<p>I would appreciate any feedback regarding which Liberal Arts schools have strong art history departments and what makes the programs strong. At this time, my daughter is looking at New England, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic schools such as Bowdoin, URichmond, W&L. Thank you.</p>
<p>What makes the strong art history departments are the professors - their education and published research. In reality you need to ask yourself what your daughter wants with an art history degree - if she wants to work at the Met etc with a PhD, she needs to attend NYU Yale Harvard. Those are truly outstanding departments. If she wants to go on to Auction houses and then own a gallery/work at one, she can do undergrad in most “socially” accepted lac. In terms of the three you mentioned in your post - Bowdoin blows the other ones out of the water.</p>
<p>The LAC that seems to have the strongest reputation for art history is Williams.
There’s even a name for its influence in the art world: the “Williams College Art Mafia”.</p>
<p>[Williams</a> College Legacy - The Harrison Gallery](<a href=“HugeDomains.com”>HugeDomains.com)</p>
<p>I have no idea if its program continues to be as strong as it was a few decades ago. Check it out.</p>
<p>Williams does have an excellent art history program that continues to be one of the most acclaimed anywhere. There are three world class museums located on or near campus with lots of handson museum-related activity. The faculty is accessible and nurturing and the alumuni/ae network widespread in the world of museum/gallery curating and directorships. Williams also provides a lot of support for summer internships, travel opportunities and graduate school advising.</p>
<p>My son (Williams07) did a double major in art history / art studio. While at Williams he had summer internships at well regarded museums. He chose to pursue architecture instead of art history, but many of his colleagues are now enrolled in prestigious PhD programs. </p>
<p>Other LACs that I’d recommend would be Wesleyan, Hamilton, Conn College, Skidmore, Vassar, Oberlin, Kenyon, Bryn Mawr and Smith. I like Bowdoin a lot, but I wouldn’t think of it as an art history destination.</p>
<p>Among the ivy league Yale and Brown are exceptional.</p>
<p>Brandeis University has a strong art history program and the outstanding Rose Art Museum is on campus and you are close to Boston for all the museums - the MFA, Fogg, Isabella Stewart Gardner and the ICA so there is a lively art scene.</p>
<p>JHU seems to have a strong art history department, too. The Baltimore Museum of Art is located at the edge of campus. I believe students can cross-register for classes at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art).</p>
<p>The University of Chicago gets very high marks in the new NRC graduate program rankings (#3 by S-Rank, R-Rank, and Research). For undergraduate liberal arts in general, it would be very hard to beat Chicago. Look into opportunities downtown at the Art Institute of Chicago (museum or school).</p>
<p>These two are research universities but not huge ones. Chicago has had a higher percentage of classes with under 20 students than Middlebury or Bowdoin, and about the same percentage with over 50 as Williams.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size.html</a></p>