FreakingOutFragonard

I noticed there were some results from the NYU PhD posted over a week ago. Has anyone else not heard a peep from them? If so are we waitlisted or just forgotten lol.

For accommodation check out Goodenough College. My friend lived there several years ago during her MA. Great atmosphere and events, all studious postgrads from all London universities. I went to visit often and was so jealous!! They have scholarships which would cover your accommodation at least (which is a huge chunk of costs in London!)

Has anyone had an answer from NYU? It was my equal top choice, so absolutely devastated I haven't had an interview. In previous years has anyone for art history been waitlisted/accepted without an interview? A friend of mine was waitlisted for a different subject without an interview last year so wondering if it can be the same situation. Perhaps I'm just clutching at straws watching my dreams disintegrate here...

This is kind of like deciding between Oxford and Cambridge, they are both great institutions, highly ranked and renowned for producing great research in history and art history. You should go where offers you the best funding, and the best networks for your field (for example Edinburgh has a regular 18th century seminar which invites international scholars).

Is the Princeton admit. comfortable with pm'ing me your POI and field? Wondering if our POI's are the same

Person accepted into Columbia congrats! Are you able to pm me your field and POI? Just wondering if my field has been done! Thank you!

All good advice above! I agree that switching may not solve the issue. Are you comfortable saying why you applied for MA's in Medieval but all PhD programmes in African Art? Or did I misunderstand that? What about the current programme has not fulfilled the expectations you had when you applied? I think what @Bronte1985 suggested about taking more medieval/renaissance classes and developing an interdisciplinary approach may be the best idea for now. From your post, I'm not sure withdrawing from the course would be as good for your self confidence as holding out to finish the MA portion and then entering the job world until you have a better grasp on your true passion. There is also the option to change fields if your university will allow that. If you do decide to withdraw now, however, you absolutely cannot beat yourself up about it. There is no point pushing yourself to go through the whole thing, when if leaving and returning to grad school with a firm passion for your topic will actually make you a better scholar in the end. The two most important things for a PhD are your passion for your topic (not only the broad field), and your supervisor, as you are stuck with both for several years!

Of course it's always worth trying. Also, try for some smaller and local museums, don't just go for the big names. Some of the best internships I did were in small companies who weren't used to having interns. Instead of doing a whole lot of filing/admin work I was able to work on interesting research projects and learned a lot about the business that bigger companies keep secret to interns.

Your posts did come across to me as blunt and negative. But that said I do honestly apologise to you for jumping the gun. Why was someone waitlisted then and no-one seems to have received an official rejection? If everyone turned down their offers they'd end up with no new students. This makes zero sense to me.

Anyone receive a rejection? It would have been end of day today so hopefuls could wait a weekend and think it over before frantically calling. Wondering what you are doing on the forums with each of your posts ending "just thought you all should know" when you seem to be either trolling or just spewing negativity?

Does anyone know why acceptance notifications seem to differ based on student? Why do some people receive phone calls, others an email, others a notification to check the website (these seem to be the three looking at past years for Harvard). International student here trying to grapple with this application season.

Hey @Tiff's girl congrats! I think the interviews are, like any job, a decider between candidates. You can be great on paper, but they want to see I guess that those ideas are yours, that you can have your opinions challenged, and what you are like as a person to see how you will fit in with a small group for 6 years etc. For preparing I would prepare like any job interview. Don't just list your skills, have examples to back them up. Read your POI's work and see how their work relates to your career and how their methodology could develop your approach to your thesis. Be ready to be questioned about everything to do with your proposed thesis. This is also a good opportunity for you if your POI is on the panel because you don't want to be stuck with someone throughout a PhD that you can't work with. Like any job interview make sure you have questions for them that show you have thought through the next 6 years, what you need to make your research successful, and how they come into that. Good luck!!

In terms of internships and jobs, the applications and interviews I thought I had absolutely aced led to rejections. Two jobs where I thought I completely screwed up the interview I got the job. Facial expressions and tones of voice mean more than words and questions - did they sound annoyed at the disparity or was it more to open debate and challenge your thinking?

I was wondering the same about Harvard. Nothing received here.

Hi! I don't live in the US so haven't personally interned at these. A friend of mine was at MoMA and really enjoyed her internship, but if you're looking to start a career like she was (she was there following an MA) there isn't much hope of getting hired out of the internship, but great obviously for the experience! I'm now on the other side of hiring at my company, and I'll say that the cover letter really is important, as the CV lists skills and previous experience but the cover letter is your chance to show examples as proof of those skills and show what you can bring to the role for the benefit of the company.