PhD East Asian Studies at University of California, Irvine

Programme overview

The Department offers a Ph.D. program in East Asian Studies, with specializations in Chinese, Japanese, and East Asian Cultural Studies. The M.A. may be awarded to Ph.D. students in progress toward the doctoral degree. The graduate program emphasizes rigorous training in language and textual analysis, with equal attention given to the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of literary study.

Faculty: School of Humanities | Study mode: full-time | Location: Irvine, CA, United States

What you will study

In addition to more traditional vocabularies of criticism and theory, the curriculum encourages exploration of recent challenges to established conceptual and methodological frameworks.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

In addition to meeting the general requirements for admission to graduate study at UCI, specified by the Graduate Division, all students must present the following for review by an admissions committee composed of members of the faculty in East Asian Studies: records of prior scholastic performance, including all college transcripts; three letters of recommendation; and samples of written work. Although the Department does not require entering students to have received an undergraduate degree comparable to its own, it recommends as much preparation in an East Asian language as possible. It also welcomes applications from students whose language training may not be as extensive but who have shown promise in the study of related disciplines.

Domestic applicants: USD 13,722 a year (2026-27). Graduate tuition (resident rate) from the standard Graduate/Credential Student Fees schedule for state-supported graduate degree programmes; the page does not list programmes by name, so this is the standard graduate band. Tuition line only; excludes Stud Source

Graduate applications are submitted online through the UCI graduate application portal; the non-refundable application fee is $135 for U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. permanent residents and $155 for all other applicants. Deadlines are set by each programme. GRE is required by some programmes only; TOEFL or IELTS English proficiency is required of graduate applicants unless waived.

Apply through the official page: https://grad.uci.edu/admissions/

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