Graduate Programs

The purpose of the history program is to develop historians who possess both intellectual range and specialized competence. Instruction is in small classes by the seminar method or some appropriate modification of this approach. Faculty advisers for individual guidance and direction are available throughout the entire period of enrollment. The department offers many opportunities for students to gain experience as teaching assistants during the latter part of their degree program.

General requirements for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Philosophy, and Master of Arts are given in the complete Bulletin of the Graduate School. The special requirements of the Department of History are listed below.

Admissions

The deadline for submission of the application for the History graduate program has been changed to December 15.

The department requires a short book review (maximum two pages) to accompany the application. It should cover the book that has most shaped the applicant's understanding of the kind of work he or she would like to do as a historian.

In addition, the department requires an academic writing sample of not more than twenty-five pages, double spaced, to be submitted. Normally, the writing sample should be based on research in primary source materials.

Students are admitted to graduate study by the Graduate School on the recommendation of the Department. First year classes have averaged 22 students in the Ph.D. program. Although the vast majority of recent applicants have been undergraduate History majors, the Department encourages applications from those who, while now intending a professional career in History, majored in other subjects as undergraduates.

The Graduate School does not award transfer credit. In recognition of graduate work completed before matriculation at Yale, the Dean may, however, waive a portion of the course requirements for the Ph.D. Any such waiver is ordinarily not granted until the completion of the first semester's work in the History Department. Graduate courses completed elsewhere will not appear on the Graduate School transcript.

Application is via the online application of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. For more information about the admissions process, go to the Graduate School Admissions page.

Prospective applicants may direct questions about minority student recruitment to the Diversity Liaison coordinator Mary Lui at mary.lui@yale.edu.

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Language requirements. All students in History must demonstrate competence in one foreign language before or during the first year of study, and must fulfill additional requirements for particular fields before taking the oral examination.

A passing grade on a reading comprehension test administered by a member of the faculty or the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
A written statement to the DGS from a member of the history faculty that a student has done sufficient work in a required foreign language in the context of a research seminar to justify the awarding of credit for that language.

Requirements by field are specified below:

African. Students should meet one of three requirements: (1) French and German or Portuguese or Dutch-Afrikaans; (2) French or German or Portuguese and Arabic; (3) French or German or Portuguese or Dutch-Afrikaans and an African language approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the faculty adviser.
American. Two languages relevant to the student's interests or a high level of proficiency in one relevant language. In appropriate cases, competence in statistics or other mathematical skill will be accepted as a second "language."
Ancient. French, German, Greek, and Latin.
Byzantine. Greek, Latin, French, German, and any additional language, e.g., Russian, required for dissertation research.
Chinese. Chinese and Japanese. Additional languages may be necessary; e.g., French, Russian, or German.
East European. The language of the country of the student's concentration plus two of the following: French, German, Russian, and approved substitution.
West European (including Britain). French and German. The Director of Graduate Studies may approve the substitution of another European language for French or German.
Japanese. Japanese and French or German. Chinese may be needed for certain fields of Japanese history.
Jewish. Modern Hebrew and German, and additional languages such as Latin, Arabic, Yiddish, Russian, or Polish as required by the student's areas of specialization.
Latin American. Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Medieval. French, German, and Latin.
Middle East. Arabic, Persian, or Turkish (or modern Hebrew depending on one's area of research); and a major European research language (French, German, Russian, or an approved substitution depending on one's area of research).
Russian. Russian plus French or German with other languages added as required.
Southeast Asian. Dutch or French or Spanish or Portuguese or Chinese or Sanskrit or Arabic and one or more Southeast Asian languages (e.g., Bahasa Indonesia, Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Thai, Tetum, or Vietnamese). In certain cases, Ph.D. dissertation research on Southeast Asia may also require knowledge of a regional or local language, e.g., Balinese or Cham.
Special. If none of the above guidelines is applicable, language requirements will be set by the appropriate faculty in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.

Foreign students whose native language is not English may receive permission during their first year to hand in some written work in their own language. Since, however, the dissertation must be in English, they should be advised to bring their writing skills up to the necessary level at the earliest opportunity.

