MA in Sotheby's or Christie's in New York

[1401renaissance]

 

Hello everyone, I'm an international student from South Korea and I'm applying to both Sotheby's institute and Christie's for Master's degree in New York. 

I don't have a normal educational background, and to explain this briefly, I did 2 year neuroscience of undergraduate in a top 30 university in US, and then I quit, because of my personal and family problems at that point of my life. I worked in the korean enterprise for 2 years, in field which was not related to neither in neuroscience nor art. Then I went back to my undergraduate education, this time not Neuroscience in the USA, but degree in Art History and Archeology in Université Paris Sorbonne, in Paris, France.

 

Since the Master's program in Sorbonne is extremely academic and doesn't prepare me at all for the "real world", I really want to get my Master's in Sotheby's or Christie's in New York. I've  done many research between Sotheby's and Christie's , and my questions is the followings:

 

1. size of entering class

2. 3 semesters equals how many weeks ?  I can't find the calendar exact which explains the exact duration of programs. 

3. accumulated number of alumni since the beginning 

4. number of international students 

 

I know that both institution have great program, and I don't see a great difference in the level of reputation of both Sotheby's and Christie's. Only factors that I will be based on for my decision will be those 4 elements mentioned above. 

 

I'm really happy that I've found something that I'm genuinely interested in and have passion for, after all these years of struggling with family problems and my academia in the states and Paris. 

 

Thank's advance for any thoughts/criticism/ advice/comments..etc ! 

[modmuse]

So, this doesn't directly answer your question, but does address something you said -- that you're looking for a program that prepares you for the "real world". I would really discourage you for paying for a degree from an auction house program, unless you know for sure that you want to work in an auction house. They are virtually useless in the museum side of things. If you are really concerned about real world experience, then I would recommend applying for internships. Nothing trains you for the real world like the real world! Or, look into curatorial studies programs. Columbia has a "minor" in that, as does NYU. There's also Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, CalArts has a program too, and SVA has a curatorial practice program that, although new, has yielded successful alumni so far (one at The Kitchen and one at the Hirshhorn). 

Not trying to discourage you at all, I'm sure you know what's right for you, just sharing some alternatives that as an international student you maybe didn't know about!

[skydancer]

Another word of warning about the auction house programs - 

I went to an info session by Sotheby's a year or two ago, and part of their program had a pie chart of where their grads ended up.  The sections were basically, major galleries, curatorial museum work, auction houses. And....the chart added up to 100%.  So I asked the rep if this statistical info was based on only people who got jobs in the field, only people who responded to the survey, or all graduates - and they couldn't answer but promised to look it up.  I very followed up on this by email, since the program sounded interesting, and I received a very hostile reply before never receiving a response from them again.  I'd advise anyone contacting them to look carefully at the numbers in their program advertisements and remain skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true.

On the other hand, one of the people who worked for my college's art gallery went to Christie's and enjoyed her time in the program and got a job in an academic art museum.  So, it's not a worthless program.

[1401renaissance]

@skydancer@modmuse 

 

yeah, the statistics that Sotheby 's / Christie's give me are too good to be true, they say up to 80 ~90 percent of graduates end up in major galleries, museums, auctions houses..but I'm not sure if those sources are credible. 

I'm mainly looking for schools in New York City, so I've also looked at NYU's MA in Art Administration program, but according to website, they says that only "35 students" enroll MA Art Admistration program each year. ( http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/art/admin/enrollment) So I'm not sure if art administration in NYU will have the alumni connection as solid as Sotheby's /Christie's ... 

Well, yeah thanks so much for the comment anyways...! It's really difficult to decide the school, because they offer pretty much similar experience/programs. 

 

[modmuse]

@1401renaissance Maybe the best way for you to decide is to look up some of the people with your dream job and see where they've gone to school. That should give you a sense of how they got to where they are, and also show you if any patterns regarding school or type of program come up. Good luck!