Degree Requirements

Major Requirements

For the most updated and current information, please consult the General Announcements, History Major.

A student majoring in history must take a minimum of 30 semester hours (ten courses) in history, of which 18 semester hours (six courses) must be the advanced level (300 or 400). Two 400-level history seminars are required. To graduate with a BA Degree with a Major in History, 120 credit hours must be earned. A maximum of 12 credit hours (four courses) between study abroad or transfer credit are allowed. Pass/Fail courses will not be included in the 30-hour requirement. For the full Pass/Fail guidelines list, visit the Registrar's website.

Field Requirements

  • Students must take at least one course to satisfy the Premodern field requirement
  • Students must take at least one course from at least three of the following geographical fields:
    • Europe and Russia
    • Northern America
    • Africa
    • Asia and Oceania
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Middle East
    • Transnational, Transregional, Comparative, World
  • Students must take at least one course to satisfy the Thematic field requirement

*A full list of the courses that satisfy each field requirement can be found here in the GA.

Please note:

  • A single course may be used to fulfill both the Premodern and one other field (geographical fields or Thematic), or a single course may be used to fulfill both the Thematic and one other field (geographical fields or Premodern).
  • HIST 390 only counts towards the History degree once. Any repetitions in the class (up to 4) will only count towards general credit, not History.
  • 500, 600, 700, and 800-level classes Do not take the place of a 400-level seminar
  • Occasionally, the department awards History credit to classes offered by other departments/programs on campus. You must contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (histdus@rice.edu) for approval BEFORE enrolling in the class if you plan to count it towards your History degree.
  • Please note that 30 credit hours are required for the History degree, not just 10 courses.

Minor Requirements

For the most updated and current information, please consult the General Announcements, History Minor.

A student minoring in History must take a minimum of 6 courses (18 credit hours), three of which must be taken at the 300-level or above. They must also take one course to satisfy both the Premodern and thematic field requirements and one course for two of the seven geographical fields (listed above).

No 400-level courses are required, as these are our senior research capstones, but any minor is welcome to take a 400-level class should they choose to do so.

  • A minimum of 6 courses (18 credit hours) to satisfy minor requirements.
  • A minimum of 3 courses (9 credit hours) taken at the 300-level or above.
  • A maximum of 2 courses (6 credit hours) from study abroad or transfer credit.

For additional departmental guidelines regarding transfer credit, please contact histdus@rice.edu or consult the General Announcements.

Declared minors in history may apply for research and conference travel funds from the Gruber and Drew funds within the department; funding is dependent, of course, upon the availability of funds.

Additional Requirements

History majors are also advised to acquaint themselves with humanistic disciplines other than history (for example, literature, fine arts, and philosophy) and also with social sciences such as political science, sociology, economics, and anthropology, whose contributions to historical studies are vital. Some foreign language proficiency is desirable for a history major, and the department highly recommends that students contemplating graduate work in history study at least one foreign language in some depth (most graduate schools require a reading knowledge of French and German for the Ph.D. degree).

In addition to the departmental requirements for the major, students must also satisfy the distribution requirements and complete no fewer than 60 semester hours outside the departmental requirements for a total program of at least 120 semester hours. See Degree Requirements and Majors in the current General Announcements.

Distribution Credit

For a full listing of all courses that count for distribution credit, please click here.

The description of Group 1 distribution is so general as to encompass all of the courses that we teach in History. We do not, however, consider all of our courses appropriate for D1 credit. 400-level seminars, for example, are advanced courses that presuppose work in History or the Humanities and, therefore, should not count for general distribution credit. Accordingly, no course at the 400 level counts for distribution credit. We furthermore leave it to the discretion of individual professors to decide whether to request distribution credit for their courses. Some professors have deemed certain 300 level courses not suitable to carry distribution credit.