Master of Arts in International, Global, and Comparative History

OVERVIEW
Trans-regional and global processes have marked the emergence of the modern world, accelerating since the sixteenth century.  They define the century now beginning.  Knowledge of history is essential to grappling with continuing global integration and conflict.  Knowledge of international processes is essential to understanding history.

The Georgetown Master of Arts in Global, International, and Comparative History (MAGIC) will provide an educational foundation for professional participation in the world of global affairs.  History as a discipline aims to analyze and integrate politics and states, production and work, environment and society, culture and religion, gender and family.  History seeks to understand the interactions of these factors as they change over time, and it views local, regional, and national developments in international contexts.  Thus, the MAGIC program will offer students the historical knowledge, the mix of global and local perspectives, the analytical visions, and the foreign language, writing and communications skills to prepare them to participate productively in a global professional world in such fields as government service, journalism, international agencies, and global business.  The Georgetown MA in Global, International, and Comparative History will also serve to prepare students for doctoral study in History and related fields such as Government, International Relations, and Sociology.

The History Department faculty at Georgetown is uniquely international in its research and teaching interests.  Over half of the 40 members of the ordinary faculty specialize in areas outside the United States and Western Europe.  The Georgetown history faculty has strengths in both early modern (c.1500 to 1800) and modern history (c. 1750 to present).  These strengths span the Americas and the Atlantic World, Africa, Europe, Russia and Eastern Europe, the Arab and Islamic Worlds, and East Asia.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The MAGIC program will welcome applicants with strong analytical, language, and writing skills who are seeking a program offering integrated global and comparative historical perspectives. The History Department will make admissions decisions for the program. The program will consider applicants who have completed a BA or equivalent degree in History, a social science, or literature and culture. In exceptional cases, we will consider strong applicants with majors in other fields. An undergraduate GPA above 3.3 is expected, and above 3.5 is encouraged. For students with native languages other than English, strong English skills, as demonstrated by the TOEFL, will be required for admission.

The department offers a limited number of merit-based, full- or partial-tuition scholarships to the MAGIC students with the strongest records entering their second and/or third full semester of studies.


APPLICATION INFORMATION
The History Department uses the standard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Application. Visit the Graduate School Catalog for additional information on applying to the History Department. Send your application and all supporting materials to the Graduate School, not the History Department.

The key materials to provide with the application are: transcripts; test scores from the GRE General Test; a statement that outlines preparation, general goals, and a proposed program of study; an analytical writing sample (5-15 pages); and three letters of recommendation. Students with a native language other than English should also submit their TOEFL scores. The MAGIC program is highly selective and is capped at 15 students per year.

Please visit the rest of the Department's website, where you can find information about faculty publications and current research projects, e-mail contacts for faculty, and course offerings.

The faculty coordinator for MAGIC is Professor Aviel Roshwald. Please direct inquiries to him at roshwaav@georgetown.edu.

The Deadlines for Applications for Admission are February 1 (for fall admissions) and October 1 (for spring admissions).


COURSE OF STUDY
The MAGIC program will consist of ten courses (30 credits). The ten courses will normally be taken over the course of three semesters, but may extend over four (for those needing more language study, or finding work in the area). Students must take at least three courses each semester during their first two semesters in the program. Students will chose from the extensive list of graduate-level courses (500 and above) offered by the History department. In addition to having access to departmental course offerings, students may take up to two courses outside of the History Department.

The goal is to allow students to craft (with a faculty advisor) their own programs, placing a nation or a world region in international context, and exploring developments from the sixteenth century to the present. Participants may choose to emphasize any time period. The History Department encourages all to think in the longer term.

