Hey guys,
I’m applying to GW with Corcoran (fine art photography and art history double major) as my primary school on the common app and Columbia arts and sciences (art history and English double major) as my secondary. Which would you say is more competitve? Thinking about going into art curation or museum studies. Also, haven’t heard much about Corcoran on here so any comments or advice would be wonderful!
I’m not sure which is more competitive, but you will have a lot of possible top notch museum internships, epecially at the Smithsonian!
I did my master’s in museum studies at GW and still have close ties to the school.
The Corcoran is a part of Columbian College of arts and sciences. The Corcoran was transferred to Gw in 2014; that is why it is has a separate name but is under Columbian College. If you want to work in museums, keep art history as your primary major. Enrollment for GW’s fine arts programs is down by about 25%, so photography will probably be less competitive.
If you want to be a curator, go to the best possible schools for your area of art history (good academics are important for art history) and don’t do GW museum studies program for your master’s. GW’s museum studies program is really for collections manager and museum registrars, not curators.
Gw is a different sort of university. It doesn’t have a proper central campus so you won’t have the typical, immersive college experience like you see in the movies. Although, the new university president has been making strides to make students experience better. regardless, if you want to go to GW, you should have a clear vision of what you want to get out of your time there and how you want to achieve that goal (and make your advisor aware of your goal/plan) because you are sort of on your own. If you can, visit the campus or call/email the department to get a better sense of if the university is for you.