Graduate Assistantships
Support for your graduate studies
Graduate assistantships have many benefits, most notably a tuition fee waiver and a stipend for living expenses.
What is a graduate assistantship?
The history department has a number of graduate assistantships (GAs) available for students enrolled in the master’s program.
As a GA, you will work alongside history faculty members teaching the department's general education classes. An assistantship is excellent preparation for those intending to continue their graduate studies to the doctorate level.
Graduate assistants are selected through a competitive process. Those who are selected will receive both a tuition waiver and a stipend, which helps cover the costs for your master's degree.
Apply for an assistanship
Documents to include
In your application, you'll need to provide:
- Three letters of recommendation from academic sources. They may be sent by email from the writer. The letters submitted for admission into the history MA program may be used for the application for a graduate assistantship.
- A statement of purpose (maximum 350 words) discussing why you wish to pursue a graduate degree in history
- A writing sample of 2,500 to 6,250 words (10-25 pages). This may be from any discipline.
- Recent GRE scores (within five years) may be submitted as part of an application at the discretion of the applicant. Scores originally sent when applying for admission to the master's program may be used for this purpose as well.
Application deadline
The graduate assistantship application deadline is March 1 for the following school year.
To improve your chances of being selected, please ensure your application materials are received before this date.
Tuition waiver and stipend
Graduate students who secure a graduate assistantship receive a tuition fee waiver scholarship (the cost of tuition for a normal load of nine graduate hours) and a stipend each fall and spring semester of their assistantship.
Eligibility and renewal
Eligbility: You must be admitted into a history graduate program and have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.
A full assistantship is awarded for one academic year only, but it is renewable.
To be eligible for renewal, you should:
- Perform satisfactorily in the duties of the assistantship.
- Satisfactorily complete nine (9) hours a semester in history graduate work.
- Have a minimum 3.3 GPA in overall graduate work at Missouri State.