<p>I'm looking mainly for private liberal arts colleges with good programs in both Art History and Communications. I'd like a range of affordable to pricey (although it's been mainly pricey ones that show up on my radar). I prefer a urban or suburban setting, but I'm willing to look at others. I like the East Coast (including New England), Oregon, Washington, and Colorado, but, like I said, I'm very willing to look at schools in all other states. Suggestions?</p>
<p>If you can get in, nobody beats Williams for Art History.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at Williams and am highly considering it, but I don’t think they have Communications.</p>
<p>Communications isn’t a proper liberal arts discipline, hence why Williams doesn’t offer it. Make no mistake though, a Williams education will force you to hone your communication skills to a degree that few schools with the major can match.</p>
<p>Alright, noted. Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep it on my list.</p>
<p>If you’re also considering universities, Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences has top-ranked undergraduate programs in both Art History and Communication (you could easily double-major in both), and of course offers an urban East Coast setting:</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> | History of Art](<a href=“http://www.sas.upenn.edu/arthistory/]Welcome”>Home | Penn History of Art)</p>
<p>[The</a> Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.asc.upenn.edu/students/Undergraduate/Program/Default.aspx]The”>http://www.asc.upenn.edu/students/Undergraduate/Program/Default.aspx)</p>
<p>That sounds great! Everything I was considering, thank you.</p>
<p>NYU and Northwestern are top ranked in both. Columbia is also but its journalism program is graduate only. Are you looking for communications or journalism? If you’re looking for journalism, you can just major in English and get experience on the school paper. That would open up the possibility of several excellent colleges (top liberal arts colleges and ivies). USC and Michigan are two other excellent choices. An art history / journalism school that isn’t quite as competitive but excellent in both is U Maryland. If you’re female, another excellent option for art history (no communications or journalism major) is Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr is in a consortium with UPenn so you may want to see if it’s possible to do art history/ English at Bryn Mawr and take selected communications courses t UPenn.</p>
<p>Agree Williams is spectacular for art history. Great hands on access to three world class museums. Excellent placement for internships, summer jobs, and graduate school admissions. Active and supportive alumni/ae network and art-world connections.</p>
<p>Some other good programs: Yale, Brown, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Vassar, Oberlin, Skidmore, Conn College. If you are female: Smith.</p>
<p>I second what Whenhen said about communications. No matter what media you’re targeting, a solid liberal arts education will develop skills in writing, speaking and, well, communicating.</p>
<p>Whether a private school is pricey or not really depends on how much need based aid you may be eligible for. If you’re looking for merit aid, you’ll have to research colleges that offer it.</p>
<p>Just to interject here to clarify, the academic field of Communication is NOT the study of how to communicate, write, or speak–or the honing of one’s communication or journalism skills-- as several posters above have expressed or implied. Rather, it is an interdisciplinary social science that studies, broadly speaking, the role and effects of communication–in all of its various forms–in and on society. For example, here is a description of the undergraduate Communication major as administered by Penn’s world-renowned Annenberg School for Communication through its College of Arts and Sciences:</p>
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</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Communication Program](<a href=“http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Students/Undergraduate/Program/Program-Description.aspx]Undergraduate”>http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Students/Undergraduate/Program/Program-Description.aspx)</p>
<p>It is this academic field of Communication in which schools like Penn’s Annenberg School and Stanford University have developed top-ranked Ph.D. programs, and have produced cutting-edge social science research on such topics as the effect of television violence on children, the effectiveness of various forms of political communication, and the use of communication in advancing public policy, just to name a few broad examples. To further this kind of research and study, Penn recently built on campus a new headquarters for its Annenberg Public Policy Center, which is the home of several eminent research programs as well as the renowned FactCheck.org:</p>
<p>[The</a> Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/]The”>http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/)</p>
<p>I assume that tinhouse (the thread-starter) knows the difference between the academic field of Communication and simply learning to communicate, write, and speak. :rolleyes: But just in case he/she or others who may read this thread are confused about this, I have offered this attempt at clarification. :)</p>
<p>And speaking of Penn’s on-campus facilities, I should mention that supporting Penn’s top-10 Art History department are two world-renowned museums that cover “opposite ends” of art history: the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, one of the finest collections of ancient and Pre-Columbian art in the world; and Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art, a leading exponent of contemporary art for 50 years (e.g., both Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana had their first museum shows there):</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Museum - University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology](<a href=“http://www.penn.museum/]Penn”>http://www.penn.museum/)</p>
<p>[Institute</a> of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Contemporary_Art,_Philadelphia]Institute”>Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Not to mention that within just 2-3 miles of Penn’s campus, you have the Philadelphia Museum of Art (one of the largest and most diverse art museums in the country), the Barnes Foundation (one of the finest collections of Impressionist and Modernist paintings in the world), the Rodin Museum (largest collection of Rodin sculptures outside of France), and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (oldest art museum and school in the country, and home to one of the finest collections and archives of American art in the world), all readily accessible to Penn Art History majors.</p>
<p>So to sum up, if tinhouse is truly interested in both Art History and the academic field of Communication, and is looking for a school with highly selective admissions, it would be hard–if not impossible–to find a school with a better combination of academics and resources than Penn.</p>