Hello!
So I am currently about to be a senior at Butler University; I'm a Religious Studies major and Classics minor. I am planning on making the switch to Art History. Considering an odd academic background (I was a serious ballet dancer and dance major at Butler, a top 5 program, until I got injured) I have very little art history thus far. Butler doesn't offer art history, though I have had a survey class this summer and plan on taking one or 2 more this fall at a different school. I want to eventually complete a doctorate in Art History (focusing on early Christian/medieval/Byzantine art) and become a curator at an institution with a religious art collection. I'm most interested in church decoration, iconography, and other religious art objects. I am gearing up to apply to graduate schools to start in fall 2014. I am mostly looking at masters programs because I am not an art history major. However, I am currently completing an internship at Yeshiva University Museum in New York City, I have docent experience, I have a strong background in religion and want to move into religious art, and I am a good student (3.75 overall and 3.95 major GPA, a few scholarships and academic awards, and I've presented a paper at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research). I am also writing my senior thesis on the unique characteristics of Orthodox Christian iconography (artistic and theological) and I've been researching heavily at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's library this summer.
My question is, does anyone have advice on well-respected programs that I would have a good shot at, either masters or PhD? Or any tips on switching fields/applying to art history grad programs? Currently the list of schools I'm considering is the art history masters programs at Williams, Tufts, UMass, and SUNY Binghamton; the masters of religion with concentration in visual arts at Yale; the art history PhD at Bryn Mawr; the Medieval Studies masters at Fordham; and I have briefly considered Delaware, SUNY Stony Brook, and the masters at UPenn.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!