Best Colleges for History Majors: Thesis Paths, Archives, and Fit

What Makes a College One of the Best Colleges for History Majors?

Every college teaches history, so the differences show up in how much original research the major demands. The best colleges for history majors teach students to work from primary sources, give them seminars small enough to argue in, and offer a thesis that turns a semester of archival work into a real piece of scholarship. Five things separate the strongest programs.

• Methods training. Stanford requires a Sources and Methods seminar, Johns Hopkins two methods and research courses, Wisconsin a Historian’s Craft course, and Carleton a methods course before comps.
• Research seminars. Columbia and Penn require two seminars of every major, and Amherst requires two research papers of 20 to 25 pages.
• A thesis path. Princeton requires a senior thesis of every major, and most Yale seniors write a two-term senior essay. At Harvard, Chicago, Michigan, and Virginia the thesis is the route to honors.
• Archives students can use. Yale’s senior essay guide sends writers to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and to Manuscripts and Archives.
• Funding for research. Princeton’s Stone and Davis Senior Thesis Prize gives rising seniors up to $6,000 for summer research.

Which Colleges Are Best for History?

The table below lists the best colleges for history with the degree each one offers, named the way the university names it, and one concrete requirement taken from its own pages. Schools are grouped by type and selectivity, and each linked school name leads to our analysis of its acceptance rate or admissions.

Which Highly Selective Universities Have the Strongest History Programs?

Princeton is the clearest example of history taught as research. Every major writes a junior paper of about 25 to 30 pages and a 75-page senior thesis based on original research, followed by an oral exam (Princeton University), and the Davis Center’s Stone and Davis prize funds summer thesis research with up to $6,000 (Princeton History). At Yale, most seniors write a two-term senior essay that typically runs 40 to 50 pages, and only the two-term essay earns Distinction in the Major (Yale College Programs of Study). Yale points essay writers to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and to Manuscripts and Archives (Yale History).

Harvard asks students who want to write a thesis to first complete a seminar research paper of at least 20 pages from primary sources, then take the year-long History 99 (Harvard FAS Handbook). Chicago requires a Research Colloquium of every major, and its thesis-track students write a BA thesis of about 40 to 60 pages; only they can earn honors, which requires a 3.7 GPA in the major (University of Chicago). Columbia requires two seminars and a 3.6 GPA for honors, Penn requires two Penn History Seminars, Johns Hopkins requires two methods courses, and Georgetown asks honors students to keep a 3.67 GPA in the major.

Which Public Universities Are Best for History?

Public flagships offer some of the most ambitious thesis programs in the country. Michigan’s honors theses are expected to run about 60 to 100 pages (University of Michigan), and honors through Virginia’s Distinguished Majors Program requires a GPA of at least 3.4 and a thesis of about 80 pages (University of Virginia). Berkeley’s 12-course major requires a proseminar and a thesis course, UCLA requires a capstone seminar, and UNC requires an undergraduate research seminar in a department that reports over 700 majors and minors (UNC History).

Wisconsin requires a Historian’s Craft course and an advanced seminar, and its two-semester honors thesis runs about 40 pages. UT Austin’s honors program requires a 3.5 GPA in history and a two-semester senior thesis, William and Mary requires a capstone seminar, and Indiana and Ohio State require two seminars each. Rutgers and Penn State, which admit a larger share of applicants, both require a research seminar.

Which Liberal Arts Colleges Are Best for History?

Liberal arts colleges build the history major around seminars and long papers. Amherst majors complete two research papers, usually 20 to 25 pages each, in 400-level research seminars (Amherst College). Williams requires a Major Seminar for juniors and an advanced seminar or tutorial, Swarthmore requires a Senior Research Seminar in the fall of senior year, and Bowdoin requires a capstone seminar. Carleton pairs a methods course with two research seminars and a senior comps exercise, and Wellesley awards honors only through the senior thesis. Our guide to liberal arts colleges versus research universities covers the trade-offs between the two settings.

Is History a Good Major for Law School?

History is one of the most common routes to law school. In LSAC’s report for Enrollment Year 2022, 2,900 law school applicants majored in history, and 2,293 of them were admitted, or 79.1 percent (LSAC Applicants by Major). The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that lawyers are the most common occupation among workers with a history degree, at 9 percent (BLS). Our guides to the T14 law schools and law school GPA and LSAT medians explain what those schools expect.

What Can You Do With a History Degree?

About 1.3 million American workers hold a history degree, and half of them have an advanced degree, compared with 38 percent across all fields, according to BLS analysis of 2023 Census data. After lawyers, the most common occupations are elementary school teachers, managers, and secondary school teachers (BLS). Historians themselves typically need a master’s degree; they earned a median of $76,750 in May 2025, and the occupation of about 3,800 jobs is projected to grow 3 percent from 2025 to 2035 (BLS). Archivists, curators, and museum workers earned a median of $60,330, with 4 percent projected growth (BLS).

Why Has the Number of History Majors Fallen?

History degrees peaked at 44,663 in 1970-71 and fell from 35,008 in 2010-11 to 22,919 in 2020-21, according to NCES (NCES). The American Historical Association reported that history accounted for “slightly less than 1.2 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded” in 2019 (AHA) and that completions fell another 6.4 percent in 2022 (AHA). For students who do choose history, a smaller major can mean smaller seminars and closer work with faculty, which is exactly where thesis research happens.

How Do You Judge a History Program Beyond the Rankings?

• Read the thesis rules. Page lengths, GPA cutoffs, and whether the thesis is required or optional show how seriously the department treats original research.
• Count the seminars. Two or more required research seminars mean more practice working from primary sources.
• Find the methods course. A required methods course early in the major prepares students for archival work later.
• Ask about archives and funding. Special collections on campus and summer research grants decide what a thesis can be about.
• Look at advising. Ask how thesis advisers are assigned and how many theses each faculty member supervises.

What Do Admissions Officers Look for in a History Applicant?

History applicants are read alongside other humanities and social science applicants at most universities. What stands out is serious reading and writing, and evidence that a student has done historical research on their own.

• Coursework. AP U.S. History, AP European or World History, and AP English Language. Strong writing matters more than any single history course.
• Original research. A long research paper built on primary sources, such as a National History Day project or a paper submitted to The Concord Review, shows the skills a history major develops.
• Writing competitions. The history category of the John Locke Essay Competition gives readers an outside measure of how a student argues.
• Mentorship. Our guide to research opportunities for high school students explains how to find a mentor for a humanities project.

Oriel Admissions builds this record with students who start in 9th or 10th grade: a reading and writing sequence that reaches AP U.S. History and AP English, one sustained research project with primary sources, and one piece of writing judged by an outside reader. Our guide to intended major strategy explains how a declared humanities major affects admission.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Best Colleges for History Majors

Sources: NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2022, Table 325.92, BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Historians, BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Archivists, Curators, and Museum Workers, BLS: History Field of Degree, American Historical Association: Has the Decline in History Majors Hit Bottom?, American Historical Association: Tracking Undergraduate History Enrollments in 2023, LSAC Applicants by Major, Enrollment Year 2022, Princeton University: History, Yale College Programs of Study: History, Harvard FAS Handbook: History, University of Chicago: History, University of Michigan History Honors, University of Virginia: History Major, Amherst College History Major Requirements

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