Ph.D. in History

Welcome to Graduate History at Boston College

Boston College’s graduate programs in history attract talented students from around the world. We offer M.A. and Ph.D. programs with training in a number of regional and thematic specialties; British, medieval, U.S., and modern European history have long been strengths of the department. Emerging areas of faculty expertise and graduate student interest include South Asian, East Asian, and Latin American history. In addition, the department trains in a range of comparative and transnational areas, with a particular interest in the history of religion, empires and legacies, the Atlantic world, urban history, and transnational history.

The Department of History welcomes a small class of new graduate students each September; our program’s size ensures individualized attention and considerable flexibility in designing one’s plan of study. All Ph.D. students are guaranteed funding through their fifth year in the program, assuming successful completion of requirements. Graduate students gain experience teaching in the two-semester core history sequence, first as teaching assistants and later as teaching fellows in charge of their own classes. Faculty and graduate students come together regularly for conversations about the craft of teaching history.

Historians at Boston College benefit from our location in one of the world’s great centers of academic life. A range of neighboring universities, libraries, and cultural institutions enrich our work. In particular, ongoing collaborations with graduate programs at Boston University, Brandeis University, and Tufts University allow our graduate students to tap into a remarkable network of world-class scholars. Several students and faculty also take part in the Center for European Studies, the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and the South Asia Initiative at Harvard, as well as the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies at MIT. Ongoing seminars and lecture series at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Boston Public Library, and the Museum of Fine Arts bring together lively communities of scholars interested in a range of subfields and other disciplines. In all, Boston College offers an unparalleled site for pursuing advanced study in history. We hope that you will consider joining our thriving intellectual community.