Confused Undergrad looking for advice.

[sdavid13]

Hello everyone.

I'm an extremely confused undergrad senior who has been creeping around on this site for quite some time, and I am looking for some advice. I attend a private liberal arts school, obviously an art history major, with a GPA of 3.8, and I am very involved in campus activities ranging from Greek life to leadership roles. I've presented research at an undergraduate symposium and hope to present again at a couple more in the Spring. I've also done a museum studies internship at a small museum, and studied abroad twice. I am currently working on my senior thesis which will focus on various forms of abject art...I'm still in the early stages of my research though.

Here are the questions. Does anyone know of any strong contemporary art programs? I'm currently looking at Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Pitt, and John Hopkins based on faculty. The acceptance rates are terrifying me and I'm starting to get slightly discouraged. My areas of interest are abject art and Baroque Rome, as odd of a combination as that is...

Also, can someone tell me more about the differences between pursuing a graduate degree to become a professor, to work in a museum, or to work in say a gallery or auction house setting, etc. I've read all of the descriptions provided on college websites and such, but I'm looking for more real world responses. My college is very adamant about me pursuing a Phd to continue the research that I have been conducting because it is my strongest area, but I would like an outside opinion before I embark on another five+ years of education. How realistic is this? Any info you can provide will help to ease my mind. I'm tired (and too impatient) of the liberal arts response of following what you enjoy and waiting for everything else to fall into place. I've seen many types of MA degrees such as art history, curatorial studies, art market, etc and I'm feeling very overwhelmed by all of the options!

Any advice will really help me at this point. I'm confused as to what direction I would like to take my career and I do not particularly want to take a gap year, as there are no opportunities in my current town and my student loans will begin to collect interest. I enjoy researching, so I was planning on a graduate program in a city where I could also get a job or internship with a larger museum to make a better decision about which direction to go.

Thanks in advance to any responses! Even your personal grad school stories will help me!

[condivi]

Hi sdavid13,

First of all, you sound like you stand a very good chance of being admitted to a PhD program, so don't get discouraged! As for your questions:

1) Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Pitt, and Johns Hopkins all sound good for contemporary art. You might also want to check out Harvard, Yale, CUNY, and some of the UC's.

2) You can certainly switch fields once you get to grad school--in fact, it happens all the time. That's what coursework is for, in part. But when you write your personal statement, you should focus on one proposed area of study, and it should be something you're strong in and have done lots of research in; you could mention, briefly, your side interest in baroque Rome, especially if it ties in any way to your main interests and it improves your case to go to the school you're applying to (i.e., there happens to be an eminent scholar of baroque Rome on the faculty, in addition to the main professor(s) you want to work with). Once you enroll, you can explore other fields and even change fields. With that in mind, you should make sure to apply to schools that have strong people in both your fields. Don't forget also that some schools have the option of a secondary field.

3) There is little difference between pursuing a degree to become a professor or a curator--both need PhDs in art history, and, especially during your first years of course work, you'll be doing the same kind of work. Once you get to the dissertation-writing phase, your chosen path might affect the kind of subject and methodology you work on, but not necessarily. If you are interested in becoming a curator, though, you should try to get as much museum experience--interning at museums, working with curators, writing catalogue entries, even curating shows--as you can while pursuing your degree. Typically, you don't need a PhD to work in a gallery or auction house.

4) I know you say you don't want to take a gap year, but I would highly recommend it. A year off will help you mature, refocus, and even refine your research interests. If you need to work on a foreign language--say, Italian in your case--this is a perfect time to do it. 6+ plus years of school is trying for even the most motivated students--if you go straight from undergrad that's 10+ years of school work with no break (not to mention high school and before). Taking a year off will not only help you avoid burn out--trust me, I've seen it happen--but will also help you become a better scholar.

Hope that helps!

[arthistoryvoe2]

I am not sure I understand the rationale for your choices of schools, sdavid13, but I am wondering if perhaps you're being lured by big-name theorists who may not actually be that interested in advising a contemporary art topic or one that deals with abjection. (As far as big-name theorists are concerned, it sounds as if your closest affinities might be with Mieke Bal, so you might look at the University of Amsterdam!) For contemporary you might also want to look at Berkeley, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, USC, Texas—unless there is some reason why you refuse to leave the east coast.

[GreenePony]

As far as interest in museums go- if you look at some of the museum threads in the humanities section, it's been the general consensus that to be a curator in an art museum, you generally need a PhD in art history (I know one or two who focused on art education but still have a PhD so...). If you were in interested in another area of museums (collections, exhibits) you can get away with a masters (in smaller museums, a BA and some experience). Like others have said, if you think that may be what you are interested in, get more experience- volunteer, get internships, etc.

When I was applying for mstd programs I was seeing that the top applicants had multiple museum experience, not just my museum library job, classes and respectable internship but multiple internships, "real" museum jobs, etc. I'm not sure how this crosses over into art history but it may be something to keep in mind.

Here are some threads that may help (I know there are others out there, for some reason can't find them now):

[runaway]

There's no shame in taking a gap year, and there are lots of options for putting a year or two between your undergrad and PhD that are structured and might help you narrow your focus further. Some of the top MA programs are as competitive as PhD programs and as prestigious, but it sounds like you'd be a competitive applicant. You might also consider applying for a Fulbright, which could fund both research and internship opportunities at museums abroad. Good luck!

[Hegel's Bagels]

I'm not contemporary but I heard that JHU won't be taking any students in that field next year. I'm fairly certain Michael Fried is retiring so it might be worth it to shoot the department an email to make sure they'll consider your application.

[arthistoryvoe2]

As I was saying....Wouldn't it be rather unimaginable, even if not retired, that Michael Fried would consider supporting a dissertation on abject art?

[asdf123]

Indeed, Hopkins isn't really a place to go to study contemporary art... they don't even have faculty to sponsor a dissertation about anything post-WWII, or anything American, really.

In addition to the departments that Arthistoryvoe2 listed, McGill Univerity is worth mentioning -- they have amassed a rock-star faculty for contemporary art -- Christine Ross and Amelia Jones alone would be great.

[mooncake88]

It's good to have a secondary interest! If you are interested in a phd some schools make you have a subfield in an unrelated area, so you are more competitive for jobs upon graduation. So odd combinations are good, as long as you make it clear that one of them will be your primary focus (and as mentioned above, you can always change later...)