» MA in War and Society Studies

MA in War and Society

Deadline for Fall Admission: February 1 – Priority deadline to be considered for fellowships and scholarships. All fall applicants will be considered for fellowship and scholarship awards. Applications received after this date will be considered on a rolling basis as space is available.

Deadline for Spring Admission: November 1

• Official transcripts must be submitted from all degree-granting (bachelor’s or master’s degrees) colleges and universities attended. An official transcript submitted in a sealed envelope which you have received from your college or university is acceptable.
• A graduate admission test is required for applicants with a bachelor's degree cumulative GPA below a 3.0. Applicants with a GPA between 2.5 and 2.99, may be considered for admission by submitting a satisfactory Graduate Record Examination (GRE) with minimum scores of Verbal: 150, Quantitative: 145, and Analytical Writing: 4.0 or by demonstrating significant relevant professional experience. GRE Institution Code: 4047
• A 500-word essay stating reasons for pursuing the M.A. in War and Society. 
• A writing sample of 1200 words that demonstrates competency in scholarly writing. 
• Two letters of recommendation that speak to academic preparation and aptitude for graduate study.
• Resume

Accelerated Undergraduate/ MA in War and Society

Deadline: Rolling

• Junior standing.
• Successful completion of HIST 296.
• A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above.
• A 500-word essay stating reasons for pursuing the M.A. in War and Society. 
• A writing sample of 1200 words that demonstrates competency in scholarly writing. 
• As a current Chapman student, applying to an accelerated Masters degree program, the department has agreed to waive the recommendation letter requirement for your application. In the online application, please enter the name, email, and phone number for two faculty or staff members at Chapman who support you as a candidate for this program.
• Resume

Sample Senior Year Course Schedule for History Majors

Fall (6 units)

• HIST 596: Advanced Research Thesis I (counts as M.A. elective and History B.A. major core requirement)
• WS 500: Historical Approaches to War and Society (counts as M.A. core requirement and either History B.A. 300-level course requirement OR elective towards 124 units required for B.A.)

Spring (6 units)

• HIST 598: Advanced Research Thesis II (counts as M.A. elective and History B.A. major core requirement)
• HIST 510: History Readings Seminar in War and Society (counts as M.A. Readings Seminar requirement and either History B.A. 300-level course requirement OR elective towards 124 units required for B.A.)

Students completing the accelerated M.A. in War and Society must select a War and Society topic (approved by the Graduate Director) for their undergraduate senior thesis and register for HIST 596 /598 instead of HIST 496/498. Students will expand their senior thesis into the required Master’s thesis in the fifth year of study.

Sample Senior Year Course Schedule for Non-History Majors

Fall (6 units)

• WS 500: Historical Approaches to War and Society
• Elective

Spring (6 units)

• HIST 510: History Readings Seminar in War and Society
• Elective

Students completing the accelerated M.A. in War and Society must select a War and Society topic (approved by the Graduate Director) for their undergraduate major senior thesis or project. Students will expand their senior thesis or project into the required Master’s thesis in the fifth year of study.

What Our Graduates Can Do

The purpose of the Master of Arts Program in War and Society is to establish the intellectual foundation for professionals to think critically and creatively about the social and cultural consequences of armed conflict.

Our program’s graduates understand how war has shaped societies and in turn how societies have shaped warfare. Steeped in a multi-disciplinary curricular approach, our graduates possess a broad cultural and historical perspective on the moral and ethical implications of war. They are able to listen, read, and write effectively and demonstrate an ability to respond to problems associated with war and its aftermath.  Our graduates appreciate patterns of continuity and change in how societies go to, wage, and end war and in the relationships between civilians, soldiers, and the state.

Comfortable with competing interpretations of historical events, our graduates are capable of making careful judgments on the past while gaining perspective to evaluate current-day events in a chaotic world. These skills are essential for today’s policymakers, strategists, military officers, teachers, and historians. Ultimately, our program aspires to graduate flexible and sophisticated critical thinkers capable of applying the knowledge and skills they gain in this program to bettering our modern global society.

1. Globalization: Students will demonstrate expertise in collecting and evaluating primary and secondary transnational sources using appropriate war and society methodologies.
2. Student Writing: Students will demonstrate the ability to formulate an original historical argument in thesis-driven academic essays (including a masters’ thesis), apply appropriate methods of citation, and use a clear writing style that conveys historical knowledge, ideas and evidence in a mature, readily understood manner.
3. Faculty-Student Research: Students will prepare and revise a masters’ thesis in consultation with a faculty mentor which they will present at a formally organized history conference and submit for research grants and publication.
4. Personalized Education: Students will develop a critical stance in relation to historical arguments and methodologies and formulate an original historical argument supported by primary and secondary sources.
5. Interdisciplinarity: Students will utilize interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing historical materials.

MASTER OF ARTS IN WAR AND SOCIETY

Core Courses (9 credits)

Specialized Content Courses

History Reading Seminars (6 credits)

Two of the following:

History research seminars (6 credits)

Two of the following:

Electives (12 credits)

At least two courses selected from a discipline other than history:

• January 2019: Witnesses: Writing War, Writing Peace
• April 2019: Trouble at Home: War Weariness, American Strategy, and the Meaning of Victory in the Pacific War
• Remembering War in Southern California
• America's Great War Romance
• A Confederate Reckoning
• Behind the Mask - World War I, Plastic Surgery, and The Modern Beauty Revolution
• Writing About War in America: November 2017
• Pin-Ups, Playboy, and Manly Adventure: October 2017
• Women in War and Peace: March 2017
• The Sikh Soldier in First World War Culture: Image, Music, Words: February 2017
• The Presidency at War with Evan Thomas: March 2016
• The War is Over!: September 2015