phd history admission 2023

History PhD

First awarded by the University of Maryland in 1937, the Doctorate in History is conferred for superior achievement in historical research, writing, and interpretation.

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PhD Program Overview

The Doctorate in History (PhD) is an essential component in the training of professional historians. The most significant requirement of the PhD degree program is the dissertation, an original and noteworthy contribution to historical knowledge. In anticipation of dissertation research, students spend several years mastering bibliographical tools, research and writing methods, and general, special, and minor fields of study.

Admission to the PhD program is offered to highly qualified applicants holding at least a Bachelor's (BA) degree, normally in History or a related discipline. Application and admissions procedures are described on the Department of History's  graduate admissions page .

The length of time required to complete the PhD varies by field of study and student. Students admitted with a Bachelor's (BA) degree might expect to complete the program in five to six years of full-time study. Students entering with a Master of Arts (MA) degree might expect to complete the program in four to five years of full-time study. The degree must be completed in no more than nine years.  Students typically take two years of course work, prepare for and take language exams (if required for their field) and comprehensive exams, and then research and write the dissertation.

Program Requirements and Policies

General program requirements.

• Course work in the major and minor fields
• Language examinations if required by field
• Comprehensive examinations
• Dissertation prospectus
• Advancement to candidacy
• The dDssertation

Each of these program requirements must be met before the PhD can be conferred.

Course Requirements

All PhD students entering with a Bachelor's (BA) degree (or equivalent) must take, at a minimum, the following courses (total 30 credits, not including 12 credits of “Dissertation Research”):

• Contemporary Theory (HIST 601; 3 credits)
• Major Field General Seminar (HIST 608; 3 credits)
• Readings courses in the major field (HIST 6XX and 7XX; 9 credits)
• Readings courses in the minor field (HIST 6XX and 7XX; 9 credits)
• Research seminars (HIST 8XX; 6 credits)
• Dissertation Research (HIST 898/899; 12 credits)

Special Notes:

• Courses completed during previous post-baccalaureate degree programs and/or at other institutions may be considered to satisfy course requirements. However, students entering the PhD program with a Master's (MA) degree or equivalent in History or a related discipline must take a minimum of two  600-800 level courses in the major field, one of which should be with the major advisor.
• Requests for course requirement waivers, equivalency, and credit transfers should be directed to the Director of Graduate Studies. A request must include the course syllabus and transcripts showing the final grade. The endorsement of the advisor is typically sought.
• Up to nine credit hours of major and minor field readings courses may be taken at the 400 level.  Students seeking to take a 400 level course for graduate credit should consult the instructor of record to discuss course expectations before registering.
• HIST 708/709: “Directed Independent Reading for Comprehensive Examinations” does not count toward the nine-credit readings seminar requirement.
• Students in the U.S. and Latin America fields are expected to take two major field seminars (HIST 608)–in this case, one of these 608s will be counted toward the “Readings courses in the major field” requirement.
• Students must complete the entire program for the doctoral (PhD) degree, including the dissertation and final examination, during a four-year period after admission to candidacy, but no later than nine years after admission to the doctoral (PhD) program. Students must be advanced to candidacy within five years of admission to the doctoral (PhD) program. 

Fields of Study

Doctoral students should choose one of the following as their “major field” of study:

Global Interaction and Exchange

• Jewish History (Classical Antiquity to the Present)

Latin America

Middle East

• Technology, Science, and Environment

United States

Learn more about fields of study and faculty work produced in each field by visiting the research fields page .

The Minor Field

All doctoral students are required to complete a minor field of study outside the major field of study. This requirement is typically met through nine credit hours of coursework. However, a student may opt to satisfy the requirement by written examination.

A minor field is usually a field of history outside the student's major field of concentration. For example, a student in the U.S. field may select a minor field in Latin American history; a student in the Women & Gender field may select a minor field in European history. The minor field may be a standard national-chronological field (e.g., 19th-century United States; Imperial Russia; Postcolonial India), or it may be a cross-cultural, cross-regional thematic field (e.g., the Atlantic in the era of the slave trade; gender and Islam). Or, it might be taken in a department or program outside of History (e.g., Women's Studies, English, Government & Politics, Classics and Comparative Literature).

For students opting to satisfy the minor field requirement via coursework, all courses must be approved by the student's advisor and must, to the satisfaction of the advisor and the Graduate Committee, form a coherent field of historical inquiry distinct from the general field. Courses taken at the master's level may count towards fulfillment of the minor field requirements, subject to the approval of the advisor and, in the case of courses taken at outside institutions, of the director of graduate studies.

Language Requirements

Language requirements must be fulfilled before a student is admitted to candidacy. While no MA degree requires language examinations, students will often have to learn one or more foreign languages in their field of study to successfully complete their research. They will also need to learn these languages if they wish to continue on towards a PhD. When applying for either program, preference will be given to students with prior experience with languages in their fields of study.

Language requirements differ across the varying fields within history.

No foreign language requirements for the PhD. If a student’s dissertation topic requires research in foreign language materials, the advisor will decide if the student needs to show proficiency by taking an examination in the language in question.

