The Best Online Master's in History Programs

At the University of Massachusetts, the online Master of Arts in History is offered through the College of Liberal Arts.

There are a total of 30 credit requirements including:

• Research Methods (three credits)
• Introduction to Historiography (three credits)
• Thesis Preparation (three credits)
• Thesis (six credits)
• History electives (five credits)

Courses are comprehensive and challenging with an average of 250-300 pages of reading per week. Students should also expect to write a minimum of 25 pages per semester. A limited class size, however, allows students to have more personal interaction with professors who are willing to work with students if challenges arise.

As the oldest School of Medicine in the country, Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine knows how to make history, not just teach it. As such, the school's strength is its comprehensive Master of Arts in the History of Medicine.

Students should expect a challenging curriculum with the following degree requirements:

• Introduction to the History of Medicine
• Four Survey courses
• Methods in the History of Medicine
• Two terms of Research seminar
• Research Practicum
• Directed Reading
• Directed Research
• One Elective
• Submission and approval of an original thesis

The Research Practicum must be completed on campus. Students have up to five years to complete all 36 required credits and thesis.

Norwich University itself has made history, being recognized as the nation's first private military college and the birthplace of the ROTC program. Building on this solid foundation, Norwich offers an online Master of Arts in History degree. No GRE/GMAT scores are required to apply.

This 36 credit degree program requires only six courses, with each course being weighted at six credits, and offers two concentrations, American History or World History.

Courses are consecutive and run for 11 weeks each. Before graduation, students are required to complete a one week residency on campus. Students typically complete this program in 18 months.

GRE scores are not required to apply to the online Master of Arts in History offered at Indiana State University. Students may complete the 33 required credits entirely online.

The average time of completion for those enrolled part-time is three to five years, though the school allows up to seven years for students to earn this degree.

Those interested in attending full-time may need a blended online/on-campus format, but will be able to complete all coursework within two years.

A concentration in the History of Labor and Reform Movements in the United States is available. Course examples may include:

• Race and Nationality in the United States
• Women in History
• Seminar on Popular Movements in the United States

In addition to the comprehensive undergraduate program in history, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State offers the corresponding online Master of Arts in History degree.

Students can complete both degrees at Arizona State with the Master's program requiring an additional 30 credits. The 10 further classes each run for 7.5 weeks in length, with both thesis and non-thesis options available.

Tuition and fees for the academic year are estimated to be $10,134 with the majority of students finishing in one to two years. Professors within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences include one Pulitzer Prize winner, one MacArthur Fellow, and three Nobel Laureates.

The online Master of Arts in History at Liberty University is offered through the College of Arts and Sciences. This comprehensive degree requires students to complete 36 credit hours of coursework.

The curriculum provides a detailed overview of general topics in history including American history, modern European military history, and world history.

Courses include:

• Historical Methods and Interpretations
• Protestant Reformation
• History of American Political Parties since 1896
• History of Slavery and Servitude in the Western World

Tuition rates are currently set at $615 per hour rate for part-time students and $565 per hour rate for full-time students.

The University of Memphis offers a fully online Master of Arts in History through the College of Arts and Sciences. The noted areas of strength for the online degree include Asia, Medieval Europe, U.S. History, and Women, Gender, and Family studies.

Other possible courses include:

• World Since 1945
• Modern Middle East
• Greek Experience
• High Middle Ages
• History American Family
• Civil Rights Movement

Additionally, the Department of History offers and encourages supervised internships with a variety of affiliated organizations interested in historians such as government agencies and local private businesses. There are 33 required hours of coursework for students in the non-thesis track. The thesis track is encouraged for students who wish to pursue further education.

The Department of History at Western Kentucky University offers an online, non-thesis online Master of Arts in History. GRE scores are required for admission to this program.

There are 36 credits necessary for graduation with one required core course in Historiography. Other possible areas of concentration include:

• Pre-Modern Europe/World
• Modern Europe
• Non-Western World
• Pre- Civil War United States (through the Civil War)
• Post- Civil War United States

Courses are available on a rotating basis with the majority of students completing the degree in three years.

Students interested in the Master of Arts in History at Southern New Hampshire University do not need a prior undergraduate degree in history to apply.

GRE and GMAT scores are also not required for admission. Students may apply and be accepted at any point throughout the academic year.

There are three concentrations offered:

• American History
• Military History
• Public History

The majority of students are able to complete this program within 15 months taking two classes per term. Course examples may include:

• Early American Encounters
• The Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• The Russian Revolutions
• Digitization of History
• Museum Collection Management

Missouri State University's Department of History offers the online Master of Arts in History. The program requires 30 total credits for graduation and is designed as a traditional two-year graduate degree plan. Students may choose from the following track options:

• American Studies
• Global Area Studies
• U.S. and World Studies

Thesis and non-thesis options are available for each of the tracks. The traditional fall start is offered, however online students are strongly encouraged to start during the summer session in order to take the required Historiography and Historical Method classes which are only available online during that time.

