Key Infor­ma­tion:

• A his­to­ry degree offers diverse career paths, includ­ing edu­ca­tion, law, pub­lic his­to­ry, and more. 
• Grad­u­ates devel­op strong research, writ­ing, and crit­i­cal think­ing skills.
• Stu­dents can focus on var­i­ous areas such as Amer­i­can his­to­ry, Euro­pean his­to­ry, mil­i­tary his­to­ry, and more, tai­lor­ing their stud­ies to spe­cif­ic interests.
• The degree empha­sizes ana­lyt­i­cal skills, his­tor­i­cal research meth­ods, and the abil­i­ty to inter­pret com­plex data.

The study of his­tor­i­cal facts and his­to­ry is the study of events of the past through what has been writ­ten and com­mu­ni­cat­ed through the writ­ten word.

How­ev­er, the study of his­to­ry is not strict mem­o­riza­tion of dates and events, but the explo­ration of the cause and effect of events over time – with the ulti­mate goal of gath­er­ing & inter­pret­ing incon­gru­ent (at least on face) infor­ma­tion in the cre­ation of a soli­tary coher­ent event. Giv­en the above def­i­n­i­tion of the study of his­to­ry and an inter­est in a his­to­ry degree, it is crit­i­cal for you to answer the ques­tion – Why should I get a his­to­ry degree?

Why Get a History Degree?

The real­i­ty is a his­to­ry degree refines your atten­tion to detail and abil­i­ty to syn­the­size skills while hon­ing your research skills. In com­bi­na­tion, the skills learned by earn­ing a bac­calau­re­ate degree in his­to­ry pre­pares grad­u­ates for a career in the research sec­tor, acad­e­mia, and pub­lic rela­tions, to name a few.

School/Program Accred­i­ta­tion

Accred­i­ta­tion is the stan­dard­ized pro­ce­dure in which over­sight-sanc­tioned orga­ni­za­tions are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of eval­u­at­ing both aca­d­e­m­ic facil­i­ties (pro­fes­sion­al schools, col­leges, and uni­ver­si­ties) and the degree pro­grams they offer. Schools and pro­grams are eval­u­at­ed based on pre­de­ter­mined cri­te­ria either estab­lished by gov­ern­ment experts or indus­try officials.

Ulti­mate­ly, the con­cept of accred­i­ta­tion has been designed to accom­plish the following -

• Devel­op & improve the over­all aca­d­e­m­ic qual­i­ty of the nation’s edu­ca­tion systems.
• Pro­tect the pub­lic by hold­ing pro­fes­sion­al schools, uni­ver­si­ties, and col­leges account­able as to the pro­grams and edu­ca­tion they offer and advertise.

In the Unit­ed States (US), there are two pri­ma­ry lev­els of accred­i­ta­tion – Region­al Accred­i­ta­tion and Spe­cial­ized Accred­i­ta­tion. The old­est of the accred­i­ta­tion process­es is that which is admin­is­tered by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, as not­ed by CHEA — the Coun­cil for High­er Edu­ca­tion Accred­i­ta­tion (CHEA). This is dis­cussed next.

Region­al Accreditation

The Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion is orga­nized into six region­al agen­cies that man­age the region­al accred­i­ta­tion process through the Unit­ed States’ divid­ed regions, which review entire insti­tu­tions. Each fed­er­al, region­al agency is respon­si­ble for admin­is­ter­ing the accred­i­ta­tion process­es to those high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions locat­ed in its region.

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion embod­ies qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion by assess­ing the cur­ricu­lum, the educator’s cre­den­tials of edu­ca­tors, and, thus, the validity/credibility of these degrees.

• The High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion (HLC)
• North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges & Uni­ver­si­ties (NWCCU)
• South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges & Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges (SACSCOC)
• Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion of High­er Edu­ca­tion (MSCHE)
• WASC Senior Col­lege & Uni­ver­si­ty Com­mis­sion (WSCUC)
• New Eng­land Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion (NECHE)

In addi­tion, schools and pro­grams relat­ed to spe­cif­ic indus­tries have the option to vol­un­tar­i­ly open their facil­i­ties and pro­grams to the scruti­ny and eval­u­a­tion of spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies – sanc­tioned specif­i­cal­ly by indus­try personnel.

