Rutgers?

[Guest Amon-Ra]

Is anyone else still waiting to hear from Rutgers? My application status page still says "no decision," but I know they've sent acceptances and offered some funding. Do you think it makes sense to call the department, or should I just wait it out?

[madame x]

Is anyone else still waiting to hear from Rutgers? My application status page still says "no decision," but I know they've sent acceptances and offered some funding. Do you think it makes sense to call the department, or should I just wait it out?

I'm still waiting, but I'm not optimistic. I think the best we can hope for is a notification that we're on the wait list

[manetdejeuner]

I'm in the same boat.

I'm still waiting, but I'm not optimistic. I think the best we can hope for is a notification that we're on the wait list

[lilacpear]

I received an acceptance letter for the phd program one week ago and the status on the website changed to "Congratulations! You have been accepted..." a few days before that.

No word, however, on the funding package. Has anyone else received information about that?

lp

[Ramblr]

Would people mind sharing some opinions on Rutgers?

[lilacpear]

Would people mind sharing some opinions on Rutgers?

Rutgers has a very good program with great faculty and a good reputation (in my personal experience, its reputation dramatically increases the further away one gets from the NY metropolitan area...).

Great resources available in terms of the facilities themselves: their library holdings in all three locations, and in multiple disciplines beyond art history, have proven to be much better than the holdings of the two nearest Ivies I've visited for research purposes (Columbia and Princeton), which is helpful for someone like me who expects to be buried in a library for the next few years.

The program is small, but active, and the students I've met are of the highest caliber. Expect to be challenged as much by them as by the faculty. The scope is decidedly traditional, but making such generalizations about the scope of a school makes me uneasy, as I know that a student's particular opinion of a school's "scope" will be heavily influenced by the people he or she ends up working with directly. I, for one, am basing my opinion on the sheer number of graduate courses available each year on what I consider to be "traditional" fields (Renaissance, Baroque, early Modern, Western, etc).

The program is also affordable; as a state school, tuition is actually manageable, especially if you're an in-state student. Most schools grant in-state status after one year of residency anyways and the difference between in-state and out-of-state is not as great as it is in other places...

Finally, the school's location cannot be beat. You would be living sort of in between New York and Philadelphia, which opens up more options for summer internships at cultural institutions.

In the wise words of one of my advisers, the best school is the one in which you believe you will thrive, intellectually and professionally... but there's no fool-proof, objective way to decide this. After gathering all necessary facts, it all comes down to a sophisticated form of gut feeling.

Hope this helped...

lp

Edited March 25, 2011 by lilacpear