History

Program-Specific Requirements

• Complete 21 semester hours of undergraduate work in history, including a course on historical research, with a 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).
• Two (2) Letters of Recommendation are required.
• Because we seek to determine your potential as a historian, letters of recommendation should be solicited primarily from historians with whom you have worked during your academic career. If you did not major in history and therefore cannot get letters from historians, then the best remaining option is to obtain letters from professors in the field in which you majored. Letters of recommendation from employers, family friends, and the like are essentially useless to us.
• Statement of Purpose (Essay)
• Submit an essay of 250-500 words describing the applicant\xc2\x92s interests in history and why he or she wishes to earn an M.A. degree in History.
• Writing Sample
• 10-12 pages in length from an upper division history course.
• The History Graduate Program Committee may choose, in rare cases, to admit provisionally any student who does not meet all of the above requirements, with the understanding that all conditions for unconditional admission must be met before HIST 8010 or 9100 courses may be taken.
• Students who have no undergraduate course in historical research and writing must successfully complete HIST2980 (Historical Methodology) during one of the first two semesters of their enrollment. This course, required of all undergraduate history majors at UNO, seeks to develop two skills essential to all historians: the ability to write clearly and the ability to conduct critical and thorough research. Students who lack these skills may anticipate serious problems in their studies.
• Interpretation of this requirement rests with the History Graduate Program Committee. Students who believe that they have taken a comparable course may be asked to submit examples of their work, which will enable the Graduate Program Committee to assess their proficiency.