history phd admission 2021

Graduate Students

Learn more about our students' research interests and dissertation projects.

CURRENT STUDENTS

Ph.D. Program

Stanford Ph.D. Program in History aims to train world-class scholars.

Every year we admit 10-12 promising students from a large pool of highly selective applicants. Our small cohort size allows more individual work with faculty than most graduate programs in the United States and also enables funding in one form or another available to members of each cohort.

Fields of Study

Our graduate students may specialize in 14 distinct subfields: Africa, Britain, Early Modern Europe, East Asia, Jewish History, Latin America, Medieval Europe, Modern Europe, Ottoman Empire and Middle East, Russia/Eastern Europe, Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine, South Asia, Transnational, International, and Global History, and United States. Explore each field and their affiliates .

The department expects most graduate students to spend no less than four and no more than six years completing the work for the Ph.D. degree. Individual students' time to degree will vary with the strength of their undergraduate preparation as well as with the particular language and research requirements of their respective Major fields.

Expectations and Degree Requirements

We expect that most graduate students will spend no less than four and no more than six years toward completing their Ph.D. Individual students' time-to-degree vary with the strength of their undergraduate preparation as well as with the particular language and research requirements of their respective subfield.

All History Ph.D. students are expected to satisfy the following degree requirements:

Teaching: Students who enter on the Department Fellowship are required to complete 4 quarters of teaching experience by the end of their third year. Teaching experience includes teaching assistantships and teaching a Sources and Methods course on their own.
Candidacy : Students apply for candidacy to the PhD program by the end of their second year in the program.
Orals: The University Orals Examination is typically taken at the beginning of the 3rd year in the program.
Languages: Language requirements vary depending on the field of study.
Residency Requirement : The University requi res 135 units of full-tuition residency for PhD students. After that, students should have completed all course work and must request Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status.

Browse the Ph.D. Handbook to learn more .

The History Department offers 5 years of financial support to PhD students. No funding is offered for the co-terminal and terminal M.A. programs. A sample Ph.D. funding package is as follows:

1st year: 3 quarters fellowship stipend and 1 summer stipend
2nd year: 2 quarters TAships, 1 quarter fellowship stipend, and 1 summer stipend
3rd year: 2 quarters TAships, 1 quarter fellowship stipend, and 1 summer stipend
4th year: 3 quarters fellowship stipends and 1 summer stipend
5th year: 3 quarters fellowship stipends and 1 summer stipend

Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Join dozens of Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your studies at Stanford. candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 9, 2024. Learn more about KHS admission .

How to Apply

Admission to the History Graduate Programs are for Autumn quarter only. Interested applicants can online at https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/apply/apply-now and submit the following documents:

Statement of Purpose (included in Application)
3 Letters of Recommendation
Transcripts are required from all prior college level schools attended for at least one year. A scanned copy of the official transcript is submitted as part of the online application. Please do not mail transcripts to the department. We will ask only the admitted students to submit actual copies of official transcripts.
1 Writing Sample on a historic topic (10-25 pages; sent via Stanford's online application system only)
The GRE exam is not required for the autumn 2025 admission cycle
TOEFL for all international applicants (whose primary language is not English) sent via ETS. Our University code is 4704.
TOEFL Exemptions and Waiver information
Application Fee Waiver
The department is not able to provide fee waivers. Please see the link above for the available fee waivers and how to submit a request. Requests are due 2 weeks before the application deadline.

The Department of History welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. Review of applications is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, and admissions essays in order to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field.

The Department of History also recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

Application deadline for Autumn 2025-26 is Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 11:59pm EST . This is a hard -not a postmark- deadline.

All application material is available online. No information is sent via snail mail. Interested applicants are invited to view a Guide to Graduate Admissions at https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/ .