BuddingScholar

Especially those advertised by university museums or major museums, keep an eye out for one year or two year, paid fellowships/internships -- these would be a great bridge into entry level/mid-career museum work. Also, seek out auction houses... the jobs with answering the phones/cataloguing/handling artifacts is how you get a foot in the door.
 
As I work currently in the museum field, I can tell you we don't discuss art in terms of value; galleries are so different than museums, with the financial values accompanying the work. (I've worked in a fine art gallery, too.) Although, if you get experience in galleries, it will probably be transferrable to museums.
 
I'd second thinking about language(s). Top museums definitely seek language ability for curatorial positions.
 
As I'm in the museum field, I could go into specifics about museum experience/getting jobs in the field -- so feel free to PM me. 

Check out http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/living-form

Andrea Zittel

Judy Chicago?

Tracey Emin?

Elana,
 
It looks like you have already started to build an interesting CV, which it will certainly make you very competitive when looking for museum/art gallery positions and/or applying to graduate programs. Besides it does not hurt that your program is well regarded in our field also. 
 
First of all, I believe a MA (especially the ones with a museum studies component embedded in it) is absolutely necessary in order to further your career in the field, since PhDs tend to be more important for those seeking a career in academia -- but I bet you already knew that.  Of course, I know that there are plenty of museum curators out there with PhD degrees.
 
Regarding museum vs. art gallery... Museum experience is "usually" better regarded, thus I think you should definitely look for a paid (employee type) position in one, since you already have internships under your belt.   Art gallery work will also help with your application to grad schools, especially if you get to work in a "major" gallery. If that is the case, it may end up actually counting more in your CV than working for "some" museums.  Of course, this depends also on what kind of work you would end up doing for each.
 
Assuming that you are graduating from college at a young age (though it may not be the case - as it wasn't for me), I think that taking a little break from school in order to gain more museum work experience will be tremendously beneficial as long as you don't fall on the trap of "starting to make a living" and find it hard later to return to school.
 
Anyway... keep up with your great work and focus. It is never too early to start planning your life and career.

I agree with Condivi! The only thing I would add is: submit your "absolutely best" piece of writing.  Last year I had the opportunity to speak with several professors in the top programs in the US, and though they offered a range of opinions regarding the content of writing samples (in terms of area of research, methodology, etc), they all agreed that one should ALWAYS send their best work - even if that means submitting a paper you wrote on "medieval manuscripts," though you are actually interested in contemporary art.
 
Some POIs mentioned that they actually prefer the latter since they believe it shows range -- they claim that they can get a good grasp of one's intellectual sophistication in their intended area of specialization through their SOPs.  Others (the majority) prefer to get samples that reflect the applicant's area of interest and methodological inclinations.   Anyway, I am contacting POIs this year to, among other things, ask what they would rather have.

Ah, I see. Ideally, your writing sample would have something to do with your proposed area of research, even if only tangentially. So, for example, if you wanted to work on twentieth-century art, it would be best to submit a paper on a twentieth-century topic. Even better would be if the paper spoke directly to your specialty and your approach. If that's not possible--and it isn't always--submit your best work, and explain in your personal statement how and why you've changed your area of focus, and, if possible, try to show how your previous work as embodied in your sample has informed your current interests/approach/etc.

Not as far as I know- but from what I've observed art history programs tend to be disproportionately peopled with female students- at least at the graduate level

Hey guys!
I don't think this thread has been started yet, but how is everyone doing in terms of gearing up for the next application season? Personally, I've picked out my schools, am studying for my second GRE (ugh) and working on my writing sample. 
 
How is everyone else doing? 

Might I recommend my movie:

I know there are many threads discussing MAs in our field already, but I thought it would be helpful for many of us to have a more focus list of MA programs known for having good placement numbers on the "TOP 10 Phd" programs...
 
Here is what I noticed after some research and talks with faculty from the top 10 programs... Can you add and/or correct my list please?
 
Williams, Tufts, Rutgers, UT Austin, Temple, Penn State, UNC NC, WUSTL, McGill, U Toronto...
 
Not so sure about these: Syracuse, Wisc-Madison, UC Davis, Colgate, U South of Florida, Boston U, CUNY, NYU, Columbia.
 
Please forgive me if you feel this is redundant. Thank you those who can help!
 
cheers

Chicago's MAPH is probably worth considering. I've championed the program on this forum often. The biggest problem is that funding is scarce; I don't believe any full-tuition waivers are offered, so you only get a limited number of half-tuition or other partial-tuition funding packages. Also, MAPH is interdisciplinary by intention; the program serves both those who want an advanced education to turn into industrial work, as well as those who need a preparatory phase before pursuing academia in the future.
 
