Graduate Admission

In History at KU, we privilege high-quality graduate advising and mentorship at every stage of a student’s interaction with our department. As such, our application processes for the M.A. and Ph.D. are geared towards ensuring the best possible fit between faculty and graduate students. Graduate applicants who seek to study at the University of Kansas are required to correspond with at least one prospective faculty advisor well in advance of the application deadline. On the most basic level, these preliminary contacts with faculty give applicants a sense of whether or not the prospective advisor is currently taking new students. More than this, these conversations offer candidates for admission a better sense of how they might fit into the program at KU. Our admissions process is designed to educate prospective students about what studying at KU would really be like and about the resources the Department and University possess in their areas of interest, as well as offering an opportunity to get to know some of the people they’d be working with during their time here. Moreover, the early establishment of a relationship between prospective faculty and applicant permits students to refine their applications to better articulate the candidate’s fit with our program. The prospective faculty advisor will be able to more effectively advocate for the applicant’s candidacy based upon this correspondence.

Once candidates for admission have established correspondence with at least one prospective advisor, they must complete the online application through the KU Office of Graduate Admissions. International or domestic applicants who are non-native speakers of English should carefully review Graduate Studies’ English Proficiency Requirements. 

The application deadline is December 15 for all applicants. Please schedule the TOEFL exam with this deadline in mind—scores must be received by the application deadline.

The application comprises the following:

• Statement of Academic Objectives, including a clear plan for graduate research in a specific field of study. This statement should articulate your preparation for graduate studies and should achieve the following objectives:
  • Suggest a potential direction for your research at KU as concretely as possible;
  • Identify specific chronological, geographical, and thematic areas of interest and identify faculty with whom you wish to work;
  • Discuss previous educational and personal experiences that have shaped your research interests;
  • Outline how you see a Ph.D. in History fitting into your broad career goals.
  • The University of Kansas Department of History seeks to build a student body reflective of our community, our nation, and the world. In your statement you may share life experiences or personal characteristics that are concretely tied to your research interests, preparations for graduate study, or career goals.
• Curriculum Vitae
• Writing Sample (maximum twenty-five pages, double-spaced). The Department is interested in reviewing the best-crafted, most persuasively argued writing sample that applicants are able to provide. Such papers are often derived from an upper-level undergraduate history class in which the student conducted independent research and employed both primary and secondary sources. 
• GRE Scores are not required
• Official Transcript from each institution that has granted you a degree, or at which you are currently enrolled
• Three letters of recommendation – The letters can be directly uploaded online directly by those who write the recommendations, or they can be mailed to the University of Kansas, Department of History, ATTN: Graduate Academic Advisor,  Wescoe 3650, 1445 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045. A recommendation form for hard copy letters can be downloaded here.

Please note that documents, including a writing sample and transcripts, should be uploaded to the application. Applicants should not send hard copies of application materials to the Department of History.

When you submit your online application, it is made available to the Department of History for review, yet it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure the Office of Graduate Studies has received all materials by the deadline. The Department of History Graduate Office cannot process your application and move it forward for consideration by the Graduate Committee until all materials have been received. The Department of History reviews applications for completeness, and the Graduate Program Coordinator will contact you if your application is not complete.

Ph.D. Degree Requirements

Students normally must complete the M.A. degree before they are eligible to enter the Ph.D. program. Students who enter the M.A. program may either complete the degree or petition for direct admission to the Ph.D. program. This petition first must be endorsed by the student’s advisor and the field committee and then be approved by the department’s graduate committee.

Course Requirements

1. A minimum of 33 hours of credit at the graduate level including the following:
   1. A minimum of three historiographical colloquia numbered HIST 801 and above
   2. Two HIST 802 Research Seminars 
   3. HIST 805 The Nature of History
   4. HIST 998 Portfolio Preparation
2. At least 24 hours of the minimum credits must be taken as HIST courses.
3. At least 18 hours of the minimum credits must be taken at the 700 level or above.

See the Graduate Handbook for a  list of elective graduate courses. 

Research Skills and Responsible Scholarship

In order to fulfill the University research skills and responsible scholarship requirement, all graduate students in History must take HIST 805 and HIST 802.

Note: Contact your department or program for more information about research skills and responsible scholarship, and the current requirements for doctoral students. Current policies on Doctoral research skills and responsible scholarship are listed in the Graduate Studies section of the online catalog and in the KU Policy Library.

Research Language Requirement

Upon admission to the program students should consult with their advisor to determine if their research interests require knowledge of a language other than English. Students should discuss research language expectations with potential advisors during the application process. If a non-English research language is required, the faculty advisor should designate the primary research language. Students must certify proficiency in the primary research language by the end of their first year in the program. 
Students whose primary research language is English may certify proficiency in a secondary research language designated by their advisor in order to fulfill this requirement. 
Students whose primary research language is English and have not certified a secondary research language must fulfill the Alternative Doctoral Skills Requirement.
See the Graduate Handbook for language certification requirements

Alternative Doctoral Skills Requirement

Students who have not certified a non-English primary or secondary research language must enhance their historical studies by engaging in additional training in skills that augment their research and/or professional interests. This training may be fulfilled by completing any one of the following options:
1. Pass (with a B or above) a 3+ hour course on method or theory in another academic unit.
2. Pass (with a B or above) a 3+ hour course that provides a professional or research related skill.
3. Participate in an internship, practicum, volunteer experience that connects to the study, dissemination, presentation, or preservation of history. 
4. Complete a graduate certificate in related field or interdisciplinary approach
5. Students may petition the Graduate Committee to have an experience or combination of experiences be considered as fulfilling this requirement.
See the Graduate Handbook for additional details on how to complete this requirement.

Portfolio and Oral Comprehensive Exam

A written portfolio of the student's work and an oral examination that will provide the candidate with an opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge they have acquired and respond to questions from the committee about their written portfolio. The student must pass their portfolio exam by the end of their fifth semester of study.  Any exception to taking the portfolio exam as outlined above requires a petition to the History Graduate Committee.

Dissertation Prospectus Defense

Students will defend their Dissertation Prospectus in an oral examination with their Advisory committee the semester following their passing of the Portfolio Exam. Students must successfully defend a dissertation prospectus by the end of their sixth semester.  Any exception to this requires a petition to the History Graduate Committee.

Doctoral Dissertation and Defense

The dissertation is a book-length piece of original scholarship that makes a significant contribution to historical knowledge.  The candidate for the Ph.D. must defend this piece of scholarship in an oral examination.

For more information about the Ph.D. program in History, consult the Graduate Handbook