Choosing a Graduate Program

The most important question to ask is why do you want to go to graduate school? Do you want to teach? Research? Or, do you just want to study more History with no plans for an academic life? The majority of people want to go to graduate school either to teach, research, or do both. Choosing the right program, therefore, is crucial to your later success or failure. The place to begin is with your History mentor, if you have one. If you are still an undergraduate, you should talk with members of the History Department, especially faculty that are new to the Department. You want to find out what programs are out there. Whether you are an undergraduate student or not, you should talk to anyone who might have knowledge of the field and who can help you with the difficult decision of finding graduate school as well as applying to them.

There are two basic thoughts about choosing a graduate program: 1. Go to the most prestigious school that you can or 2. Choose a school based on a faculty member with whom you would like to study. There are good reasons for both options. As you look for a graduate program, you must look to find out what schools have masters or doctoral programs in History. Look at the national overall ranking of the school, the national ranking of the department, and the national ranking of that school in your specialty in History. If possible, you should try to obtain placement numbers. Not only, however, are the school's rankings important, but you should look for research facilities that will enable you to do much of your thesis or dissertation work. It is also important to note what types of support are available. Are there tuition wavers? graduate or teaching assistantships? grants? scholarships? research funds?

Along with statistics and relevant departmental information, there is also the question of your intended advisor. After you have made the decision of your area of focus, ask professors, ask graduate students, and read up on the recent literature in the field to find out who are the big-names in your field. Remember, though, that prominent individuals in the field also have numerous graduate students and, therefore, it might be difficult to gain acceptance into their program.

To find out the information you need, you should check your local bookstore for guides to graduate school, talk to people in the field, and check out some websites. You might find the following to be helpful: http://www.gradschools.com http://www.schoolguides.com http://www1.kaplan.com http://www.memex-press.com/cc http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/... I certainly wish you good luck in finding the right program for you.

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