History of Art MA/PhD 2008

[arthistorian]

is anybody still waiting on columbia? i've gotten responses from everywhere except columbia. at this point it's probably gonna be a rejection, but a part of me still wants to wait and see, even though i think i've already made up my mind where i'm going.

why are they so slow??

[lxs]

I'm still waiting on Columbia...waiting, but definitely not holding my breath.

[dontknowwheretogo]

I'm pretty sure Columbia has told the ppl they're letting in.

[halifax]

oh yeah, boojum...check your box. i sent you a pm about living in austin.

[mew27]

soooo halifax - i haven't been keeping up with all the posts on here. have you decided where to go yet?

[stylefaxee]

Yes, it definitely helps!! Where did you do your undergrad, if you don't mind my asking? Any other thoughts about Rutgers would be much appreciated :-)

I did my undergrad at DePaul, a private Catholic university in Chicago. I don't mind at all

[Renaissance08]

Thanks again stylefaxee!

I'm still waiting on NYU... anyone have any information about it? Is the general assumption that anyone who hasn't heard yet is waitlisted/rejected?

[stylefaxee]

Thanks again stylefaxee!

I'm still waiting on NYU... anyone have any information about it? Is the general assumption that anyone who hasn't heard yet is waitlisted/rejected?

I'm waiting too. Any insight people might have on this would be much appreciated.

I know that a bunch of people posted acceptances from the IFA earlier in the month...I'm guessing that they have already contacted all of their first-tier candidates, but if you haven't been contacted yet, it's because you're on some kind of unofficial waiting list? If any of the first round of acceptees drop out, we might still be in the game. But that's just a guess.

Either that, or they're just waiting until the last possible moment to send out rejections, just to be as cruel as possible.

[Renaissance08]

I'm still [secretly] *hoping* that's the case for NYU but feel like maybe that's just fooling myself... I was pretty confident with my application (though less so now that I've gone back and read how qualified some people contributing to this forum are), and I also met with a professor there who was explicit about how much she liked me. But that was before I actually applied, and I don't know how much power individuals have... Did anyone else meet with NYU faculty?

[arthistorian]

columbia's decisions are out... finally

[Ana20]

Regarding NYU-IFA, can anyone please let me know what the first year's tuition would be? They are not offering me funding in the first year (only a summer scholarship), which makes sense, considering that I never visited or anything. Is anyone here in the same boat?

[Chicken Dan]

Hi Ana,

It should be around $30,000.

[mew27]

halifax, it won't let me PM you back!

[Renaissance08]

Hey Ana20, Congratulations on your acceptance to NYU!! I'm still waiting to hear... I know it's not looking good, but wondering what kind of qualifications people who've already been accepted have. Are you coming straight from undergrad or have you done any masters work? Anything super special about your app?

[oneinthree]

Anyone else still waiting to hear from Berkeley?

[bob_the_muse]

Regarding NYU-IFA, can anyone please let me know what the first year's tuition would be? They are not offering me funding in the first year (only a summer scholarship), which makes sense, considering that I never visited or anything. Is anyone here in the same boat?

hi ana,

i just wanted to chime in here about the non-funding for your first year at IFA. I'm a fifth year phd candidate in art history at a top ten midwestern art history program: my program funds people uniformly which is wonderful because it doesn't produce a competitive/jealous atmosphere for the students in the program. seriously, if you got accepted into IFA, that means you're a competitive applicant and have what it takes to go to an excellent program. why they fund people unequally at the IFA (and at other programs) is beyond me: it doesn't make for happy, productive grad students. You might want to think long and hard about paying tuition + room/board in NYC for a year. I really think that going into that much debt for a grad degree in art history is kind of nuts, simply because it's possible to get into a great program and not pay a dime. If i were you, i would either reapply next year or go to a school that offers you more funding. You want to be in a department that really wants you: funding is a huge part of that. I know somebody who recently defended her dissertation at IFA and told me that she was fully funded but still came out with lot of debt because of the high price of living in NY. FYI. Good luck with your decision. It's a great program so i understand why you would be tempted to shell out the $$$. I think the most important factor for deciding on a phd program is the general atmosphere between students in the program (this can totally make or break your experience) as well as the way that the faculty interact with you.

oh and just because you didn't visit the dept. does NOT mean that it makes sense for them to deny you funding for the first year...

best of luck to everybody here.

[halifax]

halifax, it won't let me PM you back!

I updated my profile to allow PMs...I didn't realize it was off---sorry :mrgreen:

[dontknowwheretogo]

Regarding NYU-IFA, can anyone please let me know what the first year's tuition would be? They are not offering me funding in the first year (only a summer scholarship), which makes sense, considering that I never visited or anything. Is anyone here in the same boat?

I've been told point blank by professors never to accept an offer with no funding because it means they don't want you badly enough. Are you guaranteed funding by second year or do you have to compete? They're offering other students right now at least 56k for 5 years (tuition, stipend, misc) plus they're still negotiating with them.

[arthistorian]

ana20, i agree with the above comments.

are you guaranteed funding after your first year at IFA? also, my professor got her phd at IFA, and she said that it can be a competitive place due to funding issues.

[smellie]

I was wondering how everyone spent their MA years in terms of research, achievements, GRE, etc. The only schools I'm waiting now don't offer funding for MAs so it's likely I'm gonna go with the one I was accepted (with funding!). I'm just now wondering how, as art history students, you all have prepared for the "next step" while in Mster's program.

Any advice? Timeline? Things that you wish you had done?

What helped you getting into those Ph.D programs you wanted?

[lxs]

I spent my MA years getting work experience, doing research, teaching, learning languages, and working on some publications so that I could apply to PhD programs. Then after I finished, I took a year off to do research. Unfortunately, it didn't do much as I've been rejected across the board All of it seemed like the right thing to do, though.

[mew27]

lxs, i really can't believe that you haven't had better luck! :\ you're such a great candidate. if i were you, i'd definitely write to the departments and ask for some explanation of why you weren't accepted... that's ridiculous.

[lxs]

i know! i didn't think i would get in everywhere or anything, but i was hoping for at least one offer! my boyfriend keeps joking that maybe i accidentally made some sort of racial slur in my statement of purpose or something.

[Renaissance08]

Haha, I had the same fears about my personal statement lxs--not so much something un-pc, but just an egregious error, like I uploaded the wrong statement for the wrong program. Sorry to hear this has been so hard for you, are you still waiting on any schools?

[DuchessRavenwave]

I apologize for butting my nose in, but I wanted to express my empathy to lxs. This is my second year applying to art history progs, and it looks like I will be getting all rejections this year, too. (Luckily I applied to Italian programs, too, and got accepted at UCLA.) It's all kind of ridiculous. My boyfriend is a 5th year in art history, so he vetted my application and even that didn't help. I similarly have a masters, speak fluent Italian, have degrees from prestigious schools and had a kick ass writing sample and personal statement. Also, I work for an artist and have been auditing classes in art history to make my CV look better. Last year I think my application was poor, so that explains that, but this year, it's either a) bad timing for the profs I wanted to work with or b)given that art history is generally dominated by traditionalist views of the canon no one wants to take on a student that has an idea outside of another useless dissertation on Michelangiolo or Picasso. So it could also be that you had a really cool idea that no one wanted to take a risk on. Which is probably where my problem lies. (I wanted to write my dissertation on 20th Century Italy - arte povera, scuola di pistoia, il gruppo 68, poesia visiva, etc - but c.w. says that's not good art and not worth being interested in... *sigh*)

I apologize if this sounds haughty and/or conceited to people. I don't mean it to be, I just wanted to offer another possibility for what can happen.