In the field of his­to­ry, there are no spe­cif­ic accred­it­ing agen­cies, so the most pru­dent way to deter­mine which accred­it­ed online his­to­ry degree would be to con­sid­er the qual­i­ty of some of the best col­leges for a his­to­ry degree offered on-cam­pus and online.

As such, when deter­min­ing the best his­to­ry degree col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties, it is imper­a­tive that you make your school/program choice based on an online his­to­ry degree accred­it­ed region­al­ly, not nation­al­ly. The best col­leges for a his­to­ry degree (includ­ing the best online degree pro­grams) will proud­ly denote its region­al accred­i­ta­tion status.

Sim­ply put, if you want to pur­sue a more advanced degree, it is crit­i­cal that you choose from those schools that offer accred­it­ed online degrees in history.

Types of History Degrees

Any­one who has stud­ied for or has a his­to­ry degree will tell you that much of the con­tent explores top­ics that over­lap with many dif­fer­ent fields and indus­tries. Because of such tremen­dous over­lap, earn­ing one of the many accred­it­ed, qual­i­ty online his­to­ry degrees avail­able will like­ly open the door to var­i­ous careers.

First, it is impor­tant to note when study­ing for your online bach­e­lor’s degree in his­to­ry; you will gain these skills:

• Pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills.
• Aca­d­e­m­ic research and cross-ref­er­ence skills are crit­i­cal to earn­ing an online degree in history.
• Analy­sis and crit­i­cal eval­u­a­tion as to the reli­a­bil­i­ty of his­tor­i­cal sources.
• In-depth knowl­edge of political/historical movements.
• Self-man­age­ment skills.
• Con­struct log­i­cal argu­ments in the prop­er context.
• Cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ty and tol­er­ance skills.

So, if you are tru­ly seri­ous about fin­ish­ing your bach­e­lor’s in his­to­ry online or through a hybrid deliv­ery, con­sid­er these options avail­able with an online degree in history.

Online Bachelor’s Degree in History

Most online his­to­ry degrees require the com­ple­tion of 120-semes­ter cred­its, which can be com­plet­ed in about four years, car­ry­ing a full-time course load. Some of the course­work typ­i­cal­ly includ­ed in a bac­calau­re­ate his­to­ry degree cur­ricu­lum includes –

• Method­olo­gies & Tech­niques in His­tor­i­cal Research.
• Unit­ed States History.
• Geog­ra­phy.
• World His­to­ry.
• His­to­ri­og­ra­phy.
• Plus, a sig­nif­i­cant amount of read­ing and writ­ing, includ­ing a cap­stone project or senior the­sis, is gen­er­al­ly man­dat­ed for most online his­to­ry degrees.

In addi­tion, under­grad­u­ate degree can­di­dates for an online degree in his­to­ry can begin to focus on a spe­cif­ic part of the world/time in history/historical per­spec­tive that is of most inter­est or offers you the most inspiration.

While teach­ing is often the most com­mon career objec­tive for those who earn an on-cam­pus or online degree in his­to­ry, many find their skills and knowl­edge can often be lever­aged to excel in a career as –

• A Jour­nal­ist.
• A Librar­i­an.
• A Civ­il Servant.
• A Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Advocate.
• A Pol­i­cy­mak­er.
• A Politi­cian.
• Researcher.
• A Lawyer, among many oth­er options.

It is wor­thy to note that those inter­est­ed in study­ing his­to­ry choose to earn a dual degree with a relat­ed field. So, if you have a true inter­est in edu­ca­tion but wish to enroll in one of the qual­i­ty, accred­it­ed online his­to­ry degrees, it may behoove you to con­sid­er earn­ing a dual degree with an edu­ca­tion com­po­nent. Dual degree pro­grams typ­i­cal­ly offer a time-sav­ing, stream­lined approach, which will also pre­pare you to earn your teach­ing cre­den­tials at the same time.

