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    Mar 28, 2024  
American University Catalog 2015-2016 
    
American University Catalog 2015-2016 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

History (PhD)


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Admission to the Program


In addition to meeting the minimum university requirements for graduate study, applicants normally have completed an MA in History or a related field, have earned a satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Exam (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytic), and have made a substantial beginning in one tool of research. Admission is based on academic record, letters of recommendation from three professors with whom work was taken recently, a sample of recent written work of substantial length (MA thesis, research paper, or interpretative essay) and favorable judgment by the department’s graduate committee and department chair.

Degree Requirements


  • 72 credit hours of approved graduate work
  • Tools of research
    • One or two of the following, the number and type determined by the student’s advisor: relevant foreign languages, quantitative methods, history and new media, oral history, or a methodology approved by the graduate committee of the Department of History
  • Comprehensive doctoral examination in three fields
    • Comprehensive doctoral examinations are tailored to the individual student’s fields of study.
    • One field must be a historical field outside the student’s main area of concentration, a comparative or multidisciplinary field, or a field in another discipline.
  • Dissertation proposal and oral defense
  • Dissertation and oral defense

Course Requirements


Specific course requirements depend on whether students received their MA in History from American University. For more information, consult the Department of History.

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