History/Military History

Hello all! First post here although I have done a lot of lurking and sifting through old threads. I am interested in a starting a MA program in history or military history and as you know, there are just a ton of decisions out there and I want to make the best one if I am going to be spending my hard earned money.

Some background: I graduated from a B&M State university with a BS in History and Military Science. I was in the Army ROTC program while in school and commissioned into the Army National Guard as a 2nd Lieutenant. I am currently serving as a field artillery officer. I am also a full-time police officer and so my schedule is not exactly wide open. I definitely need to go to school online for my degree.

I really have two reasons for wanting to pursue a MA: One is for personal enrichment. Two is that after I retire I think I'd like to possibly teach at the community college level or at DL university part time. I am not looking to become a full time professor, as I'd like to enjoy retirement when the time comes. But I have always had a passion for history and think I would enjoy teaching. I also want to make sue the program I am going for includes a thesis option, as the possibility for pursuing a PhD may be a possibility later in life.

So I've obviously done a lot of research and so far I am considering a few programs. My area of interest in particular is Early American history, particularly the American Revolution. Looking at AMU, the MA in military history with the concentration in the American Revolution is exactly what I am looking for. However, the online only, for-profit thing is the only thing holding me back. The price is great and the course selection is perfect.

I've also looked at Norwich University. Their program is expensive and I don't like the course selection for the military history option. I would probably go for the MA in history with a concentration in American history there. What I like about the school is the prestige. Norwich is a well respected school with a great military history.

Also on the list I've been considering is Troy University. They have what appears to be a great MA history program and it will by extremely inexpensive due to their military scholarship. However, they require you to pass a foreign language reading comprehensive exam while in the program. In addition, if you choose the American History track, you must minor in European history. You cannot focus solely on US history. Other than that, the program looks top-notch.

Lastly is Southern New Hampshire University, who seems to offer a decent program. I again would choose the American history track due to the course selection, which interests me more than the military history course selection offered. The negatives would have to be the cost. I do not believe they offer discounts to soldiers in the Reserves/National Guard, only Active Duty soldiers.

I apologize for the rant, but I also know there are a lot of people on these boards with experience and interest in online history programs, so I hope we can have a great discussion regarding different schools.

Thanks.

 

Have you looked at Austin Peay State University's MA in Military History?

 

I have, actually. Honestly, I'd rather not be required to take the GED if I don't have to. Of course I'm not ruling out schools if they do require it. But I'd rather take the MAT, or not be required to take an entrance exam at all. I'm not lazy, but I don't understand how the GRE helps decide who would be good candidates for graduate school. Especially regarding a history MA

 

While I can't speak for every regional accreditor, apparently SACS is picky about Military History and History. They will not count Military History as History for the purposes of teaching. If you are thinking in the long term that you'd like to teach at a community college, you may want to consider the MA in History rather than Military History. Just a suggestion.

-Matt

 

I don't know if this would work for you but there are a bunch of these programs in England

MA Military History by distance learning - Postgraduate degree study - University of Birmingham

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught-courses/war-in-the-modern-world-ma.aspx

MA Military History by Distance Learning | University of Wolverhampton

I believe there are more.

 

Matt,

I actually really appreciate this piece of information as I was unsure about whether schools would take on a person who had a military history degree to teach history. One of my reasons for considering AMU is that I would be able to get my MA in Mil Hist and take classes almost exclusively on the American Revolution, since there is a specific track for that. And my thought process was that that might set me apart from other candidates for a teaching position due to my concentration in the topic. So say I wanted to teach an early American history course at a community college, one of my strengths would be that I would have completed much more coursework in that time period in comparison with other people I might be competing with for the position.

 

Thank you for the response and I honestly have not considered doing my MA from a foreign school, only because I want to focus on American history. So because of this, I personally would rather attend an American university. But I most certainly have peeked around at foreign schools out of curiosity.

 

I understand your point. I only mentioned it because I know that sometimes, when people have very few choices, they are willing to consider alternatives that were not initially considered. Good luck.

 

I think it would totally depend on where you are teaching, but SACS-COC is getting anal, from what I'm told by my fellow college admins. We have a guy who teaches at one of our local high schools. He has an MA in Military History, but they would only credential him to teach a class on World War II. I have NOT seen his transcripts, so I can't speak to what his program was like. I don't even know where he got his degree. Looking at AMU/APU, however, their Military History MA involves a lot of the general MA in History coursework. Looking at the MA in Military History with a concentration in American Revolution, there are 15 credits that are labeled HIST. While SACS-COC requires 18, I'm sure we could easily do a justification for you to teach US History. Of course, I can't speak for every institution. My colleague, for example, has an MA in Humanities, but she had enough HIST credits in her degree, that she was hired, over 20 years ago, as one of our full-time profs.

-Matt

 

I would like to teach at the community college level, although I'd be trying to do so here in New York. I am not sure if the requirements here are similar to the ones down South. I have taken into account the fact that AMU's MA in military history includes 15 history credits. So I could probably just take an additional history class on its own to get the 18 credits. My one concern is AMU's reputation in academia. I know it has a fantastic reputation here and I've seen nothing but great things about the school all over the Internet. However, it does unfortunately carry around the "online, for-profit" stigma, which concerns me if I were to try and use it to teach at a B&M school. That is my one and only concern about the university.

 

So as of now, my application for Norwich University is underway! I think they are going to be the school I go with. If I get in, of course.

 

Norwich is a good school (a friend of mine went there, in residence). But they're very very expensive.

I would highly recommend University of Louisiana-Monroe. They're a very solid school with a Military History program. Most importantly, they typically reduce their tuition for service members to $250 a credit hour (the magic number for AD SM's) and therefore provide a "free" degree. Compared against Norwich's $704, it comes out to quite a savings.

$9k (usually fully paid for by TA) for Louisiana-Monroe vs. $25,344 for Norwich (assuming they're both a 36 hour degree).

It's worth looking into before signing over your full butter bar commissioning loan from USAA to Norwich University.