Admission to the Program

In addition to meeting the minimum university requirements for graduate study, applicants must earn a satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Examination (verbal, quantitative, and analytic). Admission is based on academic record, test scores, letters of recommendation from two professors with whom work was taken recently, and favorable judgment by the department graduate committee and chair. 

Degree Requirements

• 30–33 credit hours of approved graduate work; no more than 50 percent of course work may be done in 300/600 level courses. 
• Tool of research: a relevant foreign language, quantitative methods, oral history, digital history, or a methodology approved by the graduate committee of the Department of History 
• One comprehensive examination 
• Standard (nonthesis) option: Two substantial research papers with grades of B or better, one in HIST-751/752 Research Seminar and one in HIST-500 Studies in History 

Thesis option: a satisfactory thesis, completed through 6 credit hours of HIST-797 Master’s Thesis Seminar with grades of B or better 

Course Requirements

• HIST-500 Studies in History (3) with a grade of B or better 
• Two colloquia from the following with grades of B or better: 

HIST-720 Colloquium in Modern European History
since 1789 I (3) 

HIST-721 Colloquium in Modern European History
since 1789 II (3) 

HIST-727 Colloquium in United States History I: to 1865 (3)  

HIST-728 Colloquium in United States History II:
since 1865 (3)  

or approved substitute for one of the above colloquia 

• HIST-744 The Historian’s Craft (3) with a grade of B or better, usually taken in the student’s first fall semester in the program 
• Standard (nonthesis) option: 

One of the following: 

HIST-751 Research Seminar in European History (3) 

HIST-752 Research Seminar in United States History (3) 

or approved substitute 

or 

Thesis option: HIST-797 Master’s Thesis Seminar (6) 

• 12–15 credit hours in approved graduate course work 

or 

Public History Concentration

• HIST-729 Public History Seminar (3) with a grade of     B or better 
• HIST-730 Public History Practicum (3) with a grade of B or     better 
• HIST-691 Internship in History (3) 
• 6 credit hours in approved graduate course work