Graduate Student Information | Department of History

Graduate Student Information

Admission and Retention Requirements

Minimum MHC admission requirements on the MA or PhD level:

  • 70th percentile or higher on GRE verbal
  • 4 out of 6 on the written component of the GRE

Minimum GPA requirements for admission and retention in the MHC for MA students:

  • 3.5

Minimum GPA requirements for admission and retention in the MHC for PhD students:

  • 3.75

Maintaining the above GPA earns retention in the MHC as a "Student Fellow." "Student Fellow" status means you will receive the full benefits of being associated with the MHC and the MHC will employ its full resources to assist with your professional development. In other words, the MHC will support "Student Fellows" with funding for travel to conduct research at archives around the world, as well as to attend professional conferences and meetings in order to present research, make connections with other scholars, receive exposure, and get your name known in the wider field. Lastly, the MHC will provide the funding to bring a member of the Center's Advising Board to UNT to participate in your dissertation defense. This means that you can have one of the world's greatest military historians sitting on your dissertation committee and writing letters of recommendation on your behalf to prospective employers and publishers. This helps make UNT's MHC truly unique.

Application Procedure

Aside from completing the application processes required for both the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies and the UNT Department of History, the Military History Center requires a special application process. Please provide the following application packet to the Deputy Director:

  1. an essay stating your purpose in seeking admission to the Military History Center that includes research objectives and career goals,
  2. an acceptable formal paper from your undergraduate work if you are seeking admission to the Center as a first-semester master's student or from your master's work if you are seeking admission to the Center as a continuing master's student or doctoral student
  3. two letters of recommendation from persons familiar with your post-secondary academic record. If you are a PhD student who completed a MA at an institution other than UNT, one letter must be from a faculty member in that department
  4. a letter of application no longer than two pages that outlines your research (MA thesis or PhD dissertation) topic and your progress toward this topic in terms of previous classes, language skills, and research projects. Also note the Center faculty you wish to work with
  5. Unofficial transcripts and copies of GRE scores

The Director, Deputy Director, and a member of the Center's Faculty will review your application file and determine if you will be admitted into the Military History Center. All applicants will be evaluated on their entire academic history.

Prospective Graduate Student Info

Selecting the right graduate program is a major decision with life-altering implications. Not only must you meet university and departmental admissions requirements, but it is imperative that you select the program that is right for you. Unlike selecting an undergraduate institution, your selection criteria must be extremely specific. You must ask yourself: what type of history do I want to study: military, political, social...? Do I want to study US History, European, Middle East, Asian...? What period do I want to study: ancient, medieval, pre-modern, or modern? Only you can answer these questions. Once you have answered most or all of these questions you need to look for graduate programs that specialize in your area of interest. Programs that do specialize in your area of interest will have one or more faculty in the department working in this field. Before you consider spending the money on the application fee, contact the professor and express your interest. See if that professor would be willing to work with you, discuss your research interest, and establish a relationship. Never walk into graduate school not knowing who you will work with or what you want to study. We can help you answer some of these questions and we encourage you to contact us about your prospects of studying at the Center. Just email us!

Guy Chet
guychet@unt.edu

Michael Leggiere
Michael.Leggiere@unt.edu

Harrold Tanner
htanner@unt.edu

Geoffrey Wawro
gwawro@yahoo.com

The following will tell you all you need to know about the admissions process:
http://history.unt.edu/graduate-program
We hope to hear from you soon!