Hello everyone. This is the first time I'm posting in the forum. i've been a regular follower and have found this site really useful. Thank you in advance for your input.
I will be a 3L in law school next year. While I love studying law, I've come to realize that my interests in the legal field is purely academic instead of professional. I don't regret spending money to go to law school since, as I've said, I have enjoyed my experience as a law student and my research interests have a lot to do with the law.
I am going to be applying to Near Eastern PhD programs next fall. My research interests lie within the study of Middle Eastern legal structures. I know this is very broad and I will be narrowing it down. But I just wanted to let you all know of where I stood in terms of my interests.
I am a native speaker of a Middle Eastern language and fluent in another. My research interests would most likely focus on countries whose languages I already know. I have also worked, lived, and traveled extensively in one of the countries I am interested in. I'm wondering how much language plays a role in doctoral admissions to area studies programs. A friend told me it wouldn't give me much of a boost and that admission are based largely on quantitative factors much like law school admissions. However, as far as I understand from these forums, this is far from reality. Would language ability give me a boost?
Also, would a JD be looked down upon for NES admissions? I know a number of JD's pursuing PhD's in history and polisci but not many go onto interdisciplinary programs like NES. I am top 15% at a solid regional school. My combined GRE score is 1410. The only thing I'm worried about is my lowly undergraduate GPA (3.45).
Any advice is much appreciated. Also, any recommendations as to which school to look into would also be very welcome. As a note, I'm not interested in MA programs. I realize these programs are rarely fully funded and I just don't like the idea of taking on more debt.
Thank you in advance!
