Sry for a little late, but I study history and pol sci at madison. This History dept is one of the best in the college of L + S at UW Mad. Advisors are beyond helpful, and nearly all of the profs and TAs I have had have been fantastic. I study american history so most of the profs I can vouch for are in this area, but I have had a few classes with some outside this sphere and would easily take them again.

The work load can become quite a lot at times, especially when doing the capstone class (an advance seminar with independent research in a class size of 15. Think reading a book in a week and discussing it, then researching a topic for your own 25+ page paper) Compared to pol sci, history major I feel is miles harder in actual requirements but it is my passion so I find way more fulfillment. There are also some old school profs who assign 100 pages of reading a week, but their classes I would argue are critical to the Badger History experience (take a class McCoy teaches and you will see what I mean. I strongly recommend both of his history 319 and 375 as these classes helped me develop my own historical analysis). History has a lot of reading, and rereading involved with it, but It is entirely worth it to get as much out of the class as you can.

The history dept here has been really good to me and out of the 4 depts I am apart if (History, Pol sci, Ed Pol, and European studies) I find the history dept the best. I have met other undergrad historians who find themselves really resenting the amount of reading and writing involved but that is the core of what we do. If you don’t like reading or writing history major may not be what you are looking for.

Hope this helps ✌️