Met Internships

[kyno]

Hey again Yeah, I'm so happy i tossed and turned in bed, didn't sleep tonigh at all haha. I applied for Arts of Africa, Oceania and Americas Conservation. Hope it's not the one you've chosen ;] I'll be around on this forum, checking what's your progress so I hope you're going to hear a good news too and please share it here later on GOOD LUCK!!

[kyno]

And I have one more question to those of you, who have participated already in a Met internship. I'm not really sure what is the importance of the phone call I'm going to get on the 22nd of March.. In a message they stated : I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to participate in our summer intern program in Archives. I would like to schedule a time to speak with you over the phone regarding the program. How should I understand this? Is the phone call a next stage or am I already accepted and they want to talk about the program to describe and discuss it? I don't see the point of writing "you have been selected to participate" then.. Can anyone tell me what is actually the real significance of the phone conversation? Does it change a lot? i'd be happy if someone shares his experience ;]

[whiskers1992]

question: anyone apply for MOMA?

[lolapola]

oh gosh my interview is tomorrow/today !!! Does anyone have any tips, tricks or pointers? I'm also presenting an art object to a make-believe audience for a few minutes as part of my interview.

[classic]

I am a finalist for the Summer Mentorin program for college juniors and I was supposed to hear back about the final decision by April 6th. I haven't heard back yet and I'm getting nervous. I also have to accept/reject an offer from an archaeological field school on Monday so this delay is really annoying me. Have other people heard back??

[lolapola]

I received my acceptance package my mail this Saturday, so I would advise you to give the department a call!!

[ParisianGirl]

Hi ! I'm an undergraduate and I applied for the MET summer unpaid internship but haven't heard back. And on the website they say that they will notify candidates of final decisions by April 30. Has anyone applying for the summer undergraduate unpaid internship heard back?

Apparently they send acceptance emails but do they send rejection emails as well?

[equestrian19]

Apologies for thread necromancy but has anyone heard from the Metropolitan Museum for their paid internship program for Summer 2013?

[Jonathan Livingston]

Equestrian19, I too am waiting to hear from the Met about paid internships. It seems to me from lurking around on various GradCafé topics that we can expect something by the end of this month. It appears that they tend to send out all interview notices and rejections on the same day and that last year it was March 1st, but that's just my sense of things. I'm assuming by this Friday, we'll have heard something and if not, then during the first week in March. They do have to leave enough time to interview people and get back to everyone by their final decision deadline in early April (I think they notify by April 5th?) Although I don't know if they give everyone notice, rejected or not. It'd be pretty awful to just have sent that application off into a void and never hear anything again. 

 

Again, this is just my feeling on things. If anyone has any concrete information or experience, I'd love to hear. 

 

(p.s. by all of this I mean, someone PLEASE have more information and PLEASE share it!)

Edited February 27, 2013 by Jonathan Livingston

[dodobirdie]

I applied for the 2013 Cloisters summer internship program and I am dying to hear back. I wish they gave out stats on how many people apply just so that I can calculate my chances. I haven't heard anything from them since I received the confirmation email about my application . . . ugh, it's so nerve-recking!

[ekphrasis]

I was contacted a few days ago by email to come in for an interview next week.

[alpheratz]

I also applied for a paid undergraduate summer internship at the Met.  I haven't heard anything back yet, unfortunately.  Hearing that other people have been contacted is a little disheartening.  Ahhhhhh so nerve-wracking!  This would be THE dream program for me.

[mschmidt928]

I was contacted a few days ago by email to come in for an interview next week.

Were you applying to the Cloisters program or the program at the main building? Just trying to figure out what people are being interviewed for.

[Jonathan Livingston]

And after all my certainty that we would hear by today, 5pm has ticked by and still nothing over here...

[alpheratz]

Me neither.  If they're going to reject me, I'd just like to have some sort of rejection notice so I can move on with my life.  =/  What positions was everyone applying for?

[Jonathan Livingston]

Yeah exactly, I want to at least here something, even if it's bad news. 

 

I've basically applied for as many paid internships as possible...so that means two 12 month, one 6 month, and two summer. 

 

I also pretty consciously avoided the departments I thought would get a lot of applicants and tried to apply to the weirder ones (like editorial, archives, etc. with some of the arts thrown in as a reach). We'll see if that strategy pays off or not. 

