Job Discussion Forums

[BrilloPad]

Hi all,

I just applied to the Princeton-in-Asia program for a teaching internship in China: www.princeton.edu/~pia

Has anyone applied to this program or have any experience with it?

If I don't get accepted then my last resort is the Peace Corps. I want to teach in a more remote area in China, but I would prefer to go through an established program then head out on my own.

Unfortunately, my undergrad grades aren't so hot so that kinda limits my options.

Are there any other programs I should know about?

Thanks.

[dan]

why do an internship when you can get a job? internships translate to little or no money. dont be a sucker in china. find a job with a school. "are their other options?" you ask. yes, millions. schools abound, most if not all of which will NOT look at your grades. if you're a native speaker with a degree you can pitch up in most places and find employment. it might not be ideal at first, but after 6 months or a year of experience you can then move on to a more suitable school. check out Dave's 'international job vacancies' for offers all over china. again, avoid the internship at all costs. you'll be doing the same work as the rest of the teachers over there, only for free.

[dan]

One more thing that i forgot to mention: if the peace corp is your "last option" scratch it off your list. without trying to sound too idealistic, the peace corp is for truely dedicated people. ive interviewed with them and spoken with several 'agents' while in china. although im sure many of them have, in part, selfish motivations, most of them are superceded by a sense of altruism and charity. its two years plus 6 months of training. be absolutely serious if your going to go this route. the one good think about the organization is that they can sniff out the pretenders pretty well. i have an MA in LInguistics and several years teaching in foreign countries, attributes you would think would be good matches with the program. however, i got the sense that they were luke warm about me b/c they somehow knew i didnt have that certain sense of duty and moral probity they are looking for.

[Chairman Roberto]

Dan--

Moral probity? WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines...did the whole stint, 2 and half years of the weirdest job I ever had, or as we say in the PC, "The easiest job you'll ever hate." I don't know about "moral probity," given the drunken and drugged excesses I witnessed (and I'll plead the Fifth on my partaking ), but you're right, there is a certain degree of idealism that is needed for this almost zero pay gig.

Brillo Pad, please PM me if you have any questions about the PC. I'm not a recruiter...I'll give the pros and cons. But Dan is right...the opportunities are ENDLESS in China, and you can land a job almost anywhere here.

Dan, given your qualifications, I can't see why the PC wouldn't take you. I'm afraid, much to my shame and regret, that the notion that PC is extremely selective is just a myth. The reality is that they'll take anyone with a degree and a minimum of experience in community/volunteer work. The application is daunting, but filling it out is the hardest part of getting into the PC, no joke.

That's not to say there's no incredible people in the PC...I met some of the most amazing people during my service, miracle-workers in every sense of the word.

The biggest drawback for PC is that you DON'T choose where you'll go. I, too, desperately wanted to go into PC's Sichuan program, but I landed in the Philippines instead (despite my language and culture experience). PC, being a government bureaurcracy, hands out job sites in an arbitrary, sometimes irrational manner.

the Chairman

[BrilloPad]

dan, believe it or not, I'm not going to China for the money (who does?). That said, the "internship" does provides a monthly salary which I'm sure will be plenty to live on, just like the Peace Corps. And as I said I really want to go to a "less developed" area of China rather than places like Beijing and Shanghai, and I feel it would be safest to go through a program with ties to the States. And yes, I do feel that I have a sense of "altruism and charity."

But I realize Princeton-in-Asia is not the best deal around - I have to pay a $300 "intern contribution" and might not even get airfare. But the pros are that it is a reputable program through Princeton University, and I'm sure they'll take good care of me. Plus it will hopefully look good for whenever I apply to grad school, and I need all the help I can get in that area.

Roberto,
That is interesting and discouraging that you didn't get into the Sichuan program! Even though you had Mandarin proficiency and knowledge of China?! That is why I'm afraid to apply - I really don't want to go if I'm not going to China. I've come too far with my Mandarin to stop now, my goal is to be fluent. If I didn't get into the China program, then my last last resort would be to go on my own, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary.

Have you applied to grad school and/or do you feel like the Peace Corps will help in that area? I know PC has a lot of connections to grad school programs which is one of the reasons I'm thinking of applying.

[Diletante]

Go for the Princeton in Asia program. It'll look great on your grad school application. Just Ivy League snob appeal, but that counts for a lot.

You'll probably realize after a few months that you could have gotten virtually the same gig all by yourself, but maybe not. PIA will make sure you get a job with language study opportunities, and the $300 fee is nothing in the long run. It's pretty likely that you'll get airfare paid for by your school, or at least reimbursed after you finish your contract.

Peace Corps is too much of a crap shoot, you're likely to get an assignment to Thailand or Phillipines. They'll generally only promise you a region, such as Asia, or South America, not a country. Two years in Thailand would be great, I'm sure, but learning Thai is nowhere near as marketable as Mandarin, and after two years at third world wages, it's nice to come away with something valuable, even if your're not in it for the money.

[dan]

i wasnt clear, sorry. i wasnt rejected. and i guess i was a little misleading, too. i didnt have an official interview. i met with a recruiter who was less than inspired about my prospects. she came off as aloof and indifferent about my education, experience, prospects, etc. so, i shouldnt say that i was rejected - in fact, i never applied because the recruiter left such a bad taste in my mouth (not to mention -again- how she was more or less discouraging). after my meeting with her, a friend of mine suggested that perhaps she was trying to size me up. that is, trying to find out how much i wanted to join, how much BS i would put up with, how i would handle authority, etc. i didnt pursue it further, if that tells her anything.

[BrilloPad]

Thank you, Diletante, your post was encouraging. Now I just have to wait and see if I get accepted. I graduate in December and not knowing what I'm going to do is kind of scary. It's also hard to make future plans when I have no idea whether they'll accept me or not - ugh. Judging from their website they don't seem too competetive. That's why I posted here, I wanted to see if someone had applied to PiA previously. Surprisingly there aren't too many other programs for teaching in China through other major U.S. universities. I know Yale has one, but that is only for Yale grads.

[Anne-Marie Gregory]

BrilloPad....you should be able to get a reasonable gig on your own if the Princeton thing doesn't materialize. There will be plenty of decent institutions (including provincial unis) in the poorer provinces of China looking for employees in Dec/Jan/Feb. Obviously plenty can go wrong with mis-matches but there will still be a choice if you don't mind living in a small provincial city i.e. not a small town. Be aware that most jobs outside the big cosmopolitan cities are in what ,by Western standards, are grotty little cities with little obvious Chinese culture beyond the food and drink Outside the schemes you are inlikely to be in an idyllic rural location.

[Chairman Roberto]

Brillo Pad--

Peace Corps has direct connections to specific graduate programs in specific universities. Their website should list them (I think), or you can get that info from their office. The programs include nursing, urban planning, childhood education, and what not. You Peace Corps experience counts as college credit, and you're eligible for various fellowships in these programs.

I myelf am not interested in these programs, but I am hoping that my PC service will look beefy on the resume. I plan to go to grad school at some point, more than likely 2005. We'll see if that PC experience will help me when applying for scholarships. It can't hurt!

Roberto

[BrilloPad]

Bad news...I didn't even get an interview with PIA. My grades are going to hurt me worse than I thought, I suppose. I thought the rest of my application, including my essay and rec letters, were pretty good. Oh well....now I apply to the Peace Corps. Anyone know if PC cares if you failed a few classes?

This is not to discourage others from applying...my grades were probably much worse than yours. <sigh>