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[eddyman]

I would not start a PhD in Middle Eastern studies without significant Arabic or Persian training (insert languages). It sounds like you want a well-paying, guaranteed job at the end. That's not going to happen, even if you are a superstar.

What you need to do is enroll in an MA program in a "Center" (Center for Middle Eastern Studies/Center for South Asian Studies). Figure out if you can learn the requisite languages and do the work. If you perform well, apply to a PhD program.

If you want a guaranteed job, you should look beyond the humanities.

If you want to do Middle Eastern Studies/Islam, you should be applying to Princeton, Chicago or Michigan, in that order. Princeton only takes a couple folks a year. Chicago takes a few more. Michigan, even more.

 

Depends on what you are planning to do with ME studies.  I wouldn't got to Princeton or Chicago for modern Middle Eastern topics, though they are great for early Islam, medieval, and pre-modern ME studies.  IMHO NYU, Georgetown, and Columbia are stronger for the modern period.

I do agree going to a Center would be the way forward for someone without preparation. 

[ticklemepink]

academic_cog:  My point was, getting in a great PhD program is only just the first step.  If you can't handle the idea of just doing all that just to even get that acceptance, then you might as well forget about the job market.

[eddyman]

I also wanted to add that language requirements differ depending on the focus of the programs.  Programs built around Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (which traditionally have been more interested in non-modern Middle Eastern history) will require two Middle Eastern languages plus the ability to read French and German.  But programs built around modern history/anthropology will most likely just require one Middle Eastern language and French.  And I'm sure there are plenty of permutations within those two categories.  Anyway none of that really matters for the OP since there is no way that a top program will take someone without any contact with the language--hence the advice to do a MA first.  

Of course, MA programs are typically cash cows for the university and I wouldn't advise going into one unless you can get some of the limited funding (unless of course you are independently wealthy).  But even if you can afford to pay the tuition plus living expenses, I'd worry (rightly or wrongly) that without a tuition waiver of some sort that the department was not really supportive of my potential as a scholar.    

[catalyzer]

After doing some of this research, I've been doing some hard thinking about what I want to do with my life. I love studying history and I love the abstract thought and intellectual stimulation, and I can't see myself out in the real world, i.e. in some s***ty little cubicle, wearing some pencil skirt and clacking away at an Excel spreadsheet or something.

FYI, I'm a Professor and I spend a majority of my day in a very small office, wearing a pencil skirt and clacking away at an Excel spreadsheet. The majority of my colleagues do the same thing (maybe minus the pencil skirts which is admittedly a fetish of mine). Oh, I also spend a lot of time sitting in small cubicles in libraries in pencil skirts clacking away on my laptop. This is the real world.

[nugget53]

The OP is probably asking himself what he's getting into....and that's the point. It is not worth getting into if you only want to stay in the academy. The academy is not a warm, cuddly place which will stroke your ego. It's hostile, tedious, and cheap. Many undergrads suffer from "Big Fish in a Small Pond" syndrome and thus, they expect the same in grad school. Sadly, that's not to be