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Mar 30, 2009 11:04

I'm graduating this year with a BA in anthropology ( Read more... )

taking time off

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fullofpink March 30 2009, 23:42:46 UTC
From my discussions with my professors in anthro. and those in AH, anthro sounds far easier to get into programs.

Ok, well I see what your focus is - antiquity. Do you want to do Greek or Roman? Or both? or maybe Roman Britain or Greece on Asia Minor? I mean, seriously - this is how focused grad school becomes for you. Of course you don't want to draw these lines right now, but when you go into interviews you want to be able to explain why this concentration and how much you already know about it. Also, archaeology and art history tend to merge in this era so having anthropology behind you will prolly be a good thing. :)

If you are studying antiquity, lets say you are interested in both Greece and Rome, your languages will definitely be Latin (reading comprehension) and if you can't do ancient Greek, definitely study German. If you want to do a MA track, one language is sufficient however they will probably expect you to pass your language tests within the first year of your masters. If you go on a PhD track, then you must know two languages. Schliemann (German) and Evans (English) are the big names in Greek excavations, especially of early antiquity and they have (arguably) the most concise study of archaeology esp. in the early period. German would be a valuable language.

If you go into AH, the internship is your highest priority - especially if it is a good one - like curatorial in Ancient Art. Also, the larger the name of the museum is sometimes better, however, if you go to a smaller museum that requires you to have more responsibility then your resume will look really good too. Lets say, "I interned with the Ancient Greek curator at the Met and researched all I could on the Hellenistic statues of Athens, etc." or a smaller museum where you not only worked with their collection hands on, but also with various departments and on many projects.

The thing is, depending on the internship it could be very easy to manage a 40hr/week job and a part-time internship. Unfortunately, summer internships applications are probably over (to most major/competitive museums), but smaller galleries and things will be open. Some places will only be 10 hours a week, others may be more. They also have semester-long internships which will be about 12 hours a week. It is manageable. If you worked a part time job while doing a normal semester (15 hours a week), it will mostly be the same.

Also, just a heads up, I know a lot of people consider Banksy an "artist" but in the Art History world he's a verrrrrry touchy subject - especially in the museum world where I've heard his name spoken with venom. Cultural essays aren't uncommon when referring to the art world but too much not dealing with the "artfullness" of grafitti and on the rise and development of this culture may not be a good paper to submit as your writing proposal. If you wrote a bunch on the art of the graffiti world then with some small tweaking you could possibly submit.

I know I suggest a lot to you, but most of what I say IS possible - it just requires reviewing and knowing exactly what you want to do. Let me know if you have any more questions.

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