qwer7890

not a deal breaker.

It seems entirely unprofessional and inappropriate (not to mention mean spirited) to share information about your wife's experience "on an admissions committee" on an anonymous, public internet forum. Even without identifying information, it breeches a vital trust that application materials are treated with respect and utmost discretion by faculty committees. I think you're doing a real disservice to everyone involved in the process.

I'm not sure you'll have much luck finding an 'MA to PhD' program that will accept transfer credits from a partially-completed MA degree... in terms of PhD programs: students who enter with an MA degree (in the same field) can generally apply to get some sort of reduction in their coursework requirements, but even this varies from school to school -- some programs expect all students to take a full docket of coursework regardless of whether they're coming in with an MA. In terms of other terminal MA programs, I'm not sure how it would work with transferring credit. I suppose it would vary considerably from institution to institution. But in terms of finding decent programs: given your interests in museum education and contemporary art, you might do well to look at curatorial/museum studies oriented MA programs. To start, check out: Bard curatorial studies, Visual & Critical studies at the SAIC, Museum Studies at George Washington University... and keep searching along those lines. Good luck!

If the professor signs his/her first name, I think it's totally fine to address subsequent emails "Dear First-name" -- if you're reaching out to a professor for the first time, go with "Professor Last-name" -- and I'd go with "Professor" over "Dr." -- but that's rather institutionally specific.

Depending on the school... you might find a home for your interests in an art history department... but you might find a better home for your interests in a cinema/media studies department, or in a visual studies department, or in an english department. Which books (published in, say, the past decade) most directly inform your approach to "documentary/experimental film and photography"? What department(s) are those books coming out of? Where do the scholars who matter most to you teach? Which is all to say, there's no cut-and-dry answer to the question of whether you're a viable candidate for a PhD program in art history -- certainly your background in English/Media Studies doesn't take you out of the running... it's more a matter of whether you can make a compelling case for 'why art history'... or even better, 'why X (specific) art history department'... Also, to underscore theartman's advice... don't rule out a terminal MA. While your notion that PhD work is about "pursuing a specialized degree while doing research and writing" is a lovely one, it's also (I'm afraid) a bit naive. Go out and get some experience first, then decide!

It seems to me like the best course of action is to describe where you're actually at in your research/writing/thinking process as truthfully and eloquently as possible. Which is to say, don't feel like you need to scramble right now to read all the most recent scholarship on "African American works" in order to project an air of confidence to describe a potential "thesis" -- an advisor will likely see straight through that anyways. Instead, focus on narrating your methodological and scholarly investments in the work you've done on "Jewish art" -- and then pose some smart questions/thoughts about how you envision yourself bringing those methodological and scholarly investments to bear on different objects by different sorts of artists. In other words, focus on narrating what you do know well and what type of thinker you are.... what sorts of questions you have asked in the past, and what sorts of questions you plan to ask as you begin work towards a PhD.

Many, many programs (I'd venture to say most) would be conducive places to study critical theory. Don't focus exclusively on programs with a formalized "critical theory" component. Instead, focus your attention on pinpointing faculty who are engaging with critical theory in a way you find to be compelling... and apply to work with them.

You should be okay applying without French and German--since you won't really need to rely heavily on those languages for in-depth dissertation research, it shouldn't give admissions committees much pause... particularly if you indicate a plan of sorts to take German class the summer before you begin. (EDIT - I see above you talked about taking French over the summer... but German should probably take priority) Having said that, the question of whether you should "apply to more safety schools" is a separate issue entirely. With a senior thesis that brings together two such disparate things as Edward Hopper and Kevin Spacey, you might be waging an uphill battle to convince PhD admissions committees that your interests are focused and sustained enough to finish up a dissertation within the next 5 or 6 years. For whatever its worth (from an anonymous internet advice giver), I'd recommend you add to your list several programs that offer robust terminal MA programs.

the American Alliance of Museums maintains a job board: http://aam-us-jobs.jobtarget.com/jobseeker/search/results/ as does the College Art Association: http://careercenter.collegeart.org/jobs But I'd say that in addition to those databases, looking around the websites of the museums you're interested in working for is your best bet. Good luck!

whoops... the perils of typing fast!

in addition to Berlant's Cruel Optimism (read it!), two other very recent books (published in the last three or so years) that I'd recommend (as a theoretical-leaning art historian) are: Our Aesthetic Categories by Sianne Nagi, The Forms of the Affects by Eugenie Brinkema. Also, add to your list Eve Sedgwick's Touching Feeling. The great thing about contemporary thinkers is that you don't have to just (metaphorically) sit down with them... you can apply where they teach and take classes with them, have them serve on your dissertation committee... actually sit down with them. So it's worthwhile, I think, on a practical level, to spend some time with contemporary theory before you apply to graduate school.

right! and even more than just too bad and sad... this sort of system puts up huge roadblocks in the paths of first generation, lower income, older, and really, any sort of "non-traditional" students. I'm not saying that individuals can't overcome these roadblocks... certainly they can, but the system isn't on their side. Silencing the perspectives such students and scholars bring into the University is a disservice to us all. Also -- sorry to the thread for (possibly) derailing a very productive conversation about the real, on the ground, benefits of a funded M.A. Anecdotally, I benefitted tremendously from a funded M.A. before applying to Ph.D. programs, and would encourage others to do so too if that option is on the table. To answer the title of this thread "Advantages of Pursuing the (Funded) MA" -- I'd say yes (I know it's not a yes or no question) -- under almost all circumstances it's almost always advantageous to pursue a funded M.A.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned on this thread: humanities departments across the board (I think) are under pressure to decrease time-to-degree for PhD students. University administrations are incentivising this... and so departments, increasingly, have a vested (and often financial) interest in admitting students whom they suspect will be able to get to and complete a dissertation quickly. I think this, in part, accounts for Wyatt’s Torch anecdotal observation: “I also have the distinct sense that candidates with M.A. degrees in hand were largely favored over B.A. candidates this season. There were many exceptions, of course, but it feels more 70/30 than 50/50.” Which I think is right. The system is set up to favor students with M.A.’s -- increasingly more so. Which is to say, if you didn’t get into your top Ph.D. program and have the option to go for a funded M.A. — by all means do it. But as a general trend (Ph.D. programs, in a sense, outsourcing coursework to M.A. programs, many of which are unfunded), it's perhaps something to worry about.

I think that across the board right now, in art history departments and among foundations, there's a renewed interest in questions of "materiality" and "objects" (and napoleon87, you can probably speak better to this as you've just gone through the application cycle, quite successfully it appears :-) -- for example, the getty research intstitute's theme this year is "art and materiality": http://www.getty.edu/research/scholars/years/future.html-- a good barometer of where the field is.... which is to say, i don't think you'd be an "island" necessarily in an art history department -- your interests seem to align well with some of the most current trends in the field. so, if you do decide to apply to art history departments, it's still a question of coming up with a good account in your application essay of why the tools/methodologies of art history matter to the objects you care most about...

i know this is a totally generic question that you've probably thought a lot about... but... why do you want to think about "material culture" from within an art history department? and which scholars, working within art history departments, are asking the sorts of questions you care most about? let the answers to these questions guide where you apply... and worry less about the program as a whole having an explicitly "material culture" focus.