Tyler Conklin (CEU MA 2014, Currently at Yale University for a PhD in History (Early Modern Middle East) since 2014), After Completing my BA at the University of Minnesota in History I enrolled in the two-year MA History program at CEU. CEU's excellent scholarly environment, including both fellow students and faculty, greatly prepared me for my further endeavors in academia which I am currently pursuing at Yale University. Particularly as a student who works on the history of the Middle East and not Central Europe, CEU's community of scholars still provided me with excellent training in both the languages and historiography of the Middle East. I chose CEU because I could receive training in Ottoman studies and continued linguistic training which was crucial for my continued growth as a scholar. Looking at where I was as a student at the end of my BA and where I was intellectually at the end of the two-year program at CEU is remarkable. I truly believe that if it were not for CEU and my advisers there I would not be enrolled in a PhD program at Yale University today. The rigor and quality of education at CEU, especially in regards to my personal experience with Ottoman studies there, is what makes CEU such a great place in which to grow and find who you are as an academic.