This program is not accepting applications for the 2025-2026 academic year. Please reach out to the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at grsphd@bu.edu with any questions.
How to Apply
Applicants to the graduate program should use the online application, which is available on the Graduate School site.
After reading through all of the posted information about the admissions process and requirements, feel free to contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Andrew Robichaud, at andrewr1@bu.edu, with specific follow-up questions.
Prospective students can apply for fee waivers for the PhD application or MA application. To apply for a fee waiver, email the History Department’s Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) with the following materials: 1). a copy of your admissions essay (the personal statement/statement of purpose), 2). a copy of your transcript (an unofficial transcript is fine at this stage), and 3). a short statement of financial need. Send these materials to the History Department DGS in an email using the subject heading “fee application waiver request.” The DGS will then send your materials to a committee to review your application. If the committee grants your request, you will receive a coupon code from the DGS, which you can use when you “check out” and submit your application to BU through the Graduate School’s website. No retrospective fee waivers can be granted, so please do not submit your application to BU until you have received a decision regarding your fee waiver application. The process of obtaining a fee waiver usually takes 3-4 weeks. The deadline for submitting your fee waiver request to the DGS is November 20 for the PhD and February 1 for the MA. Requests after these dates will not be granted.
We are particularly eager to recruit students from underrepresented groups (URGs). Students from these backgrounds, and from low-income backgrounds, are encouraged to apply for application fee waivers, and there are additional financial aid packages available from the Graduate School
As of fall 2023, the History Department is no longer requiring the GRE for applicants applying for admission to the PhD program. As part of the selection process, the Department may elect to interview some applicants about their academic interests and qualifications. Applicants will be individually notified if an interview is requested.
As per GRS requirements, all applicants whose native language is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Duolingo. Applicants are not required to submit English proficiency scores if they are a citizen of a country or territory where English is the sole official or de facto language, or, if they have or will have completed their undergraduate or graduate studies in such a country or territory. International applicants are encouraged to enclose in their application materials a short statement of how and why they have met these conditions, which exempt them from submitting test scores that demonstrate their proficiency in English.
When considering applications to our MA and PhD program in History, our department takes a holistic, comprehensive approach, considering not only applicants’ cumulative GPAs but also personal statements, writing samples, and letters of recommendation among other criteria. We understand that applicants’ grades for Fall 2023 may have been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, or that their transcripts may contain pass/fail credits rather than letter grades. Applicants will not be held at a disadvantage for COVID-related difficulties they experienced in Fall 2023.
The department accepts applications for September admission only.
Application Requirements
- Online Application Form
- All relevant transcripts – unofficial copies (official transcripts are only needed for students who have accepted an admission offer)
- Three letters of recommendation
- Personal statement/statement of purpose
- Resume/CV
- Writing sample (not more than 40 pages)
- Statement on foreign language competence (a list of courses or other training you have completed in languages and an assessment of your reading ability in each language–terms such as “beginning”,”intermediate,” “advanced,” “fluent” are acceptable); this statement should be added to the Graduate School’s online application under Department-Requested Document.
- Do not send any admissions materials to the History Department. Send supplementary application materials to:
Admissions Office
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Boston University
705 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 112
Boston, MA 02215
- A $95 application fee must be paid in order for your application to be considered complete. This fee is non-refundable. Information on fee waivers for MA and PhD applicants is available on the Graduate School website.
As per GRS requirements, all applicants whose native language is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Duolingo. Applicants are not required to submit English proficiency scores if they are a citizen of a country or territory where English is the sole official or de facto language, or, if they have or will have completed their undergraduate or graduate studies in such a country or territory. International applicants are encouraged to enclose in their application materials a short statement of how and why they have met these conditions, which exempt them from submitting test scores that demonstrate their proficiency in English.
Financial Assistance
All applicants accepted to the PhD program receive full fellowship funding for 5 years, including summer support. MA students are not eligible for financial aid. After one year of full-time coursework, PhD students serve as Teaching Fellows. To conduct research abroad, students may apply to the Graduate School for short-term and long-term research grants. The department also offers small travel grants to conduct research and attend conferences. PhD students in their fifth year with an approved Dissertation Prospectus qualify for a non-service fellowship to support full-time work on their dissertation.
The Admissions Process
The departmental Graduate Studies Committee consists of three faculty members. This committee reads and makes recommendations to the Graduate School on all applications. The process begins in January and continues until all applications received by deadline have been considered. Applications are not considered until they are complete, that is, have the requisite letters of recommendation, and relevant transcripts. After waiting for any missing credentials to arrive, the department will send a notice that an application is incomplete; it is the applicant’s responsibility to make sure all materials are submitted. Admission decisions will be made by mid-April, and admitted MA students will have two weeks from the time of that notification to accept or decline the offer of admission.
Please also scroll down this page for our answers to some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about graduate admissions.
Program Metrics
Boston University PhD profile pages offer statistical portraits across key metrics, which we hope will provide prospective Department of History PhD students a clear sense of our program. We aim to give prospective students a sense of the probability that they will be admitted, how long it is likely to take them to complete the program if they matriculate, what jobs might await them upon receipt of their PhD and so forth.
The profile showcases a brief description of the program, and five-year (or more) trend data on: applications and offers, selectivity, entering cohort size, sex and ethnicity demographics, attrition rate, cumulative completion rate, median time to degree, and five-and ten-year out graduate employment outcomes.
Recent graduates of the department have pursued careers not only in the traditional areas of academic research and teaching but also in fields as diverse as library and museum work, journalism, consulting, government service, education, publishing, and business.
History Department PhD Profile
