Applying to the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures Graduate Program

Applying to the
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Graduate Program

***The Fall 2008 admissions cycle is now open and we are accepting applications***

Thank you for your interest in our East Asian Languages and Cultures program. All of the information about our graduate programs, including the admissions application, is now online, and we no longer print out paper brochures to send out. Here are some links that will help you get started:

General Information:

IMPORTANT - We no longer accept students who aim to complete only the M.A. degree. In principle, all students admitted to our department are pursuing a Ph.D. Students who have completed their B.A.degree only are admitted directly to the Ph.D. program and must complete an M.A. in the department before officially beginning their Ph.D. work. Students who desire an M.A.-only program are encouraged to consider other options at UCLA, including the International Institute's M.A. program in East Asian Studies: http://www.international.ucla.edu/idps/eastasia/masters.asp. We currently offer Ph.D. programs in Chinese Literature & Culture, Japanese Literary and Cultural Studies, Korean Literature and Culture, Buddhist Studies, East Asian Linguistics, and Cultural & Comparative Studies.

Department of Asian Languages & Cultures - http://www.alc.ucla.edu/ - click on "Graduate" at the top to access the available information.

Program Requirements for Asian Languages & Cultures - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/library/pgmrqintro.htm - The requirements for students entering in Fall 2007 should be posted by the Graduate Division soon. You can find summaries of program requirements for each of our graduate majors under the "Graduate" section on the ALC website: www.alc.ucla.edu.

UCLA Graduate Division - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/ Much of the information that you are looking for is probably within the "prospective student" section of this website.

Admissions Process:

UCLA starts accepting graduate applications for the 2008-2009 school year in September 2007. At that time, you will be able to fill out the university's application for admission on this site: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/applicat.htm.

After submitting your online application, you will need to send supplemental materials directly to our department. Detailed instructions for submitting these materials are given below. More general information about supplemental materials is available here: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/MTERIALS.HTM

All application materials should be postmarked or hand-delivered by December 1st, 2007. The application review will start shortly thereafter. We strongly urge you to send ALL of your application materials to our department in the same envelope. This will help us keep track of what we have in your file. Due to the volume of applications that we receive, we will not be able to notify you when we receive your materials. However, after you fill out the online application and pay the fee, you will have access to an online "application status page" that will allow you to see what the department has received. The departmental review of applications will take place during December, January, and February. Admissions decisions are usually made in February and fellowship offers for incoming students are usually issued in March. Admitted students are expected to accept or decline their offers of admission by April 15th at the latest.

On average we admit about 10% of our applicant pool every year. The amount of funding that we receive in support of fellowships for incoming graduate students can vary greatly from year to year due to budget cuts, department funding fluctuations, donations, etc. We do offer 4-year funding packages to several of our top incoming graduate students every year. And although funding has been tighter in recent years, we have been able to fully and partially fund a few international admits each year.

list of items that must BE receiveD for your file to be considered complete:

· Online application (Part A) - https://www.gradadmissions.ucla.edu/newapp/. Your application will not be considered complete until you submit your application fee. We urge you to pay the application fee by credit card: checks can get lost in the mail and can take a long time to be processed! You will not be able to see your online application status page until your application fee has been paid.

**Please also note when submitting the online application, your degree objective should be PhD and not the MA as we do not offer a terminal MA. All students admitted to our program are pursuing a PhD (although you can receive an MA en route to the PhD). If you intend to apply for an MA program, please look into applying to the East Asian Studies MA program if suitable: http://www.international.ucla.edu/idps/eastasia/masters.asp

· Supplementary Information (Part B) - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/MTERIALS.HTM Include the cross-reference sheet if you have used multiple names.

· Statement of Purpose (Part C) - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/MTERIALS.HTM Your application to graduate school differs from any previous applications that you might have submitted to undergraduate colleges or universities. Your personal statement must reflect these differences. Usually its tone and content are mainly professional rather than autobiographical. The statement should explain, in no more than four pages, why you have chosen this field and how you have prepared yourself for this area of study by previous academic training and experience. If possible, demonstrate your knowledge of the state of the field by mentioning specific scholars, books, and issues that have influenced your intellectual development and how you hope to contribute to the field's future direction. Sometimes it helps to mention UCLA faculty and resources and how they can help you achieve your academic goals. Remember: the best statements are highly focused and demonstrate that the applicant has a very clear idea of what graduate study will entail.

NEW: Noting the statement guidelines above, please ALSO describe any aspects of your personal background, accomplishments, or achievements that will allow the department to evaluate your contributions to the University’s diversity mission. This is extremely important for certain fellowships offered through UCLA so please try and address your potential contributions to the University’s diversity mission. For example, please discuss any academic research interests focusing on cultural, societal, or educational problems as they affect underserved segments of society; educational experiences that provide an understanding how to address the academic needs of underrepresented students, or evidence of an intention to use the doctoral degree toward serving disadvantaged individuals or populations. In addition, please describe any aspects of your personal background that might add to the diversity of the graduate group, such as experience living in bicultural communities, experience with barriers in access to higher education, multicultural competency, economic challenges, fluency in other languages, physical or mental disability, or other life experiences that will enable you to address the needs of our diverse society in your scholarly career.

