<p>So I know that I want to major in Art History, and go to graduate school for Art History later in life. Does anyone know the undergraduate schools with the strongest Art History programs? I've heard great things about Williams, but otherwise, it seems like a pretty unpopular major...</p>
<p>New York University =P</p>
<p>I'm a declared History of Art major at JHU. Hopkins does very well in History of Art, according to one ranking by Chronicle, our program was #1 in the nation. We have the Baltimore Museum of Art on campus and the Walters Art Musuem down in the Peabody Institute campus accessible by the JHMI shuttle. Professors really care about you, classes are tough, and we do multiple visits to musuems in addition to class time. Very knowledgable, overall fantastic teachers.</p>
<p>Ugh, Check out Harvard, Harvard has the Fogg, Arthur Sackler, and Bushinger musuems though the Sackler is only open on the second floor with a mediocre Asian arts selection, the Fogg is closed for five years (INCREDIBLE art collection), and I've never been to the Bushinger though I've taken art history classes at Harvard Ext. and they were pretty good. Hopkins though were without a tad bit better imo.</p>
<p>Check out NYU, they have fantastic art musuems and excellent collaboration between curators and faculty members as well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Over six years of undergraduate and graduate education, Johnsen had taken out $140,000 in student loans, which her grandmother co-signed against her mother's wishes. After Johnsen earned her master's degree from a prestigious arts program at New York University, she assumed she'd make the median salary cited by the school's financial aid counselor -- $65,000. Instead, she couldn't find a position in her field paying more than $30,000.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Most of the top-ranked Art History schools are in four regions: Los Angeles, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago/Detroit, and NYC/Boston. Look for colleges there. Notice the regions also have plenty of well-known art museums too.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College. </p>
<p>You could go with either school. Through their unique cooperative relationship, they share BMC's top-rated History of Art department.</p>
<p>Williams is one of the leaders in Art History and offers a masters in the subject (its only masters.)</p>
<p>I think its definitely tough to major in Art History expecting to get a huge return upon graduation. If you're financially needy, its best to look at schools that guarantee to meet 100 percent of your need. IE look at some of the top liberal art schools or research universities.</p>
<p>Vassar, Columbia, Brown, Williams, Amherst, Oberlin.</p>
<p>NYU(not good with financial aid, so unless you are extremely well off and paying full tuition wont change your parents lifestyle or yours, don't apply here expecting to get a good financial aid package)</p>
<p>A vast majority of people don't pursue careers relevant to their majors.</p>
<p>History majors do not become historians, English majors do not always become literary critics or writers, Philosophy majors do not become thinkers. Likewise, economics majors are likely to go into business fields.</p>
<p>Art History is a wonderful field to go into if one loves it, and if one is truly passionate about it.
I don't know what the heck is wrong with some people.</p>
<p>Art history is a wonderful academic field and the skills learned are applicable in many careers, like fashion, retailing, advertising -- any area where visual evaluation is valued.</p>
<p>Many colleges have good art history departments, often tied in with campus or city museums. You want to look at internship programs and opportunities for hands-on museum experience as well as a wide range of class offerings. Williams rates highly on all of these.</p>
<p>All of the ivy league, except maybe Dartmouth, have strong programs. In the mid-sized privates: JHU, CMU, NYU, Stanford. For the large publics: Michigan, Berkeley.</p>
<p>Small LACs: Williams, Wesleyan, Conn College, Oberlin, Skidmore. If you are female Smith and Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>Museum curators usually have PhDs, or at least masters degrees. Pay can be on the low side, but it is extremely intellectually rewarding work. Museum directors nowadays are not necessarily curators. They can be lawyers, architects, MBAs and the salaries at the big museums can be very good.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of the schools listed were on my radar already...</p>
<p>As a History of Art major, I don't plan a career in History of Art. I was initially going to use History of Art to piggy back myself to medical school. Ugh...Looks like I'm no longer doing that for me to qualify for the SMART DoD scholarship that I want to apply for. :(</p>
<p>For what it's worth, here is the National Research Council ranking of Art History doctoral programs from the 1990s:</p>
<p>
[quote]
1 NYU 4.79
2 Columbia 4.79
3 Cal Berkeley 4.67
4 Harvard 4.49
5 Yale 4.44
6 Princeton 4.04
7 Johns Hopkins 3.93
8 Northwestern 3.83
9 Penn 3.80
10 Chicago 3.74
11 Michigan 3.71
12 CUNY 3.60
13 UCLA 3.52
14 Stanford 3.49
15 Delaware 3.40
16 Virginia 3.31
17 Bryn Mawr 3.28
18 Brown 3.20
19 Texas 3.17
20 Rutgers 3.04
21 Cal Santa Barbara 2.98
22 Pittsburgh 2.90
23 Cornell 2.87
24 Indiana 2.85
25 Boston University 2.85
26 Illinois 2.67
27 Kansas 2.56
28 Maryland 2.53
29 Ohio State 2.48
30 Minnesota 2.47
31 Washington 2.39
32 North Carolina 2.33
33 Washington (St. Louis) 2.31
34 Penn State 2.28
35 Wisconsin 2.14
36 Florida State 2.10
37 Case Western 1.79
38 Georgia 0.90
[/quote]
</p>
<p>NRC</a> Rankings in Art History</p>
<p>A bit dated at this point, but still a well-respected ranking. Note that this only covers doctoral programs, so leading programs like Williams' don't show up. However, it can be useful as a surrogate for determining which schools--other than non-doctoral programs like Williams--have highly esteemed art history departments.</p>
<p>And just to put in a plug for Penn:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Penns Department is an internationally renowned leader in the history of art and architecture, with a long, distinguished record of teaching, mentoring, and research.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Department</a> of the History of Art : Information for Undergraduates</p>
<p>Penn's art history department also benefits from being in a city with the third largest art museum in the country (Philadelphia Museum of Art), one of the largest private collections of Impressionist and Post-impressionist art in the world (Barnes Foundation), the oldest art school and museum in the country (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts), largest collection of Rodin sculptures outside of Paris (Rodin Museum), etc., as well as having right there on campus one of the finest collections of ancient art and artifacts in the world (Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology).</p>