void

I am also looking into housing. Does anyone have any recommendations or places I should avoid? I was originally looking into Madison Property Management apartments as there seemed to be quite a few near campus, but further research revealed that they regularly just keep the deposits, regardless of how clean and well repaired the place is left. My other big concern is mold because I am deathly deathly allergic to it - like couldn't survive a night in a moldy apartment allergic. How proactive are landlords about mold and what kinds of places should I aim for/avoid? I so very much appreciate any help.

Hey, Is anyone else going here? What are you doing for housing? Any recommendations or places to avoid?

Also Nina Kallmyer, University of Delaware. Really great mentor too.

Freaking out is an understatement. I think complete melt-down may be more appropriate. I decided, but I think I may have done so rashly, and now I think I may have made the worse mistake of my life. I picked a school where the advisor seemed not so enthused to have me because I was just so into her area of specialization and I am turning down a school that seemed to be jumping up and down to have me. Both seem hopefully about equal in rank (???) However the school I chose did give me a 4 yr university-wide fellowship, while the school that seemed less eager to have me gave me funding only at the very last second, presumably after another student turned them down. I just wanted to pick all of my schools... oh god..

I have a dilemma that has just come up. I decided on University A before visiting, but have not declared any official decisions to any of the programs. I just visited last week. While visiting I became so excited about the program and opportunities and was completely set on going. However, on the last day of a 3 day conference, I met with my prospective advisor from the program, who had planned the conference and was potentially exhausted. While talking to her, she just did not seem so thrilled with the prospect of me joining the program. I am excited about her work, but I get the feeling she has little interest in mine. I do not think she was on the ad com. She never said anything specifically welcoming to me, but she was not exactly unwelcoming, and she kept mentioning negatives about me coming there such as that the buildings around my building would be torn down the whole time I am in the program. One draw of the program was that it was the only school offering me full funding for 4 yrs. Also at program A, this professor is the only person in the program with interests close to my own. Also, for background, this professor's other students absolutely love her, though she is overstretched to a degree. Program B, probably my second choice because it is less of a direct fit and because they offered me very little funding, just emailed me today offering me full funding for my first year and elegibility for similar funding in further years. This program allows more options of people I could work with, but they are not as interested in my primary interests. One of the faculty members, who is probably the second close to my research interests at this school, stated to me that she really hopes I chose their program and that she is so excited about my work. (I did not have the opportunity to plan a trip to visit.) A much better reception from her than the one I received from my potential advisor at school A. Help! What do I do now, 2 days before deadline date?

Yes, I actually did find out about funding during the unofficial period. I was lucky enough to have been awarded a fellowship by the university, which I was awarded after the unofficial department acceptance but before the official university acceptance. I think the official acceptance took a particularly long time in my case because my UG transcripts were unconventional and I didn't have a GPA.

I had this happen a few years ago when I applied to an M.A. program with SFSU, but I was offered loans and then rejected from the program! (Probably because of an abysmal meeting I had with the potential advisor where I think we mutually rejected eachother. Oh man. But I got into a great M.A. program elsewhere.) I do not think SFSU financial aid has a single thing to do with the admissions process.

I am joining the ranks of the almost 30 crowd, have an M.A., going in for PhD. I am a little worried about being a bit older, but at the same time I feel I am much better prepared, focused, and experienced to pursue this course than I did at 22, fresh out of undergrad.

You're in. That's what I received and then probably months later I received the official acceptance. I cannot imagine a reason the grad school would not admit you at this point, unless there is some kind of unfulfilled basic requirement.

In my M.A. program, the faculty were briefly considering eliminating the thesis requirement and discussing the pros and cons of this course of action. My understanding from this is that the thesis is more important for those wanting to go on and pursue their PhD, whereas it is less essential for those wanting to pursue careers with just the M.A.

Thank you Liszt85 for your advice. I agree, finding TT jobs is HUGE. It really helps to bounce these ideas around and I am so grateful this forum provides a space for just that. Your response also makes me realize I should be a little more specific. I am concerned about the professor at school B who will not be available until 2011. That covers the majority of the time I am taking coursework, which as I understand in Art History, forms the backbone of our dissertations. Our topics and research are supposed to come primarily out of those two years of coursework. I am afraid that if the advisor I am most interested in working with is not there, I will not have the opportunity to work in the area I hope to pursue. (This advisor specializes in the time period I am interested in, while the second person from school B has some overlap in theoretical interests from another time period.) I am also concerned about more loans as about 50% of my MA was paid for with loans, which I have not paid back. And of course the job prospects in my field are truly frightening, so relying so heavily on loans is a little frightening to say the least. Hope this is more clear. I would truly appreciate any further advice.

I just posted this question under my discipline, but I think this would be an appropriate place to ask as well. I am having a great deal of trouble deciding which program to accept. I think I've narrowed it down to two, but I really like the third choice as well. School A has offered me a 4 yr fellowship--2 years of fellowship paired with 2 years of guarenteed teaching-- (I'm doing PhD and already have an MA). It also seems to be a closer match to my research interests, however the advisor I'd work with, while excellent, seems to be overstretching herself. Her students tend to take their paper drafts to a grad student paper writing service rather than her for help along the way because shes really busy, even though she tries really hard to fit everyone in. I think I prefer the location of school A as the town is fairly cool and I have relatives living nearby. School B, on the other hand, seems more prestigious, graduates seem to get better tenure track and curatorial positions more often (as you know, finding jobs in the humanities is a frightening prospect), there are significantly more nearby museum internship opportunities, students work the program very quickly, and there are very close, hands-on working relationships between advisors and advisees. However the primary person I'd want to work with is away until January 2011 (but apparently some people work with 2 primary advisors and there are 2 people I want to work with there), it is less of a close fit to my interests, and the funding situation this year seems frighteningly grim (no funding offer but they make funding decisions on a yearly basis and tend to spread the wealth evenly and support students well historically). I would truly appreciate any advice anyone can offer.

