artlover26

Oh please, go find a "rating" list for art history programs that was more recent than 2010. Nochlin and Alpers still had influence (and if I am right, Nochlin retired post-2010). This is to not even mention severe budget cuts. I got admitted to Berkeley plus another 10-20 school. I am pretty sure I will be going to the 10-20 because the funding package is almost triple the amount. I say if you want a "real ranking" based off the 2010 list, go to phds.org and rerank them in terms of job placement. Fine U Chicago is at about 75%. Then comes the acceptable - Berkeley 60%, Yale 63%, Penn 67%. Then the downright ugly and embarrassing - IFA/ NYU - 43%, Columbia 54%.

Your best bet would be a top 1-20 school, yes. It may not be a Yale or a Harvard, but a Santa Barbara or a Duke might land you fine.

It will be an interesting next 10 years as program reputations change drastically depending upon retirements. Berkeley saw a huge hit with retirements as well as UPenn in the last decade. Will Berkeley really ever be the same place without T.J Clark? IFA, Columbia, among others may see a change in environment as well. I would not be surprised to see some programs like USC, Duke, Wisconsin, or Northwestern begin to give a place like IFA or Chapel Hill some rivalry in the next decade.