Concentration Requirements -- What Do I Need To Do?
The first thing you should do is to contact the Undergraduate Coordinator, Peter Simons, and get onto the department's mailing list.
12 Courses are required to complete the history concentration:
- 6 Courses in your Major Field
- 4 additional Electives: These should be chosen to complement the main field, extend the range of the student's historical awareness, and explore varying approaches to historical analysis and interpretation. Students are encouraged to take courses which introduce significant civilization or chronological breadth.
- 2 courses: The Senior Seminar (Hist. 29800/29900)
The B.A Essay is a two-quarter research project in which students develop a significant and original interpretation of a historical issue of their choosing. The culmination of the History program, essays tend to range between thirty and forty pages in length, but there is neither a minimum nor a maximum required length. The Seminar assists students in formulating approaches and developing their research and writing skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. In addition to working closely with their faculty director, who is the first reader of their essay, students are also required to take this two-quarter undergraduate senior seminar during the autumn and winter quarters of their last full year in the College. The seminar instructor is usually the preceptor with whom the student has been working and who is also to serve as the second reader of the essay.
Some Basic Advice:
A typical course of study in the program would commence with basic history courses (100-level) and move on to more advanced and specialized courses (200- and in some cases 400-level courses).
Your first year: Take core classes.
Your second year: Try to finish, or nearly finish, your core requirements and take your civilizational sequence. You may also want to take a small number of history classes, but meet with a Preceptor to make sure the classes are not designed for more advanced students.
Your third year: Take as many history classes as you can fit into your schedule. This allows you to get a sampling of a wide variety of history courses, prepares you to write your B.A. essay and makes it far easier to complete all of you history requirements with the classes you are interested in. We encourage you take a History Colloquium (Hist. 296) this year. The colloquiums are offered on a variety of topics each year and enable advanced college students to pursue independent research.
Your fourth year: Take the history senior seminar, finish the handful of remaining history classes you need to take, and take some electives. And enjoy your last year.
Every year once you declare: See your Preceptor quarterly to talk over your program.
Petitioning For Credit:
All petitions must be approved by your preceptor before they are examined by the Collegiate Affairs Committee
Courses from Departments outside the History Concentration may be submitted for requirements (primarily within the elective field) but require approval. Petitions must include course syllabus and description.
Courses taken abroad also may be used towards the major pending approval of the petition. Petitions must include course syllabus and description.
Study Abroad:
It is best to contact the History Department before you leave.
Coursework taken abroad is eligible to fulfill requirements in the major, pending approval of a petition. Be sure to keep the course syllabus, description, and coursework.