Tulane’s graduate program is highly selective. It is both small enough to ensure plenty of faculty-student engagement and large enough to allow students to pursue research within broad chronological, geographic and thematic fields. We encourage students to develop the widest possible range of methodological skills in dealing with historical sources. The faculty in the Department of History have broad teaching and research interests, with particularly strong major fields in United States history (especially the U.S. South), Latin American history; Britain; Europe from the Renaissance to the present; and ancient and medieval Europe. In addition, minor fields are offered in a variety of geographic, transnational and thematic fields.
The city of New Orleans, where Tulane is located, offers varied research opportunities. With its unique French, African, and Spanish heritage and its successive waves of immigrants, New Orleans has been and remains a city with a remarkably rich and multi-layered past. Records of this past–scattered throughout the city–are a constant reminder of the complexity of the human condition even to those whose research interests lie elsewhere.
Below is a summary of the graduate degree requirements in History at Tulane University. For more complete details and other information, be sure to read the Regulations and Procedures of the Graduate Program.
The History Department allows current Tulane undergraduate students and Tulane University staff to earn a M.A. degree through our 4+1 (undergraduates) or staff programs. We offer the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), students in this track may enter either with an M.A. or earn their M.A. in the process of earning their Ph.D. The History Department does not offer a M.A. in History beyond those described above. For more information about the various graduate programs please see below.
Students must earn their M.A. degree before being admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. Candidates working for the Ph.D. must complete the following program:
Accelerated Master of Arts Program
Open to Newcomb-Tulane students only.
This option, also termed the "4+1", is available only to Tulane undergraduates and will enable a student to obtain an M.A. in one year.
M.A. in History for Tulane University Employees
Employees at Tulane University may use the employee tuition waiver system to take graduate level courses at in the Department of History to earn an M.A. degree, subject to the limitations and policies of this program.
Download Information about the Tulane Employee M.A. Program