Best schools for a history major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No idea on plan. Maybe law school, foreign service, sales, who knows.

He is a super charismatic kid. The type that makes connections where ever he goes. I have two other kids who are not like this. I'm not particularly worried about the history kid landing on his feet without a precise career path lined up.

Michigan is fine then as long as he’s not stressing over trying to be a PhD historian/career in academia

If he’s a good looking, charismatic boy - better to go to a place like Michigan rather than a SLAC

Hypsm would be ideal obviously but if you can’t get in, go to Michigan type place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No idea on plan. Maybe law school, foreign service, sales, who knows.

He is a super charismatic kid. The type that makes connections where ever he goes. I have two other kids who are not like this. I'm not particularly worried about the history kid landing on his feet without a precise career path lined up.

History Majors with PhDs I have known and their careers now:

Bookstore owner
Political speechwriter
Another political speechwriter
Lawyer
Technical writer
Sustainable food advocate
Novelist

They're all pretty happy, successful, and had a good time getting to where they are now. Most of them did teach, did some academia, they just didn't stay there.

[Anonymous]

I was a history major at Cal and am now in finance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All SLACs are good for this generally, in that you are taught almost exclusively by tenure track professors. This is especially true at SLACs with a consortium, so you have other SLACs to choose from and possibly even graduate courses as a senior: the Claremont Colleges, the Five Colleges, and the tri-co consortium come to mind.

As for larger schools, the top Ph.D. History programs don’t typically provide the best undergraduate experience. Best bet is probably mid-size schools with lots of resources and smaller classes.

THIS^^^. Go to a smaller school with a good history dept where your kid will be in smaller courses and able to engage with the professors. whether they are headed to law school or any other PHD program, they will benefit from this and with recommendations. It will be easier to engage with profs and be more involved in research, etc at a smaller school.

This is a horrible idea. Once Republcans take over these schools will be worthless.

[Anonymous]

OK we are talking about a history major. Just. Stop. He can go anywhere you are obsessing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All SLACs are good for this generally, in that you are taught almost exclusively by tenure track professors. This is especially true at SLACs with a consortium, so you have other SLACs to choose from and possibly even graduate courses as a senior: the Claremont Colleges, the Five Colleges, and the tri-co consortium come to mind.

As for larger schools, the top Ph.D. History programs don’t typically provide the best undergraduate experience. Best bet is probably mid-size schools with lots of resources and smaller classes.

THIS^^^. Go to a smaller school with a good history dept where your kid will be in smaller courses and able to engage with the professors. whether they are headed to law school or any other PHD program, they will benefit from this and with recommendations. It will be easier to engage with profs and be more involved in research, etc at a smaller school.

This is a horrible idea. Once Republcans take over these schools will be worthless.

One Republicans take over those schools will be the best places to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No idea on plan. Maybe law school, foreign service, sales, who knows.

He is a super charismatic kid. The type that makes connections where ever he goes. I have two other kids who are not like this. I'm not particularly worried about the history kid landing on his feet without a precise career path lined up.

Gettysburg is the sleeper here.

[Anonymous]

Princeton Review has a good list:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-search/?majors=54.0101

[Anonymous]

My husband was a history major and is a CEO….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK we are talking about a history major. Just. Stop. He can go anywhere you are obsessing.

Go to the best school you get into

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK we are talking about a history major. Just. Stop. He can go anywhere you are obsessing.

Go to the best school you get into

💯

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Princeton Review has a good list:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-search/?majors=54.0101

That is a list of colleges with a history major, which is most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No idea on plan. Maybe law school, foreign service, sales, who knows.

He is a super charismatic kid. The type that makes connections where ever he goes. I have two other kids who are not like this. I'm not particularly worried about the history kid landing on his feet without a precise career path lined up.

So not after a PhD in history. Would discourage a smart, charismatic, friendly, straight, academically gifted, non-athletic recruit, history major boy from going to a small liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. Will likely have a hard time finding a significant cohort. Also, very limited classes.

Better to go to a larger school.

Most of the Ivies are very good at history - Yale, Penn, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia. All difficult admits for anyone, but the declared interest in history will help. Every History department in the country is starving for undergrad history majors.

Other schools to consider are Michigan, Vanderbilt, Rice is surprisingly good at history, Duke, Chicago, Notre Dame, Wisconsin.

More classes in different topics. Larger departments, There are so few tenure track history professorships available that just about everybody is going to be very good. And being part of a larger school makes it easier for a social kid to find their people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No idea on plan. Maybe law school, foreign service, sales, who knows.

He is a super charismatic kid. The type that makes connections where ever he goes. I have two other kids who are not like this. I'm not particularly worried about the history kid landing on his feet without a precise career path lined up.

So not after a PhD in history. Would discourage a smart, charismatic, friendly, straight, academically gifted, non-athletic recruit, history major boy from going to a small liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. Will likely have a hard time finding a significant cohort. Also, very limited classes.

Better to go to a larger school.

+1

Most of the Ivies are very good at history - Yale, Penn, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia. All difficult admits for anyone, but the declared interest in history will help. Every History department in the country is starving for undergrad history majors.

Other schools to consider are Michigan, Vanderbilt, Rice is surprisingly good at history, Duke, Chicago, Notre Dame, Wisconsin.

More classes in different topics. Larger departments, There are so few tenure track history professorships available that just about everybody is going to be very good. And being part of a larger school makes it easier for a social kid to find their people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan and Wisconsin have great history programs and you get the cross-disipline academic benefits as well as the big school/fun sports rah rah spirit benefits.

These are both great programs, but humanities and social science departments at R1 schools of this size generally focus their attention on their graduate students. As PP mentioned, you're better off at a smaller school and working closely with profs rather than with PhD students.

It depends on the kid. My husband was a history major at Mich. He had some world renowned profs that he got to know pretty well. 5 years later they wrote his recos for law school apps. Me? Never spoke to a prof there unless absolutely necessary.

Exactly correct. If the student is proactive, top rated departments are definitely an asset.

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/history-rankings

Michigan #2 in history, right behind Berkeley.

The best for undergraduate will have significant research and writing projects, with faculty guidance. I would not rely on a graduate school ranking to give you insight into that.

The honors colleges at these big state schools will give you exactly this.