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Student blogger Cady Deck, Certificate ’19, shares her experience volunteer teaching at a local elementary school in Nanjing. This semester, I am one of four international students volunteering as an English teacher at Xijie Elementary School. I talked with Paul Armstrong-Taylor, an economics professor at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and our volunteer teaching faculty advisor, to learn about the school and how the volunteer teaching program began. The program started in 2010 when he and a first-year master’s student, “realized that many students were interested in volunteering, but because they were only at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for one or two years it was often hard to connect with opportunities.” They reached out to a major Chinese non-profit based in Nanjing, who put them in contact with a local elementary school. Although they began teaching at that elementary school, the school that students volunteer at has changed several times over the years. We teach a class of about 30 stu...

Student blogger Sam Olson describes a typical day at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.    6:30-7:20am: Workout with my roommate   I start off the day with a workout with my roommate, Adam Zhang, to get myself going and mentally prepared for class. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center has its own gym with an excellent variety of weights and exercise machines. In addition, students that apply for Nanjing University student cards can use the gym at Nanjing University, and there are private gyms nearby.  The Hopkins-Nanjing Center gym 7:20-7:40am: Breakfast  After working out, I head upstairs to eat breakfast at the cafeteria. The cafeteria offers good food at fairly affordable prices. Beyond the on-campus options, there are multiple restaurants on the main Nanjing University Gulou campus, as well as coffee shops that sell coffee, pastries, and small breakfast sandwiches at low cost. 8:00am: Review readings for my international politics class and catch up on homework Next, I head ...

Student blogger Hope Parker reflects on her experience participating in the China-Africa mini-course held at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in October. The mini-course was a bilingual course taught by Professor Joshua Eisenman from University of Texas at Austin and Professor Wang Duanyong from Shanghai International Studies University. Before I arrived at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I was curious about the different ways that international and Chinese students interact with each other. Bilingual events at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center are one way that students engage with each and take advantage of the unique fact that students have language skills in both Chinese and English. At the end of October, for the first time, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center offered a truly bilingual mini-course with course time split between the two languages. During the year, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center hosts professors from other universities, or from professional experts in the field, to not just give a lecture, but to...

Student blogger Sam Olson, Master of Arts in International Studies ’20, introduces the student band and discusses how it adds to the student experience and the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s mission.  Band playing at the Mid -Autumn Festival barbeque Outside of the classroom, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center hosts a variety of student groups that enrich student life, such as basketball, the dragon boat team, and moot court. Although maybe not as well-known as some of the other groups, one activity in particular that enhances the student experience and reinforces the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s cross-cultural environment is the student band. To get a better picture of the student band, I talked with Sam Smith (MAIS ’19, Energy, Resources and the Environment) who has been a member of the band for the since last year. Sam said that at its core, the band is a way for Chinese and international students with a shared passion in music to come together to relax, build camaraderie, and have fun. Although ...

We hear from many students that they are debating between applying for the Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS) or the HNC Certificate + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA. Both will prepare you for the next steps in your career, but there are significant differences in the study experience. Below, we have outlined the strengths of both options and we hope that this helps guide you in determining which program is the best fit for you. Master of Arts in International Studies The MAIS program is a great option for students who want to bring their Chinese language skills to an advanced professional level, develop strong research skills, and go into depth in one particular research area. Students spend two years at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, and this program is the only master’s degree accredited in both China and the United States. Coursework and thesis component Students declare a concentration from one of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s areas of study (Chinese studies; international politic...

For most students, the first step to applying to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center is to take the Avant Assessment’s STAMP Chinese Proficiency Test . The test is required for admission and it can help gauge which program is the best fit for you. Preparing for the proficiency test We often have applicants ask the admissions team how they can prepare for the Chinese proficiency test. The truth is that there is no formal study guide or textbook to help you prepare. The proficiency test is a content-based test that covers diverse topics and subject matter. It tests your ability to understand main ideas from written Chinese passages and audio recordings. This content-based test is reflective of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s content-language coursework in that you are tested on your comprehension, rather than your ability to identify specific vocabulary words or grammar points. The test questions are multiple-choice for both the listening and reading sections. There is a practice test available, bu...

Student Blogger Tarela Osuobeni, Certificate ’17, SAIS MA ’19, shares her experiences taking advantage of faculty office hours at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. “请进, 请进 (please come in)!” My professor enthusiastically welcomed me through the doors of her office. Today I had come to discuss ideas for my paper on death penalty law for my Chinese Constitution course. I wanted to know her thoughts on the law’s relationship to the Chinese Constitution and Chinese history more broadly. She directed me to a chair across from her and began to ask me questions about my project. She patiently listened to my reasoning as I explained my paper’s argument. When I stumbled over a few Chinese words, she was quick to rephrase my meaning in a way that made sense. During the hour that we spent together, her advice and encouragement sharpened my thesis and gave me the confidence to complete the paper. At the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I valued faculty office hours because it was an opportunity to understand mor...

During the first week of October, China celebrates National Day with a week-long vacation commonly referred to as ‘Golden Week’. Since it occurs at the beginning of the semester, Golden Week is a great opportunity for students to travel, explore, and make friends with other students at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. This year during Golden Week, lots of students traveled to new cities, took short trips to Shanghai and Suzhou, or went to visit old friends in other parts of China. I decided to stay in Nanjing and get to know the city a little better. Nanjing has a long history, and served as the capital at different points in Chinese history. There are numerous museums and historical activities around the city. Different groups of students went to Purple Mountain to see Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, to the old Presidential Palace, and to the Nanjing Museum. In an effort to escape the infamous Golden Week crowds, it was fun to explore some of the less touristy areas of Nanjing. The co-directors a...

For this week’s Wordless Wednesday, student blogger Cady Deck, Certificate ’19, shares photos of daily life around Nanjing.  Photos by Cady Deck, Hopkins-Nanjing Center Certificate ’19

Meet our new student bloggers in Nanjing! Sam Olson, Master of Arts in International Studies ’20, Cady Deck, Certificate ’19, and Hope Parker, Master of Arts in International Studies ’20, will be sharing their experiences studying and living at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center throughout the year. Sam Olson, Master of Arts in International Studies ’20 (left)  Hi everyone! My name is Sam Olson, and I am a first-year master’s student at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center double-concentrating in international politics and Chinese studies.  I graduated from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, where I majored in tourism and environment. I started learning Chinese in middle school and knew from early on that I wanted to pursue a major and career that allowed me to work with China in some way. I first heard about the Hopkins-Nanjing Center when I attended the Middlebury College Summer Language School. There were several aspects that drew me to apply for the master’s program. First, the degree is ...

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. We hope that these tips will help guide you through the application process.  Tip #1: Write a personal statement that clearly addresses your individual academic and career goals and connects them to studying at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. It’s not called a “personal” statement for nothing! Don’t waste this opportunity to tell admissions officers about your interests and career goals by rehashing your resume. Even if you don’t necessarily have a five- year plan, we are looking to see that you have thought out how you see the Hopkins-Nanjing Center as an essential piece of your future plans. In the past, we had one applicant write about lessons learned from playing ping pong with a Chinese classmate. Another applicant wrote about her experience at a Chinese rural hospital. We encourage you to get creative!  Be sure to write you...

Tarela spent a year at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center from 2016 to 2017 and is currently at Johns Hopkins SAIS to complete her Masters of Arts with a concentration in China studies.  Tarela and her roommate after the HNC graduation ceremony 欢迎你们来到中美中心的博客!  I am excited to share my experiences with you as a Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) certificate graduate and candidate for the Johns Hopkins University SAIS MA.  My Background: I was born in Nigeria and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. My interest in China began during undergrad at Duke University, where I studied political science and Chinese. During my time at Duke, I studied abroad in Beijing, Kunshan, and Suzhou. My China experiences challenged me to step out of my comfort zone linguistically and culturally. I loved my time abroad and wanted to return after graduation. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center certificate program was perfect because it catered to my academic interests (international relations and Chinese) and adventurous perso...