Edited March 2, 2013 by Jonathan Livingston

[equestrian19]

So just to add to that list, I haven't heard back either. ::enter sinking feeling::

[oh_la_la]

@jonathan livingston: People who work in the archival or editorial departments at the Met would probably object to your idea that their offices are "weird."  If you are not genuinely interested in those departments, why bother applying?  If it's just to score a line on your c.v., the people who are reading your apps can probably see right through this strategy.  You would probably have better luck if you went for things that you were truly interested in.  If the Met doesn't work out, you should try a smaller museum (maybe not as "fancy" as the Met) that might actually help you get the kind of experience you want.  Just sayin'. 

[dodobirdie]

I was contacted a few days ago by email to come in for an interview next week.

Hey ekphrasis: I was trying to reply to your comment, but I ended up giving it a thumbs down somehow, sorry about that, I am trying to fix it, but it's annoying on the iPad. Anyway, congrats about the interview, what were you applying for if you don't mind me asking?

[alpheratz]

Huh, I never thought archives was "weird."  I applied for that one because I've done some work on exactly the sort of things it sounded like they were doing at a previous internship and I really enjoyed it.  The other department I applied to was (hopefully) one of the more obscure art ones, but one that matches my majors and matches what I want to do with my life almost exactly.

I hate to say it, but I'm sort of keeping my fingers crossed that ekphrasis is the anomaly.  I'm holding out hope given that so many of you haven't heard back, either.  =/

[Jonathan Livingston]

alpheratz, I certainly meant no offense by calling some departments "weird". I applied for ones I was qualified for and would be thrilled to work in. I just meant that I applied to what I've perceived to be the less traditional internships at the Met...i.e. applied to ones I have the qualifications for and felt fairly confident in doing so because I was under the impression that those depts. didn't traditionally get as many applicants. I'm sorry if that came off wrong in my original post! 

 

And I've still got my fingers crossed, too. I have friends who have applied (but aren't on Grad Café) who also haven't heard a peep. 

 

(p.s. I'm giving it til Monday before I really start to despair)

 

EDIT: just saw Oh_la_la's post. Again, apparently I am awful at expressing myself on the internet and feel properly chastised and put off. Just too difficult to know how you are coming across online. As I wrote above, my only intention was to note (in response to the question about where we applied) that I applied to departments many consider to be non-traditional. I used "weird" because I thought I was being casual. They are "weird" in terms of the people I am surrounded by in my own limited environment, who find it strange to want to work at the Met in any capacity that is not strictly curatorial. I clearly do not share this sentiment, but thought that that was a majority opinion. The departments I applied to ARE the ones I am interested in, just not ones I expect many others to think of when they think of a Met internship. I am sorry for being wrong about this, and also sorry that I've come across as disingenuous in any way. I think I've been treating these forums as too casual, and will be more transparent and clear in future posts.

Edited March 2, 2013 by Jonathan Livingston

[alpheratz]

Jonathan Livingston, I didn't mean to call you out on the whole "calling archives weird" thing!  I certainly didn't mean to make you feel chastened about anything.  Same deal, internet tone of voice is hard to read.  It was more of a "huh, everyone I know would kill to work in archives" sort of thing, and most of my friends have done archival work in some capacity.  But then, none of us are proper art historians.  *shrugs*  Different backgrounds!

[Jonathan Livingston]

ah, and this could have something to do with it too...i am actually much more closely aligned with archaeology than art history, and most archaeologists i know can think of nothing worse than sitting inside all day unless they've got some ancient art to look at! while i do love ancient art, i'm much more of a non-traditional archaeologist and thus, perhaps more interested in working in jobs not strictly curatorial at the Met than my colleagues seem to be. to each his own!

 

and i am holding out hope that we all hear something tomorrow once the work week starts up again (and of course, that we all hear something good!)

[kromanic]

So I just received an e-mail that may make some of you feel better. I e-mailed them letting them know my permanent address had changed just in case (because I didn't want to miss something, obviously), and the e-mail said the following in response: "We still have not informed anyone of their application status. You probably will not hear from us until mid to late April." So there's still hope for all of us!  

[Jonathan Livingston]

Thank you so much for sharing kromanic, I really appreciate it. And best of luck to you!

 

April is quite late to let us know, I'll need a little time to figure out how to make it work, as I'm sure many people will. sigh.