OnceAndFutureGrad

Ditto, ditto. Here's hoping, Bonkers et al., that we benefit from the extra work. Just remember, people like us when we first applied, are our competition this year!

I'm in a similar situation; in fact, so similar that I cannot tell you how it will turn out either I skipped applying to my alma mater because they explicitly ask for art history majors. I think your chosen field will affect what a "related field" is. For example, an English PhD and I (a Medieval Studies MA majoring in art history) are taking a Historiography in Art History course. You'd think that the person with half a dozen art history courses would be much better prepared than the lit person with no background. But as our course seems to be all on 19th c. asceticism I'm completely useless (my art history begins and ends in medieval), while she's got both straightforward historical background and experience in contemporary theory to work with. It sounds, NonJeNeRegretteRien, that you are going for a "field" or rather specialization that lines up with your background, and I would hope that that makes you a stand-out candidate. There must be dozens if not hundreds of "art history major-art history MA-internship at an art museum-now applying for art history PhD" candidates, but probably only one with your interdisciplinary background AND job experience.

My tongue-in-cheek reply is: "Get married and pregnant" Actually I have pipe dreams of becoming personal trainer certified and opening a gym called Viking Fitness that does normal gym stuff and also western martial arts/demo combat training. I would probably re-apply just once more, but I'm not sure. But I would like to get into fitness if medieval art history doesn't work out.

This is my second go-round because I initially applied for PhD programs, thinking that I was ready for upper level graduate work right out of undergrad. Nope!! Thank goodness I applied to UConn anyway (where MAs are terminal, but readmission is frequent), as I got rejected everywhere else! But two years have given me more than enough time to realize who I am, what I am doing, and how very, very little I know. Not to be self-effacing of course; I think being aware of the vast amounts of unconquered territory is a sign of greater wisdom. Anyway, two years of work has helped me figure out just what I'm in for, and also to learn the jargon and current state of the field, which I had absolutely no clue about last go-round and probably made my application an early rejection. In fact, there is only one overlap between the schools I am applying for this year and 2009. I don't remember them all now, but it's like I picked them from a hat. Notre Dame? Cornell? Suuuure. I have to say, UConn was a last minute "let's throw an app at it and see what happens" school, but I really, truly lucked out. I was able to do the early medieval studies that I couldn't at my undergrad. And there is also a conversational Irish group here to help me practice, and it's only an hour from Higgins Armory where I've greatly honed my western martial arts skills! But then I wonder, if I had gone somewhere else, would I just have adapted differently, and then not be able imagine life any other way? That's why I'm trying to just stay serene about the 2011 PhD scramble. Whatever happens, even if it's rejection across the board, I will adapt and make the most of it. Other posters wrote about how a rejection year made them go in an unpredicted direction in their life and they seem to be the richer for it. I'm confident that I will do okay, wherever I am this summer and fall. ...but just to be clear, a paid internship at the Met and a fully funded PhD at Penn would be nice!

I completely understand the aggravation. I hope everyone finds a happy place either in their head or on some golden campus somewhere soon! On the one hand I'm aggravated that I stacked so much on this semester (department Latin and MA exam on top of my regular course and workload) but on the other hand it's keeping me very, very busy. Whereas last time around it was my final semester at college and I had a fairly breezy load, this time I'm hoping that I'll be too tied up with the small picture to worry about where I'll be this summer and fall. It also helps that I have gotten really serious about my diet and exercise, and just counting calories takes up a lot of brain space that could otherwise be filled with anxiety. I will take this time to repeat my entry in the 2009 Waiting It Out Haiku thread: Grad apps are stressful. Running relieves stress. I have Lost a whole pants size.

I. Long-term effects of a long distance relationship (going on four years!) II. Gender and identity confusion in historical reenactment III. Psychological trauma of watching more than three episodes of Doctor Who in a day

I have a fairly common first and last name (I'm also a Native American singer, apparently!) but if you search for my first name-initial-last name you get my professional LinkedIn account and my senior thesis published online by my undergrad institution. To be honest I wish adcoms could see my Facebook profile because it is incredibly geeky - nothing but living history photographs and witty medieval jokes - but it's under very strong privacy locks.

