Roundup

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

My hesitation in engaging in camaraderie is because I'm still feeling awkwardly about not getting an acceptance last year when all my applicant colleagues did. You can only celebrate by proxy, and hear "don't worry, you'll get in somewhere else!", so much.

Even now it's difficult to write about (this is my third attempt to write this post). When everyone's shared their stats, and you felt certain that you were near the top in terms of numbers, you start wondering how spectacularly you must have failed the written portions of your application.

Tip from the crotchety old guy: do not (publicly) whinge about "only getting in to X". You'll make the folks with no acceptances, particularly those rejected from X, utterly miserable.

All that bitterness aside (ahem) I have applied to the combination MA to PhD programs at University of Delaware and Tyler School of Art at Temple University. I hope to work with Larry Nees at the former and Elizabeth Bolman at the latter, and to go into either the Curatorial Track or the Fine Arts Administration option, respectively. I also intend on interning my heart out wherever I go. I want to do medieval art and medievalism in American museums. Here's hoping!

Edited for clarification.

Edited January 23, 2012 by OnceAndFutureGrad

[Hicks]

I understand the pain. I was shut out last year. But, I really didn't put the proper homework into the application. Not that they were bad but there were certainly some issues that I tried to fix this year. Though I have to admit that it did bug me to look at the stats of at least oone of the schools that rejected me and see that their incoming class had worse "numbers" than I had. Did you apply only to Delaware and Tyler? Tyler is also one of the programs to which I applied.

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

Did you apply only to Delaware and Tyler? Tyler is also one of the programs to which I applied.

That's right. I intentionally narrowed my options down by a number of stringent parameters so as to have just a small number of schools to apply to, research, and visit. It makes me a little anxious that I've put so much on so little, but only creating two applications - and only waiting for two results - is much less stressful to me. Tyler and UDel are perfectly balanced for my intentions, so any acceptance (with funding) will be a mighty celebration!

I have a back-up school with a late deadline, but for obvious reasons, I'm going to keep mum on that.

Did you visit Tyler? As an artist, I'm certain you'd love their facilities.

Edited January 23, 2012 by OnceAndFutureGrad

[Hicks]

I haven't visited there. I'm down in Louisiana right now and it would be quite a trip. I decided that I would wait on any visiting I needed to do until I have, hopefully, offers. But, having the art history and studio work at Tyler so closely associated is a big plus in my mind.

[Hegel's Bagels]

Additionally, my significant other is about two years away from completing a doctoral program at U of Iowa, though I'm trying not to let that influence this process too much - perhaps in vain.

This times a million! My significant other was just hired full-time by this amazing company in upstate NY. As you might have noticed from my list, none of the schools I'm applying to are in upstate NY. We've already been doing the long distance thing for awhile and over the last two years we keep moving closer and closer together on the map...I would hate to alter that pattern by putting 3,000 miles between us for the next few years, ie if I were lucky enough to be accepted to UCB I don't know if I would attend. ARGH. Anyone else facing similar problems?

Also, have any of you ever had people ask you what you're going to do with a degree in art history? I get this question all the time and I think I've come up with a pretty badass answer.

Do you tell them how much it will come in handy once your time machine is finished? Whenever I tell someone I'm pursuing art history I usually get a blank stare and then a weird "Oh. Okay."

My hesitation in engaging in camaraderie is because I'm still feeling awkwardly about not getting an acceptance last year when all my applicant colleagues did. You can only celebrate by proxy, and hear "don't worry, you'll get in somewhere else!", so much.

Don't worry OnceAndFutureGrad! I know a lot of us are repeat appliers. The first time I applied for PhD programs I was totally shut out. I then realized that I was a moron and should have applied to terminal MA's, which I subsequently did and got into my top choice. I'm definitely nervous about this round, seeing as I can't exactly apply to only MA programs anymore...getting shut out is the worst feeling in the world. I'm sending you lots of good luck vibes!

Edited January 23, 2012 by artofdescribing

[NaturallyAesthetic]

You can check out my website. The thing I liked about Pratt was that the two departments have a good relationship and there are a lot of students who do the joint degree.

I really like the purity of color in your works, Hicks! Thank you for sharing!

[tendaysleft]

Well, not to make your anxiety worse, but I heard from my adviser that there is hardly any scrutinizing. Most professors just skim through the writing samples...I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. At least two of my adcomms probably won't notice the word I left out in my final sentence (the absence of which has rendered the sentence completely nonsensical)?

Ahaha yes I think that's good news... I realized after I sent it in that in I just had the word 'Susan' floating uselessly at the end of a paragraph. I think I was about to cite someone but stopped. Hopefully the skimming will rule out that they see it!

[Hicks]

I really like the purity of color in your works, Hicks! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you.

[complexprocedure]

I just wanted to pipe in with the fact that I'm commiserating - quietly. Part of the reason for my silence is admittedly a bit of paranoia - you never know who's out there listening, right? Another contributing factor is pure superstition - I don't want to jinx myself, after all.

