<p>I have been looking for a school that is well regarded in Art History. I would like to engage in museum work in the future so would prefer a program with a focus in museum studies. I have heard Williams is the best but I've also heard Oberlin. So far im in love with Williams program. Im open to any school but I dont really have the funds to attend a private liberal arts college like I'm hoping so any state schools offering good programs would be helpful.</p>
<p>Most public colleges and universities will have Art History departments. I suggest looking at ones with good local museums where you can secure internships and apprenticeships. What state are you in? What are your stats? You might qualify for generous aid packages at some colleges like DePaul (Chicago has fabulous museums), Temple (better yet, if you’re a PA resident, but they do offer assistance to qualified out-of-state students), BU (very strong Visual Arts and Art History departments), Fordham-Lincoln Center, Eugene Lang-New College, et al. The Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick, NJ, is a good example of a small museum adjacent to a public university (ie. Rutgers). If you are looking for smaller colleges with good merit scholarships, Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, is near two very good museums (the St. Pete Museum of Fine Arts, and the Salvador Dali Museum). If you have top-notch academic chops, don’t overlook Harvard, Yale, and Princeton - all have world-class departments, deep pockets for financial aid, and terrific art collections on campus. If ancient art and archaeology are major interests, then set Penn, McGill and UChicago as reaches.If you are a CA resident, you can find great museums near Berkeley, UCLA, and SF State. Good luck! </p>
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<p>Williams offers tremendous financial aid, fwiw. I’d also look at Smith (if your female).</p>
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<p>You’re going to want to be within a couple hours distance of a city with significant museums, like NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. You’re going to want a school that’s good in languages because you’re going to need to be able to pick up some languages. And you’re going to want a school where you can double major in something that might in some way be related to art–like neuroscience, chemistry, history, psychology, etc. I highly recommend that you bring to your career either outstanding technical skills in preservation (see chemistry) or some scholarly insight into art history that is unusual or future-looking, like neuroscience. There are few jobs in this field that are not academic and require additional training. The second major will give you another possible career while you’re waiting for your chance as an art historian. </p>
<p>My son studied art history and art studio at Williams, though he chose not to continue in museum work. It is a wonderful program with great resources – three worldclass museums on or near campus – and internship opportunities. Many of my son’s classmates went on to top graduate schools. </p>
<p>Oberlin and several other small LACs offer good to excellent art history programs. I would also look at Wesleyan, Vassar, Hamilton, Skidmore, Kenyon. If you are female Smith, Holyoke and Bryn Mawr. Among mid-sized privates I would look at Brown, Yale, JHU, NYU – there are many others.</p>
<p>But first you have go resolve the money. Are you eligible for need based financial aid? If you don’t know use a net price calculator to get an idea of how much you might receive. If that works for you, you can put together a wide list. If the estimated family contribution is too much for your family, then you should look at schools that offer merit aid. The women’s colleges can be especially good in that respect. </p>
<p>Many of the colleges that are generous with need-based aid, don’t offer any merit aid. You have to check their policies, one by one.</p>
<p>Many large state universities have decent art history programs, Michigan, Berkeley and Virginia for example. But out of state tuition may also be problematic for you. What is your home state?</p>
<p>Your first step is to run some net price calculators to determine your estimated family contribution. </p>
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<p>If you are looking for an affordable LAC, and need something less selective than Williams, consider New College of Florida. They are immediately adjacent to the Ringling Art Museum, which is an excellent small museum that attracts first-rate traveling exhibits. NCF students can usually secure good internships and apprenticeships there, and the college provides a lot of flexibility, foreign study opportunities, and emphasis on hands-on learning. They don’t have the sort of Art History faculty that, say, Yale has, but not everyone can go to Yale.</p>
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<p>I have a top notch GPA but my ACT is a 26. I’ve looked at a lot of test optional schools for this reason. My state is Oklahoma an I’ve been told that is a plus. I’m also applying to the Questbridge scholarship because I think I have a fair chance at it.</p>
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<p>Here are some links to lists of museum studies programs:
<a href=“http://www.aamg-us.org/learn-with-us/museum-studies”>http://www.aamg-us.org/learn-with-us/museum-studies</a>
<a href=“Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share”>Smithsonian Learning Lab: Discover, Create, Share;
<a href=“http://ictop.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sturegoen-report-on-US-and-some-international.pdf”>http://ictop.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sturegoen-report-on-US-and-some-international.pdf</a></p>
<p>At the undergrad level, I think it’s more important to focus on finding the best art history programs, especially in or near cities with access to good museums. Even if a specific museum studies program isn’t