Hi everyone! I’m a transfer waiting to hear a few more decisions, but I am wondering which schools are considered to be the best for an undergrad art history major. I applied to a bunch on all places of the spectrum (SUNY Purchase, Yale, Williams, etc). I’d just like some more insight since decision time is rapidly approaching!
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Yale, Williams, Smith are always among the very best.
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Bryn Mawr is very strong as well. If you are male or prefer a coed campus, Haverford is a good option while majoring at Bryn Mawr.
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Which have you been accepted to and is financial aid a factor for you?
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Chickens, counting, etc
Yale and Williams are highly unlikely. Wait until you know where you’ve been accepted.
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If you aren’t happy with your admissions offers this year, think about taking a gap year, and applying to Bryn Mawr if you are a woman. Bryn Mawr is very community college transfer friendly. I don’t know about Haverford’s policy on that, but it would be worth investigating too. https://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/transfer-faqs
@momrath I’ve been accepted to Purchase, Stony Brook, Binghamton, Queens, UHart & Fordham so far. Financial aid is a factor for me. My parents are divorced and my father is not answering me regarding the CSS noncustodial parent profile, so we’ll see how that goes.
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@“Erin’s Dad” I’m not expecting to get into those but I figured they were certainly worth the shot. Right now I just wanna sort of put everything in an order so that once I get decisions I’ll know exactly where I stand.
@EmRaeee - Smith is test-optional, fwiw.
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With a 2 out of 258 acceptance rate last year, transfer applicants to Williams should already know where they stand.
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My intentions for this thread are solely about the best schools for art history undergrads; I’m not asking anyone to chance me for them.
Are you still waiting on results or is the list above your options? Might be most helpful for you to come back once you know exactly what your options are.
Maybe I should rephrase my question. I’m only asking which schools have the best art history programs for undergrads in general. If someone were to ask the top 5 or 10, what would people say?
Given that you are choosing among Purchase, Stony Brook, Binghamton, Queens, UHart & Fordham, and are still waiting on some others, what possible purpose is knowing what the top 5 to 10 programs in the country are if it’s too late to apply to whichever among them you have not already applied to?
(You’ve already been told about some of the top programs - Williams, Yale, Smith, Bryn Mawr, and have applied to Williams and Yale). How would knowing that Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley, etc. have good programs change anything for you now?
In addition to the others mentioned
At an arts-focused school: Pratt
In a smaller college environment: Connecticut College, Wheaton (MA)
At a university: Tufts, NYU, Cornell
In California: UCLA
@LoveTheBard because I applied to 13 schools. I only named the ones that sent me decisions.
Perhaps the better question then is: “among these 13 schools to which I’ve applied, which have the strongest art history programs?”
What possible good is it for us to name which among the literally hundreds of art history programs are the top ones if you’ve already narrowed down the playing field to 13 schools? You’re just wasting your and everyone else’s time. (Unless you are dissatisfied with your choices and are planning on taking a gap year and reapplying next year, in which case my answer would be quite different.)
But, for the benefit on anyone else reading this that is looking for solid art history programs, I would say that all of the ivies and ivy caliber schools (i.e., Stanford) have very strong programs and many of the large state universities (especially Berkeley, UVA, U Mich), do as well. Among privates, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and NYU have strong programs.
Among small liberal arts colleges, Williams, as others have stated repeatedly is one of the best in the country for art history but it is also very selective. Others that are very good include Weselyan, Oberlin, Vassar, Hamilton, Kenyon, Skidmore, Bard, Bryn Mawr and Smith (the latter two are women only).
Art and Art and Design schools are a whole other category .
One thing to do is look at schools with top Phd programs - they often have strong undergraduate departments as well.
Most large and medium sized universities have respectable art history departments, notably those with PhD programs.
The small liberal arts college with excellent departments have been mentioned above.
Art history is a wonderful major that draws on many different academic disciplines and can lead to fulfilling career in the arts or in arts related industry, but as a field it’s rather lowly paid. So while your number one criteria is going to be financial aid, other criteria to consider would be:
The number of PhDs on the faculty, where they studied and their areas of expertise.
The number of courses offered each term and how available they are
Accessibility of a “student friendly” museum, for internships and hands-on learning experiences
Departmental specialties such as architecture, restoration
Interdisciplinary programs such as studio art, archeology, history
Study abroad opportunities during the school year, summers and January terms
And most importantly what their students go on to do after graduation.