viiciouscircle

Hi! Thanks for all the people who answered, I know this is a late response but just wanted to say that all the comments helped me to formulate my thoughts and were all put into my final decision. I decided to go with Courtauld for the specialization and also because I had a chance to talk to my tutor, the professor I was interested in was also on sabbatical this year at SOAS. I think SOAS would have been a great experience as well, but so far courtauld has been amazing. Posting this to let anyone who is interested in knowing more know that they are free to contact me. - Daphne (:

Hi there fellow art history majors! I have tried asking my question in the decisions board but to no response, so I’m looking to you guys for help I'm an international and I'm not looking to continue on a phd degree and hope to work outside of Asia after graduating, hopefully in museum or auctions houses. My current offers are from NYU IFA Art History/ Courtauld MA Art History/ SOAS MA Art History of East Asia. My question is, should I choose prestige over interest? I have currently ruled out NYU due to the cost (though having 2 years of study is appealing) so I am trying to decide between SOAS and Courtauld. SOAS has more flexible courses that I find interesting compared to the specialized option at Courtauld (which I am moderately interested), but the school name is making me lean towards picking Courtauld over SOAS. So, for art history majors with a focus on Asian art, which one would be a better pick career-wise? Would going to Courtauld give me an edge or would it be odd to study asian art in a more western art history focused school? Should I choose SOAS out of interest even if I am not planning on doing further research in the future (how are job placements for SOAS art history students?) Choosing to continue study with art history I already know that the job prospects are harder compared to other majors, which is why I'm also trying to balance it out with more practical choices. It is a bit hard to understand school reputation as an international student (no one has heard of Courtauld which also makes me a bit worried)so, any advice is welcomed, thanks!

I have not yet heard back from 3 of the schools I applied for, but have quietly accepted defeat (: I just wish they could send out the rejection letters sooner so we aren't left hanging!

Hello, first of all thanks for reading, and I will try and make this as simple as possible! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm an international and I'm not looking to continue on a phd degree and hope to work outside of Asia after graduating, hopefully in museum or auctions houses. My current offers are from NYU IFA Art History/ Courtauld MA Art History/ SOAS MA Art History of East Asia. My question is, should I choose prestige over interest? I have currently ruled out NYU due to the cost (though having 2 years of study is appealing) so I am trying to decide between SOAS and Courtauld. SOAS has more flexible courses that I find interesting compared to the specialized option at Courtauld (which I am moderately interested), but the school name is making me lean towards picking Courtauld over SOAS. So, for art history majors with a focus on Asian art, which one would be a better pick career-wise? Would going to Courtauld give me an edge or would it be weird to study asian art in a more western art history focused school? Should I choose SOAS out of interest even if I am not planning on doing further research in the future (how are job placements for SOAS art history students?) Choosing to continue study with art history I already know that the job prospects are harder compared to other majors, which is why I'm also trying to balance it out with more practical choices. Feel free to criticize me and again, any advice is welcomed (:

Hello, thanks for the reply! Well, as a non-native speaker I had to study for about 3 months, so way to go for getting that score without studying! I had a pretty intense (?) studying process, I only did the free online practice test 2 days before the test (I advise people to do it earlier!! Also make sure to add another round of V/Q so you are prep to stay focus till the end of the test). I'll try to talk about my study process as short as possible, but I'm not sure if it's anything particular and if it works for everyone. 1) Vocabulary: I used magoosh vocabulary app/2000 and 1000 word GRE vocab booklet/Quizlet I studied everyday as I transit to and from work till I started dreaming about swiping the Quizlet app. Learning about the roots and origins of the words helped greatly in memorizing them and I think it also helps if you look up the words and make your own quizlet flash card (if you have time) I reccommend a site called vocabulary.com that has fun explanation and listed roots of the words. After remembering the words in the first round (about 50~100 words a day for new words) I review by making a full list of all the words, and divide them into 7 days of the week including repeating the sets (ie. mon:ABC tue:CDE). Depending on how long you want to study and how many times you would like to make it through all the sets (say 3,4 times), do the math and see how many sets you need to go through a day. When I had the time I also organized a lit of words with similar meanings or could be used in the same context I spent about 1 month learning new words and 1 month reviewing, I'm thinking it would be shorter for a native speaker 2) I did more than 1000 questions on the vocab section, twice. Then did the ones I got wrong again. I found the materials online and I think they were from past tests and the official books. If you don't understand the logic for the question, go back and think it over with someone, don't skip or just accept the answer without understanding the rationale. Discuss the logic behind the answer and you'd get better at it, there is a certain flow to the questions so after some time, I could kind of 'feel' what the test wanted me to answer. 3) I put all the materials on my phone/laptop/kindle so I could study while transiting etc etc I don't think I can list all the things I did but if you have any questions feel free to ask! I'd really like to help people out with the test as best as I can ? As a history major, I have to admit I am not as focused about what part of art history I'd like to study (guilty!) But currently, I am interested in modern European art and war/post-war art in Germany. I'd also like to study Japanese art and how it influenced European art in the 19th c. I know I sound out of focus so I've also considered applying next year when (hopefully) I have a clearer idea ? Any thoughts/advice will be welcome!

Thanks for the reply! Yes I will be focusing on UK programs, I just felt it to be a waste after studying my butt off for the GRE (I got a 170 on verbal!) so I thought I should try to apply, though the US does seem less lenient about people coming from non-art history backgrounds.

Thanks for taking the time to reply! The lack of art history knowledge/class is the reason I'm not thinking of directly applying for PhD, thought it would be a better idea to gain more experience and knowledge in the field through an MA. I guess I will be asking the programs directly to be clear about admission requirements.

Hello people of gradcafe! After hours of searching the internet with limited results, I figured it's best to turn to the knowledgeable people here for help (= I'm an international student with a BA in history and am planning to apply for art history programs in the US. I found that some programs (such as Hunter's MA art history) require art history credits prior to enrollment as well as reading knowledge of a foreign language. There was only one art history course in my university and a credited internship at an art gallery (of which I both did). So now I'm panicking with a bunch of questions, I understand the best route would be to ask the schools directly but I thought I'd get a more general idea from applicants in the know here. So: 1) How "required" are the art history credits and language requirements for MA art history programs? Is it usually possible to take them during the program? 2) There's no community college credits in my country where I can make up for the prerequisite credits, does that mean I would have to sign up for online classes in the US? If so, does it matter how/where I take them? 3) Seeing that the US offers limited terminal MA in art history, how do people usually go about applying straight for PhD? It seems I'm not even eligible to apply for MA? I've read on here that arts/humanities don't usually expect you to have research/published paper in undergrad, yet it seems pretty required for PhD so I'm a bit confused. I apologize if my questions seem ignorant, any help would be greatly appreciated!