· Three Letters of Recommendation (Part D) - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/MTERIALS.HTM Letters of recommendation should attest to the applicant's readiness for graduate study. The best letters are written by people who are both familiar with the applicant's intellectual abilities and knowledgeable of the expectations of graduate education programs in the applicant's chosen area of specialization. Ideally, they should honestly and frankly assess both the applicant's academic strengths and academic weaknesses. Letters from individuals unaffiliated with educational institutions (employers, for instance) may also be useful, but only if they can evaluate the applicant's scholarly potential.

Confidential letters that come directly from the hands of their authors inspire greater confidence than do letters open to the applicant or to third parties. For this reason, whenever you request a recommendation from a person who cannot write in English, you should ask the recommender to write in his or her native language; our faculty committee will take responsibility for reading and translating, where appropriate. A personal letter in a foreign language is of far greater value than a second-hand letter in English. In no case should you be responsible for writing or translating your own letter of recommendation.

Please have your recommenders send their letters with the cover sheet DIRECTLY TO YOU in SEALED envelopes signed across the back by the recommender. Include these letters in the envelope that you send to our department with the rest of the application materials.

· Writing Sample (Part E) - The writing sample is typically a scholarly work (such as a term paper or master's thesis) in a field closely related to the proposed subject of study. It should be a substantial (i.e., at least 20 pages) example of the applicant's skills as a researcher, thinker, and writer. It should demonstrate the applicant's readiness to undertake research at a graduate level: it might make use of original sources in an Asian language, or show mastery of secondary materials, or attack an old problem in an original way. The ideal sample would show all of these strengths. Your writing sample should be in English. You may submit additional writing samples if you wish, and additional samples do not have to be in English.

· GRE Scores (Part F) - Scores are usually submitted automatically and electronically to UCLA by ETS. Your online application status page will automatically be updated when we receive the scores. Our institution code is R4837 (UCLA) and our department code is 2601 (Asian Languages). GRE scores that are older than 5 years are no longer considered valid and we are unable to accept them. There is no minimum GRE score required to apply to our department.

· Transcripts (Part G) - Please include two official copies of all graduate coursework transcripts and the undergraduate transcript that shows the award of your BA degree. Include one official copy of any other undergraduate transcripts that you have. Transcripts cannot be considered official unless they arrive in our office in a sealed envelope with the seal of the registrar across the back.

International applicants - please carefully read the Graduate Division's requirements for foreign transcripts: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/ACADRECS.HTM. You are required to obtain 2 copies of records in your native language as well as 2 copies of a certified English translation and 2 copies of a degree certificate/diploma. In any case, it is very important that you submit 2 copies of every official document that is required.

· Fellowship Application (Optional)- You will have access to this online form once you have completed the online application (Part A). You are strongly encouraged to apply for every fellowship that you are eligible for. Here is the link to the Fellowship Application page for more information:
http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/fellproc.htm

If you are applying, please submit the Fellowship Application for Entering Students with the rest of your supplementary application materials to be considered.

International applicants should also submit the following:

· Confidential Financial Statement - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/antexp.htm While this is not required in order for your application to be reviewed, you are strongly encouraged to submit this with the rest of your application materials. In the event that you are admitted to our program, this will allow us to start processing your visa eligibility certificate (I-20) right away. The bank letter and confidential financial statement must be dated no earlier than the date that you submit your online application (Part A), or else it will not be valid. Here is more information on the visa process: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/VISAPROC.HTM

· TOEFL or IELTS - http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/ENGREQ.HTM International applicants whose first language is not English must certify their proficiency in English when applying to UCLA, and, if admitted, upon arrival.

Scores are usually submitted automatically and electronically to UCLA by ETS. Your online application status page will automatically be updated when we receive the scores. Our institution code is 4837 (UCLA) and our department code is 29 (Asian Languages). Please note that TOEFL scores are considered valid for only two years, and that if several scores are submitted, only the most recent is considered. Unfortunately, we are not able to admit students who have not achieved the minimum TOEFL or IELTS scores (see the Graduate Division TOEFL/English Requirements website).

EXCEPTIONS: International applicants who hold a bachelor’s or higher degree from a university located in the United States or in another country in which English is both the spoken language and the medium of instruction, or who have completed at least two years of full-time study at such an institution, are exempted from both the TOEFL/IELTS requirement and the ESLPE. Please be sure to include such information in your application.

It is also recommended that you be in touch with some of our faculty throughout this process. They will be able to give you more information about what is offered in your field and help you determine if graduate study in our department would be a good fit for you or if you should instead apply to a different department at UCLA. You can visit the main Asian Languages and Cultures website for a list of our faculty, their specialties and their email addresses: http://www.alc.ucla.edu/ (click on "people" near the top of the page and then "faculty").

We wish you the best of luck with your application. If you have any further questions, please contact Asiroh Cham or Emily Le, the Graduate Admissions Coordinators at asiroh@humnet.ucla.edu, emilyle@humnet.ucla.edu or (310) 206-8235.