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Admission and AidApplicationApplication deadline and notification: REESC ordinarily accepts applications for fall term admission only. Applications for admission must be received by February 1. In a typical year, most applicants are also looking for financial aid. Decisions on both admission and teaching fellowships are normally made by early March. Shortly thereafter, REESC will notify all applicants in writing as to whether they have been accepted into the program, whether they were awarded a teaching fellowship, and if so, at what level of funding. Applicants may occasionally be placed on a waiting list for funding. Applicants who have been offered funding are obliged to accept or reject the offer by April 15, in compliance with the Council of Graduate Schools' resolution on funding deadlines. In the event that an applicant chooses not to accept an offer of funding, REESC will offer the fellowship to the next candidate on the waiting list.Application materials required: The standard application consists of the following elements:
Where to send your application materials: Application materials need to be sent to three different places.
International studentsThe Russian and East European Studies Center invites applications from foreign
citizens. According to general university policy, international students are
required to submit a Supplementary Application and Financial
Statement for International
Students along with their application to the university. This form asks students
to report their financial resources, and the University often requests supporting
documentation. For example, students with fellowships from their home country's
government would submit a copy of the letter awarding the scholarship or loan.
Other students might simply submit a bank statement or an affidavit of support
(form I-134). University of Oregon is obliged to verify international students'
ability to pay for their educational and living expenses before it can issue
a Certificate of Eligibility (I-20), which is required in order for a student
to apply for a visa.
For further information about UO procedures for international applicants, see the International Affairs website, http://international.uoregon.edu/index.php/isss. US Army Foreign Area OfficersREESC encourages applications from Army FAOs, and is willing to make special accommodations to facilitate their study. First, while ideally FAOs should try to submit their applications during the regular admissions cycle, i.e. by February 1, the fact that FAOs do not need to be considered for financial aid from the University makes REESC willing to consider their applications at other times. Second, we realize that FAOs sometimes have schedules that do not match the academic year, and may, for example, need to enroll in the program in January rather than September. Because FAOs typically have outstanding Russian language skills and can continue their studies during the summer between their first and second years in the program, they should still be able to complete their program by June of the second academic year even if they begin a quarter late. If you are an Army FAO, please indicate this clearly on your application and in your statement of purpose.FundingFunding in the Russian and East European Studies Center is available in the form
of Graduate Teaching Fellowships (GTF), which are awarded on a competitive basis
to students who submit a GTF application as part of their application materials.
Because fellowships are connected to teaching duties, award decisions may take
into account both the applicant's scholarly promise and the applicant's suitability
for a teaching appointment. The duties and benefits inherent in a GTF are regulated
by collective bargaining agreements between the University and the Graduate Teaching
Fellows Federation, the union for graduate student teachers. According to these
agreements, each GTF carries the following benefits:
GTFs are also eligible to receive health insurance benefits for the individual GTF and at a subsidized rate for family members. During the 2008-09 academic year, the value of the health insurance benefit for a single GTF was approximately $818 per term and ranged up to $2,047 per term for a GTF with a family. Health insurance benefits for 2009-10 are subject to change, pending negotiations between the University and the GTFF. A "Summer Sandwich" tuition waiver is available to students who will not be hired as GTFs during the summer if they meet the criteria below:
Stipend for living expenses. The stipend is calculated in relation to the size
of the GTF award, which in turn depends on the student's teaching duties. Each
award is described as a percentage of a full-time position, which would be 1.0
FTE (full-time equivalency). REESC makes awards between 0.20 FTE and 0.49 FTE
at rates determined by the collective bargaining agreement. The rate for a GTF
at the Master's level at 0.20 FTE for 2009-10 is $513.82 per
month. The stipend level for a 0.49 FTE position for 2009-10 is
$1,258.86 per month. Frequently asked questionsQ: I am interested in Russian studies, but I have not had very much Russian. Is it worth applying anyway?A: Maybe. The requirement for the Master's degree is four years of Russian or equivalent fluency, plus satisfactory performance on a translation exam in your field of concentration. In theory, you could enroll with as little as one year of prior Russian language study by taking second-year Russian during the first year, third year over the summer (at one of many available summer language programs at other universities), and take fourth-year during your second year in the program. In practice, though, this would probably not enable you to finish your M.A. in two years. The stumbling blocks would be the translation exam, which requires a degree of reading fluency not usually attained until after completion of the fourth year course, and, more importantly, the M.A. thesis, since a thesis in Russian studies necessarily involves work with Russian-language texts. We thus recommend at least three years of Russian before entering the program, though we will consider applications with less than that. Applicants should also bear in mind that students with fewer than three years of Russian will not ordinarily be considered for a fellowship, since most GTF assignments involve language teaching. If you are interested in enrolling in the program and have only had two years of Russian, we strongly encourage you to take an intensive summer course before your arrival here. If you indicate your plan to do so in your application essay, we may consider you for GTF funding (contingent on submission of proof that you have actually enrolled in a summer program). Q: I am Russian, and am interested in applying to your program mainly as an opportunity to spend two years in the United States. Do you have any advice for my statement of purpose? A: It is only natural that one reason for applying is to experience life in the United States, and fluency in Russian may make you a strong candidate for a teaching fellowship. The main thing to keep in mind when you write your application essay is that this is a graduate program and not simply a cultural exchange. Try to demonstrate your intellectual interests and sophistication, since we cannot accept you for the program unless you seem like a viable candidate for graduate study. Your writing sample, which may be in Russian, can help here, too. One approach to the statement of purpose that has worked for applicants from Russia in the past is to identify your probable field of concentration within Russian and East European Studies and discuss the methodological and/or practical benefits of exploring that field as it is practiced in the United States. Contact usFor information about the program, write to REESC Director Julie Hessler (hessler@uoregon.edu). |