<p>I've been a fan of the boards for awhile now. This is my first post, so here goes. </p>
<p>I go to Yeshiva University in NYC. I have a little over a 3.6. 4.0 in Art History. I got a 720 verbal GRE. I've taken almost entirely 400 level and honors courses since my second semester. Major in English, minors in French, Art History, and Jewish Philosophy. I'm interested in studying semiotic art history as a doctoral candidate at either Berkeley, Cornell, or Northwestern.</p>
<p>YU has no program in art history. With the help of the single professor in that field there, I designed my own program based on curricula from other departments from around the country. YU has also been kind enough to send me to Columbia and NYU to take art history courses that I couldn't take at YU.</p>
<p>The new chair of the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures department hired me to help design her new department. I'm a writing center tutor and an Art history TA. I've always had a passion for teaching and innovative methods.</p>
<p>I'm working with the chairperson on her new book on French Lit. I'm also co-authoring a book on poverty in american film and its relationship with public policy with a political science prof. </p>
<p>I'm also writing an Honors senior thesis on Foucault, and the Semiotics of Jacques Louis David's the Death of Marat. I'm doing most of the primary source research in french. </p>
<p>I'm reading proficient in french, fluent in hebrew, which I gotta say, was difficult for this small town American indian boy from south eastern oklahoma. </p>
<p>I'm a unique applicant, I know. Any grad school would probably have to take a "chance" on me. This is something I want to do. How do you'all think I can minimize that "chance"? Do you think I have a realistic shot at all?</p>
<p>Honestly, the worst that can happen is that they say “Thanks but no thanks. Your CV is impressive but if you want to get in our program, we’d really like to see a MA degree in Art History.” In that case… apply to places like Williams which has an excellent masters program. Also, are any of your recs coming from your NYU and Columbia art history professors?</p>
<p>You should really be applying to MA programs as well… English and History aren’t the only fields that are so competitive that a MA may be necessary to jump through hoops.</p>
<p>Here’s my two cents, as somebody else applying this year: Your CV sounds pretty impressive, I assume your letters will be strong, and if you can co-author texts you can probably write well enough to put together a strong sample. Nobody’s guaranteed, but it sounds like you might be competitive, depending on how much art history coursework you’ve done (sorry if I overlooked it in your post). Are you applying this year?</p>
<p>If you can, I’d set up appointments with the faculty who taught your classes at NYU/Columbia, or even the TAs if necessary (though tenured faculty would be much better), and ask them for their feedback on the parts of your application. If possible, you need some hands-on advice from somebody who has shepherded students through the process of applying to highly selective schools. As long as you’re respectful of their time and have impressed them with your work in the past, they may be willing to give you some good, specific advice. </p>
<p>Make sure that, in your SOP, you emphasize your initiative, and (if possible) that you show clearly how you intend to integrate the disparate parts of your background into a single approach.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice so far. I’m not going to apply this year. I’m going to spend one more year in undergraduate school so I can clean up my thesis more (maybe for future publication) and to take more courses. I’ll probably have eleven courses in art history by the time I graduate, not counting related courses in literature, film, and philosophy. </p>