Jebreel

I'll be starting an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies at NYU next week (!), but I don't think I'll be able to attend the official GSAS orientation as it coincides with my department's orientation. As far as I can tell from the GSAS website, the M.A. orientation is pretty similar to that of the Ph.D. -- did you feel the orientation you attended yesterday was worth the time? Apparently, they'll post orientation materials online in September, but I'd be curious to hear you impressions regardless.. Cheers, Jebreel

FWIW: 170 Verbal, 151 Quant, and 5 on the AWA was enough to get me a full tuition scholarship at Georgetown. But, I'd still echo what Maccabeus said: prior experience with the region and language, along with a compelling statement of purpose, are more important. As far as I could tell, Georgetown was among the most generous of the Middle Eastern MA programs in terms of merit-based financial aid. Chicago and NYU were also good in this regard. Best of luck!

Congratulations, HindSh and Maccabeus! Both are wonderful programs.

Has everyone made their decisions? I'll be doing an M.A. at NYU next year!

FYI I was lucky enough to be selected for a full-year FLAS award off the wait-list, so it does indeed happen!

Sorry, HindSh, I misspoke -- it was a second letter that followed the offer of admission linked on the application portal: "Upon the recommendation of the Admissions Committee, I am pleased to approve your admission to the M.A. in Arab Studies program, effective with the Fall 2015 Semester. Be sure to print or save a copy of this letter for your future reference. I am also pleased to inform you that you have been selected to receive a merit-based Graduate School financial aid award. More information about your award and how to accept it is detailed in the financial award letter that will follow. "

A funding offer was included in my e-mail -- tuition remission scholarship, which is different from FLAS; perhaps that fellowship will be announced later?

FYI decisions for Georgetown's M.A. program in Contemporary Arab Studies are up on the application portal; anyone else get in?

Wanderlust, in case you're still wondering, I spoke with my friend about the M.A. program at Harvard. She had wonderful things to say about the community there--i.e. it's a tight-knit, welcoming group full of stimulating and engaged students/faculty; I've had nice correspondences with some of the faculty at Harvard's CMES and this is important to me. My friend also highly recommended the Arabic instruction. Apparently, one of the chief Arabic instructors has been central in the Middlebury and CASA programs in the past and brings that quality of instruction to Harvard. The fact that you can also take other Middle East languages like Farsi, Hebrew, or Turkish is pretty great, too (although Chicago offers that as well). The fact that you can take classes at any of the Harvard schools and even at institutions in that Bostom consortium (e.g. Tufts) is also appealing because you have a lot of flexibility to build a degree that best suits your professional/academic goals -- say, by focusing more on government/political courses if you're looking to go into the policy realm eventually, or by focusing on cultures, languages, and history if you intend to go on to a doctorate and work in the academy. She confirmed that there is a lot of material and intellectual support for research once you get there; some of the most brilliant people working on the Middle East today are there and, according to her, are very accessible. I hope this helps! I'm weighing similar options as you at this point after receiving an offer of aid from Chicago's CMES while I wait to hear from a couple of other schools about funding... good luck and let me know if you gather any more insight into these programs!

I'm not sure yet, Vive... I still have to hear back from Gtown and Princeton and especially other offers of funding from the schools I'm considering... but it would be a wonderful institution to be a part of for a couple years! It's definitely high on my list. And I imagine that the amount of aid we've received at Chicago's CMES bodes well for full tuition remission in the second year

Just heard back tonight from the Humanities Division at UChicago -- admitted with half-tuition scholarship... cheers!

Well done on Chicago! It's obviously a wonderful intellectual community there. I've also heard that you will have good connections with the intelligence/security industry there if you are interested in that career path (the CIA recruits heavily from Chicago). I'm still waiting to hear back from the Humanities Division, as well as from Princeton and Georgetown (M.A. in Near Eastern Studies and the M.A. in Arab Studies, respectively). I did apply to the Kevorkian Center and was admitted -- still waiting to hear about the FLAS funding (which is one of the two fellowships they offer; the other is the MacCracken, which covers everything over two years and is the same deal given to Ph.D. students). If I were miraculously offered funding at both NYU and Harvard it would be a very difficult choice!

Not yet, Sim. I saw an acceptance posted today, but no e-mail for me from CMES at Chicago, and nothing new on the application portal.

Hi Wanderlustxx, Congrats! I've also been accepted to the same program and would love input on its standing relative to similar MA programs at the other top schools, e.g. NYU, Michigan, Princeton, Georgetown, etc. I have heard that the Middle Eastern Studies/NELC faculty at Harvard is not as strong as it once was (i.e. when Robert Owen and others were teaching/researching), but that may refer more to luminaries in ancient fields of history like Egyptology and less to the study of the region's modern history. I'm reaching out to friends with contacts at Harvard's CMES and will let you know what I find out! P.S. FLAS funding is still an option -- did you apply for that?

I applied only to M.A. programs in Middle Eastern Studies that either offered full in-house funding or through full-year FLAS fellowships for Arabic. NYU and Harvard both sent out acceptance packages that stated outright there was no aid available, but from the the deans of the graduate schools of arts and sciences, who play no part in awarding the FLAS fellowships. When I contacted Harvard today the FLAS coordinator explained that fellowship nominations would not be released until mid-March. Do you think that's the case with NYU as well? I am (really) happy to be accepted, but the prospect/possibility of no funding is discouraging.