Application Guidelines

All applications are submitted through the Graduate School website, which includes complete information on the application requirements and a link to apply online. The application deadline for all students is December 1 of the preceding academic year.

Admission is highly competitive, as the Department can only accept a fraction of its applicants. An admission committee selects a long list of deserving candidates, whose applications are then reviewed and ranked by the entire faculty. The selection is based on academic records, intellectual promise, and fit with the expertise of EAS faculty. We enroll domestic and international students from both B.A. and M.A. programs.

The Graduate School notifies admitted students in late February or early March.

Students are admitted directly to the Ph.D. program. Students leaving the University without completing the program may still be awarded the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree if they satisfactorily completed all pre-General Examination coursework, including language requirements, and at least two graduate seminar research papers involving substantial use of original sources.

Financial Support

Students generally receive a five-year fellowship from the Graduate School, covering tuition, health care, and a monthly stipend. After completing their dissertation prospectus defense, usually in the third year, students are encouraged to apply to outside grants to sponsor archival or field research abroad. In addition, the East Asian Studies Program offers competitive dissertation write-up funding for a sixth year of study after the Graduate School fellowship is exhausted.

The Ph.D. program in East Asian Studies is language-intensive. Applicants for admission to the Department are expected to have a proficiency in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean equivalent to three academic years of training. The Department currently offers financial support to incoming Ph.D. students to participate in approved domestic and international language-study programs during the summer before their official enrollment. The Director of Graduate Studies helps admitted students to find appropriate programs.