grad study in history info please....

Graduate School
21

<p>Here is a list of some history Ph.D programs and their requirements (obviously these are very competitive ones so it will vary depending on the level of the program)- </p>

<p>Columbia-Middle Eastern and Central Asian history: three languages: one chosen from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Uzbek, Hebrew, Armenian; and two from French, German, Italian, Spanish. Oral examination: sixth term.</p>

<p>Yale-Middle East: Arabic, Persian, or Turkish (or modern Hebrew, depending on area of research) and a major European research language (French, German, Russian, or an approved substitute).</p>

<p>Stanford-Competence in Hebrew, Arabic, or Turkish sufficient to carry out independent research in the Middle East is required. Some students may need to master a second Middle Eastern language, depending on their area of research interest…Reading knowledge of a European language, usually French is also required.</p>

<p>Upenn-Students in the history of other parts of the world [not US or Europe] must demonstrate competence in at least two languages other than English. </p>

<p>Umichigan-Is a foreign language proficiency a requirement for admission?
Foreign language proficiency is not a requirement for admission, but previous training in a language relevant to one’s major field is highly desirable, and in some cases essential to admission. </p>

<p>Harvard-Language Requirements
French, German, and a Middle Eastern language</p>

22

<p>deepseekphd- include NY to that requirement. That's what i was thinking of though I wasn't sure of other states, particularly in the West.</p>

<p>josephine- the above requirements, that's what they expect you to know before getting that degree, not to gain admissions, correct?</p>

23

<p>josephine, do you happen to know where the best programs in Latin American history are?</p>

24

<p>ticklemepink, well you take tests to prove you have the proper language skills in the fifth or sixth semester but in looking at who to admit, these programs do look much more favorably on those who have all or some of the requirements done already, or are on their way to getting them done. If I was an adcom I would be somewhat skeptical of someone who had to learn them from scratch in graduate school, along with all the other work. I think it depends a bit on the area and languages involved, I think for my field, euro, language proficiency is usually sort of expected but for other fields, requiring more difficult or unusual languages, less so. </p>

<p>dobby-I'm not terribly familiar with latin american history programs since that is not my area but US News and World Report has a list you can check, three that are mentioned there are University of Texas-Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yale (this is just what can be seen online).</p>

25

<p>I was once interested in applying for M.A. programs in history, but one of the issues that's stopping me from pursuing a master's is the lack of funding for M.A. students. Are there actually programs out that provide financial support for master's students? </p>

<p>Another issue that's stopping me from applying to M.A. programs is the large number of unemployed Ph.D's out. I might be wrong about this, but I feel like many community colleges are more interested in hiring people with Ph.D's than people with just M.A.'s.</p>

<p>Are these valid reasons for not pursuing an M.A. in history? </p>

<p>I don't know. </p>

<p>Anybody have any thoughts on these issues?</p>

26

<p>Pseudonomdeplume, I think those are valid reasons. MAs are not well funded in history and the chances of getting a teaching job without a Ph.D is verging on slim to none.</p>

27

<p>I found this article interesting (and sad):</p>

<p>M.A. Students as Pledges: <a href="http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/04/2005041101c/careers.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/04/2005041101c/careers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

28

<p>ha, what an uplifting article. </p>

<p>its become pretty clear to me that if i want to pursue a career teaching history, the high school rout is the way to go... for me at least. </p>

<p>on the bright side, it has never been a better time to be a student of history. at my average liberal arts school, i was taught by brilliant professors from ivy league schools.</p>

<p>in contrast, my business classes were taught by adjuncts with mba's and cpa's and a few years of experience.</p>

29

<p>Well, it's not all bad. Although this article (entitled "Why History Needs the M.A."), isn't exactly uplifting either: <a href="http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/07/2005072001c/careers.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2005/07/2005072001c/careers.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The main problem with the M.A. in history is that serves way too many purposes for way too many people.</p>