Graduate Studies in Art History

[biblio_filia]

I'll be entering my senior year at a small, liberal arts women's college in September (I'm an art history/Italian double major). I'm beginning to get application materials together, have plans to take the GRE within the next month or so, etc., but I've realized that I have little guidance as to what programs I should apply to. My end goal is to do

Comments

[keito_f]

For a brief time I worked at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. I found out after I got my PhD that, while Curators of Natural History Museums are expected to have PhDs, collection managers and others often just come in with Masters and actually having a PhD can be a disadvantage in applying for the job. I don't know if the same is true in Art Museums.

I would seriously suggest talking to an Art Museum curator and asking advice.

[keito_f]

Oh and this is from the Natural History Museum perspective again, but curator jobs at museums can be extremely hard to get--there are very few compared to the number of people who want them. I am not trying to discourage you--I think you should go for it--I am just mentioning it because it might explain why the top tier programs are focused on future professors and academicians, although technically a curator is supposed to also do research and so falls into academia I think.

I think getting training in Museum studies would definitely give you an edge.

[roseofjuly]

My college didn't even rank besides the top ten seniors in the class. And I guess maybe Phi Beta Kappa?

[ducktape74]

You might also consider a Masters in a program like Public Humanities (like the one we have here: http://gradschool.brown.edu/index.php?progid=1152047088) before pursuing a PhD.

[lyricon]

Hi there