Courses will be distributed as follows:

• Two Core Colloquia (HIST 504: Introduction to Global & International History; HIST 505: Introduction to Comparative History). Students may take the two Core Colloquia in any sequence but in all cases must complete both Colloquia during the first two semesters. (2 courses taken in any sequence)
  

• Field I     Global and Comparative History (3 courses)

• Field II    Regional or National History (3 courses)   

• Research Seminar in Global or Regional History (2 sequential courses)

The two Core Colloquia will provide all students with a firm grounding in global and comparative history.  One semester will focus on global processes, the other on comparative regional studies.  The courses will be taught by members of the ordinary faculty and will be required of all MA candidates. Candidates may take the two Colloquia in either order. Field I emphasizes trans-regional and comparative studies.  Field II focuses on a world region or nation within the context developed in Field I.  Students will normally be required to take at least one course from Field I and one course from field II their first semester.  In the 2-course research seminar, students will prepare a substantial analytical paper integrating the historical literature with original research in the relevant foreign language(s).  In addition to the existing national and regional seminars, the History department plans to offer a Research Seminar in Global History for students who choose to focus on trans-regional or comparative questions.  This research seminar would also be open to the department's Ph.D. students.

By petition, a student may focus Field I on one world region, Field II on another region, and emphasize relations between the two (e.g., Europe and the Americas); or develop an explicitly comparative perspective, such as, for example, politics, gender, and culture in the Middle East and Latin America.


LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
All students must demonstrate competence in at least one language other than English by passing the existing department-administered examination before beginning their third full semester in the program.  For students with native languages other than English, the native language plus English will normally fulfill the program's language requirement.  At the beginning of their studies, all native English-language students will take a reading examination in a language other than English to determine their level of competence.  Students who do not pass the examination on entrance will be required to take courses or other appropriate steps to bring their language skills up to department standards.  The department will make available as an option certification in verbal competency in a foreign language to be determined by participation in the existing language department examinations.  Students intending a career in international affairs are encouraged to take this option.


FURTHER STUDY
The MAGIC program is designed to provide students with credentials and training that will help advance careers in a variety of fields including government and diplomacy, globally oriented private-sector enterprise, international NGOs, and journalism. It is also an excellent stepping-stone for those wishing to pursue a Ph.D. in History and in related fields and who seek admission to top-tier Ph.D. programs.

In certain cases, the MA in Global, International, and Comparative History may lead to acceptance into the Georgetown History Department's Ph.D program.  There will be no presumptive advancement.  Students will be required to apply directly to the Ph.D. program and must pass through the standard evaluation process for admission and financial aid.  If a student is admitted to the Georgetown Ph.D. program, all History coursework completed at the 500-level or above may be credited to the Ph.D. requirements.  Students would still be required to complete the Doctoral Core Colloquium (HIST 501), the research seminar relevant to their doctoral studies, and any other courses and language training required to prepare for comprehensive examinations and dissertation research.

ACCELERATED BA/ OR BSFS/MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL, INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE HISTORY (special track for advanced College and SFS undergraduates at Georgetown University ONLY).
This program allows a select group of upper-level Georgetown University undergraduates in the College and SFS to enroll in the MAGIC program as seniors, taking two to four graduate courses in their senior year. Two of these classes will be double-counted towards both College/SFS and MAGIC requirements. This will allow students to complete the requirements of the MAGIC program in as little as two semesters (and no more than three semesters) following their graduation from the College or SFS.

Basic admission standards consist of: an undergraduate transcript with an overall GPA of at least 3.67; an application statement; three letters of recommendation; an analytical writing sample 5-15 pages long. This program is open to highly qualified History and International History majors, as well as to students in other fields whose curricular backgrounds suggest a strong interest in, and capacity for, the study of history. All applicants are required to have enrolled in at least two upper-level (i.e. 300- or 400-level) History colloquia by the time of their application to the Accelerated MAGIC Degree Program.

It should be emphasized and clearly understood that conferral of degrees is to be sequential, not simultaneous.

Application for the program should be made in the second semester of the applicant's junior year. It is also possible to apply in the fall semester of the senior year. For further inquiries, please contact the MAGIC Director in the History Department.

Department of History
Georgetown University

August 2007