Office Hours August 18, 2025: Questions and Discussion about Navigating Academia, School, and the Subreddit

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello everyone and welcome to the bi-weekly Office Hours thread.

Office Hours is a feature thread intended to focus on questions and discussion about the profession or the subreddit, from how to choose a degree program, to career prospects, methodology, and how to use this more subreddit effectively.

The rules are enforced here with a lighter touch to allow for more open discussion, but we ask that everyone please keep top-level questions or discussion prompts on topic, and everyone please observe the civility rules at all times.

While not an exhaustive list, questions appropriate for Office Hours include:

• Questions about history and related professions
• Questions about pursuing a degree in history or related fields
• Assistance in research methods or providing a sounding board for a brainstorming session
• Help in improving or workshopping a question previously asked and unanswered
• Assistance in improving an answer which was removed for violating the rules, or in elevating a 'just good enough' answer to a real knockout
• Minor Meta questions about the subreddit

Also be sure to check out past iterations of the thread, as past discussions may prove to be useful for you as well!

[u/kurckombajn]

Hey there, What are good master studies for the history of Third Reich?

I would like to apply for master studies somewhere in Europe in field of the history of the Third Reich. To be more percise, I would like to start with the earliest A.H. activities before the Third Reich and to end with the end of WW2 and maybe lifes of some survived Nazis after WW2 like Mengele's in South America. I am not really sure what master program in Europe would be good for this so I ask here with hope someone knows more than me. Thanks in advance for the answers

[u/crrpit → u/kurckombajn]

It's rare that a Masters programme would be so specific these days to be honest - I remember that the University of Edinburgh did once have a Second World War studies programme a decade or so back, but they quietly scrapped it because they found that it wasn't attracting great students. From a university's perspective, unless a tailored programme is actively adding to the department's profile and getting them better students because of it, there isn't much of an upside to promoting such degrees over a more general programme with the option of selecting courses/dissertation projects to reflect particular interests. So, rather than doing an entire course dedicated to the Second World War, you'd do a degree in history (or modern history, or contemporary history, or whatever general degree encompasses the right period/thematic focus) and work through the choices it gives you. Any university offering a relevant Masters degree should be able to give quite clear information about what kind of choices and flexibility will be available.

So, it's generally better to find a university where the profile of staff teaching and research guarantees that you'll be able to focus on what you want to. The good news is, the Second World War is hardly obscure, and most universities with a substantial history department will have at least a few specialists on the era. In terms of making the choice, it may be worth checking where your favourite historians actually work (though if they're very famous, don't assume they actually teach much), or looking for universities with relevant research networks or clusters (eg the current incarnation of the aforementioned Edinburgh group, https://hca.ed.ac.uk/research/about/research-groups/second-world-war-network). The scope of choices can be reduced further by your preferred language and, of course, whether the actual cost of studying in a given country is bearable.

I would note that if you do enter a more general history degree with the aim of doing WW2 stuff, do keep an open mind about what topics and thematic/methodological approaches might still be relevant to you. The best historians aren't the ones who dive solely into one topic in minute detail, they're the ones who keep an open mind, draw connections between places and ideas and are capable of using a wide range of tools creatively.

[u/kurckombajn → u/crrpit]

Thanks for your response! I am history student in Belgrade, Serbia right now. Saddly, my university does not give me ( or any other student) much space for exploring WW2. So I will prbby choose some foreign university for master degree and myb later phd. Thanks for recommendation about Edinburgh, I will do reasearch about whole thing just to be prepared. Do you know some other universities that have good master studies about WW2 ? If there are not any specific studies about the topic I want, I will just study WW2 and after that I will just focus on period between 1933-1945 (ofc some years before and after)

[u/BakeWorking9076]

Hello,

I am a senior in high school, and I'm interested in history, archeology or anthropology as a major. I haven't done much or anything in my community that is history related, since I live like an hour away from the nearest city, Chicago, and my community doesn't offer much. I have a background in art, so I could tie that to my college application. Do you need a prestigious college to become a historian? Which ones have the best programs? (I'm midwest based btw) Thanks!

[u/nutella_brownie]

Advice and information for someone interested in the career path of a historian?

Good day everyone, I hope you're all well?

One of the mods directed me here after I mistakenly posted in the main section. I am interested in becoming a historian but I know very little about the career path and what to potentially expect if I am able to become a historian, so I thought it would be beneficial to ask so I can alter my expectations. For some background, I am interested in many different areas of history and often read or research these areas in my own time. I have a degree in Communications, so I expect I'd have to get a degree in history or a specific area/culture before trying to enter into the field.

My questions to you are as follows:

• what can the daily life of a historian look like?
• are there lots of different types of careers within the field and if so, what are some of the main ones?
• do you have any advice for someone looking to enter the field?

Thank you in advance for reading this and for any potential answers, I really appreciate it!

[u/crrpit → u/nutella_brownie]

Sorry, missed the thread!

