Slowing beginning the application process. Advice, please!

[tangerine15]

*Slowly, not slowing.*

 

Hello, all.  I am going to be applying to graduate schools for Fall 2015.  After extensive school research and a fair amount of lurking on here, there are a few questions/concerns I still have.

 

I just finished my junior year at University of Nebraska.  My GPA is only 3.54 as of now, but my Art History GPA is around 3.8 somewhere.  I am a research grant recipient, have an article being published, interned and now work for an internationally known artist and am studying abroad this summer.  Reading knowledge of French, working on my Italian. 

 

 The schools my POI's are on faculty at are very prestigious and only have PhD programs.  Should I cast my net a little wider?  Also, how important is it that you and your POI's be a specific match?  As I am still an undergrad, would it be a good idea to apply for MA as was as PhD programs?  The quality level of Art History graduate applicants is so high, I do not want to be impractical and get rejected everywhere.

Edited May 9, 2014 by tangerine15

[m-ttl]

*Slowly, not slowing.*

 

Hello, all.  I am going to be applying to graduate schools for Fall 2015.  After extensive school research and a fair amount of lurking on here, there are a few questions/concerns I still have.

 

I just finished my junior year at University of Nebraska.  My GPA is only 3.54 as of now, but my Art History GPA is around 3.8 somewhere.  I am a research grant recipient, have an article being published, interned and now work for an internationally known artist and am studying abroad this summer.  Reading knowledge of French, working on my Italian. 

 

 The schools my POI's are on faculty at are very prestigious and only have PhD programs.  Should I cast my net a little wider?  Also, how important is it that you and your POI's be a specific match?  As I am still an undergrad, would it be a good idea to apply for MA as was as PhD programs?  The quality level of Art History graduate applicants is so high, I do not want to be impractical and get rejected everywhere.

 

I would apply to MA programs as well as PhDs. Most people don't directly enter a PhD program -- obviously it's not impossible, as those are my plans now, but I still had applied to a number of MA programs that I felt would serve me well.