kleo

I also just got the Columbia rejection! I wonder how many they take per year?

Hey everyone, that was me who posted about Princeton. I'm still waiting for the official update in the portal with the formal offer. Maybe they are sending out acceptances in batches?

Hey there, I was not interviewed formally by Princeton. I had 3 informal meetings with relevant faculty via Zoom before applying (I had reached out to them first). Have you heard anything from them?

Thanks a lot! Very helpful! They are keeping us waiting then 😅

Hi all, anyone heard anything from Columbia or Princeton?

As interviews and decisions come rolling in (at least in the US/UK), I would love to have a stronger overview of what particular programs are really known for, in terms of specialty, approach, and culture. Though one way to do this is to meticulously research the focus of the faculty, I'm also interested in informally crowdsourcing from this community regarding the various specialties and strengths/weaknesses of given departments, as well as particularities, quirks, or green/red flags. As we know, there isn't a centralized, up-to-date system for info on art history grad programs (no?), but it would be interesting to build an informal atlas of what programs are known for. Some of us are international students who might not have the strongest overview of US academic culture, while others are already enrolled somewhere here, so I'm really curious about what you all think.. For example, through the grapevine, on this chat, and from friends, I've heard... IFA NYU has an in with the Met, so that's a good place to go if you want connections there Columbia is very intense and competitive, profs are hands-off (?) I've heard that CWRU is also geared toward training curators, but there are some less-than-ideal departmental dynamics (heard that from browsing here). Yale is interdisciplinary in character and aims to train both curators and future faculty Kansas is unbelievably good for East Asian Art; Minnesota is the same for South Asian Art History The Cal schools have all had funding problems that don't match cost of living (still true?) Stanford's program is geared much more toward modern/contemporary and film studies and only wants interdisciplinary scholars Happy to be contradicted on any of these, and would love to hear what else you've heard.

It's early modern...but now I'm wondering if I mixed this up with a different school 😅

I got an invite to an interview with Yale two days ago - but don't lose heart, it's possible that they stagger them. I haven't heard anything from Columbia.

Before I applied, I spoke to 2 POIs on Zoom. One of them said that there was no formal interview with a committee—that I would just receive a result. I'm guessing they would set up a chat if there was someone who wanted to talk to you (as with the poster below), but the process didn't seem as formal.

That's helpful, thanks! I guess I'll have to wait and see. It's interesting that whether there is an interview or not is not a transparent part of most programs' websites. I wonder if they interview all considered candidates, or if it depends. Curious to know what others' experiences have been.

Hey everyone! I applied in the end to 4 PhD programs in the US - Yale, Princeton, Northwestern, and Columbia. I focused on fully funded programs with a strong early modern department. Am also considering some structured programs in the Netherlands and other places in Europe. US applications are in but I haven't heard back from anywhere yet (not surprisingly). Best of luck to everyone and looking forward to hearing more about where people are applying!

Hey everyone. Curious to hear what your experience has been with 'chatting' with potential supervisors on Zoom before applying and/or being invited to interviews afterward. I reached out to professors at ~12 universities about applying to their PhD program in art history and/or archaeology/visual studies. I sent my CV and a 2-page project exposé with it. Almost all of them responded (some quickly, some not), and about half of these invited me to talk to them on Zoom about my research and why I was interested in the program. In all, I had about 7 or 8 of these informal (c. 15-30 minute) chats. They didn't exactly feel like interviews, but they did ask me what I was interested in researching and asked me to describe my academic journey. In the end, I applied to 4 programs in the US. I haven't heard back from anyone about an interview yet -- but will I? For more info, I am applying to fairly competitive and fully funded programs this year (trying my luck, can always expand the search next year...). What were your experiences like in terms of reaching out to professors beforehand (if you did)? Have you been asked to interview after, or did you talk to anyone before?