Understanding the world we live in
"The history major is a detective," says a senior with a double major in history and world perspectives. "You're looking at people, at the past. I try to focus on what makes people the way they are today, what they value, their ethics, their traditions." History majors choose their courses from a broad offering of study areas and historical perspectives in order to explore all aspects of the world. One student, originally from France, has a double major in history and physics and a minor in mathematics. He likes the fact that in studying history he can synthesize the facts and form "a good conceptual understanding of the world we live in. I like knowing where we are, how we got here, and having a good sense of the future." A recent graduate says, "The history major gave me a vision of how the world works in a modern sense as well as in a historical sense. History allows us to look at the past constantly in a new light. By looking at history over and over we reinvent who we are as a world, a culture, a people."

It's all about discovery
"History is a kind of umbrella subject on virtually every part of human experience," says a senior history major. "It opens up the possibilities of a very interdisciplinary, exploratory period of your education." Another student adds, "There's a lot more emphasis in the classroom on your own specialized discovery." History majors can pursue individual interests within the American, world, or general history tracks, students say, and these interests often lead the majors to the subject matter of their senior capstone projects. Students learn that each historical event can be approached from a multitude of angles, and they see this in regular classroom discussions—called "fishbowls"—where each student presents a different perspective on the same event. Students are encouraged to develop their own theories about the meaning of history. One senior points out that "there's a lot of interaction with the professors in class, not just lectures, and the professors are very interested in what students think about a historic event. It's not just fact-based; it's getting under the surface and really finding out why."

Analysis, problem solving, and lots of writing
One of the biggest challenges of their courses, history majors agree, is writing major research papers that require the organization of numerous ideas into a focused argument. "You have to be concise, and at the same time able to elaborate on your ideas," says one major. Another history major, who is also majoring in world perspectives, finds that "you're really forced to examine not just history, but the economics, the sociology of the people; it covers a lot of the disciplines of study." As students progress, one professor notes, "they learn to read better as they listen better, and then are able to understand the fundamental ideas behind the surface events." A recent graduate who also majored in art history says, "History taught me how to solve problems. From the papers I wrote I learned that you have to synthesize everything and be exact with your words. There's no room for fluff." And one senior puts it simply, "History taught me how to write. That's a valuable life skill."

The foundation for understanding current events
"My main focus is dealing with conflicts. I've been using history to help me figure out what are the causes, the roots of the conflicts of today in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Somalia, Northern Ireland," says a senior who wants to work with the U.N. in conflict resolution. "You can find answers in history." A senior majoring in history and political science says, "History gives me a background, a perspective, a way of looking at all the subjects I study. It's at the root of everything." A professor points out the challenge history students face in having to know accurately the geography of a world with ever-changing political boundaries. A senior, who would like to study criminal law and perhaps pursue politics, says, "History is delving into relationships, finding out why certain things occur. Looking at one event in history can unlock so many things about today's world."

A history of promising careers
History majors go into every conceivable career—law, teaching, stockbrokerage, education, and everything in between. One graduate—an assistant staff researcher at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., who is about to enter a doctoral program at Johns Hopkins University—recalls his experience with the History Department at Principia: "There was that essential sense of support for me as a growing individual and learner, and they took a lot of time to develop me, both morally and as a scholar." Another recent graduate is now a research associate at the Institute for Policy Analysis in Boston. In evaluating government contracts on studies of other countries, he attributes to his history major a disciplined habit of approaching the task from the past forward, of first understanding the people and their political and military systems.