Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Cady was at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center last year and is now at Johns Hopkins SAIS to complete her Master of Arts (MA) with a concentration in China Studies.   Weekend trip to Huangshan Hello everyone! My name is Cady Deck and I’m a returning blogger for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) this year. I completed my HNC certificate last year and am now completing my MA at Johns Hopkins SAIS. I graduated from The George Washington University (GW) in 2018, where I double majored in international affairs and political science and minored in Chinese. I’m excited to be back in DC this year to complete my MA! As a China Studies concentrator, I can graduate this May instead of next December if I give myself a slightly heavier workload each semester. I am currently enrolled in five classes, which keeps me busy but not too busy.  Last year I made many great friends, both Chinese and international, and engaged in a variety of activities, such as volunteer teaching, competing in the a...

As application season gets underway, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center admissions team has compiled our top tips to keep in mind as you start your application  for the upcoming academic year. We hope that these tips will help guide you through the application process.  Tip #1: Consider taking the Chinese proficiency (STAMP) test early You can take the  Chinese proficiency exam  any time before our February 1 admissions deadline, but we generally recommend taking the test when you first begin your application. Keep in mind that you can only take the test once every three months.  After you take the exam, the admissions office will notify you of your results within two business days. We will provide you with a breakdown of your score and let you know which programs would be the best fit for you. If you score lower than our recommended scores, we will also let you know if we advise you to continue your Chinese language studies throughout the year and over the summer. Ti...

Name: Randall Telfer Program:   HNC Certificate + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA Hometown: Avon, CT Undergraduate Institution and Major: Hamilton College, Chinese Language and World Politics Tell us about your background and how you became interested in China. My interest in China came from the early years of my training in martial arts. When I was about six years old, my mother wanted to learn how to defend herself and took me along to martial arts classes. I remember the instructor incorporating East Asian philosophical concepts into his teaching, which seemed to resonate in my young mind. Years later as a teenager, I became infatuated with Jackie Chan and his movies and daydreamed about becoming a part of his stunt team, endearingly referred to as the 成家班. I figured that, as a foreigner, being able to speak Chinese might improve my already slim chances of that happening. But once I actually started learning Chinese, I developed a passion for the language itself that surpassed my...