NES Fact Sheet
If you are interested in applying for admission to the Near Eastern Studies Department or Program please read the following and complete the Fact Sheet provided.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR GRADUATE APPLICANTS

  1. The Admissions Process

    2. Once you have decided to seek admission to the Department or Program, submit your application the word application should be linked to https://apply.embark.com/Grad/Princeton/29/  and in addition, you will have to enclose with your application two items (writing sample and Fact Sheet) described below. 

    After you have sent in your application to the Office of Graduate Admission, there are two stages to the admissions process. In the first stage, we go through the files of all applicants and short-list about one in three. At this stage we judge you exclusively on the content of your file. In the second stage, the short-listed applicants are invited to visit the Department. If you do not attend the visit we will still consider your application, but it is to your advantage to attend if at all possible.

    Normally we send out invitations to short-listed candidates on the first

    Wednesday in February, and hold the visit on the last Friday and Saturday of February. The invitations will specify our contribution towards the cost of travel.

    We make our final decisions immediately after the visit; the Graduate School will be writing to you to let you know the outcome about a week later.

  2. Writing Sample

    3. We require you to include a writing sample with your application. A paper of fifteen to thirty pages, or a combination of smaller items, is enough. We prefer writing on a Near Eastern topic, but this is not mandatory. We are looking for evidence that you can assimilate a body of factual or literary material and use it effectively to analyze, argue, and confront issues. Enter the title of your writing sample on the Fact Sheet, and enclose it with your application. Do not send it directly to us.

  3. Fact Sheet

Complete the attached Fact Sheet carefully, legibly, and accurately. You will find that some of the information we are asking you to supply is also required by the Graduate School, while some of it is not. The information you give us here will play a significant part in the first stage of the admssions process described above. Before filling in the Fact Sheet, read the notes below. Again, enclose the completed Fact Sheet with your application when you mail it to the Graduate School. If you are using our on-line application this fact sheet will be submitted electronically.


Notes on Completing the Fact Sheet

Item 2: If this changes during the admissions process, be sure to let us know directly. The same goes for 3, 4, and 5.

Item 4: E-mail is our preferred way of communicating with short-listed applicants once we have mailed out the invitation to visit.

Item 6: Some applicants expect us to be flattered if they apply only to Princeton; in fact it makes us uneasy. It is much better for you to spread your risk. Even if you have set your heart on coming to Princeton, you should at least apply to Harvard as a safe school.

Item 8: Applicants from non-American B.A. institutions should disregard this question.

Item 10: If you have spent or are spending a year at CASA, simply enter "CASA." Do not enter summer study.

Item 11: Do not enter languages of which your knowledge is less than one semester of study or the equivalent. If you can read Ottoman Turkish, enter it as a separate language. If you are short-listed, we will test you on the languages you enter here to evaluate your current level and future potential.

Item 12: We are interested in your ability to read secondary literature on your field of interest (not to order a cup of coffee or discuss Proust). If you are short-listed, we will probably give you a quick test for the languages you enter here. If you do not yet have the required ability, but have a foundation in the language which places you within striking distance of it, enter the language in parentheses.

Item 15: Disregard if English is your native language.

Item 16: If you are a Permanent Resident of the United States, ad "PR" in parentheses.

Item 17: For Ph.D. applicants, this refers to full-time faculty of the Department (Cohen, Cook, Hamori, Hanioglu, Haykel, Kunkler, Lowry, Modarressi, Reynolds, Zaman). For M.A. applicants, it refers to those members of the Program Committee who are also members of the Department (Cook, Hamori, Hanioglu, Lowry).

Item 19: You may check more than one box in a line of appropriate.

 

Near Eastern Studies Department and Program

Princeton University

GRADUATE APPLICANT FACT SHEET

 

1.  Name (surname first): _____________________ ____________________
  1. Mailing address:
    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
  2. Telephone number: _______________
    Answering machine? (Y/N) _______
  3. E-mail address:
    ___________________________________________________
  4. Where will you travel from if invited to visit?
    ___________________________________________________
  5. What other schools have you applied to?
    ___________________________________________________
  6. Institution of B.A. study:
    ___________________________________________________
  7. Your GPA? _________
  8. Institution of M.A. study (if any):
    ___________________________________________________
  9. Any year-long language study in the Near East:
    ___________________________________________________
  10. Near Eastern languages:
    ___________________________________________________
  11. European languages:
    ___________________________________________________
  12. Referees (surnames only):
    ________________  _________________  _________________
  13. GRE (V/Q/A)
    ________________  _________________  _________________
  14. TOEFL:
    ___________________________________________________
  15. Citizenship:
    ___________________________________________________
  16. Name one or two faculty whom you would particularly like to review your application (surname only):
    ___________________________________________________
  17. Title of writing sample:
    ___________________________________________________
  18. Field of interest (check appropriate boxes):
  1. Primary period of interest (by centuries):
    2.

    pre-Islamic;   7th - 11th ;   11th - 18th ;   19th - 20th

  2. Primary language of interest:

    3. Arabic;   Persian;   Turkish;  Hebrew

  3. Primary field on interest:

    4. History; Literature;  Religion; Other

  4. Any additional information:
    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
20. Are you applying to the Ph.D. or the M.A. program? _____________

Please submit completed form with your on-line application or mail to the Graduate Admissions Office, One Clio Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ  08544.
 

Department of Near Eastern Studies © 2008
110 Jones Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544		 Tel: 609.258.4280
Fax: 609.258.1242