riceandbeans12

Hello all, Thank you in advance for any advice you might have and sorry if this is long. Here is my profile to begin with: - BA and MA in a related humanities field from the same university... a public research university (state), generally well-regarded but no ivy. - BA overall gpa horrendous (2.5), but within major not horrible (3.5) - went to MA at same institution. 3.9 gpa, participated in 2 conferences, taught 2 undergraduate courses independently. also took seminars in art history, contemporary art while in MA program. CON: there was no MA thesis, but instead a comprehensive exam which i aced... but still, no MA thesis. - received MA in 2013.. have been living abroad and working at a well-regarded art non-profit for 2 years. trying to find a new job at the moment, as i have just given them my notice of leave. in my role at this current job, i've been an associate editor for 7 anthologies on contemporary art. - have published 2 articles; one was translated, the other republished elsewhere. but these were not peer-reviewed journals or anything. - will have 3 strong recommendations for PhD programs should i apply. 2 of the recommenders are from the art history field. - languages: i am bilingual but not in a language related to my field of interest per se. my french is intermediate with strength in reading. ---- I'm currently having a bit of an identity crisis, especially given how insanely competitive PhD programs are in the US. I've tried to be devoted to this field of contemporary art, but I'm thinking more and more that maybe I need to get a second MA in art history/visual culture proper in order to produce a solid MA thesis, and also for networking and contacts, before applying to a PhD. I certainly don't have the funds for an MA and would have to take out loans. I'm also maybe in a weird state because I just quit my insanely demanding and exhausting job, and feel like I've forgotten what my own interests are after 2 years of working on other people's projects. It's weird, I feel like I've gotten dumber. I'm also wondering whether my past track record (undergraduate GPA, namely) will still prevent me from getting into an top-ranking PhD program. I'm targeting visual culture programs over strictly traditional art history ones, as I come from an interdisciplinary background and my interests tend to spill into several disciplines. Has anyone tried to write a solid paper as a substitute for a thesis on their own? I see that most programs require 15-20 pages. Think I could do this on my own? I thought about taking a seminar at nearby schools when I return to the US (moving back soon) and using that as an opportunity to craft a good paper. I have a paper from 2012, a seminar paper, but it is very outdated. Any and all advice regarding what I can begin to do now to help my application in the fall is appreciated. Thank you.