I don't have any regrets now, but I might later. I made myself known to the POIs at every school and visited every one in driving distance, probably to the point of obnoxiousness at the closest (heh). If I don't get accepted, I might regret all the time on the road!

"Okay, so let me get this straight. This student's been devoted to medieval studies throughout her undergraduate and graduate careers, and then decided TWO MONTHS AGO that she wants to do art history?" On a bad day: "Ahahaha! Nice try, but we need at least three YEARS of art history coursework before we even consider it!" *le toss* On a good day: "So she's overstuffed with medieval history, literature, and languages as opposed to every other 'Um, I like art' applicant? Get her in!!" I'm still trying to figure out how much crazy I demonstrated in my application, and whether it was too much or too little. I do experimental archaeology and am rabidly passionate about medieval combat, which could be inspiring to some adcoms and terrifying to others, so I only made hinted whispers about it. We'll see.

I agree on sending it. I had a chilly reception at one school and it really felt like I was just getting in everyone's way - so those professors just got e-mail thanks, lest I look like I was trying too hard. But I had a friendly and respectful visit from another school - that was far harder to travel to, by the way - and I happily sent out paper thank-you cards, which warranted an e-mail reply from them.

This is so cool! This is now my netbook background too. I re-rigged it a few times until "Medieval" "Art" "History" appeared in that order. Although one iteration was the perfect outline of a shoe patten, that was neat.

That deserves to be cross-stitched and prominently displayed in every academic's office.

Yes, which is why this is the perfect summer for me to apply, if you see my signature. They want people who are in graduate school but not working on their dissertation. Hello summer between MA and PhD! Thanks for sharing that caveat.

Hi everyone! I am an art history interloper. After putzing around with history, literature, and art history for my college career, I decided to go into art history as my discipline of focus for medieval studies. I hope that having an interdisciplinary background will make me interesting but I'm well aware that applying for a PhD in Art History without great strength in...art history...may be crazy! So be it. I submitted my last art history application today. I still have two medieval studies programs to go, as well as the Met summer internship program application. (My parents live near a NYC transit line, so while I don't want to move back home, I figure that the benefit would far outweigh the inconvenience if I got in.) I look forward to enduring this crazy grad app ride with you - perhaps we will be future colleagues!

Ha! My mom is driving me up a wall. She didn't go to college, let alone grad school, but she thinks seeing me apply for and then attend a Masters program qualifies her to analyze my PhD prospects. She suspected me of making up Penn because she couldn't find "Penn" in her 2010 World Almanac and also keeps reminding me that "Philadelphia is a bad neighborhood" (yes, sic). She's convinced that I belong at Yale or Princeton because those are the only schools that she's heard of before...

An Irish archaeology lecturer once described the Normans as "recycled Vikings", which made me crack up very loudly, by myself in a large lecture My last name is of Norman origin and I have an unhealthy relationship with all things Norse so the phrase just sort of stuck with me...it's kind of lyrical. My avatar is me hugging the 3/4 replica longship Odin's Raven at the House of Manannan in Peel, Isle of Man, in 2008.

When I first read this thread about a week ago I was like "Aw man, I got nothing". Then I've been realizing since then, what the hel, yes I do! When I studied abroad in Ireland I picked up Viking combat re-enactment and did several public demos in former Viking cities like Cork and Waterford. When I moved back to the States I was very fortunate to find Dr. William R. Short, the leading expert in Viking combat experimental archaeology, and have been working with him and his group at Higgins Armory in Worcester, MA. Recently, we did a film shoot with the Discovery Channel, so look for us in March or April!

I'm a huge fan of Viking/folk metal, but sometimes it is too crunchy or grungy for an untempered ear. I recommend Korpiklaani - Folk metal - Korven Kuningas - 2008 or Turisas - Viking metal - The Varangian Way - 2007.

Awww yeah. Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, and NYU IFA are out the door. I still have Yale and UDel to submit after term papers/finals, but it's a minimum of additional paperwork after these big four. I sent everything for my Masters so early that I missed the opportunity to add a significant scholarship and my senior thesis title, so I sort of left things for the last minute this time around. Good thing too, because I didn't realize some things until a week or two ago about the dissertation I want to write. In some ways I just threw them out to get them out of my head. I'm at the point now where I don't even care anymore, I just want to get accepted, or not, and move on from there! But I'll be commiserating on TheGradCafe until April 15, I'm sure...

