Humanities and Social Sciences

The PhD programs listed below do not require the GRE. A few MA programs are listed here as well.  Please confirm by consulting departmental websites before applying to these programs or making the decision not to take the GRE. Let me know who I missed by commenting on this page – and share field-based spreadsheets, so I can link to them here.

African American Studies/Africana Studies: Cornell; Northwestern; New York University (not required for Africana Studies MA and joint Africana/Museum Studies MA, req for PhD); UC Berkeley; University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (MA); U Mass Amherst

American Studies: Brown (MA in Public Humanities/Am Studies only); Harvard; NYU; Indiana University; U Mass Boston (recommended); University of Michigan (American Culture); University of New Mexico; Yale University

Anthropology: Monmouth University (MA); New York University; Purdue University (West Lafayette); Stanford University; University fo California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Kansas; University of Mass Amherst; University of Michigan (all subfield exc. biological anthro); Yale University

Archaeology: Princeton (Art and Archaeology)

Architecture: Cornell University; Columbia University; Harvard University, MIT; Jefferson; Princeton; University of California, Berkeley; University of Michigan; University of Texas, Austin; University of Virginia

Art History/Visual Studies: American University (MA); Northwestern (recommended but not req.); Princeton (Art and Architecture, optional); School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MA); Stanford University; University of Arizona; UC Berkeley (optional – may be req. of some intl applicants); University of Florida (not req. of applicants w/ an MA from US-based institution); University of New Mexico; University of Texas-Dallas (PhD in Visual and Performing Arts; ); Yale University

Asian Languages and Literatures: University of Michigan

Chicanx and Latinx Studies: San José State (MA); University of New Mexico

Cinema Studies/Film: New York University; Ohio University (MA), University of Toronto*

Classics: Princeton (optional)

Comparative Literature: Brown University; Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Literature and Criticism); Northwestern (Comparative Literary Studies); Princeton; Stanford (Modern Thought and Literature); UC Davis (recommended, not required); UC Santa Cruz (Literature); University of Texas-Dallas (Literature)

Conflict Studies: George Mason University (Conflict Analysis and Resolution); University of North Carolina Greensboro (Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, recommended)

Cultural Studies: NYU (Social and Cultural Analysis MA); University of Washington, Bothell (Cultural Studies MA)

Education: U Mass Amherst (School Psychology)

English: See this spreadsheet (there are a lot!)

Ethnic Studies: UC Berkeley

French: Brown University; NYU; Northwestern (Dept. of French and Italian); Princeton; UC Berkeley; University of Chicago (optional); University of Wisconsin-Madison (Dept. of French and Italian, optional)

German: Brown University; Michigan State University; NYU; Northwestern; U Mass Amherst (German and Scandinavian Studies); Yale University

Higher Education: See this spreadsheet.

History: Auburn University; Cal State LA (MA); Columbia University; Emory; Harvard (optional); Loyola University-Chicago; Michigan State University; Monmouth University (MA); Montana State University; New York University; North Carolina State University (not req of applicants w/ MA); Northeastern (MA Public History); Northwestern University; Texas Tech; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Michigan; University of Missouri (optional); University of New Mexico; University of North Texas; University of South Florida; University of Toledo (recommended); Yale University

International Affairs: Tufts Fletcher School

Italian: Brown University; Northwestern (Dept. of French and Italian); Princeton; University of Wisconsin-Madison (Dept. of French and Italian, optional)

Latin American Studies: Cal State LA (MA); NYU (Latin American and Caribbean Studies: optional, req.for joint journalism PhD); U Conn

Library Science: San Jose State; University of Arizona (w/ undergrad GPA 3.0 or higher); University of California, Merced; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Illinois (w/ undergrad GPA 3.0 or higher)

Linguistics: MIT; Old Dominion (optional for Applied Linguistics MA); Stanford; University of Arizona (optional); UC Berkeley; UCLA; UC Santa Barbara; U Mass Amherst; University of Michigan; University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (encouraged but not req.); UC Berkeley

Media Studies: Brown University (Modern Culture and Media): MIT (Media Arts and Sciences); University of Texas-Dallas (Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication)

Middle Eastern Studies: CUNY Graduate Center (MA, optional); NYU (optional)

Museum Studies: New York University (MA); University of Kansas (MA)

Music and Musicology: Brandeis (“highly recommended” but not req.); Cornell; Dartmouth College (MA, Digital Music); Harvard University; Northwestern University; Princeton (Music Composition); Stanford University; UCLA – Ethnomusicology; U Mass Amherst; UCLA (Music, recommended but not req.); Wesleyan (recommended).

Native American, American Indian, Indigenous Studies: University of Arizona

Near Eastern Studies: NYU (MA)

Performance Studies: Brown University (Theatre Arts and Performance Studies); NYU; University of Pittsburgh; Stanford (Theater and Performance Studies); Tufts (Theater and Performance); UCLA (Culture and Performance within World Arts and Culture/Dance)

Philosophy:  Cornell University; Emory; Harvard University; Michigan State University; UBC*; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Illinois, Chicago; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania; University of Texas-Dallas (Humanities – History of Ideas); University of Wisconsin, Madison; Yale University. For more see this Daily Nous post.

Political Science: Cal State Northridge (MA); University of California, San Diego; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Hawai’i Manoa; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania

Portuguese: University of Colorado Boulder (Spanish and Portuguese) optional/recommended for fellowship consideration); U Mass Amherst (Spanish & Portuguese Studies)

Religion: Boston University School of Theology; Brown University; George Washington (Islamic Studies MA); Princeton; University of California, Santa Barbara; Vanderbilt University; Yale University

Rhetoric: Texas Woman’s University; University of Milwaukee (see English)

Romance Languages & Literature: University of Cincinnati

Slavic Languages and Literature: Brown University; Princeton

Social Welfare: CUNY Graduate Center

Sociology: Cornell (recommended, not req.), University of California, San Francisco; University of Michigan; Washington University, St. Louis

Spanish Language and Literature/Hispanic Studies: Brown University; Princeton; UC Berkeley (Hispanic Languages and Literature); University of Colorado Boulder (Spanish and Portuguese) optional/recommended for fellowship consideration); University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (international students only; domestic students must take GRE); University of Iowa (Spanish and Portuguese, optional but “highly encouraged”); University of Pittsburgh; U Mass Amherst (Spanish & Portuguese Studies); Washington University in St. Louis

Theater (see also Performance Studies): Brown University (Theatre Arts and Performance Studies); University of Missouri (?)

Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies: Emory; Ohio State University; Oregon State University (optional); San Francisco State (MA); SUNY Buffalo (“the Admissions Committee may waive this requirement at its sole discretion if you make a case for it.”); SUNY Stony Brook; University of Arizona (recommended); UCLA; University of Kansas; University of Michigan; University of Minnesota; University of Washington; University of Wisconsin Madison (MA).

Other/Interdisciplinary: University of California-Santa Cruz (History of Consciousness [recommended, not required]); University of Missouri – Kansas City (Interdisciplinary PhD, waiver); University of Texas-Dallas (Humanities; School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication)

*Programs outside the US tend not to require GRE. For now, I’m listing some Canadian programs esp. in fields where there aren’t a lot of other options.

(?) Website is unclear, but suggests GRE is not required