Graduate Program

The History Department of Illinois State University welcomes your interest in our Graduate Program. We offer two routes to the Master’s Degree:

1. Thesis option -- The student submits a satisfactory Master’s Thesis, and completes thirty-two hours of graduate work, which must include History 496 and 497 and 16 additional hours at the 400-level. Other hours may be taken at the 300-level.
2. Non-thesis option -- The student completes thirty-nine hours of graduate work, plus two revised seminar papers. The thirty-nine hours must include History 496 and 497 plus twenty additional hours at the 400 level. Other hours may be taken at the 300-level.
   

In addition, for each of the above options there exist the Master of Arts or Master of Science alternatives. The MA requirement is that the student must have completed a minimum of two years in foreign language at the university level (or achieve a satisfactory score on a foreign language assessment test). The MS is for students without this foreign language work.