mm_donuts

Full grant to the Netherlands! After being turned down for every other grant for which I applied (six), I feel incredibly lucky. For spreadsheet purposes, I'm a PhD student in art history. And, to the person who asked if a museum affilation is enough, apparently it is!

Lurker here. I just got a second email, too. (Full, Netherlands, Recommended)

There are programs that grant optional "Curatorial Studies" certificates alongside traditional art history PhDs. Off the top of my head, I know that NYU and Rutgers offer this. Basically, you do all the requirements for an art history degree and then take an additional handful of courses on exhibition planning. Similar to curatorial PhD programs, there are internships built into these certificates. If you're in a traditional art history program, there are definitely ways to get museum experience, as was discussed above. There are museum internships and fellowships you can apply to, and a lot of schools offer seminars that focus on planning an exhibition, even if there is no formal Curatorial Studies track. Some schools (Yale, Princeton to name a couple) also have students work as campus museum assistants as an alternative to working as a TA. Hope this helps!

Oh, and I should add - before they checked to see the status of my application, they did mention that people who haven't heard yet should NOT assume they are rejected. So good luck to everyone who is still waiting. There is still hope!

Thanks!! I just called the main number in the Academic office of the IFA. Not sure who picked up, but it was probably either Marcus Harvey or Keith Kelly.

Hmmm.. so this is interesting. I just called the IFA to check on my application, and I found out I was rejected. I don't really understand how I could get rejected for an unfunded MA at NYU, yet get a fully funded acceptance to Penn PhD. What is going on here? Oh well... Good thing I really like Penn.

Where are all those IFA people hiding? We're desperate for information! (Well, at least I am)

Congrats to the IFA acceptances! Still haven't heard from them myself Are the emails coming from the Grad Chair? Or from potential advisors?

Also, I wanted to add that I got my BA two years ago. Don't be afraid to ask an undergrad professor for some type of help with your application - they want you to succeed. It reflects well on their department/school when their undergrads go off to great grad programs.

When I started my applications, I had no idea what admissions committees would look for in an SOP, so I enlisted the help of a very kind professor from undergrad to literally go through draft after draft with me. If you happen to have a professor willing to do this with you, definitely do it! The SOP: After summarizing my undergrad work, professional experience, and research experience, I went on to describe my honors thesis in detail. Then I outlined some themes from that paper that I would like to continue to explore in grad school. I also connected these themes to a seminar paper or two, to show consistency in my interests. I didn't propose any specific topics or artists for further research, just the themes and subfield. I really hope you don't have to go through this again, but if that was at all helpful, feel free to PM me (anyone), and I can go into more detail. Good luck georgica!

Did you check the application status website? They should have emailed you an RUID and then you go here: http://gradstudy.rutgers.edu/statusnotes.shtml

I have a similar question, but slightly different circumstances. If the Graduate School requires you to fill out a response form, is it also necessary to send an email to the specific department declining the offer/saying thank you if you did NOT build a rapport with any particular professor there? I only spoke with one potential advisor very briefly during a campus visit back in December. We didn't have any email exchanges before or after that, except for me writing to say, "Thanks for meeting with me."

They've made their official decisions, but they don't know when the Dean will send out notifications. It seems that all accepted people have been called or emailed by the department (I received both today), but I'm not sure if everyone who is wait-listed has been contacted. I would start with the department admin for status updates. She's very nice. Congrats to those who survived the Princeton slaughter yesterday. Didn't make it...

I had a dream a few weeks ago that I received a letter from Harvard that said only one thing, in the center of the page: REJECTED I didn't even apply to Harvard!!!

About Chicago: I didn't apply there, but I have a friend in the program who mentioned that their target number for the 2009 incoming class is 3 students, unless they decide NOT to hire a new faculty member. That might be why we haven't seen any acceptances on the results page...