PoeticNobleLandMermaid

I agree with arthistorian90. An MA in art history is much more flexible than a museum studies MA. Anything you can do with an museum studies MA you can also do with an art history MA (but the reverse is not true), and a museum studies MA could limit your ability to continue onto a PhD if that's what you decide. The best way to get a job in a museum is by having experience working in a museum (I know it's a bit catch 22) and by making connections. As for only having a minor in art history -- it certainly won't keep you from getting into art history MA programs (I only had an minor too), but it could make it harder for you to get into the top MA programs. Do you have any research papers from your major (you mention film) that you could rework to focus more on aspects of the visual study/analysis of the topic? Do you have a short paper from an art history class that you can expand? If not, you will probably have to write a completely new paper to use as your writing sample. Good luck!

Hi arthistorian90, Looking over your pros and cons lists, it really seems like School #1 is your best choice. But I do understand your hesitation -- being able to take classes and work with professors in your area of interest would be great. However, that seems like the only pro to School #2, and like you said yourself, specializing too early in your Masters may not actually be a good thing. Before you commit to School #1 these are a couple things I would look into if I were you: -Since you want to do your PhD in near Eastern/Egyptian art you probably need to write your Master's thesis on that topic. Have you asked to make sure there is someone at School #1 who will be okay advising you in that subject? I would think it would be totally fine, but you should make sure. -Is it possible for you to do an independent study at School #1 in near Eastern/Egyptian art with a professor who has a tangentially related specialty? That way you could still get some coursework in your area. -Have you talked to professors on how they feel about you tailoring your research papers in their classes towards your area of interest? I've found you can get pretty creative with doing this, and then you still are able to do research in the area you are interested. -I also think the possibility of the museum internship in your area could be a great opportunity and could end up just as valuable (if not more so) for PhD applications than coursework in your area. Have you asked if School #1 supports internships - either for credit or even with grants? (My Master's program had competitive grants that would support summer unpaid internships.) Overall, it seems like you are leaning towards School #1 and you know why most people are suggesting it to you as well. I went into my Master's program thinking I knew exactly what I wanted to specialize in, but after only half a year I was drawn into another (although somewhat related) area, which I'm now I'm going to study in my PhD. Not saying that will happen to you, but I think a Master's program is a great place to explore a wide range of interests -- not so much because you might change directions completely, but because being exposed to other areas of art can really inform and expand your own interests. Good luck!

I was just browsing through this thread on my phone and accidentally down voted your post! Sorry!

It seems to me that all acceptances and rejections have been processed by UDel's graduate admissions office (the status on my application webpage was updated today), so if your app page is still not updated with a decision I think it's a good assumption you are on a wait list of some sort. I hope it works out for you -- good luck!!

If you are considering going into museum work that doesn't require a PhD--like education, collections management, registration, curatorial assistant, etc.--then I think going for just the MA now is a good choice. You can always go back and get your PhD when you are done with your MA if you realize that you really want to be a curator and need a PhD (that's actually what I'm doing now after working for a couple years in museum jobs that don't require a PhD -- the bonus is that I think my experience working in museums helped me get into PhD programs that are a good fit for me.) A PhD is huge commitment and if you aren't sure you're going to need it, it seems to me like it would be better to take it one step at a time. Especially because once you have your PhD you will actually be overqualified for many (although not all) museum educator jobs. It's a bummer that UT gives most of their TAships to PhD students, but you could try to take the time that you would have spent TAing and use it to intern or work at an area museum or art collection if possible.

Hey everyone, I am very grateful to have received good news yesterday: I was accepted to VCU and Delaware (curatorial track PhD at both) with full funding. Delaware, in particular, feels like a great fit for me. I would love to meet any of you out there who have been accepted at Delaware, especially if you think you are going to attend. I was sorry to see the VCU rejections on the spreadsheet. To address the question that one poster had about stats: It's so hard to know, but I believe I was accepted to VCU because I have extensive experience working in museums and because my field of study is fairly small, but up-and-coming, and fits well with a couple of the faculty members there. It really does seem to be about fit, not necessarily about he GRE or even GPA (although my numbers weren't bad.) Good luck everyone!!

I just noticed someone else posted an acceptance to New Mexico (the other is mine). If you wouldn't mind, can you tell me what you area of interest is? And what your thought are on the program? Feel free to PM me! Thanks!

Way_Harsh_Tai: Don't despair yet! It's still fairly early. And I just have to say that I LOVE your name!

Hey Schwartz (can I call you Schwartz? ), First, if I were you, I would look over your program's websites really carefully to see if they list the dates when decisions are sent out. Then, if you can't find anything, you could check the grad cafe spreadsheet for the dates when those programs notified applicants in years past. It looks like Stanford sent out an acceptance on February 12 and a bunch of rejections on March 13 last year. As for Chicago, they notified everyone around the first of March last year. So it looks like you shouldn't be worrying yet! Based on last year, it's very possible that neither of your programs has sent decisions to anyone yet. I suppose it's possible some applicants have been contacted about interviews so far, but I don't see anything in the spreadsheet. I would probably hold off on contacting anyone in the departments until at least a week after last year's dates. And even then, I would probably be hesitant to contact any professors you've had previous contact with - probably the department's graduate director or assistant would be better. I'd be curious to know what everyone else thinks though!

Yeah, my question wasn't so much about the acceptances and rejections posted on the spreadsheet, but more about why there seems to be less people posting/having discussions in the art history forum. For instance, at about this time last year, the "Waiting Game" thread was close to 10 pages long already, and I was just curious about that.

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far! I have a question for anyone that's been around here for a while: I was looking through some of the old art history threads and noticed that the past year's "waiting game" threads seem to have been much more active than this year's. Do you think that less people are applying to art history graduate programs this year? (Or id iy just that less art history people are posting here for whatever reason?)

I'm in the U.S. and I still do this.

What a cool interest/dissertation topic! I'm interested in the history and ethics of collecting and displaying colonial Latin American art (I'm more interested in working as a curator than as a professor), but I've never really thought much about art in hospital collections or really other corporate collections. Although when I was at the doctor a while ago I did notice they had art around the building (it looked to be part of an "official" collection) - it was sort of sadly displayed though, with no lighting and tiny, basically unreadable labels.

Hi quatrefoil, my interests are in colonial Latin American and early modern Spain, as well as medieval Iberia. What about you? (Your avatar and name make me think Italian Renaissance...?) And hello to everyone else! I've been lurking for a few days, but this is my first post. I'm glad to have found this forum because it seems like there are some great people and some information here, but I'm also a little not glad to have found this forum because it has been consuming way too much of my time! (And probably adding to my anxiety...) I've just been accepted into my first program, which is actually one of my top choices. However, the funding situation does not look good...sigh. I'm pretty sure it's not me; it's just that the department is not well-funded itself. I've been nominated for a scholarship with tuition waiver, but I think to be considered for it I would have to accept the program's offer of admission before I will likely even hear back from some of my other top choice schools. I'm very happy to have been accepted somewhere (!!!), but also frustrated by this situation. Has anyone been in a similar situation?