NELC / Near Eastern Studies Fall 2019

[nickxk]

4 hours ago, notthatbuthis said:

Hi, I checked the results for Harvard and it seems they have already sent a couple. They're both MA's, has anybody heard anything about PhD's? Should I be hopeful that no PhD acceptances have been recorded yet or should I just wait for a rejection letter to come some time next week?

Wondering the same thing. As I’ve seen noting of CMES+History But History + MES has rejections.

I also don’t have an MA yet.

[nickxk]

Michigan MES PhD rejections are out.

[yrleay]

I applied for MAs in MES/NELC. Got a rejection from Harvard and an admission from NYU on the same day. Still waiting for UChicago!

[nickxk]

11 hours ago, yrleay said:

I applied for MAs in MES/NELC. Got a rejection from Harvard and an admission from NYU on the same day. Still waiting for UChicago!

That seems like a good idea. I’m now realizing in this field that getting the MA before jumping to the PhD is a lot more common than I thought and so I kind of regret applying to mostly PhDs. I think I’ll either be at Texas or Michigan or MES/MENAS MA.

The silver lining is I know what to work on and how to make my application really good two years from now!

[Guest]

I got an (unofficial) admission to Brown's Egyptology PhD!! I still can't believe this!

Still waiting for an offer, though: they told me the university is yet to make it official, but that it would be extremely unlikely that they didn't accept the department's reco...

No news from JHU or UCLA, but Brown is my top choice anyways!

It's already March! The wait is coming to an end!  Best of luck everyone!

[Guest]

12 hours ago, yrleay said:

I applied for MAs in MES/NELC. Got a rejection from Harvard and an admission from NYU on the same day. Still waiting for UChicago!

Congrats on NYU!! Do they give any kind of funding for MA?

Re Chicago, results are out for PhD, and some rejects have been referred to the MA (not me... , but maybe because I already have one). Hang in there! Results for MA should come out in March! Good luck!

[brokenrefreshbutton]

Congrats on Brown!

I have heard that students who apply to PhD programs from undergrad in fields like Physics tend to get accepted at a much higher rate than for something like Islamic Studies (though it varies in the humanities). But of course, it's not unheard of. I think rec letters, quality of a writing sample, and overall maturity are better attested for students coming from an MA program. 

I have also heard that an MA from Chicago (CMES), Austin, and NYU have pretty good placement rates for students who apply to PhD programs after. (this is just based on a survey I myself did)

 

 

[nickxk]

5 hours ago, brokenrefreshbutton said:

Congrats on Brown!

I have heard that students who apply to PhD programs from undergrad in fields like Physics tend to get accepted at a much higher rate than for something like Islamic Studies (though it varies in the humanities). But of course, it's not unheard of. I think rec letters, quality of a writing sample, and overall maturity are better attested for students coming from an MA program. 

I have also heard that an MA from Chicago (CMES), Austin, and NYU have pretty good placement rates for students who apply to PhD programs after. (this is just based on a survey I myself did)

 

 

That’s reassuring! If I can get good funding I’ll be happy to get the MA. I can work further on my Arabic, and get certified for French and Farsi proficiency. I had authorship on research in critical discourse studies but I bet I can get more research and (maybe, as a 320 isn’t bad) retry the GRE!

Still an alternate for FLAS funding at Texas and awaiting news for Michigan MA- though I feel very confident on it!

Congrats on Brown, very cool!

[yrleay]

12 hours ago, sseire said:

Congrats on NYU!! Do they give any kind of funding for MA?

Re Chicago, results are out for PhD, and some rejects have been referred to the MA (not me... , but maybe because I already have one). Hang in there! Results for MA should come out in March! Good luck!

Thank you I did email to ask about the funding and they said that it hasn't been decided yet. Good luck to you too!

[Guest]

On 3/1/2019 at 10:52 AM, brokenrefreshbutton said:

Congrats on Brown!

I have heard that students who apply to PhD programs from undergrad in fields like Physics tend to get accepted at a much higher rate than for something like Islamic Studies (though it varies in the humanities). But of course, it's not unheard of. I think rec letters, quality of a writing sample, and overall maturity are better attested for students coming from an MA program. 

I have also heard that an MA from Chicago (CMES), Austin, and NYU have pretty good placement rates for students who apply to PhD programs after. (this is just based on a survey I myself did)

 

 

Thanks!!

I also think that it's more common to go directly from undergrad to PhD in the STEMs than it is in the Humanities because there is much more offer and funding. When it come to Egyptology, for example, there are only about 10 graduate programs in the US, and most of them are from very competitive universities. I imagine this is also the case for the rest of NELC/MES disciplines...

It is perfectly possible to get accepted straight from undergrad, but someone who does an MA would have much more chances, also because after an MA, they would normally have a better idea of which research interests to pursue.

Chicago, Austin, and NYU are indeed great choices!

 

[nickxk]

Results from Michigan MA! Accepted with two shots at full funding through their graduate school merit scholarship or FLAS!