Well, there's the neurotic bits taken care of, then!

That said, I'd really love to find a place at Duke, Temple, or Rutgers. I see I am not the only one who would love to not have to deal with issues of long-distance, so Duke is not only attractive in terms of who I'd like to work with, but also in terms of proximity to my significant other (in NC), my children (I've a middle-schooler who's decided - at least for the time being - to remain in GA; the other two are adults but still live in the same area, and because we are quite close, I want to remain as near as possible), and the rest of my family (including my mother, who just completed a battle with cancer, with thankfully excellent outcome, and who also resides in the South). Of course, I will be thrilled with ANY acceptance. The necessity of travel - possibly for some distance - in order to persue graduate education has been a topic of discussion with all the people in my life for some years now, but since I finished undergrad last year, it feels much more real and I suspect any acceptances have a greater degree of bitter to temper the sweet than they do for many others, given my family situation.

One rule in my applications process was that I would not apply to any schools outside of my family's time zone. Another litmus test was ease of travel between key cities via plane, and general cost of airfare between cities. Fortunately, that still leaves an embarrassment of riches, but all other things being equal, I would still prefer to be closer than farther from those I love.

I am running into a situation that seems to be a bit opposite from many of you - I fear I may be a little overly relaxed about this whole process. Naturally, I wonder about how my packet is faring under the various adcoms, but I can't say it's a moment-to-moment (or even daily) curiosity. I spent the last couple years of undergrad worrying myself into a froth over that much more than I have since the apps have gone out. Maybe it's just because I feel like everything I *could* have done to better my application were things that I did/didn't do over the past few years; no sense in worrying over it now. In fact, because of my lack of obssessiveness, I fear more that in my low-key approach, I may have overlooked something (and my reluctance to hound the poor grad secretaries over whether they received such-and-such from so-and-so) than I do worrying over whether the adcom feels I am a suitably shiny candidate for their program. Case in point: I recently had a program contact me about not receiving my GRE scores when I thought they'd already been sent to the school - so perhaps I would do well to be a little bit more OCD about the process itself!

I just keep reminding myself: ANY yes is a good yes. And I'm not here to collect prizes: I only need that ONE.

[Hegel's Bagels]

I recently had a program contact me about not receiving my GRE scores when I thought they'd already been sent to the school - so perhaps I would do well to be a little bit more OCD about the process itself!

Lol. Are you starting to worry about not worrying enough? In any case, I don't think your lack of OCD deserves the blame for your missing GRE scores...ETS probably screwed something up *mock surprise*

And congratulations on your mother's success! I lost a dearly loved one a few months ago to cancer and although I still have trouble getting out of the bed in the morning it always brings me great joy to hear of those who have fought and survived. It always made her happy as well. I'm sending you and your mother good thoughts!

[complexprocedure]

Lol. Are you starting to worry about not worrying enough? In any case, I don't think your lack of OCD deserves the blame for your missing GRE scores...ETS probably screwed something up *mock surprise*

And congratulations on your mother's success! I lost a dearly loved one a few months ago to cancer and although I still have trouble getting out of the bed in the morning it always brings me great joy to hear of those who have fought and survived. It always made her happy as well. I'm sending you and your mother good thoughts!

Yes, "worrying about not worrying" seems to describe the situation perfectly. I will do my utmost to improve, haha!

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss; major kudos to you for persevering with the application process in the face of such a difficult time.Thanks for your kind words for my mom. Although it will be a while before we're totally confident that we're out of the woods, there's not a day that goes by that I don't realize how lucky we are. My condolances to you and yours, and best wishes for coming through this with strength and grace. (And the acceptance of your top choice would be pretty sweet as well, so I'll be rooting for you!)

[Hegel's Bagels]

Congrats to whoever got the first acceptance! What I wouldn't give for some news, good or bad.

[Guest Amon-Ra]

I just saw the first real results posted to the board, and got a huge blast of nervous anticipation. Congrats to whoever got into Case Western and to Case Western, if they get you, you lovely gradcafer!

It's been very strange entering the waiting part of the process this year, especially since the schools that interest me usually don't start sending responses for about another month and a half. I'd like to keep distracted, so in addition to focusing on work and phoning up old friends, I've been spending extra time at the gym, studying Latin and marathon watching mind-numbing videos on my computer. I could really use some good but mindless books, and would love suggestions if anyone has any.

How does everyone cope with this process when distraction fails? At the extremes, I can't decide whether it's better to believe it'll all work out, because then at the least I get a few months of happiness, or whether I should stave off disappointment by assuming rejection. I know it won't ultimately make any difference, except to my own experience, but I have found the more rejection letters I get, the more I value any control over my experiences. Tell me what you all think. Let the kvetchiness commence or the optimism appear!

PS Love the website, Hicks!

Edited December 28, 2014 by fuzzylogician
Edited for privacy at poster's request.

[once]

I could really use some good but mindless books, and would love suggestions if anyone has any.