Spanish and Portuguese. For admission, applicants will be evaluated on their language abilities, and preference will be given to applicants with a strong command of Spanish and/or Portuguese. All PhD students must show proficiency by examination in both languages by the time they are admitted to candidacy. Exceptions to one of those languages (typically Portuguese) if the student’s dissertation requires the use of indigenous languages or documents produced by ethnic minorities. In such cases, students must be proficient in those languages.

One language (in addition to English). Depending on the field, the adviser may determine that the student needs to show proficiency in an additional language.

For admission, students must have proficiency at the advanced intermediate level in at least one major Middle Eastern language (Arabic, Persian or Turkish). All PhD students must acquire advanced proficiency in their chosen language either by course work or exam by the time they are admitted to candidacy. In addition, students must demonstrate proficiency in one European language by the time of their comprehensive exams.

Ancient Mediterranean

For admission, students should present knowledge of classical Greek and Latin at the intermediate level and reading knowledge of either French or German. Knowledge of classical Greek, Latin, French and German is required for the PhD. Other language skills, eg. Italian, Spanish, Modern Greek or Hebrew, may prove to be necessary for dissertation research but are not formal program requirements. Students satisfy the requirement in Latin and Greek in one of two ways: either by completing three upper level or graduate courses (400-600 level) in each language and obtaining at least a B in all courses and an A- or better in at least two of the courses; or by passing a departmental sight translation exam. This exam consists of translating (with the help of a dictionary) three passages of three sentences each (roughly one-fourth to one-third OCT page) selected from prose authors of average difficulty. Students show proficiency in French and German through the regular departmental language exams.

Medieval Europe

For admission, proficiency in either Latin, French or German and familiarity with a second of those languages. All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in Latin, French and German. They can satisfy the Latin requirement in one of two ways: either by taking three upper level or graduate courses (400-600 level) and obtaining at least a B in all courses and an A- or better in at least two of the courses; or by passing a departmental sight translation exam. This exam consists of translating (with the help of a dictionary) three passages of three sentences each (roughly one-fourth to one-third OCT page) selected from medieval prose authors of average difficulty. Students show proficiency in French and German through the regular departmental language exams. Depending on the field, students may have to know an additional national/regional language like Spanish or Italian.

Early Modern Europe

For admission, proficiency in one foreign language related to the field. All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in two foreign languages. Depending on the field, students may also have to know Latin.

Modern Europe

For admission, students must know the language of the country or region in which they are interested. All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in the language of the country/region in which they are interested plus another European language.

Russia/Soviet Union

For admission, three years of Russian or the equivalent. All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in Russian plus either French or German. Depending on the area of interest, the adviser may require an additional language.

For admission, advanced intermediate-level proficiency in modern Hebrew. All PhD students must demonstrate proficiency in modern Hebrew and one other language necessary for their fields. The advisor may require other languages as necessary.

Chinese History

For admission, students must have had at least two years of university-level Chinese language courses. All PhD students must acquire advanced proficiency in Chinese since they will be using Chinese documents for their dissertations.  Before admission to candidacy students must pass a Chinese language exam in which they will translate about 30 lines of modern, scholarly Chinese into English. As with all departmental language exams, students will be able to use a dictionary, and they will have four hours to complete the translation.

Language Examinations

Except as specified for Latin and ancient Greek, the typical language proficiency examination includes a summary and translation of a passage from a work of modern scholarship in the student’s field. The director of graduate studies appoints a faculty member, typically the student’s advisor, to coordinate the exam and select an excerpt from a published work of historical scholarship in the student’s field. Students write a 200-300 word summary of this five-to-seven page excerpt from the scholarly literature in their fields, and then they do a direct translation of an indicated 30-line passage within that excerpt. The direct translation must be accurate and rendered in idiomatic English. Students have four hours to complete the exam, and they may use a language dictionary that they themselves provide.

Language exams can be taken at any time before candidacy. The exams are read by two members of the faculty: typically, the student’s advisor, who chooses the passage and serves as chair of the exam committee, and one other member of the faculty chosen by the D\director of graduate studies in consultation with the advisor. Faculty from outside the department who have the necessary expertise are eligible to serve as evaluators. The two possible grades are pass and fail. If the two readers do not agree, the director of graduate studies will appoint a third faculty member to read the exam. Students who do not pass on the first attempt may retake the examination without prior approval. After a second failure, the student must petition for reexamination. The chair of the language exam committee will notify the director of graduate studies about the results of the exam within one week after the exam, and the graduate coordinator will notify the student in writing about the results, which will then be inserted into the student’s records. All students should normally pass their language examinations during their third year of the program, though given the complexity of the language requirements in different fields of study, the department recognizes the need to exercise some flexibility in the timing of this requirement.

• Comprehensive Examinations

Comprehensive examinations (comps) are a standard feature of historical training in the United States. The examinations require the examinee to demonstrate mastery of historical scholarship and historiography in a major field, including specialized mastery of the authors, themes, works and topics most relevant to the intended dissertation topic. All students register for HIST 708/709: “Directed Independent Reading for Comprehensive Examinations” for two semesters, once in the semester prior to the one in which they are scheduled to take the examinations (normally the fifth semester of the student’s program) and the second in the same semester as their examinations (normally the sixth semester of the student’s program). As noted above, these courses do not count towards the nine-credit readings seminar requirement.

