Harvard College students with Advanced Standing may apply to pursue graduate-level work in Middle Eastern studies as part of their fourth undergraduate year. The joint AB/AM degree option allows students to earn an independent bachelor’s and master’s degree at the same time. More details are available from the Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Education.
Students accepted to the CMES AB/AM program complete an accelerated version of the AM degree in Regional Studies – Middle East. The requirements of this program emphasize immersion in the languages, cultures, and histories of the Middle East. AB/AM Students enroll in the Graduate Seminar on Middle East Studies (MODMDST 200A) together with the first-year AM cohort, and develop a course of study in consultation with the Director and Associate Director.
In order to complete all program requirements, AB/AM students must have completed a minimum of two semesters of a Middle Eastern language (Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish) prior to the start of the program in their fourth year. In addition, applicants must have completed several undergraduate-level courses on the Middle East; most commonly in History, Anthropology, HAA, NELC, Government, Religion, or Literature.
Note that NELC also offers an AB/AM program, which differs from the one offered in CMES in one important way. In spite of a clear overlap in spatial and disciplinary terms between the two programs, the temporal focus of the NELC AB/AM is somewhat different and constitutes essentially an extension of its undergraduate concentration in its study of the philologies, literatures, religions, and histories of the region. This includes Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern Period.