All History concentrators are required to take 10 courses; students who wish to write a senior thesis must also enroll in History 99a & 99b, which brings their total requirements to 12 courses. See our courses section for profiles of all History courses.
Coursework (10 courses)
History 97.Ordinarily taken during the first term in the concentration; may be taken in the junior spring if transferring in from another concentration. See the Tutorials tab on our Spring Courses page.
Two seminars (i.e., a History 12, 13, 14, 60, 70, 80, or 1900-level).
- Ordinarily completed by the end of the junior year.
- Thesis writers must complete one, 20-page minimum, paper with primary source research by the end of junior spring.
- The seminar requirement can only be fulfilled with courses in the History Department.
One course in U.S. or European History (western).
One course in Beyond the U.S. and Europe (non-western).
One course in Before 1750 (premodern).
Four additional electives within History.
- Normally, only one of these four electives may be in a Related Field.
If pursuing a Senior Thesis: Seminars Hist 99a & Hist 99b in addition to the 10 courses.
- Students pursuing the ‘basic,’ or non-honors, program in History are not required to write a Senior Thesis.
Students who do wish to pursue concentration honors in History must write a Senior Thesis, which also requires enrollment in the year-long History 99a or 99b: Senior Thesis Seminar. In order to enter the thesis program, students must first write a qualifying 20-page research paper by Senior fall (this paper is customarily written as the final assignment for one of the two required seminars).
Please also note the following information:
One course may not be used to fulfill two concentration requirements, e.g. a seminar cannot also be counted towards a distribution requirement. Students must fulfill all requirements with different courses.
Two types of courses count automatically toward History concentration requirements:
- all courses listed under “History” in the course catalog (including cross-listed courses); and
- all courses taught in the General Education, Humanities, and/or Freshman Seminar Programs are by full members of the History Department Faculty.
Students who wish to count any other course toward their concentration requirements must file a petition, which must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Normally, students may petition no more than one non-departmental course.
Students may also apply to do an independent study, or History 91r, with a member of the Department; History 91r can be used to fulfill one of the four elective course requirements.
The department also regularly accepts credit from both Study Abroad and Advanced Standing toward concentration requirements.
With the exception of Freshman Seminars taught by History faculty (see above), courses taken on a Pass/Fail basis may not be counted for concentration credit.
All history courses will be counted towards your concentration GPA, even if they exceed the 10 required courses. In other words, if you take an additional two courses past the required 10, all 12 will be counted towards your concentration GPA.