roving99

I'm gonna agree on basically all counts.
Not all people studying Art History are blessed with an overarching knowledge of what gets you in and what doesn't.  Especially if someone is coming from a smaller program with minimal resources.
I honestly have NO idea if my GRE and GPA are high enough to get into good programs, even though I feel they should be. From everything else I see in this forum, it paints the picture that the only ones who get into good programs are the Columbia/NYU 4.0's with a 169V/6.0AWA GRE, 10 publications, and a current position at the Whitney.  For those of us who are coming in from diverse backgrounds that prepare us in a less traditional way, absolutely - the stats are INCREDIBLY helpful.  It has nothing to do with feeling important and everything to do with understanding how the pieces of your own background fit into the pool of current applicants.
As with all things on the internet - if you don't like it, don't read it/don't post on it. Simple as that.

As someone who is in an MA program now and applying for Ph.D’s Fall 2019, seeing stats like this is extremely helpful. It’s nice to see where people are at, rather than hoping that the person with a 3.9 from their Columbia MA isn’t the one writing “omg I’m so stressed this sucks I’m not gonna get in.”
I’m not sure why there’s a problem? Like, why can’t people share stats *and* commiserate. 
Also, @Sad! the top 10 thing is subjective. Like, obviously some schools are better for some subjects than others. No need to take it so personally, if you have a different perspective on what programs are good for a certain specialty, then please share! It could really help someone find a good program in the future.

Latin American hype!!!!! So glad to see a few of us in here.
Financial -YES HORRIFYING. I only have the means to be applying to fully funded programs right now, so I'm mainly looking at PhD's.  Also, for what it's worth, I've had several professors say if you WANT to have kids, one of the best times to do it is during your PhD studies/dissertation writing when you have a semi-stable income and guaranteed health insurance.
POI's-I haven't contacted any. Everyone's busy, and I know who I want to work with and where. I can't imagine it affects admissions decisions much, either. Adcomms aren't necessarily comprised of your stated POI's!
Definitely get on that SOP train! I know it's super hard to both start and finish.  I just submitted my first app on the 1st, (pun intended) and it was like pulling teeth to finally get it to a place that I felt comfortable.

I would HIGHLY recommend this anthology, The Art of Art History. While it's not exhaustive by any means, it is a really fabulous collection of essays and criticisms from a wide range of time periods.  It is also fairly inexpensive! IMO it's one of the best critical collections all housed under one cover, though I'm sure others will have lots of suggestions, as well!  Hope this helps!
https://www.amazon.com/Art-History-Critical-Anthology-Oxford/dp/0199229848

It went very well, I received an offer letter last night! Congrats to you as well, definitely very exciting! I suppose I'll see you there!  

I have an interview in the AM with Media and Performance as well!

Amazing!  This is incredibly helpful, at least for me - I am thinking of going this route!  
Though, this list is also a tad disheartening to be completely honest - I come from a small state school for my undergrad as it's all I could afford.  I've done some really awesome things during my tenure there, but am wondering if it will compare to all these amazing names I'm looking up to as I'm heading into grad school.

Also, you may want to check out the Art History-specific forum.  There's a thread about this in there as well! https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/66-art-history/

Amazing!  This is incredibly helpful, at least for me - I am thinking of going this route!  
Though, this list is also a tad disheartening to be completely honest - I come from a small state school for my undergrad as it's all I could afford.  I've done some really awesome things during my tenure there, but am wondering if it will compare to all these amazing names I'm looking up to as I'm heading into grad school.

This spreadsheet has very limited implications. You include curatorial assistants and the most recent hires among them have PhDs. That should tell you all you need to know about whether or not you will need a PhD to be competitive on the modern/contemporary market.
A more productive data set would order these hires chronologically. While it was - and to a certain extent, still is - possible to become a curator of contemporary art without a PhD, the trend has shifted towards increased professionalization and academicization. There are plenty of online resources that catalogue press releases for recent hires - theirs is the education you should model. Your peers (and competition) are not curators of contemporary art who were hired with a CUNY MA fifteen years ago. If you look through the openings for curators of modern and contemporary art on AAMC, you'll see that over half the assistant-level and nearly all of the associate-level jobs now list "PhD preferred." 
It seems like you've already decided not to complete a PhD and you're looking for justification. Your education and professional career are yours to pursue, but you are working from flawed data. I am based internationally and many of my peers have two-year graduate degrees, but without native or near-native fluency in a language other than English, that route is a wash. The PhD is becoming a pre-requisite to be competitive in the United States beyond entry-level curatorial positions.
 

I definitely will also report as soon as I hear anything.  I'm sure we're all playing the impatient, partial-panic game! (Or at least I am...)

Thanks for replying everyone. As a first generation college student, I don't have many people to reach out to in terms of academic advice and getting into a PhD program often seems like a distant dream lol. 
I'm currently interested in applying to these schools with these POI 
Columbia (Kellie Jones), Northwestern (Krista Thompson), UCLA (Steven Nelson), UT (Cherise Smith), NYU (Deborah Willis), Cornell (Cheryl Finely), Yale (Kobena Mercer), Derek Conrad Murray (UC Santa Cruz) 
A few questions... when is a good time to reach out to faculty of interest (plan on applying in Fall 2017)?
What are the benefits of a Visual Studies PhD as opposed to Art History?
Are there any good MA programs in Diaspora Art (and by good I mean funded/partially funded...)?
Is there any helpful specific ways you studied for the GRE?
I'm an artist, is that something that I should even mention in application or to POI's?
How important is the recommender? Many of my Africana studies professors I have personal relationships with, but there are also extremely notable Art History professors at my University that know me decently well... 
Does being an undergraduate lower my chances of acceptance? I'm an Art History major, Africana Studies minor (at top public university), Maintained good grades (3.7 CGPA, 4.0 GPA), conducted interdisciplinary research (art history/africana studies) this past summer with a SURF. Presented at two conferences at my institution and work in an art gallery on campus. 
However, I have never been published, did not complete an honors senior thesis, not extremely proficient in another language, and have not attended any conferences outside of the two I presented at,. Most worried about not being published because I feel like many applicants with MA prob are 
Like I said.. graduate school seems like a distant dream, any advice is much appreciated!!!!  Also feel free to msg me personally. 
 
 

I applied for the summer Cloisters internship!