Frequently Asked Questions
Application Questions
Applicants should submit an online application. Thorough instructions are located on the Morrissey College Graduate School Admissions webpage.
If submitting hard copy application items, please mail to the admissions processing center:
Boston College
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Gasson Hall 108
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Do not mail materials in to the History Department.
On the online application, applicants can indicate that they would like to be considered for the M.A. program in case they are not accepted into the Ph.D. program.
If you submitted the application form online, you should receive an e-mail from òòò½Ö±²¥ containing a username and password to log into the Agora Portal. Through Agora you can check the status of your application by clicking on the Application Status tab. You must choose the correct school to which you applied. If you applied to a number of òòò½Ö±²¥ Graduate Schools, you will only receive one e-mail containing the above information.
Not necessarily. Having a B.A. in History helps, but it is not required. If your undergraduate degree is not in History or in a related field in the Humanities or Social Sciences, you will need to have taken some History courses and to demonstrate knowledge of the discipline in your statement of purpose.
The GRE general test and subject test in History are optional. There is no required minimum score. The code for submitting your GREs to Boston College is 3083.
The statement should explain how you have arrived at the decision to apply to graduate school in History, what you want to study, and why you want to study it here at Boston College.
Submit the best piece of historical analysis you have written. Usually, that will be a research or historiographical paper or part of a senior or M.A. thesis that has been evaluated and graded by your teachers. Do not submit more than 15 or at most 20 pages. In the case of theses, send a portion of the manuscript explaining how it fits into the manuscript as a whole.
Our incoming class typically consists of 10 M.A. students and five Ph.D. students.
Although you apply centrally to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, admissions are decided by the History Department. The departmental Graduate Committee seeks excellence in all aspects of the application: numerical scores, statement of purpose, writing sample, and letters of recommendation. The committee generally examines Ph.D. applications during the month of February and M.A. applications during the month of March.
The application deadline is January 2 for the Ph.D. program and February 1 for the M.A. program. We try to make offers of admission to the Ph.D. program by early March with an acceptance deadline of April 15th. M.A. offers are typically made in late March with an acceptance deadline of June 1.
Program Questions
We offer both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Getting an M.A. degree from the òòò½Ö±²¥ program does not guarantee entry into our Ph.D. program, which has a separate admissions process.
Ph.D. students must enroll full-time during their first two years in the program. M.A. students are welcome to enroll part-time but must take at least four courses (12 credits) during the regular academic year.
 All Ph.D. students receive multi-year fellowships featuring a Teaching Assistantship,full tuition remission, and an annual stipend. The department does not offer funding for M.A. students but, on occasion, we are able to hire M.A. students to work as Teaching Assistants. These positions come with a monthly stipend.
Probably not. You may petition to get credit for one or two courses, but it is usually best to follow the prescribed course of study toward the degree and take as many courses as you can.
The Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College offers M.Ed. and M.A.T. degrees with a concentration in History. These degrees would prepare you for a career as a teacher of history at the secondary-school level. For admissions information about these programs, you should contact the Lynch School at 617-552-4214 or visit ther website via the button below. Boston College does not currently offer joint J.D./M.A. or J.D./Ph.D. degrees.
For Ph.D. students, Medievalists must pass three language exams (one of which must be in Latin), US historians must pass one language exam, and in all other fields, Ph.D. candidates must pass two language exams. M.A. students must pass one language exam.
If you have questions about submitting an application, contact the Graduate School at gsasinfo@bc.edu.
If you have questions about the graduate program in history, contact the Graduate Program Director or the Graduate Programs Assistant.
If you would like to talk to individual faculty members with whom you might work, contact them directly at the addresses in our Faculty Directory.Â