Comprehensive examinations include the following:

• A special field examination in the form of an essay. Students prepare an essay of 4,000 to \5,000 words in length, 16-20 pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font. The special field is a subfield of the major field in which the dissertation is centered.
• A take-home major field examination administered in written format. Students have 48 hours to complete the exam, which should be 5,000 to 6,000 words, 20-24 pages, double-spaced in a 12-point font in length.
• A two-hour oral examination by the examination committee, including coverage of both the take-home major field exam and the essay that comprises the special field exam.

Timeline : The comprehensive examinations are administered during the first half of the student’s sixth semester in the program. The special field essay has to be submitted to the graduate coordinator before the student takes the major field examination. The oral examination follows within two weeks of passing the major field examination and the special field essay. Students entering the program with an MA in history might be expected to complete their comprehensive examinations during their fifth semester in the program. (Also see the “Combined Timeline for Comprehensive Examinations and the Prospectus” at the end of this document.)

Reading Lists : The format, content and length of the reading lists for the comprehensive examinations vary by field but the list should normally be in the range of 200 to 250 books. Of these, about two-thirds should be in the major field and one-third in the special field. In all fields, students develop their reading lists in consultation with their advisors and other members of the examination committee. The reading list must be compiled and approved by the examination committee by the end of their second-year summer (after the student’s fourth semester in the program). For students coming in with an MA in history who would like to take their examinations during their fifth semester in the program, the list must be ready by the end of the student’s third semester. After approval, limited changes may be made solely by mutual agreement of the student and his/her advisor.

The examination committee : The examination committee consists of three or four members of the Graduate Faculty, typically all members of the history faculty. The director of graduate studies designates the committee members and chair, in consultation with the major advisor and the student. The committee chair shall not be the student's advisor. All committee members contribute questions to the written and oral examinations. Most or all of these same committee members are normally also on the student’s dissertation committee but the composition of the examination and prospectus committees do not need to be the same.

Grading : Comprehensive examinations will be graded pass, pass with distinction or fail.

Combined Timeline for Comprehensive Exams and Prospectus

• Both the initial version of the prospectus and the special field essay are due before the major field take-home examination during the first half of the sixth semester of the student's program.
• The major field take-home examination should be completed also during the first half of the sixth semester of the student's program after the initial version of the prospectus and the special field essay are submitted.
• The two-hour oral examination on both the take-home major field exam and the essay that comprises the special field exam follows within two weeks of passing the major field examination and the special field exam. This oral exam can take place during the second half of the sixth semester of the student’s program.
• The one-hour oral examination based on the initial version of the prospectus also takes place during the second half of the sixth semester of the student’s program but only after successful completion of the two-hour oral examination (#3 above).
• The final version of the prospectus as approved by the advisor is due on the first day of the academic semester that immediately follows the comprehensive examinations, which is normally the seventh semester of the student’s program.

Prospectus & Candidacy

Dissertation Prospectus

The dissertation prospectus is a written précis of the proposed dissertation research, its significance, the sources and methods to be used, the relevant bibliography including primary source materials and the plan of completion. It is intended to form the substance of grant proposals students will write in order to apply for both internal and external grants and fellowships. Each field of study has its own expectations for the length of the prospectus, but normally these should be concise documents not to exceed 10-12 pages in length, followed by a bibliography. In all fields, the prospectus is developed by the student in close collaboration with the advisor and other members of the examination committee.

The preparation of the prospectus includes the following stages :

• An initial version of the prospectus.
• A one-hour oral examination based on that initial version.
• A final version incorporating any revisions suggested by members of the dissertation committee and approved by the advisor submitted to the graduate coordinator.

Timeline : The initial draft version of the prospectus should be submitted to the graduate coordinator during the first half of the student’s sixth semester before the student takes the major field examination, normally at the same time as the special field essay. The one-hour oral examination of the prospectus based on the initial version is scheduled during the second half of the student’s sixth semester in the program following satisfactory completion of the comprehensive examinations. The final version of the prospectus as approved by the advisor is due on the first day of the academic semester that immediately follows the comprehensive examination. (Also see the “Combined Timeline for Comprehensive Examinations and the Prospectus” at the end of this document.)

The relationship between the prospectus and the special field Essay: The special field essay normally covers the historiography of the entire subfield within the major field in which the dissertation is anchored, while the prospectus is more narrowly concerned with the specific research topic of the dissertation.

The examination committee: The prospectus oral examination committee consists of the advisor and at least two other members of the Graduate Faculty, who are normally also members of the student’s dissertation committee. The advisor chairs the examination. All committee members contribute questions to the oral examination and make suggestions for revisions. Upon passing the oral examination, the student will complete any revisions requested (as determined by the advisor and the committee) and submit the final prospectus approved by the advisor to the graduate program coordinator.

MA “Along the Way”

When a student receives a pass or pass with distinction and the endorsement to continue on in the PhD program, the student has the option to request that the Master of Arts degree be conferred "along the way," subject to fulfillment of the standard requirements of the MA degree.

In some instances, the examination committee may recommend that a PhD student taking comprehensive examinations be given a pass at the MA level, sufficient for the conferral of a terminal master's degree. Such a recommendation will be made with the expectation that the student not continue on towards doctoral candidacy.

