frenchlover

Word on the street is that Princeton sent out decisions today. (Someone I know confirmed that they received an acceptance.)

based on what i've heard, that sounds about right.

Hey there, Just take the plunge and apply to PhD programs. When my advisor first told me to also apply for PhDs in addition to MA degrees, I was like ??? But it was definitely a reaction she had seen before, so she kept pushing the case and here I am... ultimately attending my top choice PhD program. The issue with MA programs at 'top' schools is that you will have to pay for it... not worth it (although idk about art history -- perhaps there is a value added for potential curators?) The evaluation for your MA candidacy in programs at Chicago, NYU and Columbia is automatic if you are not admitted into the PhD program. (There may be other MA programs that at least waive tuition, some at very good schools too!) So go ahead, apply wherever you want for your PhD -- the worst that could happen is that you simply get into the MA program, or a no. Don't be discouraged by being first-gen, poor, poc, whatever. That's how academia keeps us out -- push through it, believe in yourself, and it will happen. As to whether the fact that your professors went to Stanford will affect your chances, I would say that it definitely helps sometimes (as long as people that they studied with are still at Stanford). As for your GPA, I would say your humanities GPA will be taken into serious consideration, and perhaps other fields if they are pertinent to your study (chemistry for conservation?) Your SOP, writing sample and recommendations matter a lot more than your GPA.

All that said, you could probably find adjunct positions somewhere, especially with an additional master's degree in the subject you want to teach.

Wow -- I hope not! Aren't there large tax implications of getting one huge lump sum?

True, but it may be important to know whether it's part of the record or not. If it says harassment, I'd be concerned, despite what letter writers say.

White feminists (particularly the rich ones) are a problem everywhere (see Taylor Swift). I am interested in the manner of your confrontation--and what you said to them. Did you confront them in class--out of the blue? I think it's also important to know whether this conduct is a part of your permanent record. If it is, you have some explaining to do. Your case does not sound super serious, but its evaluation depends on what you did exactly that would constitute harassment. Did these people ask you to desist and you continued to push the case that lol they were being white feminists?

You should ask your DGS about cotutelle placements. I know that one of Rutgers' recent graduates (who did a cotutelle) was placed very well. I think the 20th-century specialist at Johns Hopkins also did a cotutelle.

(disclaimer: I'm not in art history) If I were in your position, I would probably start by taking a few courses in art history in the bay area (no need to finish a master's imo - 2 or 3 courses by the time the app season comes around). Maybe at SFSU? This could help me make new connections with professors for recommendations, and allow me to figure out if this is really what I want to do. It would also demonstrate to PhD faculty that this is a serious career change. Moving out of the hypothetical, as someone who also had an unusual background, I would say that what matters in applications the most is how compelling your SOP, your project and your recommendations are -- and if they all resonate with some of the faculty in the department. GPA, GRE scores, etc matter a lot, lot less after a certain (nebulous) baseline. While it always helps to be the candidate that admissions members want, sometimes it is beneficial to be the candidate they did not realize they would have wanted as well. I think your current work could furnish a fascinating connection to the discipline -- what matters is how you present this story.

Columbia is notorious for its unfunded MA programs, particularly in the humanities (an MS in Statistics/CS pays off). That said, schools that only have MA programs (no PhD) and need TAs tend to give $$ support to MA candidates (I don't think Columbia has a PhD program in South Asian studies?) I found many wonderful funded programs of that nature, especially at public universities.

Depending on your school, you may be able to do an 'internal' transfer quite easily -- at least one person in my French PhD program did that (moved from art history to French literature).

Well, in that case, I suppose you have the incentive to write an excellent first chapter -- less rewriting in the end! (I submitted a paper I wrote for a class last fall, when I was applying, in which I was able to meet graduate writing sample expectations without worrying about the larger frame of the thesis.)

I wouldn't (and didn't) submit my thesis as a writing sample, as it is a large undertaking, and it is difficult to summarize its conclusions without having fully written it. First chapters also tend to be rough. Class papers are shorter, and you have more control and time over how polished they are -- I would just turn in a sample related to the proposed graduate project.

I'm in a 4-person cohort.

Your university's bookstore will have ordered copies. Theoretically, our stipends cover book costs. I must say, though, I bought very few books during my undergraduate career -- just work with your university's resources. Amazon also has good rates (i.e used bookstores selling on Amazon).

"The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk" - Hegel

Congratulations @Narrative Nancy I agree, everything does come together in the end

I think you can find MA programs in Spanish that are fully funded. For me, it wasn't obvious, but I was able to find a lot of them in French. University of Hawaii-Manoa, may be a good start, for example. http://manoa.hawaii.edu/llea/spanish/graduate/ Look into big public and private universities with no PhD programs in Spanish as well.

Just so you know, your grades and GPA matter, but not nearly as much as your recommendations, your writing sample, and your personal statement. Your dossier just needs to resonate for several professors in a department -- the process is too unpredictable to not apply to Stanford, so if you think it is a good fit, do apply.

Definitely -- the consortium of graduate colleges in the area is a big draw! So many more courses! More reason to go to NYC more often.

Thank you so much! I'm so excited!!

Just so y'all know, I have committed to Princeton! Woo

Also, you can accept an offer and decline it by April 15th without any complications, according to the resolution!

Wow -- guess I'm adding UT Austin to my list when I reapply in two years.

Thanks for the input, all. I interviewed at one school over a visit, where they told me that my personal statement was "a work of art", so I'm not worried about that, or my recommendations, or my writing sample, which was also well received. I was only echoing my advisor's comments, who said that the 3 years of coursework she had to do in her graduate program was like undergrad part 2, and how everyone in her cohort was "burnt out" and some even dropped out. Obviously I wouldn't launch straight into a dissertation, but frankly an MA, then an MA again, seems excessive, given how long the average humanities PhD takes to complete. I don't think it's a waste of time, but it is safe to say that many of us want to do in-depth academic research more than take courses. As for me, I took the equivalent of a literature course every semester in my undergraduate years, which is why I was able to switch my major so late (I only spent 1/3 of my academic career studying STEM, actually) -- why I even had the confidence to apply to PhD programs. I also saw that people from my school with only 3-4 courses in French literature have been admitted to top graduate programs in French, so that definitely informed my rationale. Before I applied, I did review the reading list of the comprehensive examinations that French departments have, and I will have covered more than half of it in my undergraduate coursework. I'm only missing the early modern and 18th-century courses. But that said, I could use more experience, and given you all think ageism only affects people much later, it's reassuring! Anyway, one important question that I wanted help with was this: for an MA program, if I receive offers that are funded, do I choose the one that gives me the best funding, given I want to simply gain more comprehensiveness with the discipline versus finding people with matching research interests, or do I choose the most well-known school?