Do I have any chance at all?

[Laura12]

I'm applying to graduate schools for the Fall '13 semester. I majored in art history and I want to work towards a PhD with the goal of becoming a teacher. I'm particularly interested in late 19th century European art, pre-colonial art of the Americas, and gender studies. As for my qualifications for admittance though, I'm not sure I have what it takes. I have excellent recommendation letters, a strong sample paper, and very clear research interests. On the other hand, I have a 3.0 overall GPA, a 3.4 in the last 60 credit hours, and a 3.5 in my major. I will be taking the GRE in a few weeks. All things considered, do I have any chance at being admitted into a decent graduate program?

[Shelley Burian]

One of the most difficult things about graduate school applications is that there is no perfect formula, particularly at the PhD level, as it often comes down to individual professors. You look like you have a fairly strong background,however,I am a bit confused about your research interests, as you have named two fields (you can look at gender in any sub-field) which are very different and rarely combined (unless you are interested in the later reception of ancient American art). One of the key things that helps you be successful in PhD applications is showing a strong inclination and well formulated research questions within a particular field. It is very unlikely that you are going to be able to combine 19th century European art and pre-colonial Amerian in research unless you are interested in cross cultural influences/ appropriation in European art. From my own experience, if this is your research interest then you are better off looking for advisers on the European side or people who study colonial art, as pre-colonial people are less likely to be interested. Another thing would be to look at programs which require a minor concentration, which allows you to gain tolerable knowledge in a field different from your principle area of interest, or one in which you could have co-advisers for your dissertation. You also REALLY need to contact potential advisers to make sure you don't apply needlessly to programs where there is not support for this topic. Note also that combining modern Europe/ pre-colonial American means learning more languages as you'll probably have to have French, German, Spanish, and an indigenous language.