Certifications/Licenses

In the field of his­to­ry, the val­ue of his­to­ry cer­tifi­cate pro­grams will depend on the student’s ulti­mate career goal. The require­ments for licens­es or his­to­ry cer­tifi­cate pro­grams online will be con­tin­gent on the sis­ter dis­ci­pline chosen.

For exam­ple, if you choose a career in edu­ca­tion, it would be more impor­tant to earn your teach­ing cre­den­tials to enroll in one of the avail­able online his­to­ry cer­tifi­cate pro­grams. If you have cho­sen to pur­sue a legal career and prac­tice law as an attor­ney with an online his­to­ry degree, you will be required to com­plete your JD (Juris Pru­dence) degree, pass the Bar, and be approved by the rel­e­vant committee.

And for pure his­to­ri­ans, the most impor­tant degree to pur­sue would be a doc­tor­ate or Ph.D. as that is all that is required to be eli­gi­ble to become a uni­ver­si­ty pro­fes­sor or pub­lish in peer-reviewed journals.

Job Prospects with a History Degree

As pre­vi­ous­ly not­ed, an under­grad­u­ate his­to­ry degree is a spring­board degree that opens a num­ber of career options. Before you decide on which school or pro­gram will meet your needs, be sure to have answered these questions –

• What job can you get with a his­to­ry degree at the bachelor’s level?
• What career can I do with a his­to­ry degree earned online?
• Are there jobs with a his­to­ry degree that are locat­ed with­in com­mut­ing distance?
• What jobs can you get with a his­to­ry degree in the field of library science?
• Where can I find a list of careers in his­to­ry field that would meet my interests?
• What jobs can I get with a degree in his­to­ry that can be done remotely?
• What jobs can you get with a his­to­ry degree in archiving?
• What job can I get with a degree in his­to­ry if I dou­ble major in edu­ca­tion? Polit­i­cal Science?
• What job can you get with a his­to­ry degree that includes writ­ing and research?

Common Jobs You Can Get with a History Degree

Most of the jobs you can get with a his­to­ry degree include a vari­ety of oppor­tu­ni­ties. Here is a list, in part, of the jobs that you can get with a his­to­ry degree –

• High School His­to­ry Teacher/Educator – most pub­lic-school teach­ers need only earn their teach­ing cre­den­tials, which is con­sid­ered among the best jobs with a his­to­ry degree.
• University/College Pro­fes­sor – becom­ing a col­lege pro­fes­sor is one of the most stereo­typ­i­cal jobs with a degree in his­to­ry. Note, how­ev­er, these jobs you can get with a his­to­ry degree gen­er­al­ly require more advanced degrees, i.e., a grad­u­ate or doc­tor­al lev­el degree.
• Historian/Archivist – His­to­ri­ans are one of the many jobs you can get with a degree in his­to­ry that are avail­able in many busi­ness­es, pri­vate to gov­ern­ment. These jobs with a his­to­ry degree are ide­al for indi­vid­u­als with strong ana­lyt­i­cal skills that are researched oriented.
• Librar­i­an — librar­i­ans are one of the jobs you can get with a degree in his­to­ry – espe­cial­ly for those with a pas­sion for his­to­ry and libraries. These jobs with a degree in his­to­ry are suit­able for booklovers, researchers, and those who enjoy assist­ing oth­ers in research or reading.
• Muse­um Cura­tor – many muse­um cura­tors, find that these are per­fect when won­der­ing what jobs can you get with a degree in his­to­ry. Muse­um cura­tors typ­i­cal­ly have a his­to­ry edu­ca­tion­al background.
• Translator/Interpreter — when con­sid­er­ing what jobs that you can get with a his­to­ry degree, be sure to con­sid­er that of a trans­la­tor if you enjoy for­eign cul­tures and love languages.
• Writer/Journalist — writ­ing is one of the many avail­able jobs with a his­to­ry degree that opens up vast oppor­tu­ni­ties. As a refined com­mu­ni­ca­tor, his­to­ry majors often par­tic­i­pate in jour­nal­is­tic pur­suits and web con­tent devel­op­ment. These jobs with a degree in his­to­ry could mean any­thing from author­ing books to jour­nal­ism to web con­tent development.
• Edi­tor – a his­to­ry major is adept at research and analy­sis, which pair well with the skills required to be a strong editor.
• Attor­ney — attor­neys, are quite adept at research, which pairs well with the skills devel­oped by his­to­ry majors. Although being an attor­ney answers the ques­tion – What jobs can you get with a his­to­ry degree? — it also requires addi­tion­al edu­ca­tion and licens­ing by the Amer­i­can Bar Association.
• Human Resource Spe­cial­ist – pro­fes­sion­als work­ing in human resources hail from a vari­ety of back­grounds; how­ev­er, research and ana­lyt­i­cal skills are ide­al for this position.
• Mar­ket Research Ana­lyst – his­to­ry majors have honed research and analy­sis skills that help study/predict demo­graph­ic and eco­nom­ic trends. These skills often help reveal insight­ful data to help make a com­pa­ny or prod­uct more profitable.

