Required Units

Total number of units required for major, excluding any required Intensive(s): 10

Required Intensive units, if any: 1

Total units required: 11

Total Number of Specific Courses Required

• HIST 300 - Thesis Preparation: Sources, Methods, and Interpretations
• Two 300-level seminars one of which must be taken in the senior year. 300-level seminars may also do double duty as pre-1800 or geographical area requirements.

• Cross-listed courses originating in another department (i.e., taught by faculty who are not in the History Department) may not be used for distribution requirements. No more than two cross-listed courses originating in another department can count toward the history minimum requirement of 11 units.

Distributional Content Area Units Required

      One Pre-1800 history course at the 200- or 300-level chosen from:

• HIST 221 - Medieval Science and Technology
• HIST 225 - Renaissance Italy
• HIST 226 - Northern Europe in the Renaissance, c. 1300-1550
• HIST 229 - Paris and London: Society and Culture in the Early Modern City, 1500-1800
• HIST 242 - The Russian Empire to 1812
• HIST 274 - Early America, 1500-1750
• HIST 315 - Crusading and the Holy Land (1095-1204)
• HIST 326 - Machiavelli: Power and Politics
• HIST 366 - American Encounters: Natives, Newcomers, and the Contest for a Continent
• HIST 382 - Marie-Antoinette

• At least one unit at the 200- and 300-level in four of the six following geographical distributions:

  • Africa
  • Middle East
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • United States

Electives

Two additional electives from any level or area of the history curriculum.

Intensives

Thesis Intensive

Credits from outside Vassar

Majors may apply up to four credits earned from other schools or AP/ IB credit to the major. However, only one AP or IB credit may be used, and none of these credits can satisfy a distribution or 300-level requirement.

Recommendations

The department strongly encourages all students interested in majoring in History to take at least one 100-level course to learn historical methodology at the college level. While the department requires only one pre-1800 and four geographical area courses, students are encouraged to go beyond the minimum to examine the deeper roots of history and develop a more nuanced global understanding. Reading knowledge of a foreign language is highly recommended. The department encourages students to study foreign languages at Vassar to work toward the goal of going to the original sources. Students thinking about going on to graduate school or further study should find out about language requirements for those fields.