History of Art - MA/PhD 2009

[paperclips]

Don't be afraid to ask an undergrad professor for some type of help with your application - they want you to succeed. It reflects well on their department/school when their undergrads go off to great grad programs.

Agreed. I went to a liberal arts college known for its great master's program in art history, and the director of the program (who reads all the masters apps) read about 5 or 6 drafts of my statement and commented extensively. He and I were never that close in college (I took one class with him my last semester), but he just offered to help -- as you said, it reflects well on the school that their grads consistently get into good programs.

In my statement, I talked about my interest in my sub-field and described my research experience, but also spent at least one page talking more generally about why I wanted to study art history...my advisor said that they know that the ppl applying with just BAs have broad interests, and aren't expecting you to know every detail about your course of study or dissertation topic.

[georgica1]

Unfortunately, one of my problems has been that, although I'm American, I'm an undergrad at a UK university and the application procedures are completely different here. Thus, although I've spoken to a number of professors here about my applications and they've been as helpful as possible, most of them don't really have a clue about how it works in the states. In the UK, typically you find a specific professor you'd like to work with, contact them and discuss your research interests, and then if that professor is interested in working with you, you apply. The SOP doesn't really have the same function; it's more like a summary/proposal of a project that you've already discussed with a member of faculty. Rather than applying to a department, it's more like applying to one specific person with final acceptance at the discretion of the entire dep't/school. In many ways, I find the UK process easier -- there's much more transparency about what they're looking for (i.e. most schools that I considered in the UK had specific GPA/honours classification requirements.) In short, I went into this process without much guidance or knowledge as to what to expect. I suppose the only positive is that I'll be much more prepared for the next round.

[void]

Since it looks like I'll be reapplying again next year (waiting on 2, but it doesn't look good) I've been thinking a lot about how to improve my application and one thing that I definitely think went all wrong was my SOP. So, out of curiosity, how specific were all of you about your research interests in your SOP? Did you propose specific projects/artists, or just general areas? I went the more general route and am now thinking that was absolutely a mistake.

In my SOP, I packed the first paragraph, as concisely as possible, with my general research areas and time periods, then moved into a little more specific description of the types of issues that interest me/that I want to pursue, and then gave a really brief description of how I addressed these issues in my M.A. thesis. (I never named a specific project or the artists I wanted to work with, but rather hinted at these things in terms of what I had already worked on.) The second half of that paragraph stated which people I wanted to work with and what aspects of their work related to what I wanted to pursue/how it related to my previous work. I finished that paragraph with a statement as to why I wanted to study Art History specifically.

Then I went into my academic background and how my past work shaped my interests yet also gave me a range of experience, what I did in my time off from school and how that was relevant to my research interests, and my graduate positions in my M.A. and how they broadened my range of experience.

My last paragraph talked about my goals and what generally about that program would help me attain those goals. That was probably more detail than you wanted or needed, but I hope it helps.

[l'espoir]

ElusiveMuse, have you responded to Notre Dame's offer yet? I still haven't given them a concrete response - maybe, just maybe if I wait long enough some money for first-years will miraculously appear :wink:

[ElusiveMuse]

I haven't because I'm waiting to see how some things play out with some other schools before I make a final choice..

[lch212]

Hi, all-

I'm checking in again after taking a couple of weeks away from the forums. I only applied to two schools this year since my area of focus is very particular. After the Yale rejection I knew it was going to be a long wait until I heard from CUNY, so I was rather surprised (and very pleased) when I received an acceptance in the mail yesterday! I see that there have been a few other CUNY acceptances posted, so congrats to the others! I have a couple of friends who are in the advanced stages of their Ph.D. at the Graduate Center, and I think they've had very positive experiences there overall. So the wait is over for me as far as hearing from schools (thank god), but I'm also waiting to hear about an amazing job here in New York, so things aren't settled just yet. Either way, though, it looks like I'm definitely staying here in NYC for the foreseeable future, which is great.

[kid_grape]

thanks lunalee! im getting relaly nervous, with only two schools left

congrats lch212!!! you must be very excited!

[ArtHist85]

I have one school left, one waitlist I am at the top of, two rejections and two acceptances to MA programs.

But I am feeling good about getting off of that waitlist! I hope that the people that got accepted get into somewhere else, with more money or prestige.

Are NYU or Columbia's PhD letters out yet?

[paperclips]

I have one school left, one waitlist I am at the top of, two rejections and two acceptances to MA programs.

But I am feeling good about getting off of that waitlist! I hope that the people that got accepted get into somewhere else, with more money or prestige.

Are NYU or Columbia's PhD letters out yet?

