<p>I've just started the "search" and I'm looking to pursue a major in history. I just don't know of any colleges that are particularly great in that department.</p>
<p>If anyone has any information for me I'd really appreciate it... lists, past experiences, what ever. Anywhere in the country is absolutely fine, I'd like to explore my options.</p>
<p>Thanks very much in advance... sorry if this is a bit vague, I don't know what I'm doing?</p>
<p>Yale is #1 in the nation in history.</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Duke</p>
<p>I'd add William & Mary and possibly UPenn (not as sure about that one).
I've also heard that Gettysburg has a good history major. There are a bunch more that I can't recall at the moment--I may reply later.</p>
<p>Additionally, if you've just started your search, I would highly recommend buying The Fiske Guide to Colleges. It's got a great selection of colleges, and it tells you around the top five best/most popular majors at that school. If history is in that section, take a closer look at that school. Good luck!</p>
<p>All the top schools are good at history. At the grad level, the top schools would include Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, Harvard, UCLA, Stanford, Chicago, Johns Hopkins (a surprise to many who consider it nothing more than a med school), and Columbia. Adjust accordingly for how much you value commitment to undergrad education.
That said, basically any good school has a good enough faculty in history to give you a good undergrad education. I'd weight other factors more highly. You might, however, while researching schools, try to figure out what sort of opportunities you'll have to get individual attention from a professor. In history, looking at the accessibility of seminars, as well as whether the department has a thesis requirement (any good department should) are important. Seminars matter because they are where you'll get your best research training prior to your senior thesis. </p>
<p>I love Yale's history department (though I have no idea if you're looking at schools in that range). In addition to having perhaps the top history faculty in the world, it offers a large number of seminars (capped at 15 students) that are easy for history majors (and actually other majors as well) to get into because they are so numerous. I'm already excited about the fact that I'll be taking a seminar with Jonathan Spence - probably the most important living historian of China - next semester, it's an opportunity that you can't get at a lot of schools. And the department takes the senior thesis quite seriously. All in all, it's a great place to be a history major, which probably explains why so many Yalies choose to major in history.</p>
<p>If I had the faintest interest in history, Yale would be right at the top of my list :)</p>
<p>History is a very broad category, and while it might be difficult to think about what kind of history or approach to history you're interested in right now, it can be helpful.</p>
<p>Chicago's undergraduate history major is very flexible and allows for a lot of interdisciplinary study, so if you see yourself as a "history plus" person (the "plus" including fields like economics, sociology, and anthropology) Chicago is particularly excellent. If you're interested in one specific aspect of history (Asian history, American history, gender history, urban history, environmental history) you're best off going through various schools and seeing what their course offerings in your field of interest look like.</p>
<p>Also, look at professors in the departments and what they research and teach. Try to choose a school where multiple profs teach things you're interested in, so if they leave, you have other profs to go by.</p>
<p>Also, see if you can e-mail a few profs who teach courses you're interested in. Talk to them about how they like their school!</p>
<p>And three other schools I would definitely check out for strong history departments are Penn, Brown, and Carleton. I include Brown and Carleton because they have strong programs in various cultural studies, and I include Penn because Alan Kors is still teaching, and he's definitely somebody I'd love to have teach me, for various reasons:</p>
<p>Alan</a> Charles Kors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>