<p>Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum and I have a question. What colleges have the best U.S. History departments? I know William and Mary, Princeton, and Penn to name a few but what are some others. There really isn't a "ranking" online anywhere.</p>
<p>Is money no object? </p>
<p>Do you have the very high stats to get into top 30 schools? :)</p>
<p>If money or stats is an issue, then recommendations will be different. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, US News has ranked graduate history programs–in general and by specialty (incuding Modern U.S. History and U.S. Colonial History). Click on “Top History Programs” to see the overall ranking, and on the “+” sign to see the specialty rankings:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Social Sciences and Humanities Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools)</p>
<p>This should provide a rough idea of which departments are generally considered to be “the best.”</p>
<p>Asking about universities with good US history programs is like asking which colleges have trees on their campuses. Any above average college will have at least a decent program.</p>
<p>I agree with mom2collegekids; you’re going to need to be a lot more specific. At the very least:</p>
<p>– Public/private
– Coed/single-sex
– Small/medium/large
– Rural/suburban/urban
– Region/state within the US
– Cost
– Selectivity</p>
<p>It’s hard not to find a major university that’s doesn’t excel in US History.</p>
<p>A little more about me:</p>
<p>I have a 4.43 cumulative GPA. I am a two-time all-state athlete looking to compete athletically at the collegiate level (D1 preferably).</p>
<p>College-wise, I would prefer a more urban campus, but I am open to any setting. When people say cost isn’t a factor they are normally just putting the factor aside for the time being. Likewise, I am doing the same, so cost is not really a factor. I want a coed school, that is either public or private. I want the size of the school to be at least over 7,000 undergraduates. Lastly, I don’t care about any religious affiliation it might have.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Would you consider DivIII?</p>
<p>There are many great History programs at the top twenty LAC’s.</p>
<p>Are you stuck on such a large school???</p>
<p>Penn or Georgetown</p>
<p>You are unlikely to find a reliable ranking of undergraduate history departments anywhere.
So you can take one of several approaches:</p>
<p>1) Choose by the school with no attempt to assess department strength (trusting that the best colleges are likely to have good history departments)
2) Choose by the ranking of the graduate history department (on the assumption that it will have a good undergraduate history program too).
3) Look for historians whose books you like, find where they teach, then pick the best combination of historian(s) and host institution.</p>
<p>You’ll probably find that the schools with top 10 graduate history departments are all highly regarded as undergraduate schools by overall ranking. That brings you back around to strategy #1, which in my opinion is your best approach. Consider overall reputation and personal fit, as well as particular academic/other programs of interest.</p>
<p>I think you are getting more to the “right” way to look at schools in your second posting. That’s great that you have certain things you know you want, Division I (although you need to be specific about the sport, if you mean for your sport), urban, and about 7000+ students. Do you care about weather? How far from home? These and other factors will help you narrow it down, and finding the best fit based on those factors, academics, and economic considerations is the best way to choose a college, IMHO. The posters that said finding a good US History department is relatively easy are right. Among the top 50-100 universities, they will almost invariably have fine offerings. Besides, remember that most schools will have distribution requirements, and that to get a history degree you will need to take at least some non-US history. In the end, out of the 40 or so courses you will take in college, only 5-7 or so will likely be specifically in US History. For example, Georgetown was mentioned so I looked at it. <a href=“http://history.georgetown.edu/programs/undergraduate/5734.html[/url]”>http://history.georgetown.edu/programs/undergraduate/5734.html</a> It would appear that you take about 11 history courses for the major, and if you choose to focus on US History you can do 6 of them in this area. This is pretty typical. The point being that all good universities will offer at least that many high quality US History courses, so no worries.</p>