I'd recommend you pick up something by David Sedaris. He mostly does short story collections; they're brief and usually very witty, perfect for taking your mind off things.

[Hegel's Bagels]

I could really use some good but mindless books, and would love suggestions if anyone has any.

You should check out the Song of Ice and Fire books. It's the series that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones. They're REALLY long, mind-numbing, vaguely historical (in a LOTR medievalism sort of way), and addicting!

[Hicks]

I saw that some people had interviews with UC Irvine last week. I guess not getting interviewed is a bad sign.

[Hegel's Bagels]

I saw that some people had interviews with UC Irvine last week. I guess not getting interviewed is a bad sign.

Do they always interview those they're considering? I know schools like Emory do, but many schools only interview those they are on the fence about. Don't give up hope yet!!

Edited January 26, 2012 by artofdescribing

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

Good-ish news on this end!

I submitted my Tyler application in December, and when I checked up on it the week before it was due, I saw that they didn't have my undergraduate transcript. I e-mailed the grad office and they said that they hadn't received it at all, and I couldn't figure out if I had actually requested it or not (yikes!). So I requested it (maybe again?) from Rutgers, who confirmed its departure three days before the deadline. I was sweating a little but I know that Tyler date stamps their received materials, and even if it were a day or two late it wouldn't be awful. Besides, New Brunswick to Philadelphia shouldn't be that long for a standard piece of mail.

Anyway, I still spent two weeks checking up on my application, and every day its status was "Incomplete Items Outstanding". Finally today I caved in and gave the admissions department a call. They confirmed that they were still processing received materials, but told me that my file had gone on to the department anyway! My graduate GPA was high enough to expedite review!

Yay! I mean - ahhh!! They're looking at me!!!

Edited January 26, 2012 by OnceAndFutureGrad

[manyarecalled]

I saw that some people had interviews with UC Irvine last week. I guess not getting interviewed is a bad sign.

Where did you see this? I'm new to the forums and still learning how to navigate! I check the art history admissions page and this thread often, but that's it!

[Hegel's Bagels]

Good-ish news on this end!

I submitted my Tyler application in December, and when I checked up on it the week before it was due, I saw that they didn't have my undergraduate transcript. I e-mailed the grad office and they said that they hadn't received it at all, and I couldn't figure out if I had actually requested it or not (yikes!). So I requested it (maybe again?) from Rutgers, who confirmed its departure three days before the deadline. I was sweating a little but I know that Tyler date stamps their received materials, and even if it were a day or two late it wouldn't be awful. Besides, New Brunswick to Philadelphia shouldn't be that long for a standard piece of mail.

Anyway, I still spent two weeks checking up on my application, and every day its status was "Incomplete Items Outstanding". Finally today I caved in and gave the admissions department a call. They confirmed that they were still processing received materials, but told me that my file had gone on to the department anyway! My graduate GPA was high enough to expedite review!

Yay! I mean - ahhh!! They're looking at me!!!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!

[OnceAndFutureGrad]

Where did you see this? I'm new to the forums and still learning how to navigate! I check the art history admissions page and this thread often, but that's it!

I was confused too, but I believe Hicks is referring to the Visual Studies program...?

[manyarecalled]

OnceAndFutureGrad, you're right, I see that in Hicks' signature. I've found this thread to be really helpful, and I'm sure that we'll start hearing more and more in the upcoming weeks. Good luck!

[losemygrip]

To those of you hoping to maintain your studio practice in art history grad school:

I came in with a BFA, thinking I'd like to continue making and exhibiting art. Ha! Didn't happen. Between being a TA, my courses, and a part-time job, studio work had to go. I'm sure everyone has different levels of commitment, but I had been a pretty serious artist as an undergrad, in lots of national juried shows. I just couldn't make it work.

I also discovered that reactions among the art history faculty to my studio interests ranged from bemusement to snide dismissal. It was not encouraged, as it was viewed as merely a distraction to my "serious" art historical work. (Of course, they were fine with all my language study . . . )

YMMV

[NaturallyAesthetic]

I came in with a BFA, thinking I'd like to continue making and exhibiting art. Ha! Didn't happen. Between being a TA, my courses, and a part-time job, studio work had to go. I'm sure everyone has different levels of commitment, but I had been a pretty serious artist as an undergrad, in lots of national juried shows. I just couldn't make it work.

Oh man! That makes me very sad, indeed.

Congrats to you and your national juried shows! Though I didn't get serious about the studio major until my senior year, I've managed to show in a lot of local and regional exhibitions, but nothing on the national level!

Interestingly, many of my peers are almost more interested in my perspective as an artist on a given art historical quandary than any art historical training I can bring to the table in my senior seminar for art history. However, those are my peers, and not the established scholars that will be reviewing my application. Only one school I've applied to has stated that my studio background is an asset to their program, so I definitely can relate to your experience!

I hope to find a balance between art historical work and actually creating, but I know it won't be easy.

[Hicks]

I was confused too, but I believe Hicks is referring to the Visual Studies program...?

That is correct.