Best Universities offering Graduate Programs in History - Updated 2020

The graduate program in history values an approach to scholarship grounded in the particular while retaining a sense of the whole. The faculty encourage students to take as comprehensive a view of history as possible with the goal of cultivating a far-reaching understanding of the past. Throughout their enrollment, students develop the necessary skills to conduct discipline-defining research.

Throughout the program, students work with advisors and other faculty members as they engage in coursework, prepare for and take the general exam, work as teaching fellows, and research and write the dissertation. It generally takes students six or seven years to finish their doctoral degree. Most graduates have pursued academic careers at universities and colleges in the United States and abroad, while others have gone on to successful careers in law and in government.

The Department of History offers two graduate programs, one in History and one in History of Science and Medicine. The purpose of the history program is to develop historians who possess both intellectual range and specialized competence. Instruction is in small classes by the seminar method or some appropriate modification of this approach.

The Graduate Program in History at the UIC offers a broad curriculum, an outstanding faculty, and an ideal urban location for graduate study in history. The Department offers three graduate degrees: The Stand-Alone Master of Arts in History (MA), Master of Arts in Teaching History (MAT), Doctor of Philosophy in History (Ph.D.). Graduate Students applying to the Ph.D. program should, for fullest consideration, check one of University of Chicago concentrations on the application. University of Chicago graduate concentrations shape University of Chicago course offerings, giving many courses an approach that is an important complement to the traditional preparation for major and minor fields.

Columbia has been one of the most important centers of graduate education in history since modern Ph.D. programs began in America over a century ago. Recipients of Columbia University in the City of New York degrees hold distinguished positions in virtually every major university in the United States, and in many abroad. Columbia University in the City of New York program offers a broad education in most areas of historical scholarship and attempts to train students for a discipline and a profession in the midst of considerable change. That includes not simply assisting students in acquiring the knowledge and skills essential to becoming contributing scholars, but also helping them to become effective teachers and to exist comfortably within a demanding and complicated professional world.

The primary goal of Stanford's Department of History's graduate program is the training of scholars. Most students who receive doctorates in the program will go on to teach at colleges or universities. Other students have positions in university administration and research.

Duke’s History Department among the top programs in the country regard the creation of knowledge as one of the fundamental missions of a research university. Duke University world-renowned faculty, who work closely with Duke University students and collaborate with colleagues across disciplines, are at the cutting edge of research in their fields as they address society’s greatest challenges.

The Graduate Program in History at the University of Pennsylvania has a long tradition of distinction. Beginning as one of the first programs in the United States to offer doctoral study in history, (the first Ph.D. in History was conferred in 1891); the Department continues to pioneer new areas of scholarship. In the last twenty years, faculty members of the departments in American, European, and World History have assumed a leading role in their fields. Today, few departments in the country match Penn's Department of History in coverage and depth across the entire range of history from medieval times to the present.

The History of Art Department offers a Master of Arts degree for students wishing to deepen their knowledge of art and the critical methods employed in the study of art. Upon receiving their M.A., Penn graduates have gone on to hold curatorial positions in national and local museums, auction houses, and galleries. Students have also used their M.A. as a stepping stone to Ph.D. programs, receiving admission to many prestigious Ph.D. departments in the US and overseas. The M.A. Program is a terminal degree program lasting two years.

The Johns Hopkins Department of History welcomes graduate students as members of a diverse and congenial community of scholars. The department takes seriously the idea that graduate students are junior colleagues with much to contribute. The program is designed for students who wish to proceed directly to the PhD degree and aims primarily to train students for careers as research scholars and university teachers. At the same time, we also recognize and support students who choose to pursue other career options.

The Graduate Program in Art History offers a full-time Ph.D. that is designed to prepare Northwestern University graduates for academic research and teaching, work in museums and beyond, and other careers in the visual arts. Areas in which we currently offer coursework and advising are: Global Modern and Contemporary, African American and African Diaspora, Early Modern, Asian, and Ancient and Medieval. Northwestern University Department's comparative and cross-disciplinary orientation offers ample opportunity for interdisciplinary work, which is amplified by programs and clusters across the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and within The Graduate School.