<p>Hey y'all!! I am a junior so time is of the essence. haha I am still trying to whittle down my list as close as I can for perfection. :) Currently, I am considering being a History major and possible minors include French, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, and Religion. At one point in time I completely crossed off schools such as Cornell, WashU, JHU, and Northwestern because I heard their pre med programs were crazzzy difficult and I really don't even like science. I was just trying to become a doctor because it was what my family wanted and I tried to convince myself I wanted it as well. You know, the age old sob story. haha So if you could drop a line on whether I should apply to these schools, I would truly appreciate it. </p>
<p>-Cornell University
-Washington University in St. Louis
-Northwestern University
-Johns Hopkins University
-Vanderbilt University
-Emory University
-Tulane University
-Rhodes College</p>
<p>p.s. In case it would also be of concern in your decision making process, I will either pursue law school with the major or go for my PhD in history to be a professor. (I have even discovered programs that make both feasible. <em>exhilaration</em> ahaha)</p>
<p>Oops! I forgot to ask one more thing. Gah, I am soooo needy. Lo siento college confidential compadres! Should I apply to any of these schools ED?? I thought maybe Cornell, WUSTL, or Northwestern. Yes, No, Maybe?? :)</p>
<p>My son is in his fourth year at Georgetown School of Foreign Service. He is an International History major with a minor in Russian. Georgetown has top notch professors--Madeleine Albright is on staff. It has been an amazing experience for him and the internships on Capital Hill are a valuable experience. Go HOYAS!</p>
<p>Re: ED, if you find one that you 100% love and you're sure that you would go there should you get in, then do ED. Admission rates are higher (note this doesn't necessarily mean you have a better chance of getting in).</p>
<p>I don't doubt it! I have heard Georgetown is stellar beyond belief! I didn't put that one because my top are already high reaches, and I didn't want to be too lop-sided. lol</p>
<p>HISTORY? omg this isnt like some kind of special major like accounting or finance, any school for history will do. any rankings you find for history specifically (and btw i very much so DOUBT HIGHLY they would exist) shouldnt be taken seriously</p>
<p>While DavidB's post isn't very well-written, it does have some merit. History is such an old, established, and universal major that virtually any four-year accredited school will have a solid program, and every top school will probably have a good or great program.</p>
<p>Though this is what you should do. Find out what particular eras and regional issues of history interest you the most and then compare your interests to the interests of the faculty at each school. For example, if you are most interested in Tudor-Stuart England, find out which schools have faculty members who specialize in that area, teach in that area, and have published in that area.</p>
<p>You can find this information on the History Department website for each school. You might as well learn how to do that know because you'll have to do that for hours before you apply for graduate school in history.</p>
<p>Don't worry about the difficult of competition. You will need competition to survive. Here is an interesting stat: Gaining admissions into a top 25 med school is 4 or 5 times harder than getting into MIT. If you aim to get into a top medical school, working really hard at your respective undergraduate and succeeding is important. Work only gets harder in med school so if admissions knows you attended a tough school, then will take that into consideration because it is absolutely important to show them that you can handle the medical school curriculum.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins actually has a top ten program in history, top ten english program, second best undergraduate creative writing program, and it's french program is one of the top in the country. Don't quote me on this one, but it is the only program in the US where after completion of the course the French embassy certifies you that you as fluent and literate in the French language and culture. The French language program is top ten as well... Something cool along those lines. It is very good in premed as well.</p>
<p>It seems like you are a social sciences type of gal. Have you considered international relations/affairs, political science, or psychology? Those might be a fit for you. I would choose for those/ history majors the George Washington University or Georgetown, both are excellent!</p>
<p>^ Hopkins actually has a top IR program as well. Hopkins SAIS was ranked behind Georgetown Walsh as the second best international relations masters degree program in 2008. Hopkins, Georgetown, Tufts (another school you could consider, good for premed, premed competition not as intense as WUSTL, Northwestern, or JHU), GWU, American, Claremont McKenna, Swarthmore, etc... are all top choices :D</p>
Not for history, it isn't. As someone said, though, that's not really a huge concern at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>
[quote=arizonagirl007]
It seems like you are a social sciences type of gal.
Religion, French, and comparative literature are in the humanities. History and anthropology are in the social sciences, but they have a lot more in common with the humanities than with international relations! :eek:</p>
<p>
Normally I would agree, but in this particular case I vehemently disagree. Getting into graduate programs in history is currently like winning the lottery (I've learned this the hard way!), and the OP needs a strong undergraduate program.</p>
<p>Cornell, Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins are great for what you want to study. WUStL, Emory, and Vanderbilt are weaker in history than those three, but they still have good programs. I don't know enough about Tulane or Rhodes to judge.</p>