<p>I'm currently a junior at the University of RI, double majoring in Art History and History. I have a 3.0 GPA, I'm involved with 2 student groups on campus and also work part time. I have lots of experience with community service but not much since I left high school (I was in Girl Scouts for 9 years). </p>
<p>I would like to go to grad school to receive my masters in most likely Art History (specifically studying Medieval art and architecture). I've looked into a few colleges, such as Pratt Institute, Columbia University, and RISD. They seem to have great programs but I need someone's first hand experiences at these places to see if they are as good as they seem. Also I'm looking for colleges in the New England area of the USA, so if there's any where else with this degree I'd be thankful for any opinions or suggestions :)</p>
<p>What do you want to do with a masters in Art History? You didn't state that. While I do think that higher study of Art is undervalued (I'm kinda an art buff), you have to ask yourself what you plan to do with this degree. If you're looking to be an Art professor, or curator, then you should search the forums...someone was just talking about this last week, I believe. In such cases, you'll have to look at a PhD.</p>
<p>While a 3.0 GPA is good, it's not top-flight. You should focus on bringing that up some in your final two years of undergrad. Unless something about your application blows the department away (portfolio, test scores, etc.), the best programs are probably a reach. That's not to say completely unattainable--but consider that fellowships in Art History will be very competitive, and if you can't secure one, what would you plan to do with a Master's in Art History and $50,000 of student loan debt?</p>
<p>Your GPA is not competitive and master's degrees don't offer full funding. If you really love art history, the PhD route is better.</p>
<p>
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I have a 3.0 GPA
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A 3.0 is a required minimum for graduate programs. In practice most programs accept applicants with 3.50+. You have a year to bring up your GPA, however, and your junior/senior GPA and major GPA is weighted somewhat more heavily than your overall GPA.</p>
<p>
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I'm involved with 2 student groups on campus and also work part time. I have lots of experience with community service but not much since I left high school
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Unless it's related to art history, all of that is irrelevant.</p>
<p>At this point, I would recommend consulting a professor in the art history department at URI. I don't know if it has any Medievalists on staff, but I've heard very good things about Mary Hollinshead. A professor can point you in the right direction -- what courses you should be taking, what research opportunities are available, and potentially what graduate programs you should consider.</p>
<p>In the meantime, be considering your plans for the summer. A museum internship would be ideal, but any sort of research experience would be useful. Also be considering what you want to do with your degree; do you plan to become a professor, curator, or conservator?</p>
<p>Read this over:
Pre-graduate</a> advising: Art History</p>
<p>See if URI has a copy of this directory:
<a href="https://services.collegeart.org/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=CSCPubsSearch%5B/url%5D">https://services.collegeart.org/eWeb/DynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=CSCPubsSearch</a></p>
<p>I've been looking into going for a MA for now. And I know my GPA isn't the best, but I'm going to be busting my butt trying to boost it up as much as I can. I've been looking for an internship with a museum but the best choice would be RISD for me but I've spoken to them before and they reserve those spots for their own students and people from Brown. Also one of the groups I am involved with is our Classics studies group because I have kinda focused my art history degree to be mostly ancient art.</p>
<p>Archaeologist - funny you mentioned Mary Hollinshead, she's actually my adviser at URI and has been helping through this process. And funny enough it was her intro class which originally got me interested in art history. But she's been helping me figure everything out with classes. But we haven't really gotten to talking about grad school yet but I know we will be by the end of this semester.</p>
<p>I've kinda had a change in direction over this semester though. I had been planning on going to grad school for Archaeology, but I'm looking more into being a collections specialist since what I've always wanted to do was handle artifacts and work with the research and all the other aspects of it. </p>
<p>I've already looked into the dual MS degree of Information and Library Science and History of Art at Pratt Institute and have a certificate in archives studies which would sound perfect for me. But I'm going to obviously keep looking around.</p>
<p>I know that if you read other posts regarding Art History on this forum the past few weeks you will see that I have mentioned languages over & over. To get into most programs you definitely need to speak or at least read german pretty fluently (they do test you) & another language usually french. </p>
<p>At NYU & most of the top art history universities these are a requirement to even apply to a masters/PhD program. My son has been studying medieval art history for years and in that field you need both french & german. He also reads latin. If you were studying in another area then you could possibly get away with german & spanish/italian if it was applicable.</p>
<p>I would really suggest that you get your undergrad degree and then get work in a museum before you apply for your masters. From what most people have been telling my son is that a masters in art history is like having a piece of paper that will get you nowhere except in debt. Most art history programs (or any other major) when getting your masters you get no funding whatsoever so you could be left with a LOT of debt & a job that doesn't pay you enough to pay back your student loans or any other loans you would need.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the Pratt certificate so I can't help you there, but I would definitely start taking your languages now. I am ASSUMING that you would need to be able to read latin as well if you were going to do archival studies. Maybe not though?</p>
<p>At any rate, good luck, really work on those grades & research, research, research. Had my son not been researching or talking to his profs early on in the game he would have not taken german & now it would have killed his chances of getting into a top grad school. One other piece of advice - there are a few schools that you can apply for your PhD without having your masters first. This may be a better choice because of the funding problems. One thing to keep in mind going this route though is that if you dropped out you might not get your masters degree. Something I would ask about before applying.</p>
<p>I have been doing the research for languages and I do know how important they are. I already can read French and I was planning on taking Latin next year, but I was thinking of doing German seeing as how important it is for grad school and further research in Art history. </p>
<p>Also, i had figured with going for the dual degree with Library science it would give me a better chance of finding a job after college, whether it be in a museum or a library. But right now I'm looking to intern or work part time at a museum, it's just hard when they're mainly looking for volunteers for programs.</p>
<p>crazy - make sure you talk to your professors because my son has been able to get some grants & fellowships to study abroad & I would think that you could apply for some money to pay for living expenses while you volunteered.</p>
<p>He received one fellowship to travel in France & Spain for a month. He had to say why he wanted to go, what he was going to be studying, tell them how much money he needed, etc. It cost him nothing. Granted he could have worked and made some extra money, but I don't know where else you could get an opportunity like that. He will be going to Germany for a month this summer with one of his profs & other students for practically nothing. In his classics department there was also an archeology trip & they were also giving out pretty good grant money. </p>
<p>It is definitely an avenue to pursue.</p>
<p>Just a couple of items:</p>
<p>1) Your language proficiency, when you apply, is self-reported (i.e., I noted that I had basic French skills, since there were no French classes on my college transcripts). They do test you when you get to grad school - some right when you get there, some at the end of the first year - but the difficulty of the tests vary widely. I took German for only 1 year (last year) and passed the exam twice (1 and 4 months later, at 2 different schools) without studying for it. I currently feel like I can barely read German, much less speak it. I also know someone who has taken the French exam 5 times and not passed it. My point is that generally I don’t think the proficiency exam is something to be frightened of. There certainly is no need to be fluent.</p>
<p>2) There are master’s programs out there that are fully funded - I am in one, and it is a highly-respected program.</p>