseas fieldwork) What they expect from grantees is that they devote five-ten hours weekly working with research specialists in the different EWC programs which was a bonus to me! I know UH’s Pacific Islands program is excellent and I suspect their Asian, SE Asian, and East Asian is as well.</p>
<p>By the way, for those resuming their undergraduate/graduate studies later in life. I am the poster child for late bloomers and college drop-outs. I did not complete my BS until I was 27, my MA at 36 and my Ph.D. in my early forties. So cheers and good luck to all of you who are biting the bullet and returning to school. Actually, I am quite envious as I had the time of my life there once I finally realized which area(s) of concentration were of real interest to me.</p>
<p>UCLAri - addendum: The grantee program is very competitive (they accept less than 100 grantees I think and at least half are from Asia, the pacific rim, or the Pacific Islanmd region.) You sound as though you already have overseas experience which is a plus. How about a language? That’s be even better…etc.</p>
<p>I speak Japanese fluently, and I have some Chinese under my belt. I’m going to keep working on those two and get Korean started ASAP in order to get a good grasp on the Northeast part of the region.</p>
<p>UCLAri - By the sound of it, you sound like a good candidate for the EWC. By the way, the field work component is wonderful - I spent nearly two years away in several central Polynesian countries thanks in large part to thier largesse…</p>
<p>Spouse- BS-EE Yale
MD-Johns Hopkins
Residency- Case Western Reserve-Rainbow Babies and Childrens
Entire medical career doing public health service/Navajo,pueblo, now Alaska Native</p>
<p>I did not list the “Spouse” when I posted. Hmmmm, she may have had a “little” influence on this college process stuff…</p>
<p>BA: Sociology, SUNY New Paltz
MA: Behavioral Science, Univ. of Houston Clear lake
Ph.D.: Educational Psychology – Curriculum & Instruction, Univ of IL at Chicago</p>
<p>I have seen a lot of the Southern USA!
Native Californian
BS USC, Los Angeles
MA English University of Texas Pan American, Rio Grande Valley
MLIS University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg</p>
<p>Make that two for the University of Wyoming (which I think can honestly lay claim to being the highest institution of learning in the country - at over 7,000 feet)!</p>
<p>I have a real fondness for the University of Wyoming. In my first year of college an intro psych professor who was trained at the U of Wyoming inspired me to go into the career I have and love today!</p>