crossedfingerscrossedeyes

If Longhornkate is still around, it would be interesting to hear how this resolved now that semesters are winding down.

A change in location might be necessary if you're in the same market where you did your degree. There's probably an oversaturation of graduates from your program in the area. For example: I have family in nursing in a region where there's 6 different nursing schools. The supply of nurses means that nurses in my hometown have an income a fraction of what they could make elsewhere, and it is more competitive to get a job in healthcare, even while they are regularly getting offers from headhunters in cities/regions that have nursing shortages. Think about places you'd be willing to relocate that don't have a university that trains teachers in Interdiscplinary Studies in Elementary Education but have a need for that sort of speciality, and I bet you'll find a job quickly. Best of Luck!

Does anybody have experience with toner printers? They're more expensive up front but you're supposed to get a lot more pages per toner cartridge...

Figure out your paper topics for classes ASAP, although I think that's a general piece of advice for everyone. With quarters, though, it's even more imperative to start earlier because you have less time. In one of my classes, the instructor wanted to space out final presentations (one a class), which means we started giving presentations 6 weeks into the quarter. Almost all of my instructors did emphasize during the first year that they know the quarter system's different, though, and that the type of paper one can produce in that timeframe is different than a semester paper. Everyone where I am always knows which week it is and measures time as such (As in, conversations go "How's your week 4 going?" "I can't believe it's week 8!" etc.). It takes a bit to get used to, but quarter systems have a distinct rhythm to them that I never felt in semesters, and together create a different sense of larger academic-year rhythm.

Andrea Zittel

At my university, you can either do an informal audit and come to the lectures, or you can officially audit, in which case it appears on your transcript as a "read" course and the instructor has to approve your "R" non-grade. Could you do something like that, Michigan girl? I did it for an undergrad class much like you described.

This has changed within the past couple of years (from friends who attend there). They've restructed the program to be more in line with other graduate programs where they have started taking less PhD students (12 were accepted in my friends' cohort) with a guaranteed stipend. I don't remember how many years you get the stipend, at least 4. I don't think they offer any funding to their MA students nowadays.

Watch the time, and when it gets to be five minutes left, start EDITING. It's completely worth it. You'll have been so busy trying to write *SOMETHING* in the prior 25 minutes that you'll need the time to make sure everything makes sense grammatical (or at least I did, and it got me 5.5).

The results search gives a good impression of when programs historically tend to release their results. http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/

Well, your statement of purpose is where you're laying out your proposed research focus for your PhD trajectory. They're not looking for a thesis statement, but rather some research goals. What sorts of questions are you going to be asking? I think how specific it is depends on your sub-field. For example, I'd expect someone who's looking to work on, say, French modernism to have a more defined outlook than someone who's working on early feudal Japan. Even with the knowledge that things can (and will!) change, you need to tell them what sort of topic you're envisioning yourself diving into. At the very least, your SOP and writing sample should communicate your intellectual agenda. When the committee reads the two, do they get an idea of what professors you'd work with, both because of field and methodologically? I mention the last one because I think too often people overlook that when it comes to the writing sample. I'm someone who got into a PhD program with a writing sample not in my proposed field. Instead, it clearly demonstrated my methodology and how I "do" art history. As for how closely is it read, it is read. It's pretty much the icebreaker used at accepted students' days (profs wanting to talk about your sample), and I know of multiple people who had pieces of their writing sample/SOP brought up during interviews last year. I hope that made sense. Good Luck!

art history, 4

Better than au pairing, I would say apply for an English teaching Fulbright or French Government Teaching assistanship. It's only a year, which is what you're looking for, and gives you a good explanation for what you're doing on applications; you're not just taking a gap year, but completing a fellowship.

If you live near enough to the person you're reaching out to, don't just send them an email but try to schedule a time to meet. I did that in late August late year while visiting some family and it was great. The POI I met with helped me identify some other places I should apply, sent me a few articles to read, gave me some tips on strengthening my application, and even got in touch a few months later when she was in my city for a conference. good luck!

Has this been posted yet? I wish I had seen it months ago. Hilarious! I saw it posted on an art historian prof's faculty webpage.

To change the subject and go back to this, I offer some advice one of my reccomenders gave me: "They know you are interested in art history, otherwise you wouldn't be applying." Talking about one's passion doesn't show your approach to studying art history, nor what you want to do within it. He emphasized that the focus of the statement should be your take on the current state of the field, and what you plan to do given that. I think runaway summed it up quite nicely with: