Eligible Harvard College students may apply for the concurrent AB/AM in Middle Eastern studies as part of their fourth undergraduate year. Upon successful completion of the program, the student will receive a master’s degree (AM) in Regional Studies - Middle East in addition to a bachelor’s degree (AB). More details are available from the Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Education.
The Program
Students accepted to the CMES AB/AM program complete an accelerated version of the AM degree in Regional Studies – Middle East. This program emphasizes immersion in the languages, cultures, and histories of the Middle East. AB/AM Students complete all AM course requirements, including the required proseminar HIST 1800, A Critical Introduction to the Study of the Middle East.
Advising
AB/AM students develop a course of study in consultation with the CMES Director and Associate Director.
Eligibility
In order to complete all program requirements in one academic year, AB/AM students must complete all undergraduate concentration requirements by the end of the third undergraduate year. In addition, they 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 AB/AM program. Testing out of the language requirement is not permitted. Finally, applicants must have completed several undergraduate-level courses on the Middle East. These are most commonly offered in History, Anthropology, HAA, NELC, Government, Religion, or Literature. CMES will consider qualified applicants in concentrations across the University.
Note
NELC also offers an AB/AM program. It differs from the AB/AM program offered at CMES in important ways. The spatial, disciplinary, methodological, and temporal focus of the NELC AB/AM is broad: anchored in documentary evidence, it offers the opportunity to study the languages, literatures, religions, histories, and politics of the region from antiquity to the Middle Ages to the early modern and modern periods. Another distinguishing feature is that the AB/AM program is embedded in a community of undergraduate concentrators and incoming doctoral students.
How to Apply
Eligible students must submit a formal application to the AM program in Middle Eastern studies using the GSAS application portal in their third year of undergraduate study.
Questions
Please contact Associate Director of the AM Program Jesse Howell (jhowell@fas.harvard.edu).