superdupergirl

I just wanted to chime in. I know a ton of Hunter MA art history grads with incredible positions right now. Hunter is an amazing place to be in NY for a fraction of the cost of other schools.

My bits of advice - Never start with an anecdote. I cannot tell you how many professors have warned me against this. Nobody wants to hear how you fell in love with ancient Greece because your parents took you on a trip to Athens when you were 12 years old. Nobody wants to hear about how you read Greek myths instead of watching spongebob when you were a kid. Stick to solid facts about your preparation in the languages and your research/fieldwork/internships/whatever. Make sure you talk about why X school is a good fit for you. Be very specific, i.e. I want to apply to X University to work with Professors like Professor Y and Z; I want to continue my research on underwater basketweaving with Professor Y, who has recently published a monograph on basketweaving on Mars that was a tremendous resource for my undergraduate thesis. I am also interested in Professor Z's research on A, B, and C, and I would like to work on her project because there is overlap with my own work on 5th century BC depictions of basketweaving on vases. (WHATEVER you get my point)...I would like the opportunity to participate in X University's Center for Basketweaving's summer program, etc etc etc; I want to teach as a graduate student and I am happy to see X University allows for that in years 2-4. I would someday like to design my own class, etc etc.

If you are studying ancient art, the standard expectations are that you can read Greek/Latin. You'll also be expected to read German and either French or Italian. You may want to consider picking up Latin again sooner rather than later.

No. This is anecdotal, of course, but I went to a public city college for undergrad and ended up at a fully-funded PhD program at an ivy league. My transcript, CV/work experience, letters of rec, GRE scores, personal statement, and very strong background in several modern languages/Greek & Latin were more important than the reputation of my undergrad (though it does have a good reputation for classics, however mediocre the rest of the university is). Don't be discouraged. Faculty members have NEVER given me a problem or treated me differently because of it - it is usually other graduate students who make snide remarks.

Never heard of a funded post bacc and i would never suggest going into debt in hopes that the post bacc will get you into a PhD program.