HOW TO APPLY

The online application for the 2013-14 Academic Year is now closed.

Click here to read more about how to apply next year.

For general admissions questions, email us at CEAS-Admissions@stanford.edu, or call (650)723-3362.

Note: Do not contact us to inquire about your application status. We will contact you if any part of the application is incomplete. Admissions decisions are sent out each year in mid-March.

Admissions Statistics (Avg GRE etc.)

GENERAL M.A. DEGREE APPLICANTS (Not currently a Stanford student)

The application deadline has been moved up from previous years to early December, starting in 2012 for acceptance into the 2013-14 cohort. Students are admitted only for fall quarter for non-current Stanford students, but may defer admission under special circumstances. GRE scores (and TOEFL for international students, taken within the last 18 months) are required by the University.

In addition, the department requires a writing sample in English. Submit only the first 15 pages of a representative writing sample (seminar paper, term paper, honors thesis, journal article, etc.) via the document upload function in the online application. Do not submit more than 15 pages. The topic of the paper does not need to be on East Asia, but it should be a non-fiction academic piece. Subject tests, resumes, and other supplementary materials are not required. In some cases, an additional interview via phone or Skype may be required. If an interview is required, the applicant will be contacted directly.

Follow the online application instructions on the Stanford graduate admissions website, which includes information on what to include in the personal statement. Make sure to indicate academic interest choices specifying your region of interest (China, Japan, Korea, etc.) and discipline (Humanities or Social Sciences) via the drop down menu in the online application.

Please note that Stanford will no longer accept paper letters of recommendation, and applicants are expected to upload scanned copies of their transcripts to their online application (click here for more details). Official hard copies of transcripts are still required, and should be mailed directly to:

Center for East Asian Studies
Attn: Christine Liu - Admissions
521 Memorial Way
Knight Building, Room 112
Stanford, CA 94305

COTERMINAL M.A. DEGREE APPLICANTS (Current Stanford undergraduates only)

The Center admits a limited number of Stanford undergraduates to work toward a coterminal M.A. degree in East Asian Studies. Students must follow the regular application deadline for admission into the program and are expected to meet the same general standards as external candidates seeking admission to the program. Coterminal applicants do not submit the online application form--instead a paper coterminal degree application should be submitted directly to CEAS on or before the application deadline, and include:

A completed coterminal application form (download and complete all pages);
A written 1-2 page statement of purpose;
A Stanford transcript;
Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which should be from members of the undergraduate department of concentration;
Scores from the General Test of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE);
Writing sample as described above

Coterm applications will be reviewed along with peer applications by the M.A. Admissions Committee of the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS). Students must meet all requirements for both B.A. and M.A. degrees, completing a total of 45 units after completing the 180 units required for the Bachelor's Degree, for a total of 225 units. Coterms are not eligible for university financial aid, but are eligible to apply for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships administered by CEAS.