Petition for Reexamination

In the case of failure of a language examination taken for the second time or one or more components of the comprehensive examinations and the prospectus preparation process (special field essay, take-home major field examination, two-hour oral examination and prospectus oral examination), the student may petition the director of graduate studies to take the whole examination or the relevant component(s) a second time. If the petition is approved, the student may retake the examination as soon as possible. A student may petition only once to retake all or part of the comprehensive examinations and the prospectus preparation process.

Successful completion of the prospectus is typically the last step before application for advancement to candidacy.

• Advancement to Candidacy

A doctoral student advances to candidacy when all degree requirements (i.e., course work, demonstrated competence in languages or special skills, comprehensive examinations and the dissertation prospectus) have been satisfied, with the exception of the dissertation.

Formal admission to candidacy (sometimes known as "All but Dissertation" or "ABD" status) is granted by the dean of the Graduate School. The application is routed through the director of graduate studies.

Advising & Committees

Each student admitted to the PhD program will choose an advisor who is a member of the Graduate Faculty and whose intellectual interests are compatible with the student's plan of study. All graduate students are required to choose an advisor by November 1 of their first semester. If they do not choose an advisor by that date, the director of graduate studies will appoint one for them. The faculty advisor will be responsible for advising the student on all aspects of their academic program, for approving the student's course of study each semester, for monitoring their progress through the program,and for notifying the student of the nature and timing of examinations and other evaluative procedures. The advisor, in consultation with the student and the director of graduate studies, will be responsible for constituting the Comprehensive Examination and Dissertation Examination committees. The advisor will also represent the student to the Graduate Committee, as appropriate.

At the conclusion of the first year of study, all students will make available to their advisor a transcript of coursework and major written work completed during the first year. Upon review of the appropriate materials, the advisor will then recommend to the director of graduate studies continuation, modification or, as appropriate, termination of the student's program. All recommendations for termination require discussion and approval of the Graduate Committee.

Students may change advisors. The director of graduate studies and the new faculty advisor shall approve changes in advisors before a student advances to candidacy. After advancement to candidacy, changes shall be approved only by petition to the Graduate Committee. A change of advisor must be recorded in the student's electronic file.

Registration and Degree Progress

Continuous Registration

All graduate students must register for courses and pay associated tuition and fees each semester, not including summer and winter sessions, until the degree is awarded.

Pre-candidacy doctoral students who will be away from the university for up to one year may request a waiver of continuous registration and its associated tuition and fees. Waivers shall be granted only if the student is making satisfactory progress toward the degree and can complete all the degree requirements within the required time limits. Interruptions in continuous registration cannot be used to justify an extension to time-to-degree requirements.

Once advanced to candidacy, a student is no longer eligible for Waivers of Continuous Registration. Doctoral candidates must maintain continuous registration in HIST 899: “Doctoral Dissertation Research” until the degree is awarded.

The Graduate School makes available an official leave absence for childbearing, adoption, illness and dependent care. The dean of the Graduate School must approve the leave. The time-to-degree clock is suspended during an approved leave of absence.

Additional information on continuous registration and leave absence policies is published online in the Graduate Catalog.

Time-to-Degree

All students admitted to the doctoral program are expected to

• advance to candidacy within three years from initial enrollment in the Ph.D. program, and
• complete all degree requirements within six years of entering the program.

Progress-to-Degree

All students in the doctoral program will be expected to demonstrate steady progress toward the completion of degree requirements. At a minimum, the Graduate School requires students to maintain a B average in all graduate courses. However, the Department of History expects a higher level of performance, with the great majority of a student’s grades at the level of an A- or above.

Students in major fields that require lengthy language or special skill acquisition might be granted a one-year extension to progress-to-degree expectations. Additional extensions will require the approval of the Graduate Committee.

In order to meet progress-to-degree expectations :

• 800-level research seminar work should normally be completed by the end of the fourth semester in the program.
• The major field reading list must be compiled and approved by the examination committee by the end of the summer after the student’s fourth semester in the program.
• Students should complete their comprehensive examinations by the end of their sixth semester in the program. Students coming in with an M.A. in history should normally complete their comprehensive examinations by the end of their fifth semester in the program.
• Each student will be expected to submit a copy of the final dissertation prospectus approved by the advisor to the graduate program coordinator at the beginning of their seventh academic semester in the program.
• All students should normally pass their language examinations during the third year of their program.
• The director of graduate studies will review fully each student's progress-to-degree as well as the overall progress-to-degree by degree cohort at least once a year.

Failure to make satisfactory progress-to-degree or to maintain the expected grade point average may result in the suspension or loss of departmental funding, the denial of a petition for extensions, and in extreme cases, a recommendation for dismissal.

NOTE : The above guidelines on continuous registration, time-to-degree and progress-to-degree guidelines are for students matriculating in fall 2018 or thereafter. Students entering the graduate program in prior semesters are subject to guidelines at time of matriculation.

Extensions and Waivers

The Graduate Committee will consider petitions for waivers to departmental guidelines. Petitions for waivers to Graduate School requirements must be submitted to the dean of the Graduate School, using the appropriate form. In most instances, the petitioning student will be required to provide a rationale for the waiver request, and, as appropriate, a convincing plan of study. The advice of the student's advisor may be sought. The advisor will be required to endorse any waiver request that involves extensions to overall time-to-degree as well as the major benchmarks of progress-to-degree.

All petitions should be directed to the director of graduate studies. The director of graduate studies, and in some cases the dean of the Graduate School, will notify the student of their disposition of petitions for extensions.

