Seeking

Rankings for different disciplines differ significantly.
 
For rhetoric and composition, Oregon and Maryland are very much part of the group of schools that send out successful Graduates who land a faculty position.
 
One has to see the faculty profiles in one's own discipline to see where they got their PhDs from. 

If you need funding and that's the only way you will be able to attend Graduate school, then it's not rude to check boxes - it's being honest about your case so that they will know how to treat your application in the fairest possible manner.
 
If you get funding, you attend otherwise you don't attend because you don't have funding. If they like your application, they will find funding if they can, otherwise they will tell you they don't have funding and then you don't attend, period.
 
Although it is usually more difficult to get funding for Masters, I know several cases where Masters students got funding because their applications were highly appreciated by the faculty. Besides, usually it's possible to find out in advance before applying if a Masters program has funding.
 
A PhD without funding is not worth getting into.

If you need funding and that's the only way you will be able to attend Graduate school, then it's not rude to check boxes - it's being honest about your case so that they will know how to treat your application in the fairest possible manner.
 
If you get funding, you attend otherwise you don't attend because you don't have funding. If they like your application, they will find funding if they can, otherwise they will tell you they don't have funding and then you don't attend, period.
 
Although it is usually more difficult to get funding for Masters, I know several cases where Masters students got funding because their applications were highly appreciated by the faculty. Besides, usually it's possible to find out in advance before applying if a Masters program has funding.
 
A PhD without funding is not worth getting into.

Hi Kdavid,
 
I had a look at your CV. Just some thoughts - 
 
1) It's not clear whether you are a native Chinese speaker or a native English speaker. If you are a native English speaker, mention it.
 
2) It's not clear why you want to emphasise that your entire Master's study was in Chinese. If you want to stress that despite being an English speaker you have gained native fluency in Chinese, say so. 
 
3) Make a heading "Chinese Proficiency" and mention there that all your Master's education was in Chinese and that you have a Chinese proficiency certificate as well. 
 
4) Change "Teaching experience" to "Work experience."
 
5) Mention your BA qualifications above language certification qualifications. Further, mention what courses you took in BA that are relevant for what you want to do now. Also mention in total how many credits you have got in the area that you want to study further.
 
6) Normally, the order of your qualifications should be - 
 
Educational qualifications
- Master's Degree - In what subject, from where, year when completed, total credits, any significant grade points if available.
- Master's thesis - Topic and description, when completed, grade point if available.
- Bachelor's Degree - In what subjects (Major and Minor), from where, year when completed, courses taken relevant for your future study, total credits, grade points obtained.
 
Chinese proficiency
  Certifications -
- TESOL etc
- Chinese etc
 
Lectures delivered
-Arranged from most recent to the oldest in sequence - Titles, where delivered, date, purpose of lectures.
 
Work experience
- Arranged from most recent to oldest.
 
You should translate all Chinese titles into English in bracket.

Hi Kdavid,
 
I had a look at your CV. Just some thoughts - 
 
1) It's not clear whether you are a native Chinese speaker or a native English speaker. If you are a native English speaker, mention it.
 
2) It's not clear why you want to emphasise that your entire Master's study was in Chinese. If you want to stress that despite being an English speaker you have gained native fluency in Chinese, say so. 
 
3) Make a heading "Chinese Proficiency" and mention there that all your Master's education was in Chinese and that you have a Chinese proficiency certificate as well. 
 
4) Change "Teaching experience" to "Work experience."
 
5) Mention your BA qualifications above language certification qualifications. Further, mention what courses you took in BA that are relevant for what you want to do now. Also mention in total how many credits you have got in the area that you want to study further.
 
6) Normally, the order of your qualifications should be - 
 
Educational qualifications
- Master's Degree - In what subject, from where, year when completed, total credits, any significant grade points if available.
- Master's thesis - Topic and description, when completed, grade point if available.
- Bachelor's Degree - In what subjects (Major and Minor), from where, year when completed, courses taken relevant for your future study, total credits, grade points obtained.
 
Chinese proficiency
  Certifications -
- TESOL etc
- Chinese etc
 
Lectures delivered
-Arranged from most recent to the oldest in sequence - Titles, where delivered, date, purpose of lectures.
 
Work experience
- Arranged from most recent to oldest.
 
