HSTRY-BA - History (BA)

We live in a world shaped by the past. To make sense of the past, we must empathize with people who once thought very differently than we do today. We must learn how to see bygone lives and events on their own terms, to render the strange legible and the unfamiliar comprehensible. As a discipline, history teaches the analytical, interpretive, and expressive skills necessary to study the past and to understand social change over time.

 It might seem counterintuitive that one of the best ways to understand the present is by studying the past, but that is precisely why history is so important. When we appreciate that history is not, first and foremost, a body of knowledge – that is, a collection of names, dates, and events – but rather a way of seeing and thinking, it becomes a powerful tool for assessing contemporary challenges and promoting social change. Once we know how to penetrate different modes of thought and human behavior and can understand their inner logic, it becomes easier to make sense of the contemporary world, its diverse peoples and ideas. Studying history cultivates a crucial set of skills that help navigate not only the past, but the present as well.

Preparation for the Major 

Before declaring the History major, students must take at least one class within the Stanford Department of History, taught by a Stanford History instructor. 

The Department of History allows for transfer credits in a student's course of study. All students should reach out to History’s student services officer, Kai Dowding (kdowding@stanford.edu), to discuss transferable coursework. 

All coursework, unless otherwise specified, requires a syllabus, transcript, and petition form to be submitted to the History Department for review. Please see the History Department website for the relevant petition form.

Students who declare the major on or after September 1, 2022, must take a minimum of 11 major courses from Stanford History instructors, although transfer students may be granted exemptions from this requirement at the discretion of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Please note that the following major requirements are not transferable:

• Sources & Methods Seminar

• Doing History Colloquium

• Research Seminar for Majors (History 209S)

• Capstone

 Please also review the additional Transfer Credit Policy from the Registrar's Office. 

The department expects undergraduate majors in the program to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are used in evaluating students and the department's undergraduate program. Students are expected to demonstrate:

• an understanding of what it means to think historically: locating subjects in time and place and being sensitive to the contingencies of context and change over time

• critical and interpretive thinking skills using course's primary source materials

• the ability to identify different types of sources of historical knowledge

• analytical writing skills and close reading skills

• effective oral communication skills