violetvivian

It's technically the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities. Not solely an Art History MA, but apparently you can concentrate on AH. It's an interesting program: http://maph.uchicago.edu/, one year long and generally not well funded. If you search the results archives, you'll see a lot of Art History PhD rejects/MAPH accepts.

I'm still in the dark too and was thinking the exact same thing about the MAPH. I thought it odd that there had been no "consolation" MA admits posted yet. We'll see...

To reiterate what has already been said: AH writers are preferable, but related Humanities are absolutely acceptable. Even better if the prof's work is visually driven but not tenured in the AH department (i.e. American Studies, Anthropology, Comp. Lit, etc.). I did this for PhD admissions--two of my letter writers are tenured in non-AH fields, but their work is relevant and known in AH circles. I'd like to add that you should always be aware of the academic relationships that your professors have when choosing letter writers. If your letter writer knows faculty at your program of choice, they may be able to put you in touch with that professor personally. This does not mean that your reccommender must be a star in the field. It can be as simple as saying "I see you did your doctorate work at school X--is there anyone on faculty that you would recommend I contact?" Good luck!

I wonder if we will hear from Yale tomorrow? Looks like there was a wave of news on March 1 last year. Ready for a new month!

View of Delft is a good guess...I bet that's it. Maybe another option: This ventures a little outside of your other qualifications, but based on the "no visible brushstrokes," I wonder if your professor was discussing Poussinistes vs. Reubenistes? Nicolas Poussin is a French painter who worked during the height of the Baroque, but his style is more aligned with the neoclassical. I don't think I would call his paintings photorealistic, but he was very much into finishing his canvases by erasing any evidence of visible brushstrokes. Good luck!

Thanks for posting this, and to recycledviking for sharing in the sentiment. I also have yet to get a decision and I applied to 7 schools. It can be discouraging to read this board, where it seems like everyone has heard at least something. It's good to know that there are others out there still in the dark! Also, what does "you'll hear from us shortly" mean to you guys? A week? Two? I'm kinda losing it. I would prefer "you'll hear from us on Thursday, Februrary 24 at 3:47pm" next time, thank you very much.

Congratulations on your acceptances! Austin and Boulder are both such cool cities. Re: the funding offer, I think it may be helpful to reframe it this way: regardless of whether that number is high or low, can you live on $10,000 + health insurance annually, or will you need to take out loans or take on a part-time job (if you even have time to, as a full time student)? The general idea is to avoid going in to debt for a humanities degree if at all possible. You may or may not be able to do this on $10,000/yr, it just depends on your outlook. I hear that it is quite an accomplishment to get any funding for an MA, so you should be very proud! Good luck with the rest of the decisions.

The uncertainly is definitely agonizing, but I think that it's best to be hopeful. Case in point: although we already saw a few results from Penn go up on the board, I found out just this week that Penn is not done making decisions. So, no news was good news (or not necessarily bad news). If you're getting so anxious that you can't focus, you could always contact the department secretary or your POI to ask about the decision timeline, but I have a feeling that waitlists and shortlists are still falling in to place.

Hey Atlantis, any news on why there's still been no word from UChicago?

If you're going to spend a significant amount of money getting to NYC, I'd say it's worth a phone call or email to make sure your visit won't be in vain. Good luck!

Oh dear! It looks like Penn's beginning to trickle in. I applied but I've got nothing yet (except for a headache from staring at my computer screen). To those who have heard, is there any information you can share?

Yes! It's terrible. I get email on my phone, too, so I get a little anxious every time it buzzes (even, totally impractically, in the middle of the night...believe it or not, it never turns out to be Penn texting me at 3am on a Saturday). I have my hopes up that this week will bring us some news, though. Fingers crossed for everyone.