In addi­tion, his­to­ry degree majors have the skills to pur­sue careers as –

• Polit­i­cal Advisor
• Finan­cial Researchers
• Diplo­mat
• His­to­ry Lecturer
• His­tor­i­cal Consultant
• Library Tech­ni­cians
• Social Work­ers
• Media and Communications

What is the Salary for History Teachers?

AS the most pop­u­lar of careers for his­to­ry majors, the fol­low­ing data from the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS) denotes this data rel­e­vant to his­to­ry teacher salaries. Accord­ing to the BLS, the aver­age his­to­ry teacher salary at the high school lev­el is as follows –

The medi­an salary for a his­to­ry teacher (high school) in the Unit­ed States was $65,220 per year. 

The salary for his­to­ry teach­ers in the states with the high­est wage include the following –

The salary for his­to­ry teach­ers in the states with the high­est employ­ment lev­els include the following –

The salary for a his­to­ry teacher in the met­ro­pol­i­tan areas with the high­est wage include the following –

In addi­tion, the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics also reveals the fol­low­ing data regard­ing his­to­ry teacher salaries at the post-sec­ondary lev­el – i.e., edu­ca­tors teach­ing in pro­fes­sion­al schools, uni­ver­si­ties or colleges -

The salary for his­to­ry teach­ers in those states with the high­est wages include the following –

What is the salary of a historian?

The aver­age salary for a his­to­ri­an or those who hold a degree in his­to­ry vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly based on the select­ed career field and the exact posi­tion chosen.

Con­sid­er these avail­able his­to­ry degree careers and salaries –

Historian Salary Options with a Master’s Degree

The fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s sta­tis­ti­cians at the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics note that there were more than 3,500 pro­fes­sion­al his­to­ri­ans in the coun­try, with an aver­age salary of a his­to­ri­an to be $72,890. It is not­ed that these sta­tis­tics are for those his­to­ri­an salary pro­fes­sion­als with a master’s degree.

Professional Organizations for History Majors & Professionals

The American Historical Association (AHA)

The Amer­i­can His­tor­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion (AHA) was found­ed in 1884 and is rec­og­nized as the old­est of all mem­ber­ship orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to his­to­ri­ans in the nation. The Amer­i­can His­tor­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion was devel­oped with these objectives –

• Pre­serve and pro­tect price­less documents.
• Pro­mote his­tor­i­cal stud­ies and professionalism.
• Pub­lish Annu­al Reviews/Perspectives on History.
• Offer a Renowned Annu­al Conference.
• Devel­op eth­i­cal stan­dards and best stan­dards for teach­ing his­to­ry and his­tor­i­cal policy.

The Amer­i­can His­tor­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion boasts more than 13,00 mem­bers across the coun­try with note­wor­thy access to resources, fel­low­ships, and men­tors, among others.

The World His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion (WHA)

Estab­lished in the ear­ly 1980s, the World His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion (WHA) was devel­oped to pro­mote the glob­al, cross-cul­tur­al study of world his­to­ry. Mem­ber­ship in the World His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion hails from all over the globe and includes edu­ca­tors who have been an inte­gral part of estab­lish­ing teach­ing stan­dards for edu­ca­tion across the globe.

