<p>I'm a senior European Studies undergrad and I'm an international student (but in a US college). I'm looking for advise about applying to a direct PhD program in Art History with an emphasis in the history of architecture.</p>
<p>I have a 3.68 major GPA, dean's list last semester, and a semester of working experience (a gallery/museum in DC), and my writing samples and under-going senior project should be a strong support for my application. the only concern is that I took GRE this March, but V320/Q790 must be too low for a PhD. I'll take it again this October and hopefully I'll get a V500... probably the highest i can reach =(</p>
<p>I think I will start contact professors in this field this month...my interests are European modern architecture, esp public buildings, and how these constructions affect urban planning and community development. I took a lot of courses about European history, culture, art and art history... My professor told me it will be a little bit difficult to apply for a direct PhD without an Art History undergrad degree, but I think my background and interdisciplinary studies should help a lot...? how's the possibility?</p>
<p>I'm not a European native and I don't have any European language training (besides english xD) at this time... decided to do Italian and German in grad school... I was like doing research about a third-party in here... </p>
<p>My college is in a small town in the mid-west and I want to go to a bigger city for graduate study. I like eastern coast a lot since I enjoy the time I spent there for my internship. Anybody got any suggestion about any other programs in the eastern coast???</p>
<p>Are you from the UK or Ireland? I’m just guessing since you said you don’t have any European languages. Which is a bigger red flag than your GRE scores.</p>
<p>Based on your coursework and (lack of) language training, I would think that if you’re very serious about getting the PhD, I would apply to MA programs to beef up your languages and demonstrate that you CAN do art history. I had a peer in college who double-majored in history and art history and had decent French, but no German, and graduated with honors (including a thesis in EACH major), she ended up going to a MA program in order to strengthen her application further. She was originally waitlisted at this top MA program but got off- was quite happy about it. She picked up German during her program and now is in NYC for her PhD. Not to mention that she already held internships as an undergraduate in university art galleries so she had that hands-on experience.</p>
<p>While it’s helpful, I think, to have that strong cultural background, I am not sure if you can make it past the first cut without strong reading knowledge in French, German, or Italian. Is there a way you can start studying one of these languages in your senior year? If not impressive enough for PhD programs, it can show to MA programs that you are serious.</p>
<p>While it seems like you can be competitive for MA programs, I would really worry more about your language training.</p>
<p>
I hope someone more knowledgeable than I can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think your professor is correct. I considered art history programs for an emphasis in ancient art and was advised by several departments to reconsider, despite having a strong background in classics. There are a few reasons for this.</p>
<p>1) Art history is a humanities field, and those fields are incredibly broke right now. To give you some idea of the competition, Berkeley has been admitting/funding 1 out every 50 art history applicants. Some of the better funded departments (say, Columbia) have somewhat more favorable odds in the 1/20 to 1/30 ballpark, but it is still highly competitive. Students without a strong art history background simply aren’t likely to make it through admissions.</p>
<p>2A) Regardless of one’s concentration, art history programs expect at least one course in each of a number of different areas (ancient/Medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, 18/19th century, modern/contemporary, etc.). Students applying for PhD programs and planning to bypass the MA are expected to already have this background.</p>
<p>2B) Better prepared applicants means less coursework, which means a faster time towards degree, which means they need less funding. Win/win for everyone.</p>