spasticbean

Hello hello again! More questions for you... First of all, I'm thinking at this point I want to get my MA in Middle Eastern studies in order to boost my chances at getting into a top PhD program. I was looking at University of Arizona's MA in Middle Eastern studies and was a little surprised to see it was 3 years, which seems pretty unusual for an MA program. I know it's only one extra year, but that turns me off a little bit. How good is UA's program? Is it worth that extra year? It also looks like they provide funding for Masters students - can anyone who goes there fill me in on how much funding (full, partial, etc) the average student gets? Thank you for your help.

I'd like to apply for a Fulbright research grant next year and have been mulling over some possible research topics. I've come up with a few good ideas that I think I could develop into some interesting projects. However, the country I would like to apply to (Turkey) is very sensitive about some issues - the issues I would like to research incidentally. I'm afraid that - since Turkish ed officials get final say on who gets the award - my app will be tossed aside no matter what and I'll be shooting myself in the foot. Am I being too paranoid about this? Should I go for one of the more controversial subjects or stick to neutral territory?

I hadn't bothered looking at METU for grad - I don't know much about their liberal arts programs, but I understand they're pretty well respected as a tech school. I'm definitely looking abroad for my Masters though - Leiden, Bo?azi

Thank you all for the advice! Go to Istanbul - that was the answer I wanted to hear! So, time for a really stupid question. How does one build solid connections with professors? I tend to be very shy and always feel like I'm bugging profs when I see them outside of class. I didn't really even have "connections" with the teachers who wrote the LORs to get into my current school, I just took their classes several times and did really well in them. Any ideas for the socially retarded?

Hello all! I'm in a bit of a pickle and hoped you would all lend me some of your wisdom. A little background: I'm a junior, history major/anthro minor, who has just transferred to a four-year college from a community college. I spent the summer in Turkey on a language immersion scholarship and it pretty much changed my academic and career goals. I am now set on Ottoman & Turkish studies. My new institution does not offer much in the way of Middle Eastern anything - in fact, only one course on Mid East Conflict this semester, no related languages - so I was all geared up to spend a semester in Istanbul this spring to take some related classes and continue my Turkish language studies. The problem: On the one hand, I think that doing this will give me a better chance of getting into a good grad program, considering how much my transcript will be lacking in anything related to the Middle East. Plus, I don't want all the Turkish I've learned to float away! On the other hand, this will leave me with really only one semester for my professors to get to know me before the senior year/application process begins. Anyone else been in a similar situation? Is it possible to get strong LORs from one semester if I bust my ass to impress them? Which option do you think would be most important to grad admissions?