Aspiring historian here. I'm in the middle of enrolling in my last semester of classes for my AAT (education, 8-12) and wanted to pick some brains. Right this minute, my plan is to finish this degree, take enough time to pay off my car, and then go to get my BA in history. I have a lot more questions than answers right now though, and my school doesn't have a history/general social sciences advisor.
So what kinds of things should I expect going in to finish my BA? How specialized am I likely to get? (Pre-modern English history is where I want to end up eventually. 19th-20th century East Asia is a close second, but I'll work out those details along the way.) How much research is involved? What does undergrad history research even look like?
I'm dead set on what I want to do with my degree straight out the gate - I absolutely want to teach, and I absolutely want to continue my own studies for as long as I can. I just don't know if the timing is right. What do you guys think?
Honestly, a BA in history is pretty easy-going. You won't be doing much research with primary sources until your senior year, most likely for a senior project in your final semester (20-30 page paper). The research is going to be very simple, simply because your source base is going to be limited to what's available at your university or online and because you'll have only spent a semester or two learning how to do historical research.
Other than that, you'll simply be attending classes and writing papers (not research papers, though) for the next 3-3.5 years. You won't get very specialized for a BA, although the majority of the history classes you take will likely be somewhat related to your interests. I went to a small liberal arts college that only had two history professors and I was never forced to take a history class on a subject I had no interest in. Of course, if you go to a bigger university you are more likely to come across classes that fit within your interests.
Getting a BA in History is as simple as showing up to class, doing the readings--and you will have more readings than you would in many other subjects--and writing good papers. You're not going to be diving very deep into a very specific field of history, nor are you going to be doing a lot of research; if you want to do those things, you'll need to continue on to a postgraduate degree.
Edit: As for the timing, that is entirely up to you and your current financial situation. I would, however, warn against pushing off your education for too long. It's far too easy and I've seen it happen far too many times where people say they'll go to college after they do this or do that, but they become content with where they are and never go. If it were me, I certainly wouldn't be holding off on going to college for something as (relatively) minor as a car payment; there are plenty of ways to get adequate funding for college
Pick a school, go to their history department, and look at the major requirements. You will likely see a variety of required courses like US History 1 and 2, Euro history 1 and 2, then categories like '3 non-western courses' or '1 African history course. Then you'll have X number of history electives. Y number of courses might have to be "writing intensive". The rest of your classes will be gen Ed requirements for the school.
Basically you will probably be able to take 1 class a semester, maybe 2, in topics you are interested in and 2 required classes, along with 1-2 gen Ed courses.
If you are in the US and want to teach high school, plan on getting a Masters Degree in Education. You may be able to begin these courses during your undergrad and save yourself a year.
Can't recommend going for a graduate history degree (aside from history education). The jobs just aren't there to justify the expense. By all means strive for excellence and try to get into a funded PhD program, but if you take on debt for a history graduate degree that isn't education, you are making a mistake as anyone here will tell you, unfortunately.