Most Affordable Masters Program in History

The Master of Arts in History is designed for students who wish to develop their skills in analyzing and interpreting historical events and interrelational developments in diverse areas of the world. Students are often secondary school teachers, college graduates who are preparing for a career in college teaching, and people from outside the academic world who value the intellectual challenge that the serious study of history offers.

A student who wishes to be admitted to the Master of Arts degree program in History must hold an earned bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education with a major or minor in History or Social Science.

The Georgia Institute of Technology provides a master's degree program in the sociology and history of science and technology. The emphasis of the program is on comprehending technology and science in a broad social and historical context. Students gain knowledge in history and sociology on a broad scale as well as research, social analysis, and writing abilities.

At William & Mary, the history department provides a condensed, one-year terminal MA degree. Two semesters of curriculum will be required of the students, and it will include reading seminars with both a regional and a theme focus, research seminars, and an introduction to historiography. Additionally, students will create a research portfolio made up of two significant research articles.

The UVA Department of History offers an MA (“4+1”) track to a small number of highly qualified UVA undergraduates who seek an MA in History in addition to the BA in either History or another discipline. The MA in History can be completed in one year after completion of the BA if the student has completed at least six graduate credits in History at UVA as an undergraduate. (Typically, this would mean taking two 5000-level History seminars that are not being counted toward the major or any college requirement.) Otherwise, the MA in History will take two full-time semesters plus one additional part- or full-time semester to complete after receipt of the BA.

Students who apply to this program are typically in the third year of undergraduate study, although second-year students are also eligible to apply.

The PhD program in History of Art at Cornell is renowned for its global scope and critical engagement with methodology. Small cohorts enable productive collaborations between students and faculty, while standardized funding packages promote a robustly democratic intellectual environment. In addition to conducting pathbreaking research, graduate students participate in organizing the Visual Culture Colloquium and gain valuable experience as teaching assistants; many also lead their own writing seminars. The alumnae/i draw on their experiences at Cornell to re-shape the future of art history as practiced both in universities and museums, and among still broader publics beyond institutional walls.

Cornell’s graduate program is unique in two ways: the Field system and Committee system. The Graduate School at Cornell oversees all academic fields and determines basic requirements. In the History of Art and Visual Studies, field and department overlap more than in some other fields. The DGS (Director of Graduate Study) is the interface between the field and students and works closely with the department as well.

At Cornell, students select a Special Committee of three members and work with the committee members to tailor their own program, reflecting their intellectual objectives. In the first year, students select a committee chair, who must be a member of the History of Art department. By the end of the third semester students choose the remaining two members, who may be drawn from the graduate faculty at large, although we recommend that one additional member be from the department. This Special Committee system results in a flexible graduate education tailored to each individual student. Cornell faculty also encourage interdisciplinary approaches to the student's selected major field.

The Master of Arts in History & Archival Studies combines training in the researching and writing of scholarly history with the study of archival practice and maintenance, preparing students for careers in special collections, libraries, museums, and other entities that recognize the critical value of keeping and maintaining historical documentation.

The Archival Studies program provides a theoretical and practical framework for creating and understanding archival collections, including why we make them and how we maintain them. Theoretical and scholarly historical work is complemented by experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, in order to ground your knowledge in the current practices of the professional world. Throughout the program, you may take advantage of the many benefits that CGU’s History Department confers: access to faculty-scholars who specialize in U.S. and European history and abundant opportunities to collaborate with students and faculty in other CGU departments as well as at other member institutions of the highly ranked Claremont Colleges. You’ll gain a broad-based, humanistic education that equips you with the research, analytical, and communication skills critical for successful careers.

The master's in history at NYU places a strong emphasis on project-based learning, engagement with digital technologies, and historical study. The department's long-standing dedication to imperial, transnational, oceanic, and diasporic histories serves as the foundation for the curriculum.

At the University of Pennsylvania, there is a distinguished history of the Graduate Program in History. It is intended for self-funded students with certain goals in mind, such as community college or secondary school teaching, archival management, library or public sector work, personal gratification, etc.

The Program in the History of Science and Medicine (HSHM) offers a master’s degree designed for students who plan to combine teaching or scholarship with a professional career in medicine or science. Students who enroll in the terminal M.A. in History of Science and Medicine are expected to complete six courses during two terms of study and submit an acceptable master’s paper. Course work normally includes the three core HSHM “Problems” seminars and one additional graduate seminar in history of medicine or science. The remaining courses are chosen in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies or a faculty adviser.

The History of Science and Medicine Program (HSHM) is a semi-autonomous graduate track within the Department of History. HSHM students are awarded degrees in History with a concentration in the History of Science and Medicine, and they are fully fledged members of the History Department. Most students in the HSHM program are pursuing a PhD, which may be combined with concurrent enrollment in an MD or JD program (at Yale or elsewhere). A one-year MA degree is also available.

The HSHM program allows students to explore topics spanning the full range of the history of science, medicine, and technology, and science and technology studies. Instruction is offered in small seminars, and students receive advice and guidance from faculty advisers throughout their entire period of enrollment. The program incorporates many opportunities for professional development in teaching, research, publication, and presentation, and Yale also offers additional ways for students to explore other skills and fields such as exhibit curation, digital humanities, and public policy.

The methodological training provided by the HSHM program is expansive and interdisciplinary. The faculty have backgrounds in a variety of fields, including history, the natural and the social sciences, and the performing arts, and they have deep commitments in anthropology, indigenous studies, geography, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, material and visual culture, and museum studies. Students work with all kinds of sources—texts, artifacts, interviews—and incorporate social, cultural, political, geographic, environmental, and economic analysis. Students are also encouraged to draw on other disciplines and they may take classes or work with faculty in other departments.

The MA in History and Literature teaches students how to analyse texts for historical purposes and to examine literature from a historical perspective. It provides an alluring and uncommon blend of academics from the Ivy League and Europe. Students are introduced to the key theoretical and critical disputes at the nexus of history and literature, such as the narrative features of historical writing, the linguistic turn in history, and the conflict between history and theory within the literary field.

The program's exploration of literature as a source of moral, intellectual, social, and historical knowledge is a key component. Students gain an advanced understanding of theoretical and methodological concerns. They also pick up the philological skills necessary for reading printed or manuscript materials.