Critical Language Scholarship Program

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Paula

FYI! It never hurts to get a summer of language training in a foreign country, especially when it’s 100% paid for!

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Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program Summer 2011
Application Now Open

Deadline: November 15, 2010

The United States Department of State is pleased to announce the scholarship competition for the 2011 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program for overseas intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical need foreign languages. CLS institutes provide fully-funded group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to ten weeks for U.S. citizen undergraduate and graduate students. Students may apply for one language, and will be placed at institute sites based on language evaluations after selection.

Interested applicants should review the full eligibility and application information on the CLS Program website at www.clscholarship.org/applicants

Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, and Japanese institutes have language prerequisites, described at http://www.clscholarship.org/applicants.htm#prerequisites . The deadline to apply for the 2011 CLS Program is November 15, 2010.

Students in all disciplines, including business, engineering, law, medicine, sciences, and humanities are encouraged to apply. While there is no service requirement attached to CLS Program awards, participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.

To access the online application, or for more information about the CLS Program, please visit the CLS website at http://www.clscholarship.org or email cls@caorc.org .

Languages: Arabic, Persian: Advanced beginning, intermediate or advanced level Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu: Beginning, intermediate or advanced level Chinese, Japanese, Russian:

Intermediate or advanced level

Program Contact:

Malaika Marable Serrano
Outreach and Alumni Officer
Critical Language Scholarship Program
Council of American Overseas Research Centers
PO Box 37012, MRC 178
Washington, DC 20013-7012
Tel: 202.633.5005  Fax: 202.786.2430
http://www.CLScholarship.org

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Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs 2010

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Paula

This is a bit late, but in case anyone is interested, the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs is being hosted at Ohio State University this year in Columbus, Ohio. The event will be held in the brand new Student Union Building on OSU’s campus, and it runs from October 1-3.

If you’re interested in a road trip to Ohio, I believe that registration is still open, and the rate for student participation is $50 for the full three days, with $30 day passes available.

Why do I encourage you to go?

1) Because getting experience going to conferences is great preparation for any student who wishes to eventually enter academia.

2) These topics are awesome! Just check out the schedule (pdf format) and see for yourself!

3) Professor Leo Yip from Gettysburg College (my undergrad advisor!) is going to be the discussant for the medieval Japanese literature panel on Friday.

4) Yip-sensei will also be doing a short Noh dance performance on Saturday evening!

I know I’m going to be there! Even if you can’t go, be sure to wish him good luck and take a look at what the conference has to offer.

If you’re interested in other academic conferences, be sure to ask your professors about what sort come into your area and when. As a graduate student, usually your department will have special funds set aside just for sending students out to events like these. I was even offered the opportunity to present my senior art history thesis at a conference when I was still in undergrad. Though I couldn’t participate because of time restraints, I always regretted that I passed up the chance. Definitely take advantage of it if you’ve got it.

Be sure to check out the site and give Yip-sensei your best!

– Paula

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Don’t have a plan? You’re not alone.

Posted on September 21, 2010 by reedra01

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel and I am one of those students Paula mentioned who had no idea what she wanted to do senior year of college. With the aid of a combination of luck and constant vigilance (but mostly luck) I was able to find a very interesting job, but first a little background on my state of mind throughout college.

College = Freedom

I went to College with the phrase “free at last” in mind with no real idea of which direction I wanted to go in. I wanted to do “a little bit of everything” (classic avoidance of actually making a choice) and I was ready to sign-up for just about any class (Theater of the Streets anyone?) I arbitrarily decided to major in biology. I have always been interested in Japanese culture so I signed up for some Japanese language and literature classes. To be perfectly honest, I did not actually sign up for my first year college courses myself. I was in Thailand when the paperwork came in the mail. My mother filled out the paperwork after speaking to me briefly on the phone about what classes I wanted to take. I was far too distracted by the shiny lights of Bangkok to really focus on the conversation and I honestly felt like any classes would be great. Hey, it was college!! I was in! The hard part was over. (Naïve right?)