There have definitely been strong placements from art history from MAPH both to Chicago itself and to other top programs. 

Great idea!
 
here is my fifty cents contribution...
 
- Yale French studies... though not an art historical journal per se, it has often published some really interesting art history articles.
 
- History of Photography
 
- Cinema Journal
 
- Archives of American Art

Actaully, you haven't missed it.  Did you get the email?  You've got 3 days, get on it!:
 
 
Deadline for 2014 Call for Participation Extended
The deadline to propose a paper for the 102nd Annual Conference, which takes place February 12–15, 2014, in Chicago, has been extended to Monday, May 13, 2013. You may download and view the twenty-seven-page 2014 Call for Participation—which gives session titles, names the chairs, describes each session’s content, and provides a timeline for chairs and panelists—to learn more about program sessions for next year’s event. The document also includes information about the Poster Sessions and the Open Forms panels.

Instead of applying for a poster session, I would apply to smaller regional conferences in your field or a graduate/undergraduate art history conference. A lot of deadlines will be this summer. I think you will have a better chance at having an abstract accepted and it will look a lot better on your CV. I think a poster session would be a waste of time. Unlike the sciences, scholarly presentations are the litmus test for your worth and having one under your belt will show potential departments that you will able to handle seminar presentations during coursework. Also I have been to CAA multiple times and I have never seen an undergrad or a graduate student who was not ABD present. This is not gospel truth but it is my understanding that CAA is for scholars who are further along in their research/career. Maybe this is only true for my field?

say what

Good to know -- I assume someone like Buchloh at Harvard though (in an ideal world where I end up at Harvard) would be a good fit if anyone has thoughts on him? Or any thoughts on UChicago faculty? Thanks again, really!

I also think that the job market is more diverse than just saying that only PhDs from T-20s get all the jobs (and then don't publish, which is catty and smells like sour grapes to me). It has been traditionally true that graduates from 15-20 programs end up teaching in those same programs for reasons both good and bad.  And it's true, sham searches with pre-chosen candidates do still happen at some Ivies.
 
BUT there are also some pockets of regional strength in the mid-west and south, for example.  Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Emory, Penn State are all fine choices, but you might have less of a shot at that TT at Yale than if you were from Harvard (except maybe in African from Iowa) but you may go to Nevada Reno, Auburn, or Missouri Springfield.  It's all relative, and frankly if you had your heart set on that Yale job, it would have helped to have kicked ass in undergrad at an Ivy, top R1, or top tier LAC which feed into the T-20 grad programs, which meant that you would have needed to kick ass at a great high school that feeds into those undergraduate colleges, which meant that you most likely needed to be born into some kind or privilege or have had highly motivated parents, etc. etc.  Dig too deep and it gets a little ugly.
 
I hope that most of you admits are not navel-gazing about what may or may not happen 8 (or 10) years from now.  Cheers!

If I were you I would make a list of the schools which have programs you like and email those that have both first and then those that are in close proximity to each other second.  I want to do two degrees, Art History and Conservation.  None of the schools I liked listed that as an option on their websites, but when I emailed and talked to members of the department all were willing to work with me and allow me to work on both degrees consecitively.  Many of them were also willing to allow me to use classes from each program to waive others (ie allowing an art history class to count towards my art hsitory work as well as the art history requirement for the conservation, unless, of course, I wanted to take more classes). 
 
Some times there are matriculation if it is the same college or university (I had looked at enrolling in conservation at FIT and art history at Purchase, both SUNY schools), but they were willing to allow me to matriculate into one program while working towards both and then as soon as one program was completed matriculate me into the next and then let me finish whatever other classes I needed.  I had emailed about 20 schools across the US and UK about this; each one was willing to allow me to work towards both degrees.
 
I wouldnt worry about what schools allow accoridng to their general informaiton.  I would go directly to the schools you are interested in.  Many grad schools are actually quite flexible about meeting the students wishes/needs.

Andres Zervigon at Rutgers, as well.  Also, I don't think Geoffrey Batchen is at CUNY anymore. Last I heard he was teaching in NZ...

Tanya Sheehan at Rutgers. 

Also - Martha Langford at Concordia University, Canada.

I would add Robert Slifkin at the IFA, although I don't know if the IFA is the right place to go right now considering their financial troubles

Since this is a question about "worldwide" - 
 
Royal College of Art, UK
 
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna