CHINESEGOLD

I think interview and especially the writing sample (the theoretical exhibition) are pretty important. In my interviews, acceptance letters etc. the comments were mostly about my “potential”, “writing” and my school “fit” My grades, school and extra curricular stuff was all slightly above average at best, maybe even bad by Bard standards. My writing sample was solid though and it helped too that years of reading texts from Bard and associated writers made it so my interests naturally kind of aligned with Bard’s. TL;DR I’m a quasi burnout and I got in probably largely based on the writing portion, you should just give it a shot

Barthes’ Camera Lucida, Benjamin’s Art in the Age of Mechanical Production and Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge we’re often referred to in undergrad especially in reference to the period of art OP is talking about .

This forum should have a “small questions that don’t deserve their own thread” thread, but whatever aha. anyways, I put in a deferral request(letter) for the program I paid my deposit for, this was a bit over two weeks ago. The grad advisor said she’d contact me as soon as it’s confirmed. Radio silence for about two weeks so I put in an email on Wednesday asking if there’s been an update, and still... radio silence. Like not even a “hey, it’s still under review”. It’s weird because she’s been very, very fast with responses until this point. not sure what to do rn considering September is fast approaching and I kind of need to know what’s up since the school is in a foreign country that’s also a covid hotspot so I really need to start some major planning, which I can’t do without a response. What do you all recommend I do?

Hello everyone, So I'm faced with the very difficult task of choosing between these two programs, and was curious if anyone could chime in because I'm really torn. For some context, for the Courtauld, I was accepted into the Chinese contemporary art cohort. Essentially at the end of the day, although I love writing and research, I want to ultimately get into the museum/institutional side of things, not academia. Specifically within the field of contemporary art (as broad as that is). I don't really want a PhD but I'm open to it later on but I kind of want to just finish my MA and start working. Bard is my strong first choice right now just because I mostly read/consume stuff from the New York art world and I have a strong interest in net/post-net art and theory. In general the school's intellectual profile seems to along more strongly with mine, both in syllabus and faculty. The other pull for me is the program's vocational elements, summer externships, "practical" skill development etc. The main cons I'm looking at is that I'm nervous that because there's no grad thesis paper, it will hamper me in proceeding towards a PhD if I choose to after. The second con is kind of weird one. Specifically, I'm fresh out of undergrad with very little art world experience and I'm afraid I'll drown in a program that seems to mostly have post-grad students and people with art world experience. Courtauld pros are one year length, brand name and the fact that I'll produce an MA paper. That's about it. The specialization I was accepted to is something I care about but not as strongly as net/post net art and I'm further hampered by the fact that I've been accepted into Chinese contemporary but speak nor read Mandarin. I'm sure they accepted me into this stream for a reason but it still seems like something that will hamper me. It doesn't really have a vocational element either. I've heard talk of the "Courtauld Mafia" but I have no idea how to navigate the gap between a writing/research based degree and employment. Bard seems to have a ton of networking built in. Money isn't a factor here, my family is helping me out + I won't know my Courtauld funding package for a couple more weeks. Thanks!!

I’ve been accepted into the Chinese contemporary art stream. Found out maybe a couple weeks ago now.

@fauna876 I heard back like end of February ish. I was notified by email from the head of UBC's grad council. As an update for anyone still waiting I've been: accepted into the UBC art history MA accepted into the Courtauld art history MA rejected by Courtauld curatorial MA rejected by McGill art history MA waitlisted for Bard curatorial MA

Hey. This has probably been asked before but I just did my first grad school interview (Bard Curatorial MA) and it was only about 25 minutes long. Did I screw up? Or is there no way to know? When I was given the invitation there was no timeframe (e.g Courtauld told me about 30 minutes). The interviewer asked me about my proposed curatorial project and some general art discursive things then just talked about nuances in the program (e.g the revamped internship program, campus life etc.) I'm nervous I messed up because : a) I told him I had no questions about the program (but I expanded that I had done a fair amount of research into the program and I really only would be curious about logistical specifics like needing a car) b) He didn't ask a ton of questions about me. Really just my proposed curatorial project and how some of the theoretical/philosophical elements functioned. He kind of started to ramble about the theory elements I touched on so I'm hoping that means I piqued his interest? This is probably a pointless exercise asking this forum but I feel like this is mostly to stop me from having an anxiety vomit

Just to help others regarding waiting for responses- I just had my interview for the Bard curatorial program, I've been accepted into UBC's art history MA program and I've been granted interviews for both the Courtauld Art History MA and Museum Studies program.