While the rankings may be poor measures of the relative value of one program in comparison to another, they can be quite useful for heuristic purposes. As one former chair reported, “when as chair I was asked to rank a whole string of departments it was evident to me how little I knew about what was going on in most of them, and how impressionistic my responses were.” That might explain why the response rate for the discipline this past year was quite low (just 19 percent). But the faculty who fill out and receive the survey often complain that the instrument is fairly overwhelming.

The rankings are based on a poll of department chairs and directors of graduate studies at history doctoral programs last fall, which asked them to rate the programs at 151 schools on a five-point scale-from 5 (“outstanding”) to 1 (“marginal”). A few decimal points in a small survey should not sway your decision in one direction or another.

For the prospective doctoral student, the primary considerations should be the fit between their intended area of research and faculty in the department, followed by the available levels of funding support.

News and World Report rankings of history graduate programs appeared yesterday, prompting fresh questions about their value for the discipline.Īs a measure of the relative merits of any particular department, the rankings should be viewed with considerable skepticism-especially by students applying to or selecting one program over another.

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