MASTER’S DEGREE

The Master of Arts (M.A.) Program in East Asian Studies offers a concentrated course of study designed to provide a broad understanding of the Chinese, Japanese, or Korean people, their culture, historical development, and contemporary problems.

This program is designed for students preparing to go on to the doctorate in one of the disciplines of East Asian Studies (i.e., anthropology, economics, history, history of art, language and literature including comparative literature, film studies, and theater studies, political science, sociology, etc.), as well as for those students seeking a terminal M.A. degree before entering the business world, the media, government service, or a professional school.

Each student, in conjunction with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in East Asian Studies, plans an integrated program conforming flexibly to particular needs and interests. The DGS for 2009-2010 is Peter C. Perdue, Professor of Chinese History.

The number of students in the Master’s program generally ranges from 6 to 12 students each year. Since students differ in prior academic preparation and experience, programs of study are developed according to individual needs and training.

The program is designed to be completed by successfully taking eight courses approved for graduate study by the Director of Graduate Studies over the course of one academic year. Normally, students entering the program are expected to have already completed the equivalent of at least two years of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language, so that the three-year language requirement can be completed in the two terms spent at Yale.

A program of study for completion of the degree in one year consists of at least eight term courses that normally include two terms of language study at Yale’s third-year level (unless the language requirement has already been met through previous study) and six other term courses selected from the current year's offerings of advanced language courses and lecture courses or seminars in any relevant subject area, with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Students must earn two Honors grades ("H") over the course of their two terms at Yale. Honors grades earned in any Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language class cannot be counted toward satisfying the requirement, except with the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.

As the East Asian Studies M.A. degree program is a one-year program, there are no joint-degree programs available. Students interested in pursuing additional degrees in the Yale professional schools should consider applying separately to those programs in order to complete such degrees before or after the East Asian Studies M.A. degree.

IplanYale
For more information on resources at Yale related to the study of East Asian languages and cultures, please visit the IplanYale website and select the region of East Asia when asked to specify your interests.

Please note that official Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences program information is available online at http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/. Official Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences course information can be found at the Yale Online Course Information web site, http://www.yale.edu/courseinfo/.

The application to the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is an ONLINE process—all policies, procedures, instructions, frequently asked questions, as well as access to the on-line application, can be found at http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/admissions.

The Yale University Graduate School Information Viewbook can also be viewed and downloaded from http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/prospective/index.html.

For more general information regarding admissions for international students and fellowship opportunities, please visit http://world.yale.edu/admissions/index.html. In addition, information regarding services for international students can be found at http://world.yale.edu/services/index.html.

PH.D. PROGRAM

The Council of East Asian Studies at Yale University does NOT offer a Ph.D. program. However, on occasion, some students will use the East Asian Studies Master's Program as a stepping stone to a Ph.D. program. Usually, this path is chosen when the student aspires toward a Doctorate, but is not certain of the field through which to pursue it. The broad-based nature of the East Asian Studies M.A. program allows the student time to explore before deciding on a specific field.

For comprehensive information on all departments and programs at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, please visit http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool.