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Master of Arts in East Asian Studies

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East Asian Studies

University requirements for the master's degree are described in the "Graduate Degrees" section of this bulletin.

The master's degree program allows a great deal of flexibility in combining language training, interdisciplinary area studies, and a disciplinary concentration. The director of the center assigns preliminary faculty advisors to all students. Members of the staff and faculty are available for academic and career planning. The M.A. program is normally completed in two academic years, but students can shorten this time by receiving credit for prior language work or by attending summer sessions. Students are urged to complete the degree requirements within one year if their background makes it possible.

Applicants must submit scores for the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination. Foreign applicants are also required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Applications for admission and financial aid should be made online; see http://gradadmissions.stanford.edu. The deadline for submitting applications for the 2012-2013 academic year is January 10, 2012.

The requirements for the M.A. in East Asian Studies are as follows:

Language Requirement—Students must complete the equivalent of Stanford's first three years of language training in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Students entering the program without any language preparation should complete first- and second-year Chinese, Japanese, or Korean within the first year of residence at Stanford. This necessitates completing a summer language program. Language courses taken at Stanford must be for letter grades.

The language requirement may be satisfied in part or in full by placing into an appropriate Stanford language class through the language proficiency exam given by the Language Center. Students who fulfill this minimum three-year language requirement before completing other requirements are encouraged to continue language study, or take courses in which Chinese, Japanese, or Korean are used, for as long as they are in the program. Language courses above the third-year level may be applied to the Area Studies requirement discussed below. Please note that the language used to meet the three year language proficiency requirement should match the student's country of focus. Students in the M.A. program are also eligible to apply for the Inter-University language programs in Beijing and Yokohama. Work completed in one of these programs may be counted toward the M.A. degree's language requirement. Language courses are listed in the bulletin under the following subject codes on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site: CHINLANG, JAPANLNG, and KORLANG.

Area Studies Requirement—Students must complete the 1-unit core course, EASTASN 330, and at least nine additional courses related to East Asia numbered 100 or above for a minimum total of 46 units (including the 1-unit core course). These nine courses must be 3 or more units each, and taken for a letter grade. At least 23 units must be designated primarily for graduate students, typically at the 200-300 levels. As training in research methodologies and demonstrated research ability in a specific discipline are integral parts of the program, students are required to build a concentration by either taking three of the nine courses within a single department, or taking three of the courses built around a specific theme across several departments. Some examples of courses built around a theme are as follows:

Sample Theme 1

Sample Theme 2

Sample Theme 3

At least one of the three concentration courses must be a graduate-level seminar, colloquium, or advanced course which requires a research paper on East Asia. The six additional area studies courses may be taken in departments of the student's choosing so long as the courses are focused on East Asia. Some theory-oriented or methodological courses may be used to meet part of these requirements provided they are demonstrably useful for understanding East Asian problems. Language courses numbered 100-199 do not count toward the nine courses required for the degree. Credit toward the area studies requirement is not given for courses taken before entering the M.A. program, however students may take courses for exchange credit at the University of California, Berkeley, with the approval of their adviser and the Office of the University Registrar.

M.A. Thesis Requirement—A master's thesis, representing a substantial piece of original research, should be filed with the center's program office as part of the graduation requirements. With the adviser's approval, the master's thesis requirement may be satisfied by expanding a research paper written for an advanced course.

Because East Asian Studies is an interdisciplinary major, the majority of the courses that apply towards the degree are listed under other departments. In addition to courses listed under the EASTASN subject code, students should check the list below, as well as on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses site for courses in other departments that will meet the degree requirements for East Asian Studies; such departments include Anthropology, East Asian Languages and Cultures, History, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology.

To meet requirements for the master's degree, students must take courses at the 100 level or above, and at least 23 units at the 200 level or above. In general, M.A. students should register for classes with the higher course number (for example, graduate students should register for ANTHRO 282 and undergraduates should register for ANTHRO 82 if the class is open to both graduate students and undergraduates). Please note that some of the courses listed are intended for undergraduates only (courses below 100, and courses with "OSP" catalog numbers) and are meant to be applied to the East Asian Studies minor or B.A. degrees, not the East Asian Studies M.A. degree. Not all courses offered by other departments that have East Asia content may be listed below or on the CEAS web site. If there is a course not listed here that has East Asia content, check with the Center for East Asian Studies to verify whether or not it can be used to fulfill the degree requirements.

The following course list represents courses that may, with the advisor's approval, be used to fulfill degree requirements (please see the Law School or GSB web sites for instructions on how to enroll in their courses):

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