<p>Hey, I am currently a senior at a high school called Paxon School For Advanced Studies and I have applied to UNF. I want a bachelors in History and then I want to receive my masters followed by a PhD. I want to teach Eastern European History(preferably from 1800-present). I was just wondering if anyone knew how much work is involved into receiving the PhD. For example how many languages do I need to take? I really love history and I want to become a professor.</p>
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You can find this sort of information on the department website of graduate programs. History PhD programs typically require reading knowledge of 1-2 languages besides English. Russian seems like an obvious choice for Eastern European Studies. German might be useful. If you are interested in a particular country of region of Eastern Europe, you might consider studying its local language.</p>
<p>But please don’t listen to me. The history professors at USF will be a much better resource.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, I was thinking of focusing on the countries that made up Yugoslavia. I speak Serbo-Croatian which was the language of Yugoslavia and I am in my second year of spanish but I have always wanted to learn German and Russian.</p>
<p>PhD programs require TONS of work. Most people who start them never finish.</p>
<p>As a previous poster mentioned, check the websites of graduate programs (e.g., Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia et al.)</p>
<p>One other suggestion, consider a major in or double major of History + Slavic Languages or Russian & East European Studies. Often, a Slavic major can accommodate historical interests, and typically, Slavic depts. tend to be relatively small. I don’t think it’s something you can do at UNF, but if you cast your net wider, you could. Also, look into the Russian Language Flagship programs.[Undergraduate</a> Major - Russian Language, Literature and Culture Program at the University of Maryland, College Park](<a href=“http://www.russian.umd.edu/major.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.russian.umd.edu/major.html)
[Welcome</a> | Russian Flagship Center - UW Madison](<a href=“http://www.russianflagship.wisc.edu/]Welcome”>http://www.russianflagship.wisc.edu/)
You could combine this with a history major and there may be some federal funding available for study abroad or summer programs.</p>
<p>That sounds great, thank you very much zapfino. Most likely I wont stay at UNF forever but I will try to stay within Florida just because it would cost less. But my dad has wanted me to study abroad in Croatia because he is Croatian.</p>
<p>I’m not a historian, but a professor in a related field with 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in a PhD granting department. I’ve probably supervised 60 or 70 dissertations and taught hundreds more students at this level. So here’s my advice, for what it is worth.</p>
<p>If you want to stay instate, you would probably be best off attending the University of Florida in Gainesville, which has a reasonably highly-ranked history PhD program–recently ranked 48 in the country in a peer-review study. If you’re interested in eventually getting a PhD yourself, it is very helpful to be in a school with a decent graduate program, because 1) you will get to know graduate students and can find out from them what their lives are like 2) you may be able to take grad courses in the later part of your undergraduate degree, and 3) you will be studying with faculty who have active research agendas themselves, who will be able to mentor you effectively, to give you an accurate assessment of your abilities, and, you hope, write convincing letters of recommendation when it is time for you to apply to grad school.</p>
<p>Get a strong language background as an undergraduate–study abroad in your “target country” if you possibly can. You will need native or near-native fluency to do original historical research. You should also try to write an honors thesis in your senior year, since that will give you a sense of whether you have the motivation and aptitude for graduate study. Lots of people who shine in classes where the assignments are clearly defined and the content is pre-packaged by the teacher or the textbook have a surprising amount of trouble doing independent, original work.</p>
<p>Be aware that the job opportunities in academia for history PhDs are slim. Some people, of course, succeed but many fall by the wayside. Very often they think they would enjoy being a professor (and they probably would, since it’s a great job in many ways) but they don’t understand what they’re getting into. So educate yourself, and not just in your field of specialization.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the advice jingle. I was planning on transferring to UF actually. One of my teachers husband is a professor at UNF and she is going to introduce me to him and he will probably help me along the way.</p>
<p>“U.S. universities also minted 37,000 history degrees in 2006, including 852 Ph.D.s. That for a field with fewer than 500 job openings and average pay of $48,500. Plumbers, by contrast, enjoyed 16,000 new jobs that year and earned only $6,000 less than historians, census figures show.”</p>
<p>[Forbes.com</a> - Magazine Article](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/060_print.html]Forbes.com”>http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/060_print.html)</p>
<p>Thats fine.</p>