North Carolina Research Triangle Ranking Question

[Coffee4L]

Hey all!

Simple question coming from someone who feels really fuzzy on how rankings work, and who is generally bad at making decisions.

How does UNC at Chapel Hill's Art History program rank in relation to Duke's when it comes to general reputation; research; hiring, etc.? I noticed UNC at Chapel Hill did really well in the NRC's 2006 ratings.

Thanks

[zoltan]

I wouldn't worry about it. Focus more on the quality of research being done by the faculty in your field. You should be able to judge that without resorting to rankings. (In fact, your ability to judge is probably impeded by paying attention the rankings, particularly those as radically vague and out-of-date as the NRC's.)

[anonymousbequest]

God advice Zoltan. I would add that the most important things to consider (in order) are (1) the success of students who have worked with your potential POIs in winning coveted pre-docs and then placement in academic and museum jobs post-graduation, which reflects on the professor's reputation, their support of students, and whether there will be a network of alumni who can help you get jobs, fellowships, publications, and exhibitions as you begin your career (2) how quickly students working with your POIs finish (being a grad student should be as brief as possible) (3) funding. As you begin the run up to the April 15 deadline for your big life changing decision, I encourage you to have some frank conversations with your POIs and their current grad students, particularly ABDs if you can.

That said, the latest NRC rankings are a good rough estimate. I think there is consensus on the top 25, but debate on where programs exactly fit, which is why they came up with a range rather than a hard number. And of course it is difficult to rank graduate programs in art history because any given program may or may not cover a certain sub-field. If a top 10 school doesn't have anyone you want to work with, it's not a top 10 for you.

Edited March 7, 2011 by anonymousbequest

[fortehlulz]

Another thing to consider is that the two universities are very close together and seem to collaborate quite frequently. I went to high school in the area, and my sister went to UNC as an undergrad. I was always under the impression that there are pretty strong ties between Duke and UNC, so choose the one you think is a better fit and you will probably still be able to do some networking at the other.

[mooncake88]

Another thing to consider is that the two universities are very close together and seem to collaborate quite frequently. I went to high school in the area, and my sister went to UNC as an undergrad. I was always under the impression that there are pretty strong ties between Duke and UNC, so choose the one you think is a better fit and you will probably still be able to do some networking at the other.

This is very true. I was an undergrad at Duke and one of my AH grad level seminars had graduate students from UNC who came over to take/audit classes. This happens a lot, so if you're really interested in only one aspect of one of the schools but feel like the other is a better fit overall, you can sort of get the best of both worlds!

[Coffee4L]

Thank you for your replies! This is all very good advice.