MA History

From the Great State of Kentucky

Western Kentucky University www.wku.edu now offers a Master of Arts in History online.

 

When I was in the HUX program at CSUDH, I made an off-the-cuff comment to the Program Director about thesis length, guessing that it would be 60 to 100 pages. The guy went ballistic at the idea that a thesis could be as much as 100 pages and very sternly told me it better not be more than 80 pages and he'd prefer it to be only 60 pages. And you're calling 110 pages "thesis lite"? How big is Tireman's MONSTER THESIS if your "thesis lite" is 110 pages?

 

A Couple of DETC Options

Harrison Middleton University www.chumsci.edu offers the online MA in Humanities and MA in Social Sciences based on Great Books of the Western World, either of which can be built around the study of such great historians (and historical sources) as Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Plutarch, Edward Gibbon, the American State Papers, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Johan Huizinga.

Yorktown University www.yorktownuniversity.com has an online MA in Government, the coursework of which can be so arranged to meet an 18-hour concentration in history. They just received their accreditation at the last DETC meeting.

 

Ted,
I think Tireman's thesis was 150-175 pgs. I was actually trying to keep mine around 90 pages, but as the end approached it grew because I thought it needed some more info to carry it along.
all the best,
Gavin

 

You were close Wildy......the exact number is 147. My dissertation page number right now for HMU is approximately 100 and for UH it is liking to be around 350.

 

OK so I want to complete an MA in History completely out of self-interest ... which one would be the cheapest DL MA in History out there? I can live with NA no problem... doesn't have to be RA.

 

I would take a look at the South African universitities. The tuition is very affordable. For example, UNISA offers an MA in History. Note that this is a research only Masters. There is no course work involved. See the website for details.

An excellent resource for Canadians considering UNISA is IACI.

Good luck!
Tom

 

When I did the CSUDH HUX humanities degree entirely for personal interest, it cost me $4,200. I usually only took one class a trimester, then farted around unconscionably completing my thesis, so I ended up paying maybe $1,000/year. Very affordable, an RA MA, and no loans.

(At CSUDH, the rule-of-thumb seems to be about 10 written pages per unit. So a 3 unit class is going to assign about 30 pages of papers. (Usually broken up into two 15's or three 10's.) That applies to the thesis too, so if you take 5 thesis units like I did, that tranlates to a 50 page thesis. They don't like theses going tremendously over that, unless there's some reason why they should, which might include submitting a creative work like a novel or something. You work that stuff out with your thesis advisor. The entire MA program is going to require something in the vicinity of 300 written pages.)

 

huh? A CSUDH degree for 4200? Let me check!

 

I graduated years ago, so that isn't the current price. I just looked to see what they are charging now, and it looks like it's $225/unit. (It was $140 when I was there.) $225 x 30 = $6750. It's going up. Still a pretty good deal though, especially if you spread it out over several years like I did.

http://www.csudh.edu/hux/reginfo.html

(If you're in Canada, your CDN dollars are rising relative to our US ones, so that might help.)

 

To which we might add:

From the Great State of Colorado: Regis University's www.regis.edu MA can be completed with an Area of Specialization in History.

 

Interested in M.A.

I recently joined this group, and I am very impressed with the quality and quantity of information that is being shared. After a long teaching career, I will be retiring soon, and am interested in pusuing a Masters Degree in History, as it has been of ongoing interest to me for many years. Other than the UNISA degree mentioned in an earlier post, has anyone run across any other research based Masters degrees that are entirely online. The UNISA one looks very good, but I was wondering if there was something else out there with which I could compare.

 

The University of New England (Australia) is now offering a Masters degree program in History that, I believe, is available through distance learning.

http://www.une.edu.au/humanities/mhist/mhist.php

 

Thanks for posting this, I have already contacted UNE for more info- it looks interesting.

UNE has a long history in distance learning and is very well known here in Australia. I already have one degree from there.

 

Here is a question. I am thinking seriously of enroling for this course. There is also a MA(History) which is essentially the same according to the coordinator. You can study the same units, it takes the same amount of time and costs exactly the same ( a little over $4000.00 all up for an eligible student paying up front each semester).

I was told by the coordinator that "the difference is that the Master of History, as a specifically named degree, is geared to teaching professionals of History in schools and is recognised by the Department of Education for upskilling purposes. However, in saying that, students who are not in the educational sector can also enrol in the MHist degree".

I am not a teacher but would just like to go a bit further with my history studies. What do you think would be better, a Master of History or an MA(History) ?

 

If they are the exact same degree, I'd go for the MA in History. If you ever did decide to adjunct etc. more people have heard of a MA in History than a Masters of History. I don't think it'd affect your hiring at all but you might have to explain it every time someone saw it on your resume.

It's not a very common degree here in the US. On the other hand, everyone knows what a MA degree is. It could be different in Australia like you said. My advice is for ajuncting with US schools.

If there are any differences in the courses etc, then I'd go with whatever degree you like what is being taught. I don't think my statement above is enough to worry about and shouldn't let you pick the exact program you want based on the name.

 

I agree with Bazonkers.[/COLOR]

 

I can't fault bazonkers logic but I'd want to point out that college level teaching is not the only sort of job out there for someone with a Masters degree in History. If you ever thought of becoming a high school teacher then the teaching emphasis of that degree could help you in your effort to earn a public school teaching credential.

 

I only mentioned the college level teaching thing because one never knows where the path of life will lead. Maybe the degree is for high school teaching now, maybe it's only for personal enrichment. Perhaps 10 years from now it might be for something totally different!

I agree though, not everyone uses graduate degrees to teach college.

 

Yes. I think we're both making the same point only we're using different examples in the process. I think we are in agreement.