<p>Does anyone know of any schools that are known to have strong Middle Eastern studies programs?</p>
<p>Columbia and Yale.</p>
<p>Though perhaps not well known, Middlebury College has recently added a variety of middle eastern academic studies, such as Arabic language study and other various classes on middle eastern studies. </p>
<p>Since the middle eastern studies classes at Midd are fairly new, however, they will not be as well known as those of Columbia and Yale. But remember that Middlebury is a college known for its academic strengths in subjects such as foreign languages and international studies..</p>
<p>My reccomendation of Columbia and Yale wasn't restrictive. They aren't the only highly-regarded middle eastern studies departments-just the ones I know off the top of my head. I think they are number one and two though.</p>
<p>Do you know of any that are not Ivy League or super-selective</p>
<p>American University has majors in Arab Studies, Jewish Studies, and some international studies, plus some ec programs of interest.</p>
<p>While you're in the neighborhood, look at George Washington U. or Georgetown. But I think AU is a bit easier to get into.</p>
<p>Check out Tufts, too.</p>
<p>Chicago has one of the best, if not the best Near East departments in the world. Its selective in its own way, but they are pretty forgiving on the SATs.</p>
<p>Wash U I have heard is strong. However, I think AU is a great school to look at especially considering it is in DC.</p>
<p>Tufts, Georgetown</p>
<p>Tufts, UChicago, G-Town, Princeton, Yale</p>
<p>Columbia University
Georgetown University
Indiana University-Bloomington
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Princeton University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>Brandeis has a superb program.</p>
<p>I would also add Emory, U Arizona, UCLA, U Washington, Wisconsin-Madison, and UT Austin.</p>
<p>Williams only has 2 years of Arabic, but you can always study abroad wherever you want. I know students who'll be traveling to the Middle East next year to continue their studies.</p>
<p>Just thought I would add that Dartmouth and Georgetown are the only two top schools that I know that offer a major in Arabic.</p>
<p>Chicago, Michigan and Wisconsin also offer a major in Arabic.</p>
<p>I checked Chicago's website -- they offer a major in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, but not a major in Arabic. You can specialize in "Islamic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies (including Arabic, Armenian,
Modern Hebrew, Kazakh, Persian, Turkish, and Uzbek)". <a href="http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_08/NELC.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_08/NELC.pdf</a></p>
<p>I checked the Michigan site -- it does offer a program where you graduate with a degree in Arabic literature and linguistics: <a href="http://www.umich.edu/%7Eneareast/programs/arabic.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.umich.edu/~neareast/programs/arabic.html</a></p>
<p>I check the website <a href="http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/majors.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/majors.php</a> where it lists majors at Wisconsin -- but I don't see anything pertaining to Arabic or the middle-east (although I have also heard that they offer Arabic).</p>
<p>Anyway -- I checked these schools that you mentioned, Alexandre, because my son is interested in double majoring in Arabic and many schools offer two years worth of classes but are not reliable about offering upper level classes.</p>
<p>hsmomstef, I sat in on a couple of advanced Arabic classes at Michigan (I am Arab myself, so it is my native language) and the variety and level offered is impressive. Furthermore, like most universities with large N&ME departments, it has several year-abroad programs in both North Africa and the Levant. I have heard that Chicago and Wisconsin offer a wide vairety too, bujt you have obviously done more research on the subject.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion of Brandeis, especially if you're interested in Israel (half of Brandeis is Jewish and I'm guessing a lot of professors are Jewish/Israeli, too).</p>
<p>I'm a heritage speaker of Arabic, headed of to UChi next year. I was a little curious as to what "High Intermediate" corresponds to as well as "Advanced Arabic Syntax"...</p>
<p>I have an interest in Middle East stuff but so far it seems like most of Chi's focus is more on Middle East history/culture, especially the old, old stuff. Not so much modern politics and conflicts. There's a class about Modern Iraq and the Israeli-Palestine thing, but that seems to be the extent of stuff (for college kids) concerning stuff after 1900. Can anyone tell me what the other departments are like at say Harvad and Gtown (which got huge donations from a Saudi Prince for a Center for Middle Eastern Studies) or from Yale, Columbia, or even Penn, which has a Middle Eastern studies major?</p>
<p>good question -- that is what my son is also looking for.</p>
<p>One thing I noticed when looking at some schools is that, while they have advanced classes in Arabic listed in the course catalog -- those classes aren't necessarily offered on a regular basis. Some of the schools (can't remember offhand which ones) will list some really intriguing classes in language, culture, etc -- but only offer them once every four years, so they were a special one-time class taught by a visiting professor.</p>