Statement of Purpose

This document should be around 500 words long and should explain to us why you would like to study in our department. We use the document primarily to determine whether you are a good fit for what we have to offer, though the Statement of Purpose also gives us a sense of your writing, research, and reasoning skills.

Writing Sample

You should also decide what you might want to submit for a writing sample. This should be at least 12 pages long, should have a thesis, and should draw on both primary and secondary sourcing. Usually, this is a history research paper. This paper should demonstrate that you can write clearly and well, that you can develop an interesting thesis, and that you can defend it with a combination of well-selected primary and secondary research. You can feel free to improve on a paper that you have already submitted for another purpose before using it as your writing sample.  

Letters of Recommendation

About three months before you plan to apply, you should reach out to potential writers of letters of recommendation and ask if they would be willing to write you a letter for our program. Letter writers should be people who are familiar with your academic work, and who are capable of judging whether you would be likely to succeed in a graduate program in history. Usually, these letters are written by history faculty members with whom you have taken classes.

Contact Us

Once you have ideas of a person or people you may want to work with in our program, you should reach out to our program. If you are applying to the MA program, it is usual to contact our graduate coordinator first, though you can also reach out to a potential supervisor directly if you have questions that you think they could best answer.

College of Education, Health and Human Services

Abby Reed

EHHS grad Abby Reed, MA ’06, Hutchinson, KS, was recently named Central Christian School Secondary Principal and Director of Learning. Reed earned her Master of Science degree from EHHS in Sport and Recreation Management. She also holds an undergraduate degree from Sterling College in Health and Physical Education, with a K–12 teaching certificate. She has spent time as a Physical Education and Health instructor, coach, and Adjunct Instructor at Sterling College.  --Photo courtesy Hutchpost.com ...

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