History of Art MA/PhD 2008

[arthistorian]

re: columbia. it does seem late....

perhaps they have already notified their accepted applicants?? :?

[lxs]

that's waht I thought, but it seems like SOMEONE on here or posting on the board would have been accepted. There were acceptances for Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, after all!

[lxs]

got my chicago rejection today. so far i've been been rejected two places and waitlisted at one. only four left, and all of them were really long shots. any suggestions for plan b? :cry:

[Chicken Dan]

There's a post on the forum from Columbia. I pretty much figured that I'd been rejected when the prof. didn't call back.

LXS- I was in the same boat last year. I wrote immediately to profs and asked what parts of my application were weak. That was very helpful.

[blueskies]

There's a post on the forum from Columbia. I pretty much figured that I'd been rejected when the prof. didn't call back.

LXS- I was in the same boat last year. I wrote immediately to profs and asked what parts of my application were weak. That was very helpful.

What sort of things did they tell you? Not to be nosy, just along what lines and how specific?

[Chicken Dan]

They told me that my writing sample sucked (no surprise, as I hadn't written any academic papers in English since undergrad) and that my statement was not specific enough. To fix these problems, I spent all of last summer writing a good paper. It was published last December in a pretty good journal. Afterwards, I wrote a statement that expanded on the work that I did in my paper.

[lxs]

Thanks, Dan, that's really helpful. Did you have a job in the field or did you do something unrelated?

[NO8DO]

lxs- did you consider trying for an internship first also? there are a lot of great ones out there (phila art museum, upenn, walters art museum, the met, just to name some on the east coast that would look lovely on an app to Art History PhDs), also, perhaps you can go for an MA first? (if you have one already, my bad, I don't recall if you said you are coming straight from undergrad or not)

I recently got rejected from the one PhD program I applied to but in the long run I think that it's great that I did - I'm not sure I wanted to jump right into a PhD in the first place, plus it gives me the opportunity to go with one of the great MA programs I got into/applied to, and then perhaps keep the door open for what I want to eventually pursue as a PhD. I'm sure that the draw of an Ivy, and the fellowship package they were offering would have surely influenced me to go there, even if it wasn't the right thing for me at the time. Good luck to everyone who is still waiting, I'm not only waiting now on University of Delaware (MA Art History, MA Spanish & French)!

(rejected from UPenn, accepted to NYU sofar)

[lxs]

Thanks, N08D0 - I do have a MA (no way would I have expected you to dig through 16 or so pages of posts to track that down ) and I work at a museum now doing research, but I think you're right about maybe trying something on the east coast. Did you apply to UPenn for History of Art? I haven't heard anything from them yet.

[smellie]

So I just read someone got into NYU - MA with funding via e-mail. Yet my inbox is sad, quiet and empty. Should I prepare for rejection letters?

Oh, has anyone applied fo UNC for MA?

[stylefaxee]

Hey, delurking here....I just discovered this forum this week and I have to say I would REALLY have appreciated it a few months ago when I was tearing my hair out over the application frenzy. It's nice to see that others are in the same boat.

I'm still waiting to hear from 5 out of 8 programs and I'm getting really anxious. My focus is eighteenth and nineteenth century European, particularly French. I applied to NYU, Michigan, CUNY, Northwestern, University of Iowa, UNC, Case Western and Berkeley. So far I've heard from Berkeley (rejected, no great shock there), Case Western (accepted, waiting to hear about funding), and Northwestern (accepted - 5 years full support - and insurance!!).

Smellie -- I delurked to answer your question as I am also freaking out about NYU. I called the department yesterday and they said they were preparing to send out letters (both via postal and e-mail). So I'm guessing we should hear from them early next week, if not today. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't heard from them yet. Still...I'm prepared for the worst.

Likewise, still waiting on UNC...the e-mail they sent out back in January said - tentatively - that we might be hearing from them by the end of Feb...so I'm guessing soon?

What about Michigan? Has anyone heard anything on that front?

[smellie]

I'm still waiting to hear from 5 out of 8 programs and I'm getting really anxious. My focus is eighteenth and nineteenth century European, particularly French. I applied to NYU, Michigan, CUNY, Northwestern, University of Iowa, UNC, Case Western and Berkeley. So far I've heard from Berkeley (rejected, no great shock there), Case Western (accepted, waiting to hear about funding), and Northwestern (accepted - 5 years full support - and insurance!!).

...

What about Michigan? Has anyone heard anything on that front?