Sample Program of Study

Introduction.

The program of study often varies by field and many factors may extend or reorder the sequence and length of the program of study.

The following program of study assumes that the doctoral student will be assigned a teaching assistantship in the second, third and fourth years of study. Students coming in with an MA in history will be expected to complete the program in five or five and a half years.

Foreign language study is not incorporated into this program.

 First Year (Departmental Fellowship)

• Major Field General Seminar (608) or Contemporary Theory (HIST 601)
• Major Field Readings Seminar
• Minor Field Course

Spring 

• Research Seminar OR Minor Field Course
• Exploratory Research

Second Year (Teaching Assistantship)

• 2 courses out of the following three categories:
• Research Seminar 
• Research Seminar
• Reading for Comprehensive Examinations
• Initial Prospectus Preparation

Third Year (Teaching Assistantship)

• HIST 708: Readings for Comprehensives”
• Prospectus Preparation 
• Grant Applications
• HIST 709: “Readings for Comprehensive Examinations”
• Prospectus Oral Examination 
• Final Version of Prospectus
• Dissertation Research

Fourth Year (Teaching Assistantship)

• Dissertation Research (HIST 899)

Fifth Year (Departmental or External Fellowship)

• Grant Applications  

Spring & Summer

• Dissertation Writing

Sixth Year  (Departmental or External Fellowship)

• Job applications  
• Job applications

Graduate Placement

Learn more about the career and life paths of our PhD alumni.

Graduate Coordinator, History

2139 Francis Scott Key Hall College Park MD, 20742

Graduate Students

Learn more about our  students' research interests and dissertation projects.

CURRENT STUDENTS

Ph.D. Program

Stanford Ph.D. Program in History aims to train world-class scholars.

Every year we admit 10-12 promising students  from a large pool of highly selective applicants. Our small cohort size allows more individual work with faculty than most graduate programs in the United States and also enables funding in one form or another available to members of each cohort.

Fields of Study

Our graduate students may specialize in 14 distinct subfields: Africa, Britain, Early Modern Europe, East Asia, Jewish History, Latin America, Medieval Europe, Modern Europe,  Ottoman Empire and Middle East, Russia/Eastern Europe, Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine, South Asia, Transnational, International, and Global History, and United States. Explore each field and their affiliates . 

The department expects most graduate students to spend no less than four and no more than six years completing the work for the Ph.D. degree. Individual students' time to degree will vary with the strength of their undergraduate preparation as well as with the particular language and research requirements of their respective Major fields.

Expectations and Degree Requirements

We expect that most graduate students will spend no less than four and no more than six years toward completing their Ph.D. Individual students' time-to-degree vary with the strength of their undergraduate preparation as well as with the particular language and research requirements of their respective subfield.

All History Ph.D. students are expected to satisfy the following degree requirements:

• Teaching: Students who enter on the Department Fellowship are required to complete 4 quarters of teaching experience by the end of their third year. Teaching experience includes teaching assistantships and teaching a Sources and Methods course on their own.
• Candidacy : Students apply for candidacy to the PhD program by the end of their second year in the program.
• Orals:  The University Orals Examination is typically taken at the beginning of the 3rd year in the program.
• Languages: Language requirements vary depending on the field of study.
• Residency Requirement : The University requi res  135 units of full-tuition residency  for PhD students. After that, students should have completed all course work and must request Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status. 

Browse the Ph.D. Handbook to learn more .

The History Department offers 5 years of financial support to PhD students.  No funding is offered for the co-terminal and terminal M.A. programs. A sample Ph.D. funding package is as follows:  

• 1st year: 3 quarters fellowship stipend and 1 summer stipend 
• 2nd year: 2 quarters TAships, 1 quarter fellowship stipend, and 1 summer stipend 
• 3rd year: 2 quarters TAships, 1 quarter fellowship stipend, and 1 summer stipend 
• 4th year: 3 quarters fellowship stipends and 1 summer stipend 
• 5th year: 3 quarters fellowship stipends and 1 summer stipend

Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Join dozens of  Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students  who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as  Knight-Hennessy Scholars  (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your studies at Stanford. candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 9, 2024. Learn more about  KHS admission .

How to Apply

Admission to the History Graduate Programs are for Autumn quarter only.  Interested applicants can online at  https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/apply/apply-now and submit the following documents: 

• Statement of Purpose (included in Application)
• 3 Letters of Recommendation
•  Transcripts are required from all prior college level schools attended for at least one year.  A scanned copy of the official transcript is submitted as part of the online application.  Please do not mail transcripts to the department.   We will ask only the admitted students to submit actual copies of official transcripts.
• 1 Writing Sample on a historic topic (10-25 pages; sent via  Stanford's online application system  only)
• The GRE exam is not required for the autumn 2025 admission cycle
• TOEFL for all international applicants (whose primary language is not English) sent via ETS. Our University code is 4704.
• TOEFL Exemptions and Waiver information
• Application Fee Waiver
• The department is not able to provide fee waivers. Please see the link above for the available fee waivers and how to submit a request. Requests are due 2 weeks before the application deadline.

The Department of History welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. Review of applications is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, and admissions essays in order to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field.

The Department of History also recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

Application deadline for Autumn 2025-26 is Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 11:59pm EST . This is a hard -not a postmark- deadline. 