I don't know about NYU, but Columbia finalized their PhD decisions last week and sent the list to the Dean. From last year's posts, it looks like they'll put PDFs of the letter on the app site.

Good luck, and congrats on your acceptances & waitlist!!

[pgw]

Re: Columbia, I got the happy e-mail from a professor almost a full month ago, but I've yet to receive an actual letter. Not even a follow-up e-mail. Boo.

On preview: good to hear, paperclips! I would love to say yes to them at this point. But I have nothing concrete to say yes to, haha.

[ArtHist85]

Thanks! Congrats to you guys too!

[sydney]

i will be attending CUNY in the fall - and am completely thrilled. has anyone/everyone heard about funding yet?

congrats to all who have received good news & my fingers are crossed for those of you still waiting.

[abner]

Newbie here. All the posts have been so helpful so figured I ought to at least contribute.

Only applied to ma programs since I don't think I'd last in a phd program

Accepted to Bard Graduate Center, but waiting to hear from Williams and IFA still

Saw the other Williams acceptances on the results page. So I figure my rejection letter is somewhere meandering through the postal system on its way to my mailbox.

[kid_grape]

hi abner

same boat in regards to waiting for williams. feel like i should begin to start accepting ive been rejected across the board. *sigh hopefully that person was just notified super early? lol

[ArtHist85]

I am still in limbo. I am hoping/praying that someone at the school I am waitlisted at gets a better offer somewhere else, so I can have their slot.

I emphatically ask all those who know where they are going to DECLINE their other offers as quickly as possible! Think about the poor souls suffering on waitlists everywhere!

If not, I am going to go to Cal Arts. They have so much exciting latin american art and scholarship being produced there and I know it would be a warm/awesome place to be while reapplying to PhDs! I am in Chicago now and hate being so cold!

Unless the other MA program I got into brings the cizzash. Then I will get a parka and deal.

[void]

Wow congratulations to all the NYU IFA acceptances!

Any word from them about PhDs?

[mm_donuts]

Congrats to the IFA acceptances! Still haven't heard from them myself

Are the emails coming from the Grad Chair? Or from potential advisors?

[abner]

kid_grape, just keep holding out there. but yeah, i'm just hoping they were notified super early as well.

congrats to all the IFA people! which i'm still in limbo about.

[georgica1]

For those of you that got IFA acceptances today, does the website (either embark or the nyu tracking site) reflect any sort of admissions decision info?

(edit: oops, didn't realize that a bunch of other people had posted similar IFA questions right above. Also, did the letter/email/whatever it was mention how many people they took?)

[x78s]

i have now heard from brown (deny), bryn mawr (accept), CUNY (accept), and UMD (accept). i am still yet to hear from harvard and UVA. has anyone heard? maybe someone has heard of a timeline we're looking at here? i'm freaking out a little since both of those schools notified significantly earlier last year.

back to thesis...but i will be checking this board...

[venusfueri]

Hey all,

New here - I applied to BU for the Japanese Art/Architecture track...any news at all from ANYONE at BU? I saw the results list and one person posted a BU rejection back in Feb...I just called and they said that its Spring Break this week - ahh!!! Back to trying to write my thesis...at least that news will prevent me from checking my mail box (as much).

Also I have a question to ponder about - BU doesn't require a writing sample, yet they requested one from me (which was no problem really)...any thoughts?

[shadow]

As a current IFA student, to the person who was "insulted' by the lack of funding offer, they told the current students that if they don't already have funding, they won't get it for next year, at least on the MA level. I know when I came in for the MA a few years ago I was one of very few students in my class of 50 that had funding on the MA level. And it seems as if they were saying that there might not be any funding on the MA level from now on. Not saying it's right (it's not, and as a warning, the IFA is not the best with funding on any level), but I wouldn't take it personally.

[ElusiveMuse]

I am also waiting on BU. I called to ask when they would notify and the secretary had no idea and told me to email the grad director but I didn't want to be a bother. I sent a writing sample with my transcripts.

[arthist]

Anyone here accepted to NYU IFA's MA and seriously considering going, even without funding? It looks like no one is getting any. I need someone to freak out with.

[Lapin]

So it looks like everyone who heard from the IFA yesterday got no funding. Anyone know if they just aren't funding any new students at all, or if those offered funding are contacted through a separate process? I'm trying to take my lack of notification as a good sign.

Pregs, off the top of my head, I can only name CUNY as a program that seems to emphasize teaching -- their aid packages require a lot of it, and from what I've heard, its quite intensive. However, I'm sure there are other programs out there that do the same, and I'd wager that state schools are more in need of grad instructors/TAs than wealthier private institutions.