Anonymousbequest, that is certainly one very realistic way to look at the situation. I think you are right, particularly considering the field and the job market as it stands right now. But I do think there's something to be said for the much-needed (in my opinion) reshaping of Art History as a discipline. I think that some "contemporary" specializations such as critical theory, visual culture/theory, material culture/theory play quite an important and necessary role in how the discipline views itself AND those fading fields that you mentioned. Not everyone who studies something 19th century+ wants or needs to add to the glut of canonical studies. Look at WJT Mitchell at UChicago, for instance. I'd qualify him as a modern/contemporary scholar (he lists his specialty as 1800-present) but much of his work, like Landscape and Power, provides constructs for seeing that can be applied to the classical or the contemporary. When UChicago bypasses everybody interested in 19th century and on (and again, who can blame them, based on the state of the job market that you mentioned!) they bypass some opportunities for growth and change in the field itself. I think it would be disappointing yet understandable if this is actually the case. But! All classes are canceled at UChicago today because of the snowstorm, so I'm not holding my breath for an email anytime soon. Stay warm, all of you who are buried under ice!

Interesting. To me, "modernist" can be a vague qualifier. No modernists=just no scholars of late 19th-20th century Western art? What about contemporary folks? Or modern/contemporary visual culture? I see these two latter categories fall under the heading of "modernism" quite often. Maybe as an aspiring art historian I should get a better hold on this terminology... Regardless, I'm excited to hear from U of C just like everyone else! I hope that the snowstorm doesn't delay these emails too much. Good luck everyone!

Hi everyone, Now that it's February, I'm hopeful that AH will finally get the ball rolling! A big congrats to the few of us who have heard good news so far. Can't wait to see more successes on the board. A question to possibly pass the waiting time: I was reading through some past threads and noticed that a few people described their specialties as "unfashionable." I realized that I've never really thought of concentrations as fashionable or unfashionable, just common (i.e. modern/contemporary western) and uncommon (i don't know, arts of medieval Scandinavia or something..) So...is this a thing? What would you all consider an unfashionable focus? And is it necessarily a bad thing to research something unstylish? Fashion is cyclical after all...

Hi everyone, I hope you're all enjoying the waiting as much as I am! I know I won't hear anything for a while but I still check the results page daily... This weekend, a professor who I've been in contact with asked to speak on the phone sometime soon. I'm not really sure how to approach this upcoming conversation--it's not explicitly an interview, but it's also not an informational call as my application's clearly already submitted. Do you all have any advice about this? For phone conversations in general? It's my top choice program, so I would definitely like to use the opportunity to my advantage. Thanks!

I don't think that's necessarily the case. It depends on how many accepted students take the offer. The interviewees are the short list, but there's always a backup list. I did speak to a Duke faculty member a few months ago who told me that they will only be able to take 3-5 (!) new students for the fall. Here's hoping that was an low estimate! I didn't apply, but it's an interesting program.

I really wouldn't stress too much! It's still really early. If you go to the results page and search for art history, there's only been one result posted for the 2011 round of applications. Last year, the first result wasn't posted until mid-January. Every school does admissions a little bit differently--most that I know of don't do official interview weekends like this. Duke does, USC does, maybe a few others. Artmuse--good luck with your interview! I've met with a few POIs so far this year (granted, in slightly less formal situations) and I really don't think a suit is necessary unless it's what you feel most comfortable in. If you're female, a conservative dress and sweater, nice skirt and top or slacks would all be fine as far as I know. Regarding questions to ask: I found this to be a helpful start: http://community.livejournal.com/applyingtograd/2977795.html Best of luck!

I've tried to get in touch with a professor at one of the PhD programs on my application list, but she hasn't responded to my emails (I emailed her once in early October and once again a month later). My interests fit well with her research, and more importantly, she is probably the only person on faculty at this particular school who could potentially advise me. As the deadline to this program approaches, I'm wondering if it's even worth it to apply and fork over the application fee. Would it be a poor choice to apply to this program with the goal of working with this professor who hasn't responded to my attempts to get in touch? In my other applications, I have either been in contact with potential advisers (exchanged emails, phone calls) or have not contacted anyone at all. This is the only school at which my emails have been ignored. I realize professors are busy and don't have time to respond to every inquiry, but should I take this as a hint?

I'm a tiny undergrad too, applying to many of the programs already mentioned on this thread. Don't worry, you're not alone