bob_the_muse

hi there, if you are worried about the program, you should be talking to faculty or other students to find out what they think about the course offerings and any limitations on them. students will obviously be more candid with you. i would not recommend enrolling in a program where you have not met with both students and faculty. your peers are SO important to your overall happiness in your program. in general, i would say that the people who make up a program (students and faculty) are MUCH more important for your academic experience than any fancy name. you will be going to school with people, not with a name. make sure that the department is a good fit for you.

it really depends on why you are going for the phd. but even more important than career options, is the problem of finances. under no circumstances should you consider going heavily into debt to pay for a masters (or a phd for that matter) at a 'prestigious' university such as nyu. if they are not funding you, do not go.

i find it very hard to believe that an admissions committee would care about a student being married/having children because the fact is that within these phd cohorts, not everyone is 21 and just out of college: many people are married and some even have children. and since there is no way on any application to indicate your pregnancy status (nor should there be), then there is no way that it could enter into the decision at all, unless you mention it in your SOP. yes. obviously some people on some admission committees may have an issue with one's family life intruding into academic life, but the great thing about committees is that they are made up of many different voices and i am reasonably certain that no committee would want to engage in illegal discrimination, which is essentially what we are talking about here. for my department's recruitment weekend, we are being encouraged by the grad chair to bring our spouses to the official recruitment dinner because it puts a more human face on the department and gives the impression that there's life beyond school. i am troubled that there is this idea out among some people about to enter the field there that you have to give up your personal life to get a phd in art history. this simply is not AND SHOULD NOT be the case. if you do not have a personal life and a strong emotional support system in grad school, you will have a very hard time. we should all work as a community to ensure that everyone's family planning choice are respected and valued. 8) I guess my outrage comes from the fact that if we acknowledge that this is happening, we should not just be shrugging our shoulders and collectively saying "it happens. so it goes." I mean, where is the outrage if this is indeed happening? even though we may not all be pregnant, we should all defend our colleague's right to make such a choice and be outraged on her behalf. remember, after we get our phds, we will be the one's making admissions decisions....

um...that's called discrimination and it's very illegal. i have to say that this theory seems incredibly half-baked to me and is deeply problematic in terms of how the poster thinks about gender/family issues. the field is extremely competitive and it's certainly not like you check a box on your application to state your pregnancy status (again, even asking for such information would be very illegal). yes, it is difficult to have a family in grad school but i can speak from personal experience (phd candidate in a top tier program) that having kids, partners while applying does not enter into the admissions process. in fact, there are two very successful students in my phd program who have two children. everyone has been incredibly supportive and they are welcome to bring their children to many department events. family planning is highly personal and does have anything to do with your ability to get into grad school. but you know what does? your project, your letters (these are HUGELY important!!), your luck, your dedication to the field as evidence by teaching/internships, etc, and to a lesser extent, your GRE scores/undergrad gpa (if at all...). fullofpink, not only is it egregiously sexist to suggest that family planning is to blame , but unless you have actually seen this person's application, how could you ever know why she did not get in? am i the only one who found this suggestion deeply offensive and incredibly preposterous?

for the person who is waitlisted at umich (or for anyone waitlisted...): let the faculty member who contacted you know that you are REALLY interested in the program and that it is your first choice..etc. lay it on thick. i can tell you that michigan generally has at least a few of the students it admits take offers from other schools: so there are openings. i'm not sure how they determine who gets admitted off the wait list but i am sure that it would not hurt your case to let the faculty know how much you want it. also, as a general point, you should probably think very hard about accepting an offer for any program in art history (M.A. or PhD) that does not offer you funding. going into debt for art history is not the smartest move financially and since there are many programs that do offer funding, why pay for it? if they do not offer you funding at first, try to negotiate. good luck everybody.

for you guys on the umich waitlist: if you are super interested in going there, you should email the grad director and tell them how enthusiastic you still are...that kind of thing can really make a difference. they might assume that you have other offers.

Does anybody know where arts grad students typically live? What are the nice areas in walking distance that are good for grad students? Any information about the city would be appreciated. We do have a car but don't want to use it more than we have to. What is the food situation there? Any great places?

hi ana, i just wanted to chime in here about the non-funding for your first year at IFA. I'm a fifth year phd candidate in art history at a top ten midwestern art history program: my program funds people uniformly which is wonderful because it doesn't produce a competitive/jealous atmosphere for the students in the program. seriously, if you got accepted into IFA, that means you're a competitive applicant and have what it takes to go to an excellent program. why they fund people unequally at the IFA (and at other programs) is beyond me: it doesn't make for happy, productive grad students. You might want to think long and hard about paying tuition + room/board in NYC for a year. I really think that going into that much debt for a grad degree in art history is kind of nuts, simply because it's possible to get into a great program and not pay a dime. If i were you, i would either reapply next year or go to a school that offers you more funding. You want to be in a department that really wants you: funding is a huge part of that. I know somebody who recently defended her dissertation at IFA and told me that she was fully funded but still came out with lot of debt because of the high price of living in NY. FYI. Good luck with your decision. It's a great program so i understand why you would be tempted to shell out the $$$. I think the most important factor for deciding on a phd program is the general atmosphere between students in the program (this can totally make or break your experience) as well as the way that the faculty interact with you. oh and just because you didn't visit the dept. does NOT mean that it makes sense for them to deny you funding for the first year... best of luck to everybody here.

is anyone out there applying to mfa programs in fine arts? i'm a painter. how are you putting your portfolio together? are you going for continuity?