Can we get a thread for college students majoring/minoring in history? I switched to a history major this semester and I've got a full schedule of history shit coming this Spring.
Is history a dumb major? Will studying this on a collegiate level make me hate history?
>Will studying this on a collegiate level make me hate history?
Are you a polfag merely looking for confirmation of your beliefs? If so yes.
Are you a dumbass looking for cool anecdotes? Again, yes.
Are you actually interested in history, specifically the means to research and investigate it? If so no.
If higher education in your country is anything like in mine, a history major will basically be composed of 3-5 "narrative" courses (as in, you actually look at history) to give you a very general and basic understanding of the timeline, and everything else method and interpretation. As a budding historian you're pretty much expected to look up whatever strikes your fancy on your own, their job is giving you the means to do so. Don't expect to be spoonfed monographic courses on this or that "cool" subject.
Psychmajorfag here, considering switching to history.
What does the demographic of history majors look like? I keep imagining walking into class and being surrounded by fat white guys in DC shoes, jean shorts, and on laptops with crusader themed wallpapers playing hearts of iron
Having switched to history from medicine (in my country you start med school straight outta high school), I can tell you the only real differences I noticed were less girls (from about 55-60% girls down to 30-35%, which saddened me extremely) and poorer people, no real difference in power levels.
You seem to be hinting at /pol/, but really the only example of political extremism I have witnessed was a >muh gender fluidity hambeast getting shot the fuck down by a professor.
I did meet a guy who loved EU4 and Stellaris, but not the rest of Paradox's lineup.
yeah lots of brainlets. kind of hated my classmates
Its probably true that there are more males than females in the history major, but on the other hand our Classics department is like %50 female, and most of the students who actually participate/ go above and beyond are female. So I think it depends on your area of study. I came from engineering, where the male to female ratio was atrocious, and even then you don't notice it that much anyways.
As long as youre taking history because you enjoy it and not because it seems like an easy major, you'll do well. Dont listen to everyone out there who tells you that history is useless; if history is truly what you want to do, you'll do something with it and the rest of the people in your class will be left never applying it. The best thing I can suggest for you is, in your junior or senior year, take an independent research course. This means finding a professor you like and having him "mentor" you in your research, but its well worth it. You build connections with your professors and you get to spend a semester researching something that genuinely interests you for credit.
>tfw there's an absurdly low chance there's a professor who specializes in my autistic interest
Being interested in Tsarist Russia in the West is suffering
not quite true 2bh, you'd honestly be surprised
I live in a province of Canada where 90% of the inhabitants are either anglo, irish or french in ancestry, and our russian studies department in my uni is a pretty big deal, he brought over the Russian ambassador to Canada for a Q&A and i was able to talk to him about the Eurasian union and budding trade deals across asia
Huh, guess I'm not looking far enough, I'm in Britbongland as of now
So far I only know of 1 lecturer who's interested in Russia but he's interested in Cold War USSR mainly, so kind of dissapointing. Hope I can find a lecturer who specializes in Russia's industrialization + Foreign policy throughout 1800-1914. Planning on writing my dissertation on Russia's economy.
I have two degrees, one in history and one in computer science.
>Will studying this on a collegiate level make me hate history?
Not if you actually like history. I hope you like reading. A lot.
No but I suggest you have a bit of an idea of what you want to do after college though. History is a good degree for positions that require a degree but not a specific one. So if you want to be a policeman, go to law school, go to grad school for business/history/etc., become an officer in the military, become a writer, go to fuckin Asia and teach English, whatever, then history might be a good choice. It teaches critical thinking, research, and writing skills but is pretty easy to get a good GPA in. A history bachelors is like a physics, math, english, philosophy, biology, etc. bachelors. It shows you have some education in a field and the ability to think but you don't really have any specific skill set for a specific industry like an engineering, computer science, or chemistry degree.
Pretty broad. I met all kinds of people. It's a lot different from computer science where it's entirely nerdy white guys and asian women.
A LOT were going to law school (that was actually my plan but I ended up going back for a CS degree for various reasons), some wanted to be museum curators, some were going to grad school for history masters/ PhD.
from my experience, don't worry about specific professors until your graduate studies, which should be at a different school from your undergrad anyways
Non American here. What the fuck is a major and a minor?
In undergrad learn historiography, how to write, and two languages.
in a bachelor's degree, you pick a field in which you want to prioritize as your main field of study (major), and an additional field which you want to study as a second priority (minor)
your major will consist of 12-15 courses throughout a 4 year program, and your minor will consist of at least 8 courses
you can alternatively go for a double major as well
at least this is how my school does it
A major is usually a concentration in a subject worth half a degree of subjects. A minor is a quarter of a degree. Someone with a history major has spent 3/8ths to a half their time studying history.
Here's how it goes at my school... A year or two of general education glasses. (Depending on AP credit) Then, into semester long surveys covering from a few years to hundreds. Depending on the professor, you're writing 10-25 pages a semester. All history majors take a history writing class and two seminars, working closely with a professor to craft a formal paper.
The faculty is fantastic, I won't lie. The best ones go the extra mile to emphasize objectivity, good research, and are obviously intent on your success. The students can ruin a class, no doubt. Japanese Civilization was painful because of the weebs.
Lol, here you just study what you study. For example, I graduated from secondary school and entered Medical college, my brother graduated and started studying electronic engineering. Is this an American trick to take more money from their students?
>tfw too brainlet to add a history minor because you can't handle the extra credits
Anglophone degrees were generalist ("science" "arts") until the 1990s. Thus the "major" allowed specialisation. BA History. BSc Chemistry.
IMO their way is better actually. Think about it, the vast majority of college educated workers are barely literate in their own field of specialization, and they mostly work utterly standard office jobs that mainly rely on skills learned on the job rather than at school. At that point, isn't it better to have college expand general education rather than fail at creating specialists? Better leave that to graduate schools.
If you’re looking for toilet paper your local supermarket would probably be less expensive.
are there a lot of attractive qt girls to be found in history major?
No. Philosophy or literature is where you go look for pussy. Modern lit attracts the crazies tho, mind your dick.