History of Art MA/PHD 2010

[mitzydoodle]

Best of luck to those still waiting...I hope everyone finds a good "home"

[migbesviken]

Does anyone have a more clear idea of what the NYU IFA MA/Conservation program's stipend looks like the first year? I've heard it can be a few thousand dollars and may increase as you go up. I'm looking forward to my interview at the Institute at the end of the month but I'm wondeirng if I would have to take out loans to pay my rent and buy my groceries if I get in.

Thanks!

[msc4k]

Has anyone heard from Washington University in St. Louis? I put in an application for their Master's program in the Art History & Archaeology department.

[ristastic]

To my fellow CUNY-er who posted the funding decision: first of all, major congrats! Second of all, would you mind sharing any details? Was it in response to your financial aid request letter? Feel free to PM me if you want, I'm just trying to figure out CUNY's crazy funding situation so I can decide if it's an option for me.

[Ardea]

I have been accepted into an MA program with partial funding. In the acceptance letter, they said that if I don't accept the admission by March 19th, they are going to assume I don't want it. This program is a great fit for me and I will probably accept their offer, but I am still waiting to hear back from three schools and would rather make a decision when I hold all the cards. So, what does one do in this situation? Is it okay to ask for an extension? How do I ask for one? Also, what happens if I accept their offer and then withdraw later? Thanks!

Yes, it's ok to ask for an extension.

Considering how relatively late in the game it is, I would say it's also ok to prod the three programs for a decision. Let them know you've been accepted at a program with a deadline.

[georgica2]

I have been accepted into an MA program with partial funding. In the acceptance letter, they said that if I don't accept the admission by March 19th, they are going to assume I don't want it. This program is a great fit for me and I will probably accept their offer, but I am still waiting to hear back from three schools and would rather make a decision when I hold all the cards. So, what does one do in this situation? Is it okay to ask for an extension? How do I ask for one? Also, what happens if I accept their offer and then withdraw later? Thanks!

I would suggest first contacting the programs you're waiting on and letting them know you have an offer with a deadline (and give them the speech about how you're veeeeery interested in their program and don't want to accept anything else before you hear from them, etc, etc.) Chances are there are programs who have made decisions and simply haven't notified officially yet -- at the very least, they might be able to give you a sense of when you'll hear. However, I do absolutely think it's okay to ask for an extension. April 15th is the typical deadline for a reason -- it allows applicants to weigh all of their options, and it's unfair for a program to try and essentially bully an applicant into accepting an offer by setting a date before all the offers are likely to be in. I would bet that there's a thread about what to do in this particular situation somewhere else on the forum (probably in the section for accepted applicants/decisions, etc.)

[Ritualist]

Are there any others here who have been admitted to Columbia's PhD program? I'm currently vacillating on my decision and wanted to get another person's perspective. Thanks, everyone, and best of luck to everyone during "March Madness".

[mmustard]

Are there any others here who have been admitted to Columbia's PhD program? I'm currently vacillating on my decision and wanted to get another person's perspective. Thanks, everyone, and best of luck to everyone during "March Madness".

Hi Ritualist: I've been accepted and have already said yes to Columbia's PhD (excited, too!). I focus in East Asian / Modern Japanese, so I don't know if my specialization will actually be much help in your decision-making process, but I'd be happy to offer up my perspective if you think it might be of use. If you don't mind me asking, what're some of your main concerns with Columbia, and what's the other front runner?

(Also, congratulations!)

[Tapioca]

Kemet and Georgica - Thanks for replying to my questions. I will wait until the mailman does his final round on Friday before I start sending out those emails. I did find a thread about this (link below), but people seem to be as unsure of what to do as I am.

Phid - I was offered a GA assistanship, which comes with free health insurance, 6 hours of tuition paid for (additional credit hours billed at the in-state rate) and a monthly stipend.

Link to decisions page:

Edited March 11, 2010 by Tapioca

[Ritualist]

Hi Ritualist: I've been accepted and have already said yes to Columbia's PhD (excited, too!). I focus in East Asian / Modern Japanese, so I don't know if my specialization will actually be much help in your decision-making process, but I'd be happy to offer up my perspective if you think it might be of use. If you don't mind me asking, what're some of your main concerns with Columbia, and what's the other front runner?

(Also, congratulations!)

Hey, mmustard- I responded to you in a private message (check your inbox). I look forward to hearing from you!

[farthistory]

I got into CUNY as well. Congrats to you! My concentration is medieval art, though I'm not sure if I'll end up here due to the crazy funding situation.

What is the "crazy funding situation" I'm a little confused by their funding situation. They told me to accept admittance first, THEN they would tell me what my funding is - that doesn't sound right... Anyone else know something about this?

[ristastic]

What is the "crazy funding situation" I'm a little confused by their funding situation. They told me to accept admittance first, THEN they would tell me what my funding is - that doesn't sound right... Anyone else know something about this?

Well, from what I've learned it really varies student to student. I know they give out some full funding packages, as in a fellowship for a certain number of years plus tuition remission, which also includes teaching appointments. Otherwise, you're basically left to fend for yourself. You can apply for adjunct teaching positions at the various CUNY schools, and if you get one of those, you get automatic tuition remission + the hourly pay for the teaching duties. These teaching jobs have to be applied for continually and are not guaranteed.

I was "invited" to submit a financial aid request letter with my admission and told that decisions would be made between March 15th and May 15th. No one told me to accept the admittance offer first though. I did my MA at Hunter, also a CUNY school, and this sort of administrative confusion/red-tape is the norm for them.