No words from Columbia or Arizona yet!

[Guest]

That's awesome! Congratulations! I hope you get the funding!!

For Columbia and Arizona, have you applied to MA or PhD?

[nickxk]

PhD for both but MAs are a possibility for both too!

[Guest]

That's great!! Looks like, whatever happens, you'll be attending graduate school this fall! Good luck!

[nickxk]

1 hour ago, sseire said:

That's great!! Looks like, whatever happens, you'll be attending graduate school this fall! Good luck!

And to you as well!

I’m feeling pretty good with the letter Michigan sent me for the MA, from my experience there as an undergrad, they really do have good funding opportunities at all levels of education and seem to imply that they have well funded travel and research stipends too. This will prepare me well for a PhD!

[brokenrefreshbutton]

Any have any luck getting off a waitlist as of yet?

[Coptophile]

I was just accepted to the MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Chicago with a half-tuition scholarship for the first year and a full tuition scholarship for the second year if I make satisfactory progress; my application was for the Ph.D. in NELC, but it was referred to the CMES later. 

While I am waiting to hear back from other places, I'm glad to have another option to consider.

[brokenrefreshbutton]

CMES has a great program and half-tuition is pretty amazing! (I think that's the highest amount of funding one can possibly get). 

Any word in CUA funding?

[Coptophile]

Just now, brokenrefreshbutton said:

CMES has a great program and half-tuition is pretty amazing! (I think that's the highest amount of funding one can possibly get). 

Any word in CUA funding?

Thank you! I received some encouraging emails from my POI after my rejection from the Ph.D., so I figured that I would be admitted; it's a great feeling nonetheless.

Like other people in this forum, I don't have an MA and no formal background in Middle Eastern/Near Eastern studies besides Coptic and Greek. My undergraduate degree will be in History and Classics, but with a focus on medieval history (mostly Byzantium.) I figured that I might not be admitted into a Ph.D. program until I complete an MA somewhere, so Chicago or CUA would be great options since they have great placement records.

About CUA's funding, I had emailed the department about the deadline for accepting the offer of admissions (since it wasn't posted on my acceptance later), and I was told that the deadline is April 15th and funding should be available soon. 

 

I'm not sure how many people had applied this year, but hopefully, we hear good news soon!

[Coptophile]

Harvard Divinity just released their decisions as well, and I was admitted into the MTS program to study Coptic and Arabic. While it isn't a NELC/MES program, if I go there, I intend to work closely with the departments and in Classics, too. 

Now is the fun part: Making the decision

[Guest]

Congrats!! Seems you have amazing programs to choose from!! Any word of funding from Harvard?

From my side, I just received the formal offer from Brown! Fully funded PhD!! I still haven't received answers from JHU or UCLA, but I already accepted, as this was my top choice!  

[Ellem]

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster. I emailed Princeton today to see what was up with my application (presumed rejection- I wasn't invited to interview). The response was "if you haven't heard anything by now, I would say consider other options or apply again in the fall." 

Just some info in case anyone else is waiting. 

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, Ellem said:

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster. I emailed Princeton today to see what was up with my application (presumed rejection- I wasn't invited to interview). The response was "if you haven't heard anything by now, I would say consider other options or apply again in the fall." 

Just some info in case anyone else is waiting. 

Welcome to the thread!

Sorry to hear about your rejection. I just don't get why rejections aren't sent at the same time as acceptances or interview invites... I mean, they MUST know how anxious applicants are, right!?

Did you apply to other schools? How's the application cycle going so far? 

[Coptophile]

8 hours ago, sseire said:

Congrats!! Seems you have amazing programs to choose from!! Any word of funding from Harvard?

From my side, I just received the formal offer from Brown! Fully funded PhD!! I still haven't received answers from JHU or UCLA, but I already accepted, as this was my top choice!  

Thank you! I got a response today about funding, and I essentially have full tuition, so that's a definite plus.

Congrats on the acceptance to Brown! It's a great program for sure, which reflects on you as well. 

If I may, and if you did not post it elsewhere, could I ask what your qualifications were when you applied this cycle? I know that every Ph.D. applicant is different and committees take that into account, but I'm sure that your previous experience could help myself and others when we are applying (and re-applying ) to different programs in the future.

[Ellem]

54 minutes ago, sseire said:

Welcome to the thread!

Sorry to hear about your rejection. I just don't get why rejections aren't sent at the same time as acceptances or interview invites... I mean, they MUST know how anxious applicants are, right!?

Did you apply to other schools? How's the application cycle going so far? 

Thanks! I'm not really bummed about Princeton- it's just nice to finally have an answer. 

I applied to MA programs exclusively, and I've been accepted to 6 programs so far. I've narrowed it down to Harvard (half funded) and NYU (fully funded, thank you FLAS). Both programs seem like a good fit, so I'm just debating if I want to pay for the Harvard name or not. The decision is causing me a fair amount of stress, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! I don't plan on going for a PhD, so this MA would be it. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Ellem