Need profile evaluation 2021FALL

[CeliaChen]

Dear all!

I'll be applying for my PhD in the direction of contemporary art this fall. The fact that I got both BA and MA in mainland China puts me somewhere awkward when evaluating my profile. I got 3-4 potential PhD advisors in my mind, though haven't really reached out to any of them. I'd appreciate it if any of you could help me with evaluating my chance of acceptance. (please be straightforward! )

Undergraduate Institution Shanghai Jiaotong Uni( national ranking 3-7ish, worldwide around 100) 

Major film production (minor finance)

GPA 10%

Graduate Institution Beijing Film Academy,

Major art theory

GPA 3.8/4.0(currently in my senior year, so will shift a little bit)

Additional UCLA summer session 2016, grades A+, A+, A

Recommendation letter: It's likely that I'll get 2 letters by professors in Cornell and 2 letters by profs in UCLA. They all know me well.

Experience  in-campus curatorial practice / presenter of several academic forum 

Publication two second author top film journal, one as interview/ two translation pieces forthcoming, one in Slovenia film history the other of Jacques Rancière's selected writing.(all in mandarin, though some of the presentations were delivered in English)

Schools Considered  (art history depart)

UCLA/berkeley/UCSD/Toronto/UChicago

 My major concern is that the institutions I graduated from are not "big name" at all. (As I was doing my research on programs, the "current students"column always appeared intimidating, like how many ivy degrees one has to have in order to get into UChicago....) 

Edited June 9, 2020 by CeliaChen