<p>If you are thinking that the “ranking” of the department affects going to grad school in this subject, relax. It doesn’t at all. Again, going to any good university and doing very well in your courses, writing a great senior thesis, and scoring well on the GRE’s will suffice for getting into a great grad school. If you are thinking law school, it is pretty much the same. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is ranked overall #9 in graduate History. In US Colonial history, it is ranked #5. Top ten in European history too.</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - History - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-history-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-history-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>^ <a href=“http://notallbits.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/09/the_more_you_know2.jpg[/url]”>Not All Bits: Image;
![http://notallbits.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/09/the_more_you_know2.jpg[/url]](http://notallbits.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/the_more_you_know2.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>^^^Once again UCB shines. :-)</p>
<p>^^^ <a href=“http://cdn1.knowyourmeme.com/i/9985/original/internet-serious-business.jpg[/url]”>http://cdn1.knowyourmeme.com/i/9985/original/internet-serious-business.jpg</a></p>
![http://cdn1.knowyourmeme.com/i/9985/original/internet-serious-business.jpg[/url]](http://cdn1.knowyourmeme.com/i/9985/original/internet-serious-business.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Hey, it’s serious business dude.</p>
<p>Definitely check out Michigan-Ann Arbor. It clearly has a top 10 History department, has major Division I athletics, has more than 7,000 students and is located in a nice-sized college town.</p>
<p>Most of the state flagships actually have good history departments. Undergraduate math is usually the weak point of these schools.</p>
<p>Manhattan, it depends on the flagship. Mathematics is in fact one of the majors that attracts a little number of students, so the attention they get at many flagships is actually akin to the attention students receive at LACs. For example, at Michigan, which has one of the nation’s top 10 Mathematics departments, there are nevermore than 100 students majoring in Mathematics per class. With a faculty of over 50 professors, the ratio of Mathematics majors to Mathematics professors is 4:1. Classes tend to be small, and with the exception of Calculus I and II, are taught by faculty. Finally, the Honors Mathematics Sequence at Michigan is concidered to be among the best of its kind.</p>
<p>This said, the OP is looking to major in History, so this tangent does not really serve her.</p>
<p>Point taken, Alexandre.</p>
<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergrad history</p>
<p>Yale
Berkeley
Princeton
Harvard
Stanford
Michigan
Columbia
Chicago
Johns Hopkins
Wisconsin
Cornell
Indiana U
U Penn
Brown
UNC Chapel Hill
UCLA
Northwestern
UVA
U Texas Austin
U Rochester
U Illinois UC
U Notre Dame
U Washington
U Minnesota
U Iowa
Duke
Rutgers
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
NYU
Vanderbilt
Washington U St Louis
U Maryland CP
Ohio St
Missouri Columbia
Emory
U Pitt
Rice
SUNY Stonybrook
Dartmouth
Brandeis
U Kansas
Boston U
UC Davis
SUNY Buffalo
Michigan St </p>
<p>Rugg’s Recommendations for history
Albion (MI) ………
Amherst (MA) ……
Barnard (NY) ….
Boston Col. (MA) ….
Boston U. (MA) …….
Bowdoin (ME) …….
Brandeis (MA) ……
Brown (RI) ………
Bryn Mawr ¶ .,
Bucknell ¶ …,
California, U. of (Berkeley) …
California, U. of (Los Angeles) …
Carleton (MN) ……
Centre (KY) ……,
Chicago, U. of (IL) ….’
Claremont McKenna (CA) ………
Colgate (NY) ……….’
Colorado Co. ……
Columbia (NY) ……,
Connecticut Co. ….’
Cornell (NY) ………
Dallas, U. of (TX) ……….,
Davidson (NC) ……
Dickinson ¶ ….
Drew (NJ) ……
Duke (NC) ……
Emory (GA) ….
George Washington (DC) ….
Georgetown (DC) “,
Gettysburg ¶ ……
Grinnell (IA) ……,
Hamilton (NY) ……
Harvard (MA) …
Haverford ¶ …
Holy Cross (MA) ….
Kalamazoo (Ml) …….
Kenyon (OH) ….
Lafayette ¶ ……
Lawrence (WI) …….
Macalester (MN) …
Middlebury (VT) ……
Mount Holyoke (MA) …
North Carolina, U. of ….
Northwestern (lL) ……
Notre Dame (IN) ….
Oberlin (OH) ………,
Pennsylvania, U. of ……
Pomona (CA) …….
Princeton (NJ) …
Reed (OR) ………
Rhodes (TN) ….,
Rice (TX) …….
Smith (M~) ……………
South, U. of the (TN) ….
Southwestern (TX) ….,
Swarthmore ¶ ……’
Texas Christian U. (TX) ……
Trinity (TX) …
Tufts (MA) ……
Tulane (LA) …….
Union (NY) ….,
Vanderbilt (TN) …
Vassar (NY) ….
Virginia, U. of ….
Wabash (IN) …….
Wake Forest (NC) …
Washington & lee (VA) ….
Wellesley (MA) ………,
Whitman (WA) ……’
William & Mary (VA) ……,
Williams (MA) ……
Yeshiva (NY) …….</p>