The RSEA program ordinarily entails two full years in residence, although the minimum GSAS requirement for A.M. candidates is one year of full-time residence, at the high tuition rate. During that time students must follow an RSEA-approved plan of study, consisting of at least eight half-courses which satisfy the basic East Asian course requirements (as defined below); meet the required tuition costs; and work to the standards of satisfactory progress defined by GSAS, maintaining at least a B-grade course average.

After the first year of residence, a small minority of RSEA students choose — with the prior approval of the Committee Chairman — to spend a year away from campus, as a Traveling Scholar or on a leave of absence, and then return to complete the program.

One-Year A.M. Degree

In rare cases, students with substantial language and East Asian studies background may submit a petition to the Committee to complete the requirements for the degree in a single year or, more commonly, in three semesters.Through a longstanding agreement, Harvard Law School students may cross-register after their first year of study for a number of FAS East Asian courses and are permitted to interrupt their Law School studies for one year in order to earn a master's degree in the RSEA program. Officers of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, who are already proficient in the language of their country of specialization (China or Korea) as well as having native Japanese fluency, are normally permitted only one year to complete the degree and have regularly been able to do so.

Students intending to complete the A.M. degree in one year must have the express permission of the RSEA Committee Chairman, which should be sought by petition at the beginning of the academic year. This petition should be accompanied by a list of courses which the student plans to take during the academic year, and the student must ensure that all eight courses qualify to count towards the basic RSEA-approved East Asian course requirements (and should therefore not include RSEA 310).