All application material is available online. No information is sent via snail mail. Interested applicants are invited to view a Guide to Graduate Admissions at  https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/ . 

Questions? 

Please contact  Arthur Palmon  (Assistant Director of Student Services).

Department Bookshelf

Browse the most recent publications from our faculty members.

Secret Cures of Slaves (Japanese Translation)

Visualizing Russia in Early Modern Europe

How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America

Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique

Italian Fascism in Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands, 1922–44

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The Graduate Program

Admission to the doctoral program.

Our entering class of students is drawn from a pool that typically contains over 500 applications. Only candidates with outstanding qualifications are likely to be admitted.

Our program is designed for students who seek the Ph.D. Although students entering without a Master’s degree earn an M.A. in History in the course of their study here, we do not admit full-time students who wish only to earn a Master’s degree.

We attract students from all parts of the country and from many parts of the world. Some students enter our program immediately after graduating from college. Others come to us after several, sometimes many, years doing other things, including in some cases earning a Master’s degree at another university. Most entering students have done previous work in history, either as undergraduates or in a master’s program; but many enter our program having specialized in other academic fields.

Applications are submitted online to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences by December 12, 2024 . The Department of History does not consider applications that arrive after that date. Applications must include a Statement of Purpose (1000 word limit) explaining your reasons for wishing to enter graduate school and outlining your scholarly interests; a personal statement of up to 1,000 words; academic transcripts; letters of recommendation, ideally from faculty members with whom you have worked; and a writing sample, an undergraduate essay or thesis, a masters essay, or some other work of scholarship. The writing sample should not be more than 20 pages long. The page limit does not include bibliographies or appendices. Decisions on admissions are made by the faculty of the History Department, and candidates usually receive notification early in March.

The Graduate School does not automatically grant deferrals; students must register in the term specified for admission. A student unable to register then, but wishing to be admitted in a subsequent year, must make a written request to the Office of Admissions to reactivate their application. Students should communicate with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) if considering requesting a deferral.

We are often asked what we consider important in reviewing applications. First and foremost, we are looking for evidence of scholarly talent and achievement. Grades are of course, helpful in locating such evidence, but they are not the only things we consider. What you say in your Statement of Purpose can be very important; you will find some good advice here . Your writing sample is often the decisive factor in our decision. While many types of samples are effective, the best tend to show your ability to construct historical arguments from primary sources: an excerpt from a research paper, for example, will be more useful than a complete essay based entirely on secondary scholarship.

All applicants should be sure to list the faculty they hope to work with in the relevant place on the GSAS application and in the Statement of Purpose. 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to develop a capacity to read scholarly work in the language or languages required for their proposed field of study before enrolling in the Ph.D. program. This is especially important for applications to the International and Global track (see IGH field description ).

For additional information, please visit our graduate FAQs page .

• PhD History
• Prospective Students
• MA Programs

The Department of History offers a PhD program centered on rigorous research within a vibrant and diverse intellectual community. While most of our students have a history degree (BA) or degrees (BA and MA), we accept students with a variety of backgrounds and interests. 

Admission is highly competitive. All offers include a full university fellowship for the duration of the program. Between 2017 and 2024, a number of excellent students selected for admission were named  Neubauer Family Distinguished Doctoral Fellows and received additional fellowship support over for five years.

Admissions Deadline (Autumn 2025 program start):  December 5, 2024 at 11:55 

Application Process

Interested students apply to the PhD program through the  Division of the Social Sciences . For questions regarding the application submission and fee waivers, please contact  SSD Admissions.  For questions regarding the History PhD Program or History-specific application components, please contact our  graduate affairs administrator .

Official decisions are sent by the Social Science Admissions Office by late February. The Department cannot release any information on admissions decisions.

Application Advice

The requirements for the application can be found on the divisional  admissions pages . The following advice is specific to your application to the Department of History.

Your  writing sample  should be a complete self-contained work. The ideal sample should be in the field of history (or a closely related field) that you plan to pursue at Chicago. Include the class or publication for which the sample was written. We do not have a page or word limit for writing samples. For papers longer than thirty pages, please flag a section for the committee.

Your  candidate statement  provides us with vital insight into the intersection of your intellectual goals and personal trajectory. It should communicate: 1) the ambitions you wish to pursue through doctoral work in history; 2) the specific questions and themes that will shape your dissertation research; 3) the personal and intellectual trajectory that has brought you to those themes and questions and prepared you to pursue them; and 4) the reasons that the University of Chicago and its faculty are well-matched to your doctoral plans.

The most helpful  letters of recommendation  come from faculty members who can assess your ability to work on your proposed historical topic.

Prospective students are asked to identify one or two primary fields of scholarly interest from a list in the application. Our faculty pages are sorted by field. Please see those pages for more information on faculty working in your field of interest. Please note, however, that we highly encourage applicants who work across field boundaries and do not apportion admissions by field.

There is no minimum  foreign language requirement  to enter the program, but successful applicants should possess strong language skills in their proposed research language(s) and be aware of the  language requirements for the various fields . All students are required to take a language exam in the first quarter of the program.

The University sets the  English-language assessment  requirements. Refer to the  Division of the Social Sciences  for English-language requirements and waivers.

Submission of  GRE scores  is entirely optional. Those who choose not to submit scores will not be disadvantaged in the admissions process.

