Other Information Information About this Department List of Faculty Dissertation Sponsors Degree Requirements Apply Online Visit the Department's Website Course List

Degree Requirements for Full-time Study

The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School.

Students who work in those fields involving the study of comparative politics or international relations may find it desirable to combine their work for the M.A. and M.Phil. degrees with an area studies program in one of the associated institutes; for more information, see http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/institutes_centers/index.html.

A new student may not begin full-time work in the spring term.

For the Full-Time M.A. Degree

The department awards the degree of M.A. to all graduate students who successfully complete the first stage of graduate study. We assume that most such students will then wish to proceed toward a Ph.D. (The department also admits a very limited number of students to its part-time free-standing M.A. program [see below]. Students who wish to pursue either full-time or part-time study for the M.A. in History should also consider the free-standing M.A. degrees offered by Columbia’s Liberal Studies program in American Studies, East Asian Studies, Human Rights, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Medieval Studies, Modern European Studies, and South Asian Studies).

Languages: A reading knowledge of one of the relevant languages listed below under Oral examination in subjects and language requirements.
Courses for Credit

The usual course load for beginning graduate students is three courses each term. The total requirements include:

1. Six one-term courses, including at least two colloquia and a research seminar. Year-long research seminars count as two one-term courses. Colloquia are graduate-level courses centered on reading and discussions with some written work.

2. One research seminar, requiring a research paper to be completed by the end of the academic year. The final paper must be deposited in the department office before the end of the spring term. The department recommends that the M.A. essay not exceed fifty typed pages. In some fields, there is a year-long research seminar for first-year students. In others (including U.S. history), there are one-semester research seminars in the spring term for first-year students.

3. The additional courses needed to fill the six-course requirement may be either colloquia or lecture courses.

4. Every entering student must take at least one language examination on entrance. Any student who fails to pass it is urged to take a course for credit in that language before reexamination.

Length of program: All the requirements for the M.A. degree, except in certain fields involving institute programs or special language preparation, should be completed within the first two terms of the student’s enrollment.

For the M.Phil. Degree

Students must complete all the requirements for the Ph.D. degree except the preparation and defense of a dissertation.

For the Ph.D. Program

Candidacy: Most students who are admitted to graduate study in History are admitted with the expectation that they continue on to the Ph.D. Their records, however, are reviewed in the spring of their first year to determine if, in the judgment of the faculty, their performance has been of sufficiently high quality to permit continuation beyond the M.A. Continuation depends not only on a superior performance in grades but also on evidence of the originality and capability for research that are necessary for the Ph.D.

Note: Students transferring into the department with M.A. degrees from other departments of Columbia University or from other universities must fulfill the same requirements as every other student during the first year (listed above under the M.A. degree). After fulfilling those requirements, such students are eligible for advanced standing, which may free them from some course requirements and residence requirements after the first year.

Program of study beyond that listed above under the M.A. degree: To be approved, before registration for each term, by the appropriate adviser.

Courses taken for a letter grade: (1) two terms of colloquia (or the equivalent if colloquia are not offered in the student’s field) beyond those already required for the M.A. degree; (2) two terms of a doctoral seminar, which normally involves working with members of the faculty on preparation for the oral examination or preparation of the doctoral dissertation; students register for this doctoral seminar under the general number History G9999, taken for a P grade; (3) one lecture course or additional colloquium each term of the second year, except in American history, where students are required to take only one course for a letter grade in each semester of the second year.

R (ungraded) registration credit: Such lecture courses as the student may wish or need to audit. In this connection, students are reminded that instructors permitting students to enroll for R credit may impose whatever requirements they wish upon the students in their classes.

Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of the department for three years. As a rule, in the second, third and fourth years of study, students gain exposure to teaching as assistants to professors in seminar courses or as readers or section leaders in lecture courses. Students who are interested in broadening their teaching apprenticeships are eligible to teach in the Core Program once they have received the M.Phil. Students may only apply to be a preceptor if they have or expect to have the M.Phil. by the May prior to being appointed as a preceptor, and if they are not past their sixth year of registration during the first year of the preceptorship. Students may not hold instructional appointments after year seven.

