NESSA, the Near Eastern Studies Student Association, meets regularly throughout the semester. For more information about their events, please go to their website, www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~nessa/.

The Undergraduate Majors

Besides choosing one of the three undergraduate majors offered in the department, students must choose (only) one of the emphases listed under the major heading.

  • The Major in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures (L&S Major Code 588)
    1. Emphasis in a Modern Language: Arabic, Hebrew, or Persian
    2. Emphasis in an Ancient Language: Egyptology
  • The Major in Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Art and Archaeology (L&S Major Code 5C2)
    1. Emphasis in Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology (L&S Major Code 5C1)
    2. Emphasis in Egyptian Art and Archaeology
  • The Major in Near Eastern Civilizations
    1. Emphasis in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations
    2. Emphasis in Islamic Civilizations

Note: NES 10 (Introduction to the Near East) is required for all majors in the Department. All courses used to meet upper-division major requirements must be at least 3 units and taken for a letter grade.
Please see NESmajorsJuly06.pdf for the course requirements for each major emphasis.

Go to the L&S website http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/fp/fp.html to download the Declaration of Major form
http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/fp/08Declare_Maj.pdf.

Honors Program

With the consent of the Undergraduate Advisor, a student in any of the NES majors with an overall grade point average of 3.3 or higher in all coursework taken at the University, and a grade point average of 3.51 or higher in courses completed in the major, may apply for admission to the honors program for his or her senior year, using the H195 form that is available in the department office.

  1. The student must maintain a GPA of at least 3.3 in all subjects and 3.51 in the major to remain eligible for honors.
  2. The student must complete and submit an honors thesis of not less than 20 double-spaced, typewritten pages, according to the following guidelines.
    • No later than the beginning of his/her senior year, the student must choose a faculty supervisor for the thesis.
    • The student must take course H195 during one semester of the senior year, in order to receive credit for preparation of the thesis.
    • The final draft of the honors thesis must be read and evaluated by a two-member committee consisting of the thesis supervisor and another member of the NES faculty, to be chosen at the discretion of the student and the thesis supervisor.
    • The thesis must be deemed to be of at least B+ quality in order to qualify the candidate for graduation with the lowest degree of honors. Assignment of the distinctions “high honors” and “highest honors” is at the discretion of the evaluating committee.

Minor Programs

For students who are majors in other subjects, but who have a strong interest in one of the modern languages or ancient history of the Near East, the Department offers programs leading to a minor in modern Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish or Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Civilizations. Please see NESminorsApril06.pdf for course requirements for the minors.

College of Letters and Science Requirements

Students are responsible to know the College of Letters and Science requirements for graduation with the Bachelor of Arts degree. Please see http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/requirements/intro.html for detailed information about University, Berkeley campus, and L&S requirements. Earning Your Degree, a bulletin of the College of Letters and Science, can be found online at
http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/fp/EYD.pdf.

Getting Ready for Graduate School

If you are an undergraduate considering graduate study, the College of Letters and Sciences has prepared an informative guide to help you be on track for graduate study. Go to http://ls.berkeley.edu/stepbystep/.

 
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URL: http://neareastern.berkeley.edu/docs/undergraduate_majors.html
Last modified November 6, 2006