manierata

temple! i was accepted there for phd but ultimately decided to go somewhere and it was a very difficult decission. marcia hall is amazing and if youre doing post-tridentine shes basically doing some of the most interesting stuff anywhere. shes really the only person who looks at florence in a specifically post-tridentine context. also, shes sort of one of the most influential art historians in renaissance, period, and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. tracy cooper is also brilliant, and they just published a new book together which will be out in june (on post-tridentine stuff, btw). also, youre close to the national gallery, which has (in my opinion) the best renaissance collection in the country. also, i should say that im biased in that I grew up in nj, and find rutgers-new brunswick to be just horrible. Elizabeth Pilliod teaches for them in Camden, and I would give my right arm to study with her, but it doesn't seem like you can do that as a masters candidate, not sure (i emailed her and she gracisouly replied, but said she has nothing to do with phd students--so i'm assuming its the same for the masters). so anyway, yeah. temple. go there!

Lots of women have babies during a PHD. Probably not ideal but it happens, it's doable, and you shouldn't be worrying about your committee's reaction. If they care about you, they'll be supportive! Congratulations are in order!!

hoboken sucks. its expensive and full of really obnoxious drunk people at all hours of the day. as is downtown jersey city. however, golden monkey is absolutely right about jersey city heights. theres literally an elevator down the side of the cliff that you can take from hancock avenue that puts you right in hoboken at the light rail, and is the coolest/ most convenient thing ever. rent in the heights is much cheaper and its pretty safe (especially on the other side of central ave, further from the elevator, where there is almost no crime). you could definitely find a nice 1 br for about a grand, or for a little more get a 2 br with a roommate. i grew up in the heights and its pretty well-connected to the city as well. you can take an "immie" to port authority for $3 or take said immie to journal square and hop on the path. definitely just search the north jersey craigslist and check it out.

why would you ever want to do anything except read think and write about what you love most in the world???

think of all the greek pottery with symposia scenes. tons of "waiters."

Mary's answer reminded me of what Michelangelo replied when asked to weigh in on the superiority of either sculpture or painting. To summarize, he said that all the artists involved in the debate should stop arguing and get back to making art. Touché.

NO.

What about University of Chicago?

I had the EXACT same dilemma. All the scholars I canvassed--and I canvassed many--said go to the better school if you ever want a job.

Thanks!

I have them, and they're very useful. That being said, when I hand them out, I always say, "I know this is really pretentious, but...."

Hi all, I'm a newly-admitted PhD student in Art HIstory at the University of Chicago, and was wondering if there were any others of us out there and how you are all coping with the idea of moving to the midwest (I'm from NYC, have only been to Chicago once--for prospective days!!--and I'm finding it really harrowing). I'm also sort of interested in roommates. I find the research involved in Art History inherently isolating, and am wondering if there is any way to start out own little Platonic Academy of Humanities people, maybe in one of those beautiful houses near campus. I'd love to hear from people who are also looking for roomies!

Hey-- I strongly believe that Hunter is the best place, hands-down, in NYC for contemporary and modern art. As for the professors, they're extremely available and always around. All the classes are on the 15th floor, where their offices are, so you see them all time. As for internships, we have many people interning at MoMA, the New Museum, Pace Galleries, the Whitney. I don't study modern/ contemporary but my friends do and it's a great place to be for that area. I roomed with an IFA student from NYU over the winter who was desperately trying to work with one of our teachers for her masters. It's a great school with great scholars. Feel free to PM me. I'm sort of wondering where you got your impressions of the school from....

I went to Hunter for MA, and though they don't advertise it, I wound up receiving most of my tuition for free, but didn't find out until after I accepted the offer. Also, randomly, money has been coming off the balance of the tuition that I do owe. I call it "the tuition fairy."

i agree with a ton on this list, and would also add La Belle et la Bette, Tarkovsky's The Mirror, Bergman's Seventh Seal, as well as his Wild Strawberries, The 400 Blows, The Red Balloon, Little Otik (which I hated but is worth seeing), and let's throw in Woody Allen's Manhattan because it's my favorite movie ever (would also recommend Love and Death, Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, because of either their quality or what they have to say about art). This year, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moon Rise Kingdom were both sensational. Oh, there's also a movie of Picasso painting on a lightbox which is spectacular, called The Mystery of Picasso.

it's a great school. I was accepted but ultimately decided to go somewhere else. it was a really hard choice. The faculty there is amazing, esp. for early modern.

What a great topic! I study Renaissance art, so I can think of a ton on that topic, but I think a good general one is Panofsky's Meaning in the Visual Arts as well as his Studies in Iconology. Gombrich's The Story of Art is pretty great. I could also think of a lot of fiction that's relevant to what I do too, such as The Iliad and The Divine COmedy, though maybe not so much for you. Would love to hear what others have to say!

word on the street is they are interviewing 15 and taking 9. i dont know how accurate that is though.

hey-- i've gotten into 2 top 10 schools in the last 2 weeks. zero publications. i don't think it's that important. I DO think you need to have stellar GRE scores. shoot for a perfect in verbal and 5 or higher in writing. my advisor in my ma program was literally like, "If a person has a perfect in verbal, they can have a zero in math. we don't care." also, think about an MA program. yes, they're cash cows, but they prove you can do graduate level work. finally, you're writing sample should be of publishable quality. i think that proves that even though you're not published yet, you could and will be. obvs your sop is important, but since you've got that covered don't sweat it.