Choosing Japanese Studies as a Major

If you switched into Japanese Studies because you hated your 8:00am Biology classes with a passion and cellular respiration was more of a foreign language than Japanese, this is for you. I had no plan. I had likes and dislikes. After great deliberation (or rather one too many times of sleeping through Bio 112), I made the choice to follow my likes and I hoped that the rest would fall into place. Four years later, sitting in my chair at graduation, I realized that life is not one big Tetris game with a computer player at the helm. In short, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with my Japanese Studies major. I felt like I had everything I needed to get a good job but I could not put those things together to form a bigger picture.

The Facts

Despite having no plan, I did really well in college (this was my general goal and I had a lot of fun doing well in courses I loved). I studied abroad in Osaka for a year and had an amazing time. My Japanese language skills were decent, but not fluent. I had taken Japanese studies courses in the fields of literature, history, law, language, theater, music, media, architecture and art. I participated in many activities in college in which I had a leadership role such as Japan Club, Kendo and Residence life. I had a wealth of knowledge but no idea how to translate that into an actual job. What was my way of dealing with this conundrum? I did absolutely nothing. I waited. I decided to focus on my thesis and after I graduated I would think about the next step.

Decision Time!

There were two very big decisions that I was able to make before graduation. I decided that I did not want to go to graduate school immediately after college. I wanted real world work experience and I needed to know for sure that Japanese Studies was something I could make a living out of outside of the academic world. I also decided that I did not want to go back to Japan right away. I felt like it was more important to stay in the US because my grandfather was very ill and my family would need me to be close. So now what?

What do you do with a BA in Japanese Studies?

I started out the summer after graduation in a sort of haze. I got a job at a daycare at my gym. In the evenings, I looked online for other job opportunities, but I was getting nowhere. Here I was with a Bachelors degree and absolutely no direction. How do you find a job in Japanese Studies? I put my resume on websites, I considered applying for a government position but many of them required fluent language skills or graduate degrees (plus the hiring process is notoriously long). I did not do an internship in college and I had no connections in the working world. My father is a computer network engineer, a field I know nothing about and have little interest in and my mother is a teacher, something I might like to do but is not directly related to Japanese Studies (I didn`t have any qualifications to be a teacher either). My sole mission became finding a job that was relevant to my degree.

Finding a Job

This turned out to be more complicated than I initially thought it would be mostly because I had no idea where to start. After a month, I still had no idea and then I got lucky. A friend of mine had decided to do the JET program after college. She brought my attention to a job posting on the Embassy of Japan website for an administrative assistant position. The Embassy of Japan is located in Washington DC, a reasonable distance from my family`s house in Hanover, Maryland. The requirements for the job were basic computer skills, administrative skills, a Bachelors degree, excellent writing skills and familiarity with Japanese culture (no Japanese language required but strongly preferred). There were three administrative positions open and each one was in three different sections of the Embassy: political, economic and press. I know next to nothing about these fields but I was prepared to act like I did (yay Theater of the Streets!)

The Resume

The first challenge is getting noticed. A resume and a cover letter were required to apply. I had already missed the application deadline but I did not let that stop me. I sat down and wrote my cover letter right after I read the job description which was very vague. My cover letter was essentially a love letter to Japanese culture and I used it as a chance to really personalize my application and show off what I know. I related my experiences with Japanese culture and the facts that I play the koto and practice kendo. On my resume, I played up my Japanese language skills but I did not declare fluency (which would have been blatant fraud.) I sent my application in the next day and forced myself to remember that these things take time.

Seriously? You want to interview me?

Exactly one week later, I got a call from the Embassy. They told me that they were interested in interviewing me for one of the three open positions. I was shocked. I had convinced myself by this point that they would not look at an application that had been sent in late. I readily agreed to go for the interview. Next step, clothes. I needed business appropriate attire. My entire wardrobe was composed of free t-shirts I got in college and jeans. After a few nerve racking shopping trips, I finally had one outfit that I really liked and felt comfortable in. Before my interview, I made the mistake of hunting down other people who had interviewed for the position and had failed. This made me quite nervous because I did not feel like I was more qualified than them. I managed to set that information and my nerves aside and I was off to the Embassy of Japan in DC!

Next time I will talk about the general trials and tribulations of interviewing for a position in a Japanese work environment. I will share my personal experience and then some of the important points I have learned while working at the Embassy of Japan. The interview is a crucial part of any hiring process and it is stressful no matter where you have to do it. I hope that my advice will help to calm your nerves and make you feel a little more prepared for the very interesting experience of being interviewed Japanese-style.

– Rachel

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Rachel Reed graduated from Gettysburg College in 2008 with a BA in Japanese Studies. She worked as an Administrative Assistant in the Political Section at the Embassy of Japan in Washington DC for two years (2008-2010) and later worked as an Assistant Language Teacher with the JET program, in Gojome, a small, rural town in Akita Prefecture.

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The JET Application Process – The Actual Application

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Hakuba Jen

Hello Everyone! Jen C. here. I figured I should type something out about how exactly one goes about getting into JET Program, since it’s relatively fresh in my mind (though the nightmares have stopped). The JET website has big bold letters that say that the process might change slightly for 2011, so don’t take my information as law. Quadruple-check everything you do with the JET website.

First thing’s first. The JET Application process starts in October. Become very good friends with this website. You will be seeing a lot of the hastily thrown together layout. The very first thing you want to do is get to your professors or employers in order to get letters of recommendation (though don’t do this before the process starts). You only need two. I got one from my department head and another from my employer. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. I waited until the last minute to ask. You want to give them enough time to think out exactly how to best present you to the JET Program. Make sure you let them know that their letters must be in sealed envelopes and there must be one original and two copies in each envelope. Also make sure to give them this form, which should also go into the envelope. I had both of my references sign along the seal of the envelope for good measure. They should give you the envelopes so that you can send them with your application

Now that that nightmare’s out of the way, you can focus on the application itself. It’s a monster of an application, but thankfully you can fill all of the information out online and it will spit out a PDF file for you to print when you are done. SAVE THAT FILE. I suggest making a specific folder on your computer of all of the JET stuff you will need. You will need three copies of this (one original with your signature and two copies. You’ll begin to notice a pattern as we go). As far as the content of the Application Form, it really is just a bunch of facts and information (residence, jobs, major in college, experience, etc.). It will turn out being several pages long (double-siding is ok). What you need to focus on when it comes to selling yourself is next.

The next nightmare you have is the “Statement of Purpose.” This is essentially a 1-2 page essay (mine was two) about why you want to be in the JET Program and why they should pick you. Think back to when you applied to college. That’s what this is. What the JET Program is looking for is not a huge enormous giant passion for Japan (which might actually work against you in some cases), but instead someone who is looking to promote cross-cultural understanding and internationalization between your home country and Japan. When the JET Program was started in the 80s, new JETs in rural areas were met with stares from old people and perhaps screams from children. What the JET Program has done since then has allowed for people in rural areas of Japan to interact with someone from a different culture. Use this to your advantage in your Statement of Purpose. If you come across as someone who just wants to live in Japan and assimilate with the Japanese and not retain their own culture, you probably will not get in (even though there is really nothing wrong with doing so). You are to be the token foreigner.

Something else to consider with the Statement of Purpose is to list any, and I mean any, relevant experience you might have with teaching. I listed that I was a tutor for Japanese language and that I really enjoyed seeing people excel, no matter how long it took. I also listed my experience at a Girl Scout camp when I was in high school, when my group was in charge of very young day-camper. Put the most effort into your Statement of Purpose. You will rewrite it, rearrange it, delete chunks of it, but make sure there are no huge typos (like there probably are in this post). Send it to someone you know has experience hiring new employees (I picked my dad). They have secret knowledge. And take their advice, even if the changes seem trivial.

Aside from those three things, the other forms are pretty simple. You need three copies of some identification (birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers), transcript, proof of graduation, proof of study abroad, and your self-assessment medical form. These are all pretty basic to obtain. I used my passport, since my birth certificate lives at home with my parents. Your transcript and proof of graduation are available from your Registrar’s office and proof of study abroad is available from your Off Campus Studies office (it’s really just a signed note from someone in the office). The self-assessment medical form in included in your actual application and will be spat out in the same PDF file. If you’ve every been in the hospital for extended periods of time or have had a serious illness, you will need to also get a physician’s form filled out. This is available from your college’s health center or from any hospital for a small fee.

Additionally if you have certification for TEFL or TESL, include the certification. I do not, so I cannot comment on this aspect.

And we’re done! Sweating yet? When all of this has been completed, you want to put it in an envelope with 3 copies of EVERYTHING and send it (with one {only one} self-addressed and stamped envelope) to Washington DC. If you live really far from DC, I suggest sending it at least 1.5 weeks in advance, 1 week if you live closely. I sent mine overnight because I’m stupid and didn’t finish it until the day before. Get delivery confirmation and check the USPS website to make sure it gets there. JET can be pretty unforgiving when it comes to late applications. Alternately you could make your way to the Japanese Embassy and hand it to them yourself, but the mail system is pretty reliable.

Stay tuned for the next episode: The Waiting Game and Preparing for Your Interview, a two part-special!

– Jen C.

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Jennifer Cammarn graduated from Gettysburg College in 2010 with a BA in Japanese Studies. She served on JET Programme as an ALT and is teaching in Hakuba, Nagano, site of the ski jump, downhill, and cross country ski competitions in the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Posted in applications, JET, jobs, main posts | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Coping with Senior Year Decisions

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Paula

Hello there!

My name is Paula and I’ll be kicking off the blog with our first post. Just a quick introduction: Of those of us who graduated in 2008, I decided to continue immediately into graduate school to acquire my master’s degree. I’m currently attending Ohio State University for a M.A. in East Asian Studies. I graduated from Gettysburg College with my B.A. in Japanese Studies and a minor in Art History. I ultimately plan to get my Ph.D. and work as a professor in the field of Japanese history and/or art history.

As graduates, one of things we often talk to one another about when we look back on college is ‘how crazy senior year was,’ and how a lot of us had no idea how to cope with the stress and figure out how to take the next step. So from the perspective of someone who decided to continue immediately into graduate school after graduation, I’d like to share a bit about how senior year went for me, as it overlapped with the process of applying to graduate school.

I was fortunate enough to have a better idea than some students about what I wanted to do, but when senior year rolled around, I was very anxious about how to proceed. I knew I wanted to teach at a college level, but I had no idea what to expect regarding applications to graduate school. I’d never known anyone who went to grad school for the humanities (outside of professors, that is), and to me it seemed far above my current level of ability. I encountered a number of difficulties and major stressors that plagued me during my senior year. In general, they were the following:

Japanese Studies is a broad degree

This is both a positive and a negative. On the one hand, you know a little bit about a lot, so your general knowledge of Japan can be applied to any field. On the other, there is not necessarily a formal methodology taught in Japanese Studies, so if you want to apply to a program in a field such as history or literature, you may feel that you have an inadequate base of knowledge compared to other students. But remember, this is not always the case, nor the end of the world! You’ll be able to make up for this in your coursework at future programs, and not all programs are looking for someone who came out of the same field (literature B.A. to literature M.A. etc). Diversity of knowledge can actually be to your advantage, as most East Asian Studies related programs are looking for you to be able to do interdisciplinary work.

Picking a field of study

If you don’t know exactly what you want to study, this may make you want to tear your hair out. I literally had to sit down with my roommates and bounce ideas off of them for an hour about how to define what I wanted to study. Literature? No. History? Yes. Modern? No. Pre-modern? Yes.

I came up with something very general (Sengoku period history), applied something a little more specific (reflections of culture in the arts), and called it a day. Generally you can apply to graduate school with something specific in mind or something more broad, depending on the program. As I’ll post about in the future, there’s lots of flexibility when applying to and once in graduate programs.

Deciding where to go

Picking a school can be nerve-wracking. Are you limited by area? Price? Specialists? Grades? I drew up a list of twenty-five schools right off the bat that had reputable programs (regardless of location) and then started to collect information. If they didn’t have anyone even remotely related to my time period/field, I crossed them off the list. I also emailed professors at these schools with the basic question, “Hey, how do my research interests fit with your program?” and was pleasantly surprised by the number of encouraging and helpful emails I received. I’ve found that the Japan field has a number of scholars who will be happy to direct you to other schools if they think those schools might be more helpful to you!

Remember, it takes time to get this organized (and organization is key!). But it will also take a load of stress off your brain if you sort all of this info out in notebooks. I had so many emails flying around that I even started printing off hard copies of emails from different professors and putting them in notebooks (with a section dedicated to each school) for quick reference as well. This really helped me evaluate how to proceed when I was ready to and keep track of the info I already had.

Applications are time consuming

This is senior year. Everyone is insanely busy, we know. Personally, I had two thesis papers I was writing and a full course load during my final year, and applying to graduate school also consumed my life during the fall semester. Plan for this! Cliché as it is, start early and think about your timetable. I was looking up school info in August and September, and boy did it pay off! October was my big grad professor-chat-up month, November my application/statement writing month, and December application time! Remember, most schools have application deadlines for November to January, so you want to be sure you have time to talk to teachers, polish your statements of purpose, writing samples, etc., as well as get in teacher recommendations. The earlier, the better.

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Needless to say, with all of this on my mind my senior year was a whirlwind of paperwork and mild (and sometimes major) freak-outs. But the stress comes with the territory! Be sure to temper all of this with breaks and fun. Choosing a school and applying to it can take so much time that many people decide to wait a year or two before applying (though with the economy what it is, not as many people have this option anymore). But if you plan on going on to your Ph.D. directly or after your M.A., sometimes the earlier you apply the better, knowing you’re in the long haul for the next 7-8 years. The stress during my senior year was certainly high, but it WAS manageable. This was mostly thanks to friends and professors who helped me through the process (ask a million questions! frequently look to your advisors for advice!).

I applied to 7 graduate schools my senior year (a number which is not for everyone). At times I felt like I was going to lose it, but my professors understood where I was coming from and were kind enough to give me room to get done what had to get done. If you think graduate school is right for you, I suggest you think hard about when you want to go, and how applying to graduate school will affect your final year at college. I had a lot of frustrations, but definitely no regrets!

– Paula

P.S.   Let me remind you that you’re welcome to comment on this blog and ask as many questions as you’d like. We’re all here to help! Just comment or drop us an email.

Posted in applications, graduate school, main posts, senior year | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Welcome!

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Paula

As many of us reach the end of our degrees, we start to think about how quickly time is running out to make decisions about the rest of our lives. Are we going to continue our education? Get jobs? Go abroad? In Japanese Studies, sometimes it seems like we have too many options and sometimes too few. But usually, it comes down to whether or not we’re aware of what’s out there.

Some of us will have great advisors, friends, and connections, and others will have to go it alone and struggle to find our opportunities the hard way. But a good network and awareness of what’s there can ease the stress and be a great asset to a successful future. Those of us who have graduated want to make an effort to show others that the question your friends and family will ask you during your four years at college, “What can you do with a degree in Japanese Studies??” is not such a terrifying one.

Here we plan to post about ourselves, our interests, our search for jobs, our experiences in graduate school, what we did in college that helped make these things happen, and what we plan on doing with Japanese Studies out in the real world so that we can show you how many different options you have and how to get there. All of us are doing very different things with our lives, so we hope that we can help you figure out what’s right for you and give you advice as well as some resources along the way.

It may take a little time to get things up and running, but we hope you’ll tune in to see what advice we have to offer! We would also love suggestions as to what you would like to hear about. Feel free to contact us any time!

-Paula

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