Advice~

[feyla]

Okay everyone, I need some help here. I've got a few different options I'm thinking about for the future, but I need some other opinions on it. And please, do give me what you really think. I'm open to discussion; actually I really want some discussion in trying to figure this all out

Comments

[saralinds]

Saw your post in historygrads.

What is your ultimate career goal? You sound like you don't want to be a professor or go for your PhD. You're better off applying for teaching jobs with your BA so that schools will pay for your MA (usually education, not history/Asian Studies).

Wait for graduate school. People do come up with terrific topics. I've found that it takes MA students a good year before they figure out what they want to write about. I can't relate to it because I came to my MA program quite focused and "clicked" with my thesis topic by the beginning of second semester (at my graduate adviser's urging). I just read a lot. It's really my suggestion in terms of finding a topic and something that interests you. Read. Read. Read. Read footnotes if a particular piece of information in the text interests you. I read acknowledgments and introductions to get an idea of the author's thought and research process. Sometimes something that's said in a class discussion can spark your interest and come a thesis topic. I had a professor who switched fields (sort of) because a tiny footnote in a book that she had to read for a seminar interested her and she just got fascinated by it. There are so many different ways to get there and no one can tell you exactly how.

Also, you are correct that you need to have some grasp of Korean/Japanese for your research. I mean, if you only have English, you'll have a limited supply of research materials that you can use. A lot of graduate students in Asian history spend a year or two in Asia studying a specific language exclusively. Graduate programs really, really do like it if you can get at least one language under your belt. You can always use the other half of the day to tutor Koreans in English or do a conversational exchange with a Korean who wants to learn English and you want to learn Korean.

Good luck.

[feyla]

No, I don't think I want to be a professor. It's not that I have anything against teaching (obviously) but I just don't see myself getting a PhD and then researching and writing while being a professor.

Thanks for the advice on grad school. That's what I've been thinking of, but somehow it feels good to have someone tell me that it is a good idea to wait. I'm really hoping that I can find that thing that interests me and I don't really plan to go into a program until I have some idea. Because to me that's mostly what an MA is for, and if I have absolutely no clue what I want to research or anything, then I'll just be wasting time and money and pressuring myself to figure it out. So I'll go with your advice for now and just keep reading things. That's what I've been trying to do, as well as get out and see more so that I can find something that really interests me. I've written out some notes from things I've seen or read, but not really found that spark of interest yet.

And I definitely know that just having English limits me. It limited me enough with my senior thesis to know that I need to know more before I go back and have to do it again. So I'm hoping to improve my knowledge and I don't really know how yet, but I would like to spend some time in the country improving. I know from my previous experience how much of a difference that makes, so I'm hoping to do that again, somehow.

Thank you so much for your advice!! ^-^