In addi­tion, the World His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion sup­ports world his­to­ry research through­out the world and offers its mem­bers an invi­ta­tion to the WHA 3‑day year­ly con­fer­ence, cur­ricu­lum guides, and a sub­scrip­tion to its award-win­ning jour­nal­is­tic efforts.

Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can His­to­ri­ans (OAH)

The Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can His­to­ri­ans was devel­oped to focus on the edu­ca­tion aspects and the teach­ing of Amer­i­can his­to­ry. Among OAH’s offer­ings include –

• Schol­ar­ships for stu­dents study­ing history.
• Best prac­tice sug­ges­tions for the teach­ing of Amer­i­can history.
• Online resources.
• Exten­sive job and career boards.
• Orga­nized speak­ing engage­ments around the coun­try and through­out the year.
• Recent and archived Research.
• Pub­lish­ing two pro­fes­sion­al jour­nals – the Amer­i­can His­to­ri­an Mag­a­zine and the Jour­nal of Amer­i­can History.
• Advo­cat­ing for the industry.
• Set­ting stan­dards in an effort to instill integri­ty through­out the profession.

The Orga­ni­za­tion of Amer­i­can His­to­ri­ans is more than 7,500 mem­bers strong and includes pro­fes­sion­als from the his­tor­i­cal indus­try’s aspects of archival, edu­ca­tion, schol­ars, and cura­tion. Mem­bers and pro­fes­sion­al edu­ca­tors are offered pro­fes­sion­al discounts.

The Nation­al Coun­cil for His­to­ry Edu­ca­tion (NCHE)

The NCHE — the Nation­al Coun­cil for His­to­ry Edu­ca­tion (NCHE) offers mem­ber­ship in its orga­ni­za­tion to those his­to­ry pro­fes­sion­als who wish to active­ly pro­mote excel­lence in his­to­ry edu­ca­tion. His­to­ry teach­ers at all lev­els are offered, through their mem­ber­ship, access to –

• Diverse pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment opportunities,
• A vari­ety of his­tor­i­cal organizations,
• Rel­e­vant pub­li­ca­tions and infor­ma­tion in his­to­ry edu­ca­tion policy.

Addi­tion­al­ly, teachers/members have access to edu­ca­tion­al tools and archived cur­ricu­lum. Mem­ber­ship in the Nation­al Coun­cil for His­to­ry Edu­ca­tion is open to –

• Edu­ca­tors and teachers
• Com­mu­ni­ty Leaders
• Librar­i­ans and library sci­ence specialists
• Archivists
• Cura­tors

NCH The Nation­al Coun­cil for His­to­ry Edu­ca­tion are offers dis­counts at muse­ums, his­tor­i­cal sites, and reduced sub­scrip­tion deals for rel­e­vant publications.

Spe­cial­ty His­tor­i­cal Societies

In addi­tion to the above-men­tioned pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to the field of his­to­ry and its pro­fes­sion­als, these oth­er pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions may be of inter­est to those who have earned a degree in history –

• The AASLH — the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion for State & Local His­to­ry – pro­vides lead­er­ship & resources and bills itself the asso­ci­a­tion for history-doers.
• The Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Envi­ron­men­tal His­to­ry (ASEH) – pro­motes how humans inter­act with the nat­ur­al world on a glob­al basis.
• The Inter­na­tion­al Oral His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion (IOHA) – estab­lished in the mid 1990s, the IOHA is an asso­ci­a­tion that sup­ports oral his­to­ri­ans worldwide.
• The Social Sci­ence His­to­ry Asso­ci­a­tion (SSHA) – estab­lished in the mid 1970s, the SSHA was cre­at­ed by schol­ars to help future gen­er­a­tions bet­ter under­stand the past.
• The Soci­ety for His­to­ry Edu­ca­tion, Inc. (SHE) – estab­lished in 1940 at Notre Dame to enhance class­room learn­ing of history.