Weight on MA success for PhD applications

[kitt kat]

I will earn my MA in May 2013 (assuming I finish my thesis) and it's always been my intention to go onto a doctorate program. I'm toying with the idea of applying for the Fall 2013 admissions cycle, but I haven't decided 100%.

I was an arts practice-based BFA as an UG and was pretty disillusioned with the program; I didn't perform too well in my major coursework, but did fine in classes that reflect my current area of study. Was able to prove myself with a decent portfolio and a convincing SOP to get into my current MA program. My graduate GPA is just fine and will likely rise in this next year.

Just wondering the weight doctorate programs will place on my MA career given the shaky stats from my UG career that aren't too indicative of my ability to perform at an advanced academic level. I'm currently studying arts journalism with an emphasis on music criticism and am looking to go into a musicology program. I'll finish my MA with something of a 10,000 - 20,000 thesis on a topic directly related to what I'd want to study in a PhD program, so I assume that'll help my chances? Will being published (as a journalist) with articles related to my intended area of concentration also be more beneficial to showing my academic promise?

I should probably also retake the GRE, but not sure what scores I should shoot for in verbal.

[alleykat]

Hello kitt kat,

IMHO, MA perfomance does matter in PhD application progress, especially in humanities and social sciences. This is particularly true for someone who has done a thesis-track MA program because they could prove their research ability through their thesis as a major reseach work. In my case, my MA thesis played the most critical role in my admissions to PhD programs.

[kitt kat]

Thanks, that'll be nice to hear.

My thesis adviser is a professor/on the admissions board of the musicology program at my current university, so I'm thinking of asking him what the general admit stats are like...