At Sam Houston State University, the Department of History typically requires some prior study (either a minor or a major) in the field of History to be applicable for the online Master of Arts in History program. Recent GRE scores will also be required to apply.

Students will have the option to enroll in the 30 credit thesis program or the 36 credit non-thesis track. The majority of students will enroll in one class per semester and have up to seven years to complete all graduation requirements.

Once all course work has been completed, all Master's degree students must pass both a written and an oral exam.

Pittsburgh State University offers an online Master of Arts in History. There are two tracks available within this degree:

Thesis option - requires a total of 30 credit hours. Strongly recommended for students interested in pursuing doctoral work.

Seminar option - requires a total of 32 credit hours.

There are an additional three tracks within this option:

• Students may complete a curricular or museum project including bibliography and presentation
• Students may submit two seminar papers for evaluation
• Students may choose to take a comprehensive examination

Both thesis and seminar options require a minimum of 15 semester hours of courses taken at level 800 or above.

The online Masters of Arts in History degree at the University of North Alabama is offered through the Department of History and Political Science. This program offers thesis and non-thesis options.

Both tracks have a 15-hour core including classes such as Historiography and Research Methods, and require 12 hours of elective courses. Student in the thesis track can defend their paper online, with no need to go to campus.

Students in the non-thesis track will take a comprehensive examination. Those who are enrolled full-time are able to finish all requirements for this program in two to three years.

The University of Nebraska's online Master of Arts in History program caters to a variety of students, from active military members to secondary educators and those interested in pursuing doctoral studies. This fully online program requires 36 credits for graduation.

Classes may include:

• America Interpreted
• Historical Methods
• Readings in World History
• Introduction to Thesis

Areas of emphasis or specialization offered include:

• Military History
• American West
• Modern Europe
• Public/digital history

Both thesis and non-thesis tracks are available.

At National University, the online Master of Arts in History offers two tracks. The research track is encouraged for students who wish to pursue research and further education. For this option, students will produce the traditional Master's thesis.

The teaching track is for those students interested in becoming secondary or community college educators.

Students in this track will compile a Master's Portfolio for presentation. Both tracks require a minimum of 10 courses, or 45 quarter units.

Sample courses may include:

• Modern Africa
• Latin America
• Comparative History
• Modern Middle East
• History and Applied Media

The majority of students are able to complete this degree within two years.

To be accepted to the Master of Arts in History program at the University of Louisiana students must have a minimum of 18 undergraduate semester hours in the Social Sciences/Humanities, with half of those being specifically from History courses.

Once accepted, students in the online program must take the non-thesis track (thesis track is only available to on-campus students).

A total of 30 semester hour credits are required for the Master's. All students must take the three credit Research Methods course with the rest being electives.

Courses will run for eight weeks in length.

The College of Liberal Arts at Slippery Rock University offers an online Master of Arts in History.

The 30 required credits include one mandatory three credit Historical Methods course and 27 credits in subject areas.

Course examples may include:

• Ancient Greece
• Tudor-Stuart England
• Modern Britain
• Modern Germany
• Russia in the Twentieth Century
• Women in History
• History of Medicine
• Mexico and the Caribbean
• The Ancient Near East
• Material Culture and Historical Interpretation
• The Middle East in Modern Times

Students attending full time can complete this degree within two years. Before graduation all students must successfully complete a comprehensive examination.

American Military University offers the traditional online Master of Arts in History with concentrations in American, Ancient and Classical, European, Global, and Public History.

However, the university's strength is it's Master of Arts in Military History program.

Here students have a variety of concentrations from which to choose:

• American Military History
• American Revolution
• Civil War
• Military and Diplomatic History
• World War II
• War Since 1945

The curriculum will detail topics such as:

• strategy
• command and leadership
• technological advances in weaponry

These programs require a total of 39 credit hours.

Adams State University offers an online Master of Arts in Humanities with an emphasis in U.S. History.

Student's can complete all courses online, but will have to defend the Master's Thesis on campus. There are a total of 30 required credits with most students taking two classes per semester, including summer sessions.

Possible courses include:

• American West
• Alexander Hamilton's America
• Women and Politics in 20th Century America
• African American Civil Rights
• Amazing Grace: How Writers Helped End American Slavery

All professors hold the highest level of mastery in the field and bring personal experience and expertise to the online environment.

At Wayland Baptist University, the School of Behavioral and Social Sciences offers the Master of Arts in History.

The 37 credit hours of graduate courses cover a broad array of topics in history from ethnic and gender issues to environmental concerns and record management. Some possible course electives include:

• U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary History
• History of Science and Technology
• Environmental History
• Ethnic and Gender History
• History of the Twentieth Century

Students may take up to six credits of thesis work in place of two content courses. Students who do not already have an undergraduate major in history who attend this program will be required to take four courses from the School of Religion and Philosophy.