You should translate all Chinese titles into English in bracket.

Message from the Admissions Office - I got this message twice today and my heart skipped a beat - only to find out it was an advertisement from a school where I didn't apply.

I wish they wouldn't do this.

I am yet to hear from the schools where I applied.

Depends upon where you are applying and how strongly you can relate your Grad Studies interests to what you are studying now.
 
Some schools still prefer that you have at least 15-18 credits i Art History before you apply for Grad School. If you can spare the time and money, filling in the courses in Art History will make your application only stronger.

Here is Collegesage ranking - 
 
http://www.collegesage.com/ranking/top-10-canadian-university-rankings/

Here is Collegesage ranking - 
 
http://www.collegesage.com/ranking/top-10-canadian-university-rankings/

Here is Collegesage ranking - 
 
http://www.collegesage.com/ranking/top-10-canadian-university-rankings/

Macleans is biased, they give bad ratings to Universities who do not participate in the ranking system. I believe the Times Higher Education Ranking is probably the best regarded ranking system; at least, most Universities brag about their ranking on this site more than their Maclean's Ranking. 
 
The top three on this ranking are generally considered the best schools in Canada anyway, although I have heard that McGill is slipping. Queen's is a lot of talk for their undergrads, I don't know much about their research levels. I know the University of Ottawa (my alma mater) is attempting to make leaps upwards in their research capacity. 
I really have no idea how comprehensive these ranking systems are though. 

This is a very informative thread!
 
About the US - I'd like to add that perhaps it would be better for the US to invest more funding into tertiary education, to reduce the cost of education - as Canada does.
 
Brazilian and Indian systems are almost completely run by the government and hence, costs are not high. Their problem is more to sort out the recruitment and the entire academic job system - the way it functions.
 
India is a classic example of how to destroy a well-structured tertiary education system by its own people. 
 
The argument given here makes sense, as when  these Indians come to a Western country, they do very well. They are obviously talented researchers.
 
For Canada - I don't know if it's right to involve the Undergraduates in the faculty appointment process. I'm not sure they have the expertise for the process. But the way Canada looks at funding the tertiary education as an investment in social welfare is quite commendable.
 
I hope we'll see more accounts from other countries as well.

It is meant for enhancing your visibility online. You post your publications, conference papers, talks, add your CV if you like.
 
You can invite people to have a look at your profile and "analyze" it.
 
If you have used it only to add your academic activities and not for posting comments, you can use it as a professional portfolio online and include the link in your applications.

See link below - 
 
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/tag/canadas-best-schools/
 
Perhaps those who have studied in Canada can comment.

UK - Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics, King's College London. If you want to specialize in Africa/Asia, then SOAS, London.
 
Canada - McGill, Toronto, Queen's

Ultimately you will figure out what you want to do that suits your tastes best. But here is what I feel, reading your post above.
 
You come across as an extremely talented and creative person, with multidimensional abilities, who is trying to express in many different ways, but unsure what suits you the best.
 
And you are not the only one who is in this state of flux. Many creative people are made this way.
 
I myself was, for a long time, in a state of not knowing what suited me best out of a myriad interests I had, in which I usually excelled. I spent most of my Undergraduate and Grad years trying to figure my way out. I found my way out eventually, ended up getting some good publications and also teaching my subject. However, the number of years I took to figure my way around cost me the degree of success of my career graph - I could have gone much higher if I had been more focused since high school years and had known what I really wanted to do best.   
 
That's because Grad School is not made to accept highly creative, multidimensional people who don't have a single focus marked out clearly. They usually expect that you should have a clear focus of what exactly you want to do in Grad School and why.
 
This is one question you need to think about - you'll spend a lot of time explaining it to people in your application as well as in Grad School.
 
Looking at your post I get the feeling that perhaps you can go into some kind of policy analysis jobs, where you can use your mathematical skills and political campaign experience.
 
For this, you need to decide what kind of policy analysis suits your interests - cultural policy - since you have majored in English and are into performances, policy related to governance, since you have been engaged with political campaigning, health policy, global policy, or what.
 
If this interests you, then you need to take Undergrad courses in economics, statistics and in the field related to the form of policy you want to work with - culture, political, global policy etc.
 
This is only one route I am suggesting based on your profile above. There may be many other ways to combine your past experience and present interest to arrive at a discipline, in which you can take undergrad courses.
 
But I feel that perhaps you will do best in the field of Communication - again based on what you have written above. Again, you'll need to take some courses in Communication before applying to Grad School. And Communication too has many branches - you need to decide what suits you best and take courses in that branch.
 
Whatever you choose, make sure that this field will hold your interest for several years to come. It doesn't usually pay to change disciplines at Grad level.
 
The best part of your situation is that you don't have debts and your family is there to support you.
 
With your determination, I'm sure you'll arrive at the choice of a discipline and will do well in it.
 
Good luck with your journey towards Grad School. 

Hello folks
 
I just wanted to get some information (immigration wise) about getting a canadian study permit after studying in USA? Will you need to get a police certificate from the USA to present to the visa officer? I am from Trinidad and Tobago by the way. I welcome all comments and advice!

In some countries the police clearance cell directly sends the certificate to the Canadian Embassy. They have a fixed timeline for this that can be found on their websites. 
 
You have to see the process for your country and for the US, or talk to some one who has gone to Canada from the US.
 
See also the following websites - 
 
From the US to Canada - 
 
http://www.canadavisa.com/canadian-immigration-state-police-clearance.html#N
 
From India to Canada (as an example of another country) - 
 
http://www.blsindia-canada.com/pol_clr_cert.php
 
From India, the timeline is of 4-6 weeks, but many people go from India to Canada. Likewise, you have to find out for your own country.

MA in Museum Studies would be more helpful if you want to go into museum jobs. But increasingly, they are asking for a PhD qualification. So, perhaps you can go for a PhD in Art History and take some courses from the Museum Studies Department.
 
Alternatively, you can register for a PhD that allows you a Curatorial or Art Conservation track such as at Delaware or a Cultural Studies PhD that allows a Museum Studies concentration - such as at Claremont University.
 
PhD in Museology is more popular in the UK than in the US and UK has several Museology PhD programs, but I don't know how they stand in the US Museums job market.
 
If you have time, you can also get an MA in Museum Studies followed by a PhD in Art History. 

This is a very informative thread!
 
About the US - I'd like to add that perhaps it would be better for the US to invest more funding into tertiary education, to reduce the cost of education - as Canada does.
 
Brazilian and Indian systems are almost completely run by the government and hence, costs are not high. Their problem is more to sort out the recruitment and the entire academic job system - the way it functions.
 
India is a classic example of how to destroy a well-structured tertiary education system by its own people. 
 
The argument given here makes sense, as when  these Indians come to a Western country, they do very well. They are obviously talented researchers.
 
For Canada - I don't know if it's right to involve the Undergraduates in the faculty appointment process. I'm not sure they have the expertise for the process. But the way Canada looks at funding the tertiary education as an investment in social welfare is quite commendable.
 
I hope we'll see more accounts from other countries as well.

Canadian PhD programs are structured the same way as American PhD programs (coursework, comprehensive exam, teaching and finally the dissertation, completed over 5-6 years). Approach the 'research proposal' the same way others are approaching their SOPs for US schools -- it is not a dissertation proposal, but of course you're expected to indicate the themes, questions and problems that interest you as a historian, as well as show that you have a sense of your field's historiography and its debates (what gaps are there in the current literature? what intervention(s) would your research make and why is that important?). That's how I approached all my SOPs, including UofT's (my alma mater).

Stanford has attempted to provide a solution for the job crisis in the Arts and Humanities and some others have critiqued it.
 
Link to the article - 
 
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Multi-Track-PhD/134738/?cid=oh&utm_source=oh&utm_medium=en
 
 
 
 
 


 

It's true that prestige matters mostly for Arts and Humanities and for Post-PhD jobs in the academia - and again, for more in the Arts and Humanities than in any other field.
 
For Science and Technology candidates and especially those who want to go into a professional career after Master's it doesn't really matter so much.
 
So, if you are getting a funded offer, I'd take it if I were in your shoes, regardless of the prestige of the school. If you have more than one funded offer in a professional Master's, you can consider other criteria such as location, comfort-level of the vibes you get from the Department, cost of living etc.

Also - Martha Langford at Concordia University, Canada.

Since this is a question about "worldwide" - 
 
Royal College of Art, UK
 
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna