Admissions

Applications are considered once a year, for matriculation the following fall. This year, applications are due January 8, 2024.

To be considered for admission to the graduate program in history, you must provide the following materials: (preferably uploaded online to your graduate school application)

  • All required Graduate School documents, including Graduate School online application
  • Copy of each college transcript where a degree was earned or is pending (uploaded to the online application) Applicants accepted by the History program will be required to provide official transcripts to the Graduate Admissions office to be formally admitted to the University.
  • Short essay explaining goals and expectations in graduate study, including the fields in which the student plans to specialize (upload to the online application)
  • Substantial writing sample, such as a final research paper from a course (upload to the online application)
  • 3 letters of recommendation (submission through the online application system strongly preferred, but postal mail submission directly to the department allowed)
  • Official GRE score report (optional but recommended)
  • Official TOEFL score for international students (minimum 80 internet)

Incomplete applications will not be considered. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all required documents have been received by the Jan. 8 deadline.

To be considered for admission to the master's program, you must have

  • A BA or BS degree.
  • GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) over the last 60 hours of undergraduate work.
  • GPA of 3.3 in undergraduate history courses, and at least 18 hours in history.

To be considered for admission to the doctoral program you must have

  • The MA degree.
  • A completed masters thesis; or, if the work is in progress, a representative chapter, a detailed outline, a schedule for completion, and a letter from your director attesting that the thesis will be completed before you matriculate here.
  • If your masters program does not require a thesis, the committee on graduate admissions may accept a research seminar paper in lieu of one, or require you to write a masters thesis here.

N.B. Students who do not meet one or more of these criteria may enroll as non-degree graduate students. Contact the Director of Graduate Studies for further details.

All admissions of doctoral candidates who did not receive the MA degree from the department are provisional. These students must pass a qualifying examination no later than the beginning of their third semester of residence at MU. The exam will focus on a research paper the student wrote at MU.

The examining committee will be composed of her/his adviser and at least two other history faculty. During the consideration of prospective students, the committee on graduate admissions will consult closely with faculty best suited to advise them.

The committee reserves the right to reject otherwise qualified students if

  • this department cannot provide the applicant with an adequate program in his/her area of interest.
  • no faculty member is willing to supervise his/her work.
Contact

Contact

Associate Professor Dr. Victor McFarland, Director of Graduate Studies

Email: mcfarlandv@missouri.edu

or Anne Tallmage, Graduate Studies Administrator

phone: 573-882-0250

email: tallmageam@missouri.edu