I met my PA and scholarly intellect-crush at a conference several months ago. She invited me out to tea and we had a great time together. She actually told me that she hoped I came to her university before I had even brought up advising. She's a bit of a heavyweight in her department but I don't know if she is on the ever-mysterious admissions committee. A colleague of mine suggested that I get her offer to be my adviser on paper and include it in my application. I've never heard of this, but I'd be dumb not to do so if such a thing exists. If one can earn a "LOR" from a PA, how does one go about asking for it?

I once met a precocious undergrad who handed me a very fancy business card embossed with his name, university, and phone number (institution? home? cell? no idea). I was slightly horrified at his presumptuousness, but you know what, the concept is not a bad one. I keep finding myself writing my name, email, etc. on scraps of paper and on the corners of conference schedules, so why not have something prepared and portable? I think as long as it's not too glossy, embossed, etc., it's useful and elegant without being frou-frou. I was considering VistaPrint and I'm glad to read that several of you use it.

The commute itself doesn't bother me. Manchester is nice, but all I see of it is the great sprawling Buckland Hills Mall and surrounding suburbs that scream "bedroom community". Maybe it's just my department but there doesn't seem to be much to do outside of the movie theater. I went to one pub there once - The Main. Where is the town proper? And how much do apartments go for in your area? If I stay on at UConn for the PhD, I will be moving to New Haven.

When I was an undergrad I rocked design t-shirts, jeans, sneakers or Docs, and hoodies. I remember needing to run out and buy a button-down shirt for my first public presentation! In my first year of grad school it was really easy to tell whether I was teaching that day or not. Tuesdays and Thursdays were blazers, button-downs, slacks, and sweaters (though nothing low-cut, out of my own sense of pride!). The other days of the week were back into t-shirts, etc. Now that I'm getting into my second year and thinking about the PhD, as well as having a GA instead of a TA, I'm considering dressing up every day I come to university. Some days it may only be a nice blazer over a concert t-shirt and clean jeans, but at least it demonstrates effort. I do think there is some merit to the "Climbing the Corporate Ladder" concept of dressing as if you are already in the position you desire.

My last name is a frumpy sort of Anglo-Norman name full of consonants. I'm not crazy about my dad and I've considered using my mother's simple Irish maiden name, but I've decided that the name I grew up with is what I want to bear for the rest of my life. It also helps that someone once declared that my hoity-toity last name deserves a "Professor" in front of it! My boyfriend (of four years) has a Polish last name. I could potentially hyphenate my last name with a -Smith or -Baker or -Johnson, but there's no way I could go around in life with a Polish name the length of my arm tacked on. He's extremely fond of his last name and family history, complete with a tattoo, so there's no way he's changing his name. Fortunately he is very respectful of my decision to keep my name, so we're completely down with having a two-name household. We've already decided that the wee bairns are going to be FirstName MiddleName MyLastName HisLastName. That way on school forms etc. they'll be FirstName HisLastName, and I won't object to being accidentally called Mrs. HisLastName. Though there should be some funny moments if the other party realizes that I'm actually Dr. MyLastName...or calls him Mr. MyLastName!

Unfortunately you are not really in luck. There's the Willimantic bus, as covered before, and as far as I know nothing else. You may be able to live off-campus within walking distance, say renting a room in a house of grads or non-students. In a general reply to this thread: I grew up in New Jersey and wanted to go to New England for school. I came to UConn and rented a really fabulous 1BR apartment in Vernon ($700/mo heat and water inc). After a year of driving everywhere, I have realized that I desperately need to live in a city environment. I can't do really basic things like getting groceries, running in a park, or going to a bar without driving first and it's really awful. I'm always escaping to Hartford, New Haven, or even Worcester, MA. Now don't get me wrong, the people here are great and there have been a number of fun house parties. But if you're the kind of person who needs to visit a coffee chain in the morning, or who likes to have a corner shop to pick up groceries, or who doesn't like to drive or own a car, think long and hard before coming to UConn.