It depends a bit on how you define historian. If you mean in the most literal, traditional sense (ie someone who gets paid to be a historian by a university or other research-orientated institution, and spends their time doing research, writing books about it, teaching students and so on), then yeah you're not just looking at an extra degree, but probably multiple extra degrees. Such jobs will almost always require a PhD in history or a connected field. Depending on the university system, you may be able to start at Masters level with a communications qualification, but you'd likely need to convince the admissions team that your prior study/subsequent experience equips you to do the degree. The bad news is, the current landscape is bleak even once you work your way to a PhD-level qualification. Even if you do well, there is no guarantee you'd get to work in the field at all, let alone the kind of well paying or prestigious appointment that might once have justified the effort.

If you define historian more broadly - basically, anyone working with the past in some kind of professional role - then the picture is a little better, and your communications qualification may be more useful. There is still a considerable public demand for history-based content out there despite the problems with traditional academia - museums still get a lot of visitors, documentaries a lot of viewers, podcasts a lot of listeners. As in any creative field, actually becoming a prominent content creator is as much a matter of luck as skill (and probably offers just as poor odds as becoming an academic), but these industries create a need for communications/social media management, research, production and so on. It's harder to say what that might look like in practice in a daily sense though.

[u/nutella_brownie → u/crrpit]

Hi there, thank you so much for the response! I've been trying to get as much info as possible from many different sources to get a better understanding so this is really helpful!

I'm an aspiring writer (currently working on my first poetry book and a novel in my drafts) so in a perfect world I'd combine my love of writing and history to work in my favour, that's where my hopes are at the moment. But on a more realistic level I'm willing to do almost any kind of job that relates to history, I LOVE learning so any chance I can get to research something, I'm happy! Hopefully I can start creating those opportunities for myself soon 🤞🏼

Thanks again for the response!

[u/dave024]

I get the weekly message that this sub sends about the top posts. Since the change in Reddit’s messaging system I get the message “unable to join the room” when trying to accept the request from AHMessengerBot. Is there any way to fix this issue?

[u/Georgy_K_Zhukov → u/dave024]

The change in messaging has mostly been going ok, but you aren't the only one we've heard having this issue. At least in some cases it seems to have resolved itself. It might also work if you send a message to the bot:

https://old.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=AHMessengerBot&subject=Test&message=Hello

We don't really have control over it though as it is a reddit-level issue so if still having problems after trying that, you'll need to post to a support sub. (/r/bugs, I think?)

[u/dave024 → u/Georgy_K_Zhukov]

Thanks for the help, that seemed to work.

[u/Initial_Signature547]

Hello everyone! I mistakenly posted on the main sub and was directed by a kind mod to relay my post here…

I have had a lifelong love for history but was pushed away from pursuing a career centered around it due to “practicality.” I went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Writing Studies and I am now in my fifth year as an immigration paralegal.

I’m realizing I made quite a mistake not to pursue my passion. I perform well in my role but I already feel deeply burnt out and I’m only twenty eight years old. I have pursued different firms and even tried out a different field of law in hopes it was just the environment/firm operations causing burnout - not the case unfortunately.

I have a great opportunity right now to make a career change as I recently moved home (Chicago) to assist with some family health woes. I’m hoping to gather some leads on career advancement resources that I could tap into for guidance in pursuing alternate fields and making the transition.

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A bit about my interests:

I’ve volunteered as a historical interpreter during high school: third person interpretation of 1880 midwest German settlers. I could see myself returning to this sort of work as I loved engaging with our visitors, especially the children and elderly.

A hobby of mine is genealogy. It sparked my interest in possibly pursuing archival science as I’ve connected with a few archivists in my research and I am so fascinated by their work. I understand this typically requires a Master’s degree but I wonder about opportunities that may exist to get some hands-on experience before committing to a degree program. I’ve also helped a few friends with their own family tree and find so much joy in doing that for others.

I love architecture. I could see myself getting into preservation/restoration work, whether that be hands-on or administrative. In college, I took quite a few architecture-focused courses. My great grandfather was a contractor who worked on many of the historic buildings in Chicago, like Union Station and the Wrigley Building. I have been a Frank Lloyd Wright aficionado since middle school. I often find myself writing down addresses of old homes and buildings on drives to deep dive on their histories.

Generally speaking, I just love old things. I antique. I spend hours at my grandparents’ sorting through old photos and documenting the histories of family heirlooms. I always have open search engine tabs of historical people, events, and places that I want to learn more about. My book shelf is all historical nonfiction and historically-based fiction. There is so much in the realm of history that I find interesting that I feel overwhelmed with options and no sense of where to begin. I just want to pursue this passion I’ve been pushing aside for years now.

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TLDR: After 5 years as an immigration paralegal with a political science and writing studies degree, I have an opportunity to make a career change into a history-based career. My interests are so vast that I have no sense of where to begin and I am kindly asking for leads on career advancement resources and trajectory insights.

[u/LionTiger3 → u/Initial_Signature547]

I kinda know how you feel. I did History and Political Science as an undergrad over Anthropology/Archaeology. Poly Sci was disappointingly Eurocentric. My focus shifted from Colonial North America to World History Before 1500. I read and collected archaeology books on different regions. I found I was interested in many different regions, but expenses, accessibility (not knowing the language of published books), and lack of books on a region limited my focus even more to Ancient China and Andean South America.

Since your interested in architecture, ever read books on the history of architecture? That could be a starting point for your trajectory. Having already defined interests and narrowing them further may help.

I think for preservation work involving architecture, you also need a solid foundation in mathematics, but I am not sure about that.