peaceb4war

Hey everyone! Your comments have been very helpful. As it turns out, Brown has offered me a generous financial package and GW hasn't offered anything... so that clears up the question of which school to choose. I'm still exploring some job options, but I will probably head off to Brown in the fall since the program looks very interesting and I'm confident that the degree will be very useful (more useful than the one-year MA in straight History I'm currently completing). I've talked to my old boss about this and she supports my plan of accepting the spot in the program while the offer is on the table. As of right now most employers may view me as less qualified than applicants with more vocational degrees. I figure with two Master's degrees, one in the specialized field and one in museum studies, I should be fairly well set to work my up to a curatorial position. It might not be the senior-director job, but that's OK with me. Thanks again!

Hello All, I've gotten in to two public history/museum studies programs. The one at Brown is called "Public Humanities" and seems to be focused on a lot of interdisciplinary and theoretical work. The program at George Washington seems more vocational, offering classes in collection management, conservation, etc. I want to be a curator. That's all I've ever wanted to do, and in the years I've spent researching the job and completing various internships, I still can't discern a clear-cut path towards my career goal. I feel like I already have enough experience as a grunt worker (two years as a research assistant/exhibit construction), and now I want to aim a little higher. I applied to two PhD programs in history and got rejected from both -- one prof wrote me a note saying that I didn't need a PhD to work in a museum... I wish I had the guts to write back and say, "actually, Professor, I plan on being pretty important. So I'll need that PhD to give me street cred." (Don't get the wrong idea. I'm really not so obnoxious I would say something like that). So what should I do? The program at George Washington seems more geared towards actually training me for jobs, but I'm not sure those are the jobs I want. If I become a registrar, am I stuck with that for the rest of my life or is it possible to crawl up the ranks and eventually become the director/curator? I'm also discouraged because I'm female and it seems to me like most small to middling sized museums are filled with women with MA's who do all the actual work, supervised by a male curator who got into museums after working in academia for 35 years. I'm also thinking about just sticking in the work force for a while... Only I'm currently unemployed and the opportunities are not too plentiful. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Sorry everyone! I didn't realize my comments would be so offensive . Good luck!

With all this talk about the re-structuring of the program, I don't think we can expect anything to work exactly as it did last year. Why get all upset if you don't hear anything on a Friday? With fewer acceptances, they may be taking longer to decide. I'm going to just be patient and not expect to hear anything before March. Hopefully I'll know something before March 16th, because I'm going to be traveling in Northern Virginia that week and I'll need to know whether I should rent a car and make the drive to Charlottesville.

They couldn't have sent out all the letters yet. Trust me, If they had, gradcafe would be buzzing with the news. If I'm wrong, let's see some posts from people who've actually heard something one way or the other.

I just received an offer from Brown's "Public Humanities" program, but I'm not sure I'm going to take it because I don't want to pay for it (I was hoping for a full fellowship... rejected for that). Can anyone tell me if they think the program's worth it?

I am also curious about the program. I just got in, but I'm really unsure about whether it's worth the money or not (I did not receive the full fellowship that attracted me in the first place).