NetherlandishNerd

Of course, what really matters is the relevance the chosen language to what you plan to study, but it's also a good to consider the fact that German will open up your linguistic horizons way more than Italian. What I'm trying to say is that due to the relationship between French and Italian, if you needed the latter for research down the road, you could take a reading course and work your way through. German is so completely different. Taking German would open you up to Dutch, Scandinavian languages (to a limited extent) and some others. Overall, I think German would be more practical, but I study Northern Ren so I'm biased. I'm currently giving myself a crash course in Dutch which would be much harder without the German minor I did in undergrad (I also speak French fluently so). tl;dr think of your art interests, the grad programs you might want to go to (UPenn requires German AND French, I believe), and what other languages you might need to work with

Ah, that's good to note. Thanks!

Definitely a good way to think about it!

Thanks, Poliscar. I'm familiar with their work. I've been debating about whether or not to apply to NYU/IFA. I'm a fan of what I've read of Nagel's and really need to read more of his work (Anachronic Renaissance is high on my list), but I've been wondering if it would work against me to study under and Italianist (from what I've read, that's his principal background, though he obviously tackles so many different areas). And in regards to Wood, I wonder how much I would be able to work with him? I have yet to look into funding opportunities for interdisciplinary programs, but my undergraduate department has definitely bred into me a certain hesitation about pursuing a less-traditional art history degree. My university has an option for inter-departmental PhDs and while our faculty supports them and advises them, their wary of encouraging that pathway to academia. Perhaps it's an old school view, but they're all so much further along than I am so I can't really contest that based on my limited experience.

Hello everyone! Making my first post as I prepare for the 2017 application season. I graduated in May 2016 from a well-ranked private undergraduate program, took a year off to teach English abroad and travel, and hope (by the grace of the academic gods) to enter a doctoral program for Northern Ren in 2018. Anyone else in the same boat? I'm aiming to apply to around ten programs and my current list of PoI's is as follows: Elizabeth Honig (Berkeley), Matt Kavaler (UofT), Marisa Bass (Yale), Christina Normore (NW), Claudia Swan (NW), Mitchell Merback (Hopkins), Joseph Koerner (Harvard), Celeste Brusati (UMich), Andrew Morall (Bard), Jeff Chipps-Smith (UT-Austin), Shira Brisman (UW-Madison) Is there anyone I'm missing from North American institutions that I should look into? I need to confirm that Chipps-Smith is still taking students. Larry Silver, from what I understand, is not. Colin Eisler would be risky on account of his age. (I know one curator who studied at the IFA and had her adviser die, and a former supervisor's friend had two advisers die--- I can't even imagine!) Looking forward (dreading?) to commiserating as we move nearer to the New Year and deadlines.