Heideggerian

I just recently went through the admissions cycle for Fall 2021, so most of this is still fresh to me which I think could be helpful to you! Also, I applaud you for planning already this far out. I started planning the summer of 2020, and it definitely helped me to take my time to digest all of this. Your professional experience would help a lot, generally speaking, in determining an acceptance to an art history MA program. Depending on the program, some boards will value this gallery/museum experience more than others, but it generally is a great addition on your application. You could especially use it to elaborate any research experience you had at those institutions (i.e., curator/client/artist research, even if it's as simple as in support of an exhibition). So I would definitely highlight anything relevant from these two on your Statement of Purpose. Foreign languages are pretty much required for Art History grad programs, I don't think I've ever actually seen one that does not require any. It's usually expected that you prove your understanding by translating a document (like an academic paper), with the help of a dictionary. It can be 1-2 languages, depending on your specialty or proposed field of interest. You will definitely have to learn either German, French, Italian, and/or possibly Spanish, based off your listed interests. This depends mainly on how you narrow your focus, and will be determined by you and your advisor. I came into mine already having learned French, Spanish, and Italian, so the language requirement wasn't too big a deal for me and my proposed interests. The B.A. in History will certainly help, although you may want to consider addressing this discrepancy in your statement of purpose briefly. Most programs will note it's not required to have been an Art History major in undergrad, and will certainly either a) Add relevant coursework to your studies to get you up to speed (i.e., Methodologies of Historiography), or b) ask to see some form of interest in art history whether through a few courses like those you're taking now, or through professional experience like your museum/gallery positions. I don't think you'll have enough time to take undergrad courses at the same time as your grad courses. But if you're missing anything in your records, the program would typically have you fill in those classes through their program upon starting anyways. I'm not too familiar with whether your Phi Beta Kappa membership and its impact on admissions committees. Your statement of purpose for a grad program is greatly different from that of an undergrad application. I'd caution against mentioning anything "extra," unless it is somehow directly related to the program or field. PhDs are guaranteed funding typically, but the MA is incredibly notorious for not being offered funding. There are programs, however, that can secure funding for their MA students. UC Davis does this, one of my friends got a great funding package from them for her MA in art history. Although they do not offer a PhD. I've heard Columbia is a cash grab as well. Although I never asked them any follow-up questions on funding as I ended up rejecting my offer from them. (NYU was a similar case). One of my mentors went to Williams and she always speaks highly of them, and I know they're another well-respected but also well-funding institution. Unfortunately, it's not very common for MA's to be funded from my understanding. How to obtain it, I'm not too keen on either. The program that was my top choice happened to offer me half the tuition reduced and an assistantship to cover my living expenses, while others in my cohort were offered a similar package but for full tuition waived. You can definitely negotiate funding with a program though, especially if you have some sort of leverage. It's quite common for universities to start hounding their applicants and figure out who else is competing for the student. So once you start getting offers, you can use school A's offer to get more funding from school B if school B is higher up on your list. I hope this helps. Feel free to privately message me as I'm open to discussing these things in further detail.