Wow, your field (and most of the schools applied) is exactly mine! Would it be by any chance post-revolutionary France?

congratulations on Northwestern! I did apply to Michigan but haven't heard anything back. Neither from the UNC. To be honest, I looked back my applications and can tell that it has way too many weak spots to be accepted.. so I'm preparing for the plan B. :S

oh, and are you going in straight from BA? year-off, or with MA?

[hardkore]

I'm also applying to CUNY this year- why did you apply so early? To get it out of the way? I'll probably pop my app in around april 1.

[lxs]

hi stylefaxee - I heard from Michigan about a week ago via email. they put me on their wait list. I think a friend of mine just got a rejection from them yesterday but I am not 100% positive. have you heard anything about when CUNY might be deciding? I am afraid to call. I've heard that they are late, but they are one of my top choices so I'm really anxious!

[lxs]

I'm also applying to CUNY this year- why did you apply so early? To get it out of the way? I'll probably pop my app in around april 1.

CUNY has rolling admissions. To be considered for financial aid, their deadline was Feb. 15. They will consider unfunded candidates until April 15, or at least that was how it was explained to me by the director there. It was really confusing - I had to ask to figure out when I was going to send things in.

[hardkore]

CUNY has rolling admissions. To be considered for financial aid, their deadline was Feb. 15. They will consider unfunded candidates until April 15, or at least that was how it was explained to me by the director there. It was really confusing - I had to ask to figure out when I was going to send things in.

Thanks a lot for this information. I suppose I had just assumed that deadline=funding opportunities. This wasn't explicitly stated on the website and I should have clarified. I honestly was working so hard on my other applications that I looked forward to submitting this one in April, and also CUNY was my #5 choice. Luckily, since I am an ass for not looking into this, I can bite it and pay the tuition without funding since it's so inexpensive.

[stylefaxee]

hardkore -- I applied to CUNY by Feb 15th to make their financial aid deadline...I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get a fellowship of any kind. Oh, I see - lxs already answered this.

lxs -- I'm also in Chicago, by the way! Thanks for letting me know about Michigan...I am not hopeful but we shall see. Good luck with the waiting list!

As for CUNY, I have no idea when they will be deciding. If admissions are rolling, I would imagine they make decisions on a case-by-case basis, so hopefully we will be hearing from them mid-month? I don't think they have even deposited my check for the application fee yet (and they screwed up my application twice!). Honestly, their program seems to be the least well organized at least judging from their website which is pretty uninformative...

Best of luck to you all!

[NO8DO]

lxs- I actually applied to Penn for Romance Languages PhD, not Art History (only art history program I applied to was at UDel, which I'm thinking will be a rejection as it seems to be a very selective program), and don't think they've decided yet on Art History (or at least I haven't seen anything on these boards yet) - plus I'm sure halifax would have let us know!

[emusinfrance]

My focus is eighteenth and nineteenth century European, particularly French. I applied to NYU, Michigan, CUNY, Northwestern, University of Iowa, UNC, Case Western and Berkeley. So far I've heard from Berkeley (rejected, no great shock there), Case Western (accepted, waiting to hear about funding), and Northwestern (accepted - 5 years full support - and insurance!!).

Ah, I was wondering who the Northwestern acceptees might be. I also am wondering--Are you working on something specifically within nineteenth c.? (I'm trying to guess who your advisor is, really...) Anyway, congrats! Me jealous.

[stylefaxee]

emusinfrance,

I'm interested in art of the Napoleonic era...my dissertation will hopefully examine issues of gender and masculinity (specifically fatherhood) in paintings of Napoleon with his family. I would likely be working with Hollis Clayson and Stephen Eistenman, to answer your question...I got phone calls from both of them.

Thanks for the good wishes -- don't give up hope! Good luck

[arthistorian]

stylefaxee,

stephen eisenman! i'm a big fan (not exactly my area, but i really like his work). congratulations! :-)

[arthistorian]

lxs,

yeah, like chickendan said, i think it's a good idea to talk to some profs.

in retrospect i think the SOP is definitely very important (which i sort of underestimated!). whether or not your interest matches really well with at least one prof is a huge factor as well.

[theboojum]

I emailed UNC last week, and they said we could expect to hear back "next week," ie this upcoming week.

[smellie]

I emailed UNC last week, and they said we could expect to hear back "next week," ie this upcoming week.

I also got an e-mail from the department on friday saying that they have sent their decisions to the grad office, so they should be sending letters "any day."

[stylefaxee]

thanks, arthistorian! I'm really excited to be (potentially) working with him -- my hope of being accepted at NYU is crumbling, but Northwestern isn't too bad a fallback

I wish they would just hurry up already and rip off the damn band-aid. I'm still waiting on five schools ... is this normal?