Here's what our alumni say about the program:
"The East Asian Studies MA program challenged and stretched me in new ways academically, giving me a well-rounded foundation in the history, literature, and art of East Asia - all while improving my Chinese! The wider cultural perspective gained from my time at OSU has served me well both personally and professionally. Finally, the EAS faculty and staff were always willing to help and answer questions. I never felt like I was bothering them and they seemed genuinely interested in my personal and academic well-being."
-Chad Berry, Class of 2014, specialization in Chinese history and Sino-U.S. relations
"Our East Asian Studies program is built on a foundation of dedicated faculty and staff as well as enthusiastic students. I've never felt the pressure of competition among my superiors or cohorts. Everyone works together as a community to help us individualize our programs of study, which means we get the structure needed to complete our degrees combined with the flexibility to focus on what best suits our interests and research. It's hard to imagine finding this kind of support anywhere else."
-Paula Curtis, Class of 2011, specialization in Japanese history and women's studies
"The EAS MA program allowed me the independence to clarify and develop my research interests, while simultaneously providing a framework of diverse course offerings befitting an area studies program. The program is interdepartmental, granting students access to Ohio State’s considerable array of course offerings and instructors in fields from linguistics to agricultural sciences and everything in between. My experiences in the program left me feeling focused, but well-rounded academically."
-Francesco DiMarco, Class of 2017, specialization in Chinese history
"As someone whose ultimate goal was to enter a PhD program, the EAS MA program provided an excellent way to bridge the gap between the skills I had after graduating college and the skills I needed to pursue my PhD. In particular, the focus on language training and the flexibility to choose courses based on my interests prepared me for future graduate work and fulfilled my intellectual curiosity. I felt supremely lucky to combine Japanese language training (in both modern and traditional Japanese) with classes that would normally fall outside of an East Asian Studies program, like courses on Folklore theory and fieldwork methods. Because graduate school is about deepening your knowledge in a particular subject, I think it is unique to find a program that both provides you the opportunity to focus as well as the freedom to explore."
-Alexander Jania, Class of 2015, specialization in Japanese history and folklore
"My favorite aspect of the EAS MA program was its curricular variety. With its diverse course offerings in disciplines across the academic spectrum, the program suited my own interests, which are relatively varied as well. Not many other MA programs would have allowed me to study ancient Chinese music and politics of the developing world during the same quarter!"
-Ken Marotte, Class of 2010, specialization in Inter-Asian politics
“When people ask me where I am from, and I tell them that I moved to Ohio from California, I always get the same question, “Why leave San Diego to move to Ohio?” And I always answer them the same way, “Because the East Asian Studies program is awesome!” It was a big decision, moving halfway across the country, but I have never regretted it. I have found the program, the school and all the people—students, faculty and staff—to be wonderful.
When I first arrived at OSU, my goal was to bring my knowledge of Chinese up as far as possible as quickly as possible. Luckily, at The Ohio State University, the Chinese program offers intensive classes that allowed me to fit two years of Chinese learning into one incredibly intense academic year. Then, after nine months of study, I was accepted into the summer intensive Chinese language course, offered in Qingdao, China. The experience of studying Chinese while living in China for two months has been invaluable to my studies and to me as a person.”
-Shana Lear, Class of 2009, specialization in history of the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties
"The real strength of the East Asian Studies program was the one-on-one attention I received from the faculty and staff across a variety of disciplines, from history and literature to environmental science and rural sociology. The encouragement I received to explore different methodologies has been important for both my professional and personal development, and was a key reason I was accepted into a competitive Ph.D. program following graduation."
-Spencer Stewart, Class of 2015, specialization in Chinese agricultural development and history