Although the Council on Middle East Studies does not award an M.A. or Ph.D. degree, a number of graduate and professional school programs at Yale offer Middle East-focused fields of study. Most of these are Ph.D. programs, and they are highly competitive. Interested students are well advised to contact in advance of their application the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), Assistant Director of Graduate Studies (ADGS), or Admissions Office of the program they are interested in. We also recommend to contact directly one or more of the Yale faculty members with whom you would wish to work.
Prospective students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Middle East Studies should apply through the Graduate School to one of the following departments:
Anthropology
Comparative Literature
French
History
History of Art
Near East Languages and Civilizations
Political Science
Religious Studies
Sociology
Other programs in the Graduate and Professional Schools may also permit study on issues of the Middle East. Look particularly at the Law School, which has a working group on Middle East law, as well as the School of Forestry, the School of Nursing, and the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs. Students in these programs can develop special expertise on the Middle East and may be able to fulfill the requirements for the Council’s Graduate Certificate during their study at Yale. Please contact the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Office of your preferred program of study for additional information.
Students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program at another university and who wish to pursue full time dissertation-level research with a Yale faculty member (without getting a degree) may be admitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Division of Special Registration as a “Visiting Assistant in Research” (VAR). VARs may not enroll in classes at Yale and are limited to a maximum of two years of study. Prospective applicants should first contact the Yale faculty member and/or the department in which they are interested in working. You must have a Yale faculty member agreeing to supervise your work here at Yale and have permission from the department you wish to affiliate with before you can submit an application. See Visiting Assistant in Research for requirements, general information, and how to apply as a VAR.
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