COVID-19 Update: To help students through this crisis, The Princeton Review will continue our "Enroll with Confidence" refund policies. For full details, please click here.

We are experiencing sporadically slow performance in our online tools, which you may notice when working in your dashboard. Our team is fully engaged and actively working to improve your online experience. If you are experiencing a connectivity issue, we recommend you try again in 10-15 minutes. We will update this space when the issue is resolved.

Overview

Many analysts predict that East Asia will soon be the most powerful economic force in the world, a very compelling reason to consider East Asian Studies as your major. Not any less compelling is the fact that East Asian Studies students also learn about many of the richest cultural traditions in the world. The art, theater, language, music, literature, and religion of the region are becoming more and more influential in the Western Hemisphere.


East Asian Studies combines language study with work in sociology, history, literature, and political science. Majors graduate from the program with a firm grasp on the culture and history of the region, as well as a command of at least one language.


East Asian Studies majors sometimes combine their studies with work in business, economics, or political science departments. (Alternatively, you can often incorporate an East Asian Studies minor into these majors.)

SAMPLE CURRICULUM

  • 20th Century Chinese History

  • Chinese Politics and Government

  • Chinese, Korean, or Japanese I-IV

  • East Asian Foreign Policy

  • East Asian Political Economy

  • History of Hong Kong

  • Introduction to Buddhism

  • Japanese Politics and Government

  • Postwar Japanese Society

  • Survey of Japanese Literature


HIGH SCHOOl PREPARATION

If your school offers classes in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, you should take them, but any training in foreign languages will help you become accustomed to the intensity of college-level language study. Courses in political science and Asian history will also be useful.