Art History PhD Hopefuls: Any News?

[cokohlik]

I know... And my husband just told me we didn't get any mail.

WHY, PROGRAMS? WHY?!! Aggg!!

[cokohlik]

Broke down. Emailed a POI about a paper I heard at CAA that I genuinely think he'd enjoy. (He wasn't at CAA.)

Oh gosh not having any news... my brain is melting... save me! (cue terminator melting in the weird lava stuff; unlike terminator, my sanity may never come back. )

[cokohlik]

These wonderful words from Simon Schama's Power of Art just resurfaced in my memory:

"Great art has dreadful masters. The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm, and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure, and then proceed in short order to rearrange your sense of reality."

That took my mind off applications for... 15 minutes. Win.

[cokohlik]

Noticed Williams sent out (just sent out?) acceptances today! Congratulations!! Anyone want to claim them?

[LLajax]

Noticed Williams sent out (just sent out?) acceptances today! Congratulations!! Anyone want to claim them?

Dang it, looks like Harvard too. Please someone claim those accepts!

Also, I'd like to make note of how awesome everybody is. Guys, you're all great, and don't you forget it! And if schools aren't bowing down to your awesomeness this year, you're sure as sugar gonna smack 'em in the face with it next year (your amazingness, that is, although I can think of some schools that could use a literal smack to the face- I'm looking at you Yale, with your no accepts). The number of schools left to hear back from may be decreasing, but don't let that make you feel diminished in any way. Chin up guys!

[unitname]

If anyone has any info/contact/correspondance with ANYONE at Temple, please post! I haven't found a real reason to email them yet but if anyone else does, your info will calm my nerves.

THANKS!

[stilnovista]

If the other VCU PhD admit is lurking about here somewhere, I just declined my offer. That means my tutition remission and TAship is floating around!

[barbrastreisandy]

Is anyone else waiting to hear from UCLA? I see that acceptances and rejections have already been sent out. I don't know what's going on!

[LLajax]

Is anyone else waiting to hear from UCLA? I see that acceptances and rejections have already been sent out. I don't know what's going on!

Haha, in general, I'm pretty sure that none of us have any idea what's going at all- with anything.

[Eggleston]

Dang it, looks like Harvard too. Please someone claim those accepts!

I second this... would love to hear about the 3 (!) admits now posted, and their POIs/fields of study!

[kaejo]

Notre Dame was supposed to make decisions at the end of this week....where's my email?!?!?!

[tendaysleft]

Noticed Williams sent out (just sent out?) acceptances today! Congratulations!! Anyone want to claim them?

One of them (the one without the tuition stipend) was me. I'm still reeling... I didn't at ALL expect to be admitted, especially not so early. Definitely shed some happy tears!

[cokohlik]

One of them (the one without the tuition stipend) was me. I'm still reeling... I didn't at ALL expect to be admitted, especially not so early. Definitely shed some happy tears!

Congratulations!!!! that's wonderful!

[tendaysleft]

Congratulations!!!! that's wonderful!

Thanks! Good luck on all your apps--February was painfully long, come oooooon March!

[cokohlik]

Thanks! Good luck on all your apps--February was painfully long, come oooooon March!

Thank you!! I'm hoping for some good news from some PhD programs that Shall Not Be Named next week (please, next week? haha)

[contiguous]

Hoping Williams sends out more emails soon, honestly now I just want to know either way!

[londonWill]

Hi everyone, like most here I've followed the results board as one by one schools to which I've applied have sent out their small clutch of acceptances and I find myself it seems, without a golden ticket. Whilst I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I didn't get in to these programs I'm curious that I've heard NOTHING whatsover (acceptance, rejection, or perhaps the most cruelly tantalizing, 'waitlisted'). Can someone explain how this phase of the process works? I'm inferring that since acceptances have been sent out, all decisions (thumb raised and thumb lowered...imagining ad comm as laurel-wearing, smirking senators) have been made- the flood of formal rejections simply being deferred until those previously contacted officially accept their invitations. Or is their still hope in silence?