During the first two years of study, students normally take twelve term courses, at least eight of which shall be chosen from those offered by the department, and must achieve Honors in at least two courses in the first year, and Honors in at least four courses by the end of the second year, with a High Pass average overall. If a student does not meet this standard by the end of the first or second year, the relevant members of the department will consult and promptly advise the student whether the student will be allowed to register for the fall of the following academic year.

Three of the twelve courses must be research seminars in which the student produces an original research paper from primary sources. All graduate students, regardless of field, will be required to take two seminar courses in a time period other than their period of specialty.

In the second year, there are two special seminar requirements:

1. Prospectus Tutorial

This course, normally taken in the second year, must result in a draft prospectus for the dissertation. Its purpose is to familiarize the student with debates in the relevant field and to prepare the student for fieldwork. The prospectus tutorial (HIST 995) counts as one of the three research seminars.

2. Orals Tutorial

Another of the twelve courses, normally taken in the second year, must be a tutorial in any one of the selected orals fields (see below). The orals tutorial (HIST 994) provides an opportunity for students to read for an orals field with one of the future orals committee members and can take the form of one-on-one meetings, small group meetings, or a normally scheduled reading seminar on the topic of the orals field. In some cases, orals tutorial credit will be retroactively granted to students who have taken a course in a reading seminar subject provided that they submit an orals reading list to the DGS for approval. Students seeking retroactive credit for an orals tutorial will still need to complete twelve term courses. The completion of these tutorials is a precondition for enrollment in the third year.

In the third year, students are expected to hold a prospectus colloquium and sit an oral examination.

1. The prospectus colloquium offers the student an opportunity to discuss the dissertation prospectus with the faculty committee in order to gain the committee's advice on the research and writing of the dissertation and its approval for the project. The dissertation prospectus provides the basis of grant proposals for doing research away from Yale in the fourth year. The prospectus colloquium and any further language requirements normally will be completed before the student takes his/her oral examination.

2. The oral examination for all graduate students must contain one minor field that deals 50% or more with the historiography of a region of the world other than the area of the student's major field. Students will have a choice of selecting three or four fields of concentration: a major field and either two or three minor fields. If the student selects the four-field option, the major field will be examined for 30 minutes. In that case, the student's orals tutorial must be in the major field. If the student selects the three-field option, the major field will be examined for 60 minutes and each minor field for 30 minutes. Completion of these requirements will qualify a student for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D.; which must take place by the end of the third year of study.

Students usually complete the requirements for admission to candidacy in the sixth term, but it is also possible for students who have completed extensive graduate work prior to entering the Ph.D. program to petition for candidacy sooner. Students may petition for credit for previous graduate work only after successful completion of the first year.

During the third year of study, almost all students serve as teaching fellows in order to acquire crucial professional training. During their first term of teaching, students must attend several training sessions run by the department in conjunction with the Graduate Teaching Center.

In the fourth year, once students have advanced to candidacy, they may continue their studies while serving as teaching fellows or they may decide to pursue their research, either at Yale or elsewhere, using external funding.

In the fifth year, strongly preferably in the fall term, students are required to submit a chapter of the dissertation (not necessarily the first chapter) to the dissertation committee. This chapter will then be discussed with the student by members of the committee, preferably in a colloquium, to give the student additional advice and counsel on the progress of the dissertation. This conference is designed to be an extension of the conversation begun in the prospectus colloquium and is not intended as a defense: its aim is to give students early feedback on the research, argument, and style of the first writing accomplished on the dissertation.

The dissertation

Students are eligible to receive the University Dissertation Fellowship (UDF) provided that they have advanced to candidacy. Students may take the UDF in the fifth year, but they must take the fellowship no later than the sixth year. They should apply for the fellowship in the term prior to which they wish to receive it. Students may serve as teaching fellows when they are not on the UDF.

The department strongly recommends that the student apply for a UDF only after completing the first chapter conference, and that students on a UDF should have completed at least two dissertation chapters before starting the fellowship. Many students apply for jobs in the year in which they receive the UDF, and the department urges that students apply for academic positions only when they have two chapters ready to send out to potential employers.