MA Program Consideration

All applicants who are not admitted to our PhD program are automatically forwarded for consideration by our MA programs, unless the applicant specifically opts out of this process on their application. That said, as referred applications are considered later than most other MA applications, scholarship assistance for students admitted to an MA program through the referral process may be limited. If you are interested in our MA programs and would need scholarship assistance to attend, we would encourage you to apply directly to the MA as well as our program (note that this would require a separate application and application fee). MA applications are accepted  multiple times per year  with decisions typically issued within 6 to 8 weeks. Questions about applying to an MA program should be directed to  [email protected] .

Campus Visits

We encourage prospective students to reach out to potential faculty mentors through email. Please consult our faculty page to find professors who share your interests. Our graduate affairs administrator can provide additional information about the program.

The University also offers  graduate campus tours  throughout the year that are led by graduate students. Please check their website for campus visitor updates.

Admitted PhD students are invited to visit campus for "History Day" at the beginning of Spring Quarter.

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Department of History

How to apply.

All queries about fee waivers should be directed to the Graduate School at  [email protected] . 

Every year the faculty of the Department of History at Brown University receives many questions from prospective students from around the world about our Ph.D. program and the process of applying to the program. The History graduate admissions director, with input from the History faculty, has developed this guide for prospective students. Its first goal is to suggest how you should think through your interest in graduate study of history and, more specifically, in the Brown History Ph.D. program, so that you can make an informed choice about whether to apply to the program. Second, we supply an overview of the application and the materials that you are asked to submit if you do decide to apply. Third, we include a brief description of the admissions process. Please read these recommendations thoroughly before contacting the graduate admissions director or specific History Department faculty members.

1. Before Applying: What do I want to study — and is Brown right for me?

It’s important that you think through carefully what you hope to achieve in a history graduate program and what program will work best for you, given your interests and goals. We recommend that, before you contact either the graduate admissions director or individual faculty members with questions about the Brown History graduate program, you be able to answer these three important questions:

a)     What particular set of historical problems or themes do I want to study?  What region(s) of the world, in what time period(s), do I want to make my area of specialization?

b)    What are my qualifications for advanced work in history, and particularly in the problems, regions, and periods that I have identified as my areas of interest?

c)     Is the Brown History PhD program a good fit for me, given my specific interests and past training in history?  Are there scholars on the History faculty who work in my area of interest?

To elaborate:

a)     In order to make a persuasive application and in order to know which faculty member(s) you would like to work closely with at Brown, candidates have to be able to explain what particular historical questions they are interested in investigating; and in what region(s) of the world, over what time period(s). Stating simply a general interest in history or even a general interest in one particular period and place—for example, the Italian Renaissance—is not enough. What is it about the Italian Renaissance that is of interest? How would your study of a particular theme or problem relevant to the Renaissance contribute in a new and original way to our understanding of that topic?

The application will ask that you identify one and possibly two fields of interest; and the personal statement (also part of the application) will ask you to explain in some detail what your specific interests in history are.

If you are admitted to the program, you will find that you will have many opportunities to explore fields outside your areas of interest. Students are in fact encouraged to enroll in seminars outside their particular specializations—the History faculty believes that much can be learned, in terms of theory, methodology, and potential for fruitful comparison, from participation in class outside a specific field. And the relatively small size of the History program means that students often have to learn from work done in fields outside their own area of focus.

But, in thinking about your career in a graduate program—and in writing an effective application—it is important to be able to write persuasively about the particular historical questions and issues that engage your interest and that motivate you to apply to a Ph.D. program.

b)    What are your qualifications for advanced historical study in your field(s) of interest? What kind of knowledge base do you bring to your topic? What kind of course work have you done in history that is relevant to your area of interest? If languages other than English are required for research in your topic of interest, what progress have you made in learning those languages? Has any research or work you have done either inside or outside the academy strengthened your knowledge or your expertise in historical research?

Your personal statement should include some reference to your qualifications. And the writing sample that you are asked to submit should be a paper of roughly 7,500 words that reflects your ability to do historical research, to analyze primary sources, to synthesize evidence from both primary and secondary sources in a persuasive historical analysis—and, of course, to write clearly and construct a well-organized argument.

c)     Is the Brown History Ph.D. program a good fit for your interests and qualifications? The faculty, in assessing applications, wants to make sure that graduate students will be able to find the resources and faculty guidance that they need to pursue their research projects. If there is no one on the faculty who can adequately advise a student, then we reluctantly have to decide not to accept them into the program, no matter how brilliant their record in history is or how interesting their questions are. It would not be right to admit a student interested in Enlightenment Europe to the program, for example, if no faculty member teaches that field.

For this reason, it is important that you learn as much as you can about the History program by consulting the History Graduate website . Look at the "Fields of Study" page to see what fields the graduate program offers. Click on the field titles to see the faculty members who work in each field; and then click on the faculty members’ names to learn more about the scholars working within each field. This kind of research will help you learn the strengths of the Brown History program and help you decide whether it is a suitable program, given your own particular scholarly interests. You might also want to look at the "Current Ph.D. Students" page, as that will give you some idea of what our students are doing now. You may also want to consult scholars you have worked with in the past, at college or university or in an MA program; they might be able to help you decide if the Brown program would be a good choice.

Remember, too, that you want to think about how the program as a whole suits your interests.  You will be working with one faculty as your primary advisor, but you will also take courses with other faculty members (some of whom will also be on your preliminary exam and dissertation committees). Do you find enough in the way of faculty resources to provide you with a broad base of intellectual support for your program of study?

After thinking through your goals and carefully researching Brown’s History graduate program, if you still have questions about the program, you may write to the faculty member(s) in your field of interest or the Graduate Admissions Director. In your message, explain as clearly as possible what your interests are. Remember that faculty members are likely very busy during the semester: try to make your questions precise and focused (that is, do not request that a faculty member tell you generally about the program—you should have done enough research ahead of time to be able to ask more specific questions). If faculty members are interested in your application, you will have an opportunity to talk to them during the interview process, to be scheduled after the submission of applications but before January 1 (see below).

2. Applying to the Brown History Ph.D. Program

The online application through the Graduate School website is due on December 1, 2023. It consists of the following components:

a)     Standard form requiring basic information about applicant’s background and educational record. On the form applicants are asked to identify their primary and (if desired) secondary fields of study.   Note that the History Department does not require GRE scores. TOEFL/IELTS scores are required only if English was not the language of instruction at the college or university granting the BA or MA degree. See here for additional information .   

b)     Transcripts from colleges and universities attended.

c)      Personal statement, 1,250 word maximum (double-spaced, in 12-point font) essay (see below).

d)      Writing sample (see below).

e)     Three letters of recommendation (uploaded separately, by your recommenders). We strongly recommend that these letters be from scholars familiar with your academic record.

The parts of the application that receive the closest attention from the faculty are " c ," the personal statement, and " d ," the writing sample. The personal statement (1,250 words, typed in 12-point type) should first state your particular historical interests—as explained above, the particular issues or questions that you are interested in investigating and in what field(s); describe your strengths and aspirations as a historian; and explain the ways you think the Brown History Department, both individually and communally, is suited to support you in pursuit of your interests and goals. Please note that your application will be read both by faculty members in your prospective field and faculty members outside your field (see below). It is important, then, while stating your specific interests in history, to make your statement accessible to faculty members not in your area of interest.

The writing sample should be an essay (or a chapter from a senior or MA thesis) that demonstrates your ability to do historical work—that is, to do research in primary and secondary sources, forge a historical argument from your analysis of these courses, present the argument clearly and effectively, and explain its significance to the relevant field of historical study. There is no strict page limit on the writing sample; we suggest a paper of up to 7,500 words, double-spaced.

After faculty members have reviewed the applications in their field, they will contact applicants of interest with whom they have not met already to schedule an interview (via e-mail, telephone, or Zoom) of no more than thirty minutes. Please note that you should check your email box regularly between December 1 and January 1 to see if you have received any requests for an interview. Please note, too, that not all applicants will receive such requests. During the interview, applicants are asked to reply to a standard set of questions: about themselves and their research project; their motivation for pursuing the Ph.D. degree in general and specifically at Brown; their career goals; and any challenges they have overcome in the past. At the end, applicants have an opportunity to ask questions of the faculty member(s).

3. The Admissions Process: How the History Department decides whom to accept into the Ph.D. program

We look for applicants who are asking provocative historical questions and who are interested in exploring such questions in a rigorous and inclusive intellectual community. From an applicant pool of approximately three hundred applicants, we carefully choose a class of about 8-to-12 Ph.D. students whose interests and strengths seem to fit particularly well with the intellectual configuration of the department.

Applications to the Ph.D. program are first reviewed by the faculty members in the field(s) of each applicant. For example, if you have listed Latin America as your first area of interest and Science, Technology, Environment and Mathematics as your second field, your application will be reviewed first by the Latin American faculty; and second by the STEaM faculty.

Faculty members will contact applicants of interest with whom they have not met already to schedule an interview (via e-mail, telephone, or Zoom) of no more than thirty minutes. The interview must be scheduled to take place by January 1 at the latest. Applicants are asked to reply to a standard set of questions about themselves and their research project; their motivation for pursuing the Ph.D. degree in general and specifically at Brown; their career goals; and any challenges they have overcome in the past. At the end, applicants have an opportunity to ask questions of the faculty member(s).

The faculty members in each field then decide which candidates they would like to admit and present a ranked list of these candidates to the central History Graduate Committee, which is composed of faculty from a variety of different fields. Application files are thus reviewed both by faculty members in the fields identified by the candidate and by a committee of scholars most likely outside that field of specialization. The Graduate Committee reviews all the recommended applications and selects from them a draft final admissions list. Because the Graduate School limits how many applicants we can accept into the program, the Committee cannot accept all the applicants recommended by the specific-field faculty. After this list is approved by the Department of History and the Graduate School, candidates are notified whether they have been accepted or not, usually in February.

Questions about the application process should be addressed to the Graduate Admissions Director, Amy Remensnyder ([email protected]). Please note that the director does not decide who is admitted to the program.

Questions about the program in your field(s) of interest should be directed to the faculty members in that field (as explained above, consult the "Fields of Study" page of the History Graduate website .

Amy G. Remensnyder

Faq: application fee waivers.

All queries about fee waivers should be directed to the Graduate School at [email protected]. Learn more and view other frequently asked questions at the link provided.