Which liberal arts colleges have great history department?

College Majors
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<p>My son is a history fanatic and wants to go to a school where he can immerse himself in the topic and find kids who share his passion. He’s a very intellectual kid, loves talking about history, politics, philosophy and religion 24/7. His GPA is – 3.5 unweighted, 3.8 weighted – with 1940 SATs (610 Math/710 Reading/620 writing). We live in California so we’re particularly interested in schools on the West Coast but would consider East Coast, too. We’ve thought about College of William & Mary but while he likes American history, he likes European/Middle Eastern/world history even more. He’d probably enjoy a school with small classes with lots of opportunity for discussion so we’re thinking LACs but open to large universities with the right program.</p>

<p>Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>See my post #2 in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/924594-ranking-history-departments.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/924594-ranking-history-departments.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In addition to my comments in the above post, due to your son’s particular interests in Middle East history and World History, he should check the depth of course offerings in those areas. To identify schools that have some focus on world history, which is a broad-brush, comparative approach, you could look for schools with graduate history programs that offer a specialty in this approach; this will yield schools, however, that are larger than your son might prefer. Also, he might consider if schools have a sufficient focus in Middle Eastern Studies generally, including relevant languages, in case he decides to focus on that region. With his additional interests in discussing politics, philosophy, and religion, look at those departments, too, since many students change their major or choose to double major.</p>

<p>Also, see this article:
[Privileging</a> History: Trends in the Undergraduate Origins](<a href=“Perspectives on History | AHA”>Privileging History: Trends in the Undergraduate Origins of History PhDs | Perspectives on History | AHA)</p>