[losemygrip]

Over on the studio art boards, there have been people who received no notices and checked their status online and discovered that they had been accepted. Have you tried that?

[Hicks]

The rejections are starting to come in a humbling way. I got the UC Irvine Rejection and then later got the Chicago rejection. I was totally expecting the Chicago rejection from the beginning. It wasn't a great fit. I only applied because I was able to get a fee waiver. But, I didn't even get admitted to the MAPH like I did last year. Very humbling.

[cokohlik]

The rejections are starting to come in a humbling way. I got the UC Irvine Rejection and then later got the Chicago rejection. I was totally expecting the Chicago rejection from the beginning. It wasn't a great fit. I only applied because I was able to get a fee waiver. But, I didn't even get admitted to the MAPH like I did last year. Very humbling.

Sorry, Hicks

[cokohlik]

I posted this in the "What was in your mailbox today?" thread in the Waiting it Out Forum, but I feel like posting it again to let out steam.

I got the official letter from the MA department I was admitted to. Apparently there will be another official letter coming in 2 weeks from the Graduate School. Anyway, in this letter that I got today, I the paragraph on funding went way over my head so now I'm drafting an email to them.

In other news, there is no other news. Husband & I decided to wait until Monday to see if we hear anything and if not then I'll start emailing the departments that have yet to notify me. Sigh. Worry, worry, worry.

[Hicks]

Is there anyone else who is interested an area of study that no one does? I tried the best I could to find someplace where I could work on the relationship between religion and contemporary art. But, I couldn't find a single adviser in the nation that does precisely that. Mostly, I found people who work in late 19th - early 20th century. What brought this to a head for me was that I got rejected from a school that was what I considered a very safe application. My GREs are way over their averages and they are not highly ranked. When I got the rejection I was surprised. My undergrad record had some serious issues before finally transferring to my degree granting institution and I have a strong grad record. The point is that while I think I have a strong application there are also some issues. I e-mailed my POI at that school to see what I could do to make my application stronger. Her response was that I was a strong applicant. But, while she does art & religion she doesn't do contemporary and my SOP indicated a strong interest in contemporary theory. I have a feeling that this is in large part what is holding me back. What do you do when you are interested in something that no one does? Very frustrating.

[losemygrip]

Hicks, here's my advice to you from the perspective of a grizzled old codger.

Don't worry about looking for your precise interest in a faculty member. Just find a school that is good in contemporary/recent art history. I think also you may want to look hard at art history programs that are in combined departments with studio because the faculty are more likely to respect your studio background (because they deal with artist colleagues every day). I think maybe you've been too narrow in your approach (that is, if you really want a PhD in art history and not just a way to pursue this research). Missouri is not a highly ranked program, but they're completely separate from studio, and also in financial distress, so they may not be accepting many students. They also don't do much in contemporary. UCI might be good, but it's highly theory based--are you into that stuff? Duke was a good choice, though.

I think you should consider places such as Texas, WUSTL, (I believe they have a brand new contemporary person who may be looking for students), Illinois, Iowa, etc. Also, strangely enough, consider Brown. They have a reputation for accepting idiosyncratic students. See if any of the schools you're interested in have a good Religion program as well. Then you can tie that in and present yourself as primarily interested in contemporary art, but with a secondary interest in religious studies, and "I'd like to investigate possibly interdisciplinary work." Etc.

And, you still have a few out there. Temple is a good possibility.

[cokohlik]

Hello, UCSB rejection.

Drove out there, met with POI, was excited about it, etc. etc. it's my husband's top choice...

Not feelin' great. Thanks, UCSB.

[LLajax]

Also, strangely enough, consider Brown. They have a reputation for accepting idiosyncratic students.

Hahahahaha, I guess this explains it then. Idiosyncratic describes me and my academic self.