M.A. in Art History

Graduate School
1

<p>My boyfriend, who is currently studying as an undergraduate in Australia (his homeland), is considering pursuing an M.A. in the states to be near me. He is two years shy of graduating.</p>

<p>After a bit of searching, I was surprised at how many universities do not offer M.A. tracks; most of them seem terribly intent on the PhD.</p>

<p>We need to find schools that fit the following criteria:
1. Offer an M.A. in Art History or an M.F.A. or some other similar degree
2. Are relatively prestigious (the moreso, the better)
3. Are close to the University of Maryland, College Park, which is where I am studying physics.</p>

<p>We've sofar narrowed it to Tufts, Columbia, and U Penn. Unfortunately, U Penn requires mastery of German or French within the first month of study, and neither of those languages is covered under my boyfriend's undergraduate curriculum, and it would be beyond his financial means and time constraints to seriously invest in them this late in the game. Columbia requires a portfolio for its M.F.A. degree, which is a little removed from what he originally wanted to pursue. Tufts is great, but it's over seven hours away from me by car, and the idea was to be able to visit each other frequently.</p>

<p>How risky is it to apply for a PhD program with the intention of halting study once was you've satisfied the requirements for a master's degree?</p>

<p>I would consider transferring to go to a school closer to him, but only if the school had an equivalent or better physics program than UMCP. As it is, it would be a financial sacrifice on my part, because I have most of my tuition to UMCP paid for by scholarships, and it's be risky besides because I might not get into the school to which I wanted to transfer.</p>

<p>Any ideas/ suggestions would be much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Have you searched the Petersons site - <a href="http://www.petersons.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.petersons.com&lt;/a> ? If you go to grad school, then find a school, Art History, Masters you'll come up with a decent list.
Apologies if you've already done this. Art History isn't my field, but I do know a good bit about web searches.</p>

3

<p>I've just discovered NYU's "create your own major" program, also. Heee.</p>

4

<p>Keep in mind that the language requirement is "reading knowledge". My understanding is that they give you a page from a scholarly article in your field, a room, a dictionary, and a couple hours to write out a translation. </p>

<p>A number of universities (e.g. University of Wisconsin) offer very reasonably priced correspondence courses for just this purpose. I believe UW's run about $550 US and can be taken for credit.</p>

5

<p>Williams College has a very prestigious MA only program that is a joint venture with the nearby Clarke Art Institute. Its not that close to College Park, but not appreciably farther than Tufts either. A lot of top curators have come out of the program.</p>