[farthistory]

Well, from what I've learned it really varies student to student. I know they give out some full funding packages, as in a fellowship for a certain number of years plus tuition remission, which also includes teaching appointments. Otherwise, you're basically left to fend for yourself. You can apply for adjunct teaching positions at the various CUNY schools, and if you get one of those, you get automatic tuition remission + the hourly pay for the teaching duties. These teaching jobs have to be applied for continually and are not guaranteed.

I was "invited" to submit a financial aid request letter with my admission and told that decisions would be made between March 15th and May 15th. No one told me to accept the admittance offer first though. I did my MA at Hunter, also a CUNY school, and this sort of administrative confusion/red-tape is the norm for them.

Yes, I was "invited" to submit a financial aid request letter too, which I did. When I called to confirm that they received it, the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hi, I'm wondering if you received my request for financial aid."

Them: "Yes, we received it."

Me: "So how does this work - when will I find out if I have funding, and when should I accept to the university?"

Them: "Oh you haven't accepted yet?"

Me: "Well I'm waiting to find out about funding."

Them: "Oh, so your acceptance depends on funding?" (sounding surprised!?)

Me: "Um... well, yes."

Them: "Oh. Well, yes you should definitely accept your offer."

Me: "Oh. So I should accept my offer even without knowing about funding?

Them: "Yes."

Me: "What if I'm not offered funding after I accept?"

Them: "You can always just cancel after accepting."

WHAT!? Does this sound fishy to anyone else? I just can't believe this is *actually* their process. But this was the program officer of the department, who is in charge of department funding, so I guess that's their policy. Could someone edify me on if this is kosher? Anyone familiar with the ways of CUNY out there?

[shadow]

Thanks Shadow! Do you have any idea what an average stipend is at the IFA? Also, if you have any additional details about the Conservation program or about the IFA in general it would be greatly appreciated!

Sending you a private message.

[georgica2]

To the people who posted funding offers from CUNY on the results page, did you receive the funding offers after submitting requests to the department?

[goglisue]

Any thoughts on the UIC program?

[artschoolhopeful]

To those of you rejected by Northwestern--did you turn in your applications early? I gave up on Northwestern a long time ago, but I still haven't received my rejection.

I feel like these Chicago area schools are doing really cruel rounds of rejections.

[obscurefemale]

I'm starting to freak out that I haven't heard from any schools even tho I've seen people post their acceptances/rejections/waitlists for the schools I've applied to on the results board. Do schools usually do separate rounds of rejections and acceptances? Mostly I'm thinking of Williams...I saw two acceptances and one waitlist by email. I wonder if they've already made all their decisions and I'm getting rejected? But if so why haven't I received an email? I can't imagine they'd accept people by email and reject them by snailmail? Also I keep checking my Tufts status online and I see nothing.

Does anyone know how these places send out rejections and acceptances? And do any of the Williams people know if they've already finished accepting students?

Freaking out!

[Agamemnon]

Anyone still waiting to hear from the IFA?

[shake1204]

Anyone still waiting to hear from the IFA?

I am - for the MA. Based on the results page, I don't think they've announced any MA decisions except for Conservation.

[georgica2]

I'm still waiting to hear from IFA. However, I applied for the PhD, but when the department emailed us asking if we'd like to be considered for both tracks I said yes, so it's very possible that I was passed onto that pile.

With that said, I've seen a number of rejections from IFA on the results page, but no acceptances, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're still deciding. Based on last year, IFA is one of the programs that does actually stagger their notifications, sending things out in batches as they decide (probably since they're notoriously late with decisions) so don't count yourself out until you actually receive a yes/no from the department.

And, to the person above saying that they don't think a dep't would send out snailmail rejections when they email decisions....they do. Commonly. Many schools are humane and send out email rejections around the same time they notify acceptances, but Chicago snail mailed rejections, and Penn STILL hasn't rejected anyone officially, even though all the offers were made in mid-February.

[Agamemnon]

Yeah I had applied for both tracks as well so I figure I've probably been moved over to MA. Hopefully we'll all hear something soon.

[curiouser and curiouser]

So, does anybody here have any advice for how best to deal with being wait-listed? I've now received three full-on rejections, I've every reason to expect two more any day now, and I've been wait-listed at two schools, one of which is my top choice program. What's the etiquette in a situation like this? Do I fly out, meet with people (again), and make myself as conspicuous as possible? Or would it be more prudent just to sit, wait, hope, bite my nails off, and drink heavily? What do people think?

[jmb04]

To curiouser:

I too am on a waitlist. The advice I received is that you should contact the DGS right away to let them know how interested you are and to tell them they are your first choice (if indeed they are).

I also thought of visiting, especially since I've never been there and it would be tough to make a decision between programs as late as April 14. However, I'm not sure if I have the funds to blow on airfare and lodging for something that may not even pay off.

Best of luck to you!

If anyone has any other advice, I'd appreciate it too.

[Hugh10]

So, does anybody here have any advice for how best to deal with being wait-listed? I've now received three full-on rejections, I've every reason to expect two more any day now, and I've been wait-listed at two schools, one of which is my top choice program. What's the etiquette in a situation like this? Do I fly out, meet with people (again), and make myself as conspicuous as possible? Or would it be more prudent just to sit, wait, hope, bite my nails off, and drink heavily? What do people think?

I've also heard that scrambling together some extra letters of recommendation could help a lot. And if you have done anything significant (research or the like) since you sent out your application, to update them on what you have been doing since December.