I'm deciding too. I think I've narrowed it down to two, but I really like the third choice as well. School A has offered me a 4 yr fellowship (I'm doing PhD, already have MA), seems a closer match to my research interests, however the advisor I'd work with, while excellent, seems to be overstretching herself. Her students tend to take their paper drafts to a grad student paper writing service rather than her for help along the way because shes really busy, even though she tries really hard to fit everyone in. School B, on the other hand, seems more prestigious, graduates seem to get better tenure track and curatorial positions more often, there are more nearby museum internship opportunities, students work the program very quickly, and there are very close, hands-on working relationships between advisors and advisees. However the primary person I'd want to work with is away until January 2011 (but apparently some people work with 2 primary advisors and there are 2 people I want to work with there), it is less of a close fit to my interests, and the funding situation this year seems frighteningly grim (no funding offer but they make funding decisions on a yearly basis and tend to spread the wealth evenly and support students well historically). Can anyone please offer any advice?

I don't want to move until the last possible minute because I am living in the most awesome city right now with the perfect summer weather, and likely moving somewhere quite humid with much less exciting things to go do and see. I kind of want to live it up an little beforehand, but also don't want to be outa luck for housing. Good topic.

So I have a few questions for those of you with acceptances. How are you making your decisions? Is it mainly program fit, prestige, funding, or other reasons? I have been accepted to a few PhD programs, but probably my largest concern is the prospect of finding jobs at the other end, especially since none of my acceptances are from Ivys. Has anyone found a reliable Art History PhD program ranking? And do you think it is rude to email the programs asking for percentages of graduates in tenure track positions and/or curatorial work and how long it took them to get there? Is anyone else in this position and how are you dealing with this?

I am in the same place and you narrated my experience perfectly. I am beyond shocked to have even gotten 1, let alone 4, and now I am a complete loss on how to proceed. I had pretty much decided on school B, received just days after school A, but now schools c and d are just throwing everything out of proportion. I am so anxious and so unclear on what I should do, and the professors are all so nice, and all of them look like great options. I am even having nightmares about how I am going to turn schools down, what to write to the super nice professors, and that I am going to choose wrong. I feel so lucky to be in this position but I am a mess.

I am from the bay area and visiting the school, but no one mentioned there was a welcome weekend. I am going in April 8-10.

Wow congratulations to all the NYU IFA acceptances! Any word from them about PhDs?

Lunalee, you have described my position perfectly. It's a good position to be in, but I am terrified of making the wrong choice or giving a bad impression. Amazingly, I think the anxiety has increased significantly since I received my first acceptance.

In my SOP, I packed the first paragraph, as concisely as possible, with my general research areas and time periods, then moved into a little more specific description of the types of issues that interest me/that I want to pursue, and then gave a really brief description of how I addressed these issues in my M.A. thesis. (I never named a specific project or the artists I wanted to work with, but rather hinted at these things in terms of what I had already worked on.) The second half of that paragraph stated which people I wanted to work with and what aspects of their work related to what I wanted to pursue/how it related to my previous work. I finished that paragraph with a statement as to why I wanted to study Art History specifically. Then I went into my academic background and how my past work shaped my interests yet also gave me a range of experience, what I did in my time off from school and how that was relevant to my research interests, and my graduate positions in my M.A. and how they broadened my range of experience. My last paragraph talked about my goals and what generally about that program would help me attain those goals. That was probably more detail than you wanted or needed, but I hope it helps.

Yeah the small envelope could be anything. I've received both in small envelopes.

Hey Preg, We're all behind you here! I have heard the same types of things about removing your wedding ring (if you are a woman of course) when interviewing for academic positions and all of the horrible, should-be-illegal discriminatory practices that do go on. And that just seems so wrong to me that teaching experience would be a negative strike, but I think that's perhaps a possibility. It does not seem like it should be, as that means you have been working and getting even more experience in your field, arguably putting you way ahead of less experienced applicants straight out of undergrad. Although, as you were saying, it may explain it if you put more weight on your teaching than your research experience on your SOP. I think it may be a good idea, which I imagine you may already know and were planning on, to ask the schools why you were rejected so you can improve the application the next year. Also, the game isn't over yet, you still have some schools to go.

As long as we are sharing this kind of information (which is totally helpful, thanks everyone!) University of Washington in Seattle was supposed to finalize their decisions by the end of last week and start notifying now/soon. Does anyone know anything about USC? An acceptance was posted weeks ago, so I am thinking probably not for them.

I am really sorry to hear about your losses! That must have been really hard to say the least.. I have not been in this situation with my undergrad transcript, but my intuition says you probably should not use terms like burn out or any other term related to being unable to handle and/or turning away from academic pressures during this time. I think in that situation I would address it in the statement in the context of saying when it happened, acknowledging briefly the failing grade, and then moving on from there to talk about how this experience impacted your decision to further pursue graduate study.

I guess also by the looks of things, I didn't get in to Penn... :/