sdavid13

Hello everyone. I'm an extremely confused undergrad senior who has been creeping around on this site for quite some time, and I am looking for some advice. I attend a private liberal arts school, obviously an art history major, with a GPA of 3.8, and I am very involved in campus activities ranging from Greek life to leadership roles. I've presented research at an undergraduate symposium and hope to present again at a couple more in the Spring. I've also done a museum studies internship at a small museum, and studied abroad twice. I am currently working on my senior thesis which will focus on various forms of abject art...I'm still in the early stages of my research though. Here are the questions. Does anyone know of any strong contemporary art programs? I'm currently looking at Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Pitt, and John Hopkins based on faculty. The acceptance rates are terrifying me and I'm starting to get slightly discouraged. My areas of interest are abject art and Baroque Rome, as odd of a combination as that is... Also, can someone tell me more about the differences between pursuing a graduate degree to become a professor, to work in a museum, or to work in say a gallery or auction house setting, etc. I've read all of the descriptions provided on college websites and such, but I'm looking for more real world responses. My college is very adamant about me pursuing a Phd to continue the research that I have been conducting because it is my strongest area, but I would like an outside opinion before I embark on another five+ years of education. How realistic is this? Any info you can provide will help to ease my mind. I'm tired (and too impatient) of the liberal arts response of following what you enjoy and waiting for everything else to fall into place. I've seen many types of MA degrees such as art history, curatorial studies, art market, etc and I'm feeling very overwhelmed by all of the options! Any advice will really help me at this point. I'm confused as to what direction I would like to take my career and I do not particularly want to take a gap year, as there are no opportunities in my current town and my student loans will begin to collect interest. I enjoy researching, so I was planning on a graduate program in a city where I could also get a job or internship with a larger museum to make a better decision about which direction to go. Thanks in advance to any responses! Even your personal grad school stories will help me!