In short, a student making timely progress should expect to finish at least one chapter by December of the fifth year, and to complete the dissertation in the sixth year, when the submission deadline for May graduation is March 15.

In order for a dissertation to be deemed acceptable for the Ph.D., it must be found to be so by three readers, two of whom must be Yale History faculty members and all of whom must hold the Ph.D. or equivalent. Should one of the members of the Yale History faculty who is serving on a dissertation committee leave the University, he or she would still be eligible to serve as a reader and could be counted as Yale History faculty. Those dissertations that meet this criteria are then presented to the History faculty for a vote to award the degree.

Registration in the seventh year is not required for students submitting their dissertations by the October deadline (which the majority of students do). If students are unable to make the October deadline, they can petition the Graduate School for extended registration. The petition, delivered first to the History DGS, will explain the particular circumstances that have prevented completion of the dissertation within the normal timetable and offer a specific plan that describes how the dissertation will be completed in the seventh year. Only students who have completed the first chapter conference will be considered for extended registration.

Combined Ph.D. Programs

History and African American Studies
The Department of History also offers, in conjunction with African American Studies, a combined Ph.D. in History and African American Studies. For further details, see African American Studies.

History and Renaissance Studies
The Department of History also offers, in conjunction with the Renaissance Studies program, a combined Ph.D. in History and Renaissance Studies. For further details, see Renaissance Studies.

History of Science and Medicine

Note: On January 1, 2006, the Graduate Program in the History of Science and Medicine became a semi-autonomous graduate track within the Department of History. The Program's students will be awarded degrees in History, with a concentration in the History of Science and Medicine. Admissions to the Program will be conducted as a separate process, but Program students will be fully fledged members of the History Department and will be provided with the same modes of teaching, advising, access to courses, and opportunities for professional development described above. Like the rest of History graduate students, students in the Program must take twelve courses, but, reflecting the distinctive needs of students in this field, the requirements for the Program's graduate degrees (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.) differ from those for the rest of the Department. For more information, see the Program's graduate requirements and website.

Master's Degrees

M.A. (en route to the Ph.D.). Students enrolled in the Ph.D. program may qualify for the M.A. degree upon completion of a minimum of six graduate term courses at Yale, of which two must have earned Honors grades and the other four courses must average High Pass overall. Students must also pass an examination in one foreign language. A student in the American Studies program who wishes to obtain an M.A. in History, rather than an M.A. in American Studies, must include in the courses completed at least two research seminars in the History department.

M.Phil. Students who have completed all requirements for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. may receive the M.Phil. degree. Additionally, students in History are eligible to pursue a supplemental M.Phil. degree in Medieval Studies. For further details, see Medieval Studies.

M.A. (terminal). For the terminal master's degree students must pass six term courses, four of which must be in History; substantial written work must be submitted in conjunction with at least two of these courses, and Honors grades are expected in two courses, with a High Pass average overall. All students in this program must pass an examination in one foreign language. Financial Aid is not available for this program.

Financial Aid

Most graduate students in the Ph.D. program in History receive fellowship support from the Yale Graduate School. As of 2012 this support typically covers full tuition for the four years in which full tuition is due, a living stipend of a minimum of $26,500 for the first two years (September 1 through August 31), and a teaching fellowship of at least that amount for the next two years. In addition to fellowships, many students also receive some support in the form of loans. Current information on the standard aid package is available from the Financial Aid Office of the Graduate School at the time of admission.

All students are eligible to receive a final dissertation year fellowship administered by the Graduate School. In 2012 this fellowship provided a stipend of $26,500 for twelve months. The final year fellowship cannot be held after the sixth year of registration.

The History Graduate Office maintains a file of information on outside fellowships, primarily for dissertation research. There is also a small fund controlled by the Director of Graduate Studies to which students may apply for assistance with such expenses as travel to academic conferences.

History Job Websites

Following are some popular websites that have history job postings:

*Must be a member of the American Historical

Association to view job listings.

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