korea taken by Prof Dafna Zur

Preparing the Grounds for Buddha's Birthday in South Korea. Photo courtesy of Professor Dafna Zur

Undergraduate Program Overview

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers undergraduate programs for students who wish to engage with the cultures of China, Japan, Korea, and the greater East Asia region as articulated in language, linguistics, literature, film, cultural studies, and visual arts. The major and minor programs seek to reduce the complexity of a region to intellectually manageable proportions and illuminate the interrelationships among the various facets of a society.

Students interested in pursuing a major or minor should schedule an appointment with Cyril Millendez, SSO, or asianlanguages [at] stanford.edu (asianlanguages[at]stanford[dot]edu), to discuss a tentative completion plan and go over degree requirements.

Undergraduate Degree Programs

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in:  

Required courses and pre-requisites must be completed with a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or better, and courses must be taken for 3 units or more. Please review the major requirements page for more information.

Honors Programs

Students majoring in East Asian Studies with an overall GPA of 3.5 or higher may apply for the honors program by submitting a senior thesis proposal to the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Assistant Director of Student Services during winter or spring quarter of the junior year. If approved, research begins the spring quarter of the junior year, or by autumn quarter of the senior year at the latest. In winter quarter of the senior year, students enroll in Senior Colloquium with other EALC seniors, and in the spring a Senior Research (Honors Thesis) course with their topic advisor. The finished essay (normally about 15,000 words) is submitted to the committee no later than the last day of classes of spring quarter in the senior year. Please review the honors program requirements page for more information.

Minor Programs

The minor in East Asian Studies (with subplans in China, Japan, Korea, and East Asian Languages) is also available. The minor and the subplans have been designed to give students majoring in other departments an opportunity to gain substantial introduction to Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, or Korean as well as an introduction to the culture and civilization of East Asia. Students should declare the minor by winter quarter of the senior year or earlier, and meet with the Assistant Director of Student Services (SSO) to discuss and submit a plan to complete the minor. Please review the minor requirements page for more information.

Internships

The EALC Department in collaboration with Stanford Global Studies (SGS) supports summer internships in the U.S or abroad. Applications may focus on any aspect of East Asian Studies - arts, business, people & society, history, culture, technology, and politics. The internship can be related to public service or academic/policy research. 

The overall stipend base of $5,500 - $6,500 per student. Preference is given to undergraduate students majoring in East Asian Studies. Applications are due in February each year. 

2022 Summer Interns:

  • Darren Hall, You've Got Pictures in Seoul
  • Youngyoon Amy Seo, The Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul
  • Zackery Edwards, Circus Image Works in Seoul

Read about our student experiences 

Application information

Advising

Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS): Dafna Zur

Peer Mentors