Oral examination in subjects and language requirements: In the oral examination, students are examined in a major field (which is usually subdivided into three areas or periods of concentration) and a minor field. The examination normally takes place in the fifth or sixth term, depending on the field chosen. Students are expected to decide on their major and minor fields during their third term in the department and to establish a reading program in consultation with members of the faculty. The student’s minor field must lie outside the major field, either in another field of history (drawn from the fields listed in this book, with the addition of the History of Science); or in a discipline other than history (in which case the examiner normally is a professor in the appropriate department). In no case is a student’s minor examiner a professor in his or her major field. Students are expected to make arrangements with the department office for their oral examination before the end of the term preceding the examination. Postponement is granted in special circumstances.

All language requirements must be fulfilled before a student may take the oral examination. Written examinations are regularly held in January, March, and September in the languages listed below under the respective fields. All entering students must take an examination in one language in September during their first term of enrollment. For students whose interests require a knowledge of a foreign language other than those regularly examined in the department, special permission may be granted with the approval of the departmental adviser to graduate students.

Fields for the oral examination (and language requirements for students majoring in each field):

1. African history: two languages: French and at least one chosen from among German, Spanish or Portuguese, Latin or Italian, Dutch or Afrikaans, Arabic, Hausa, Amharic, or Swahili, as the regional or research specialty may demand. Oral examination: sixth term

2. American history: one language: Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish. Oral examination: fifth term

3. Ancient history: four languages: Greek, Latin, French, and German. Oral examination: sixth term. Note: Entering students are required to take examinations in both Greek and Latin at the time of admission.

4. Early modern European history (including Britain), 1350 to 1750: two languages: French and German. Oral examination: fifth term.

5. East Asian history: three languages: Chinese and Japanese (in forms determined by the subfields chosen), and either French, German, or Russian. Oral examination: sixth term.

6. East Central European history: three relevant languages, one major Eastern and two major Western, or vice versa. Oral examination: sixth term.

7. Jewish history: four languages: Hebrew, French, and German, and one or more of the following, depending on the area of specialization: Arabic, Aramaic, Greek, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Yiddish. Oral examination: sixth term.

8. Latin American history: three languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and either French or German. Oral examination: fifth term.

9. Medieval history: three languages: French, German, Latin. Oral examination: fifth term: note: entering students are required to take examinations in both Latin and one of the other languages at the time of admission.

10. Middle Eastern and Central Asian history: three languages: one chosen from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Uzbek, Hebrew, Armenian; and two from French, German, Italian, Spanish. Oral examination: sixth term.

11. Modern Western European history (including Britain) since 1750: two languages: French and German. Oral examination: fifth term.

12. Russian history: three languages: Russian and two other languages, including either French or German. Oral examination: sixth term.

13. Southern Asian history: two languages: either Hindi, Urdu, or Bengali (for South Asia); Indonesian, Burmese, Thai, or Vietnamese (for Southeast Asia); and one additional language chosen from French, Dutch, Spanish, or Arabic. Oral examination: sixth term.

Dissertation prospectus: Students are expected to present and defend a dissertation prospectus six months after passing the oral examination.

Admission and Degree Requirements for Part-time, Free-Standing M.A. Program

The department occasionally admits a very limited number of students to its part-time, free-standing M.A. degree program. Although some part-time M.A. students do not aspire to a Ph.D., others apply to the Ph.D. program after the completion of all their part-time M.A. requirements.

The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School.

Time limit: Generally within eight or fewer consecutive terms.

Requirements: The following program, to be planned with the advice and agreement of the adviser:

1. Six one-term courses, passed with an average grade of at least B: two or three graduate colloquia, one or two semesters of a research seminar, and two other courses (lecture courses, additional colloquia, or other courses outside the department or the University). Please note that the introductory colloquium G8010. Introduction to History and Historiography, a required course for first-year Ph.D.-track students, is not open to free-standing M.A. students.

2. The completion of a substantial research paper. The paper must be written in a research seminar offered by the department or under the direction of a History faculty member in a Directed Readings Course (G9000). The paper must be deposited with the graduate secretary in the department office before the M.A. degree can be awarded, not later than the end of the eighth term following the student’s admission into the program.

3. A reading knowledge of one language, from Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish. Students are usually expected to pass the chosen language at one of the regular language examinations held by the department in either the fall or the spring semester.

A student’s progress is evaluated annually.

Financial Aid