He then moved to New York City, where he studied at Columbia University and received his first MA in 1966. He received a second MA from Oxford in 1968. Abrahamian obtained a PhD from Columbia in 1969. His thesis was titled "Social Bases of Iranian Politics: The Tudeh Party, 1941-53." Abrahamian has stated that his "understanding of Iran [was] ... most shaped [by] the oil crisis of 1951-53 culminating in the coup."