Applying for a PhD Program in the USA after Masters in China as an American Citizen Feasibility

[Noah1]

Hello everyone, my question is regarding the difficulty of applying for a PhD program in the USA after finishing a masters program in mainland China at a top school such as Beijing University (北大).

 

A little bit about myself, I am an American citizen with a non-Asian background with a bachelor's degree in Business Management with a minor in China Studies from a public NY university. During my undergrad I became extremely passionate about studying the Chinese language and learning about China as a whole. I studied intensively for 4 years taking over 500 online classes, taking multiple semesters worth of Mandarin classes at my university, passing the HSK 5 exam, and making many friends using Mandarin. During my undergraduate studies I also began learning Korean. I studied abroad at Korea University for a Spring and Summer semester and I plan on continuing my studies in Korean on the side and later take the TOPIK exam. I am currently teaching English in mainland China while studying intensively on the side and immersing myself in the culture. My goal is to pass the HSK 6 exam and apply for a masters program relating to China or the Chinese language in some way. The topic of what I want to study is something I am still searching for, however I do know that I want to study using Mandarin as the base language for my masters program. My dream school would be to go to Beijing University.

 

I am slightly concerned with my prospects of potentially getting into a PhD program in the USA after my masters studies in China if I do go through with this route. My dream would be to potentially go to a top school in the USA for PhD study (Columbia, Harvard, Chicago, etc). I know it is a long shot but I think I might as well give it a shot. 

Does anyone here have experience similar to what I am planning? Will the colleges care more about my research and language ability rather than the school I went to? Will a school like Beijing University be accepted by academics in the USA? Also as a side question, do I realistically need to reach a high level in Korean and Japanese in addition to Mandarin (and probably classical Chinese) to get into these top schools in the USA?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

[Moshen]

I have an Ivy League Ph.D. and was accepted to two other Ivy League schools plus UC Berkeley for graduate school.  At that level it is not normal for someone to get a masters degree from one university and then go on to finish a Ph.D. elsewhere.  From what I know, your foreign masters degree wouldn't hurt you, but it might not count in the slightest either, because you would be expected to start all over as if you just had a Bachelor's, and then get a Masters and Ph.D. from the Ph.D. university.  At that level, Master's degrees are not really seen as a separate achievement, just a signpost of progress on the way to getting a Ph.D.

 

But actually, you are asking your question in the wrong place.  You should scour your networks to connect with someone who is actually in a Ph.D. program at one of your dream schools and ask them.  Also, look up the websites for those Ph.D. programs and see if they ever transfer credits from anywhere.  My guess is that they do not.

 

Best to get some reliable information on whether or not your thinking fits reality.

 

 

[Noah1]

Thank you for your reply, after doing some digging on current PhD students at top schools in the field of Asian studies and Chinese literature, I found there were some students (not many but I found a few) who graduated with a masters from China, mostly from Peking University. It seems as though you are correct about them having to "start over" at certain schools that I found, because I would see in their bio that they graduated with a masters from the school in China AND the current school where they are getting their PhD from. But then others seemed to have been able to use the credentials, my assumption is that is based on how well you conduct research while in China. Since schooling is generally made easier for foreigners in China, some students may take this opportunity to slack off and not do great research. Those types of students would probably have a hard time being accepted into schools in the west. 

 

This made me start doing some thinking about if I should just apply for PhD programs in the US instead of trying super hard to go to China. But in the end I truly feel that I want to study in China, even if that means I might lose some years I could have been working. At the same time taking advantage of my youth and spending my early years in China and maybe moving back later into my 20's or early 30's as I will be 24 at the beginning of the start of my masters.

 

My next step is passing the HSK 6 exam since I am currently only HSK 5. And thinking about what type of Chinese masters I want to do, whether that be Chinese literature, Comparative literature (I would want to try Chinese <-> Korean), Chinese linguistics, Classical Chinese, or Teaching Chinese as a foreign language. If anyone reading this has suggestions based on their personal experience feel free to let me know I would love to hear about it.

[PerpetualChange]

I'm an American who did my Master's in Chinese Language and Literature at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2010. This thread is timely, because I've been thinking about that experience a lot lately.

 

Originally, I had minored in Chinese during undergrad, and I found the opportunity through my Chinese teacher, who had encouraged everyone in the class to apply for the unique, fully-funded opportunity. 

 

I was kind of naive, and didn't really do my research, but basically just took my Chinese teacher at her word when she said that after getting my Masters in HK, I could go on to do a PhD back in the US, or Asia, or anywhere. The reality, as Moshen has eluded to, is that academics, especially at the PhD level, are kind of political. Changing where you're at is very difficult, and while I could have gone on to do a PhD in Hong Kong, I didn't want to because I still had a lot of things to take care of back home (my fiancé, ailing parents, etc). 

 

Before leaving Hong Kong, and freshly armed with my Master's degree from an HK institution, I got a job offer to teach at an international school which was opening a branch in China. But I turned the job down, because I really needed to go home. 

 

If I can give you one bit of advice... you seem a lot like me, 15 years ago. Unless you have some kind of inroads back in the US or the west in terms of how to continue your China study, just forget about coming home. Hopefully, unlike me, you don't have much tethering you to the West, and can just embrace the idea of a life in China and the affiliated territories of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. You may not know it yet (and I was incredibly naive), but your advisor and the others institution where you are doing your Masters at are the foundation you are building and the relationships you will need to get to your PhD, or your post-grad, or your job at the International school, etc... Back home, your Masters in Chinese won't get you much more than maybe some admiration and general curiosity from people at holiday dinners. 

 

Anyway, for me, going to HK was a bit of a waste, despite being a great experience, because I failed to understand what I was really getting into, and though I'll always treasure the memory of being there, someone else who had less waiting on them at home could have done more with the opportunity...  

 

Still hard to organize my thoughts on this topic, after all this time. I'd gladly talk to you some more on Zoom or whatever, if you'd like. Anyway, hope all this helps. 

[Noah1]

Thank you for your reply PerpetualChange. I appreciate you talking about your experience. I have been talking with my professors from my U.S university and doing research on my potential pathways. I still think a masters degree in China at a school like Peking University albeit quite lengthy being 3 years long, still would be able to provide me the time and academic freedom (not in terms of the writings but in terms of taking classes and having time to study other languages important to this field). At the same time I will apply for universities in the U.S for a masters degree and hope for an assistantship. The chances for assistantships for masters students are extremely low however it is possible and it does not hurt to try. If I get into a good school in the U.S for East Asian Studies with funding I will go there, if not I will most likely be going to Peking University. I think my chances to get in are probably quite high considering I am an American, as long as I pass HSK 6 with good marks. I take all honest feedback into consideration. I know this pathway might be slightly risky, however in this day and age especially in the humanities, I think I need to take some risks and believe in myself.

[PerpetualChange]

Yes, the chances are very low, but if you are willing to stay in China or Asia, and consider the options that might arise there, maybe it will be OK. 

Ultimately, I feel the same way about PhDs in humanities as people may feel about careers in sports or music. How much do you love the thing? 

Would you put it before personal relationships, things like healthcare, a retirement account, etc? What if future employment looked more like teaching high school at an international school, than a professorship? 

 

You have to be willing to consider and accept these possibilities, unless you are a trustafarian. 

Most other people in humanities graduate programs I met were trustafarians. I'm not knocking it. Good for them. In many ways, graduate programs especially in the humanities and other austerity fields are are designed for them - and not for people who need to work, and put food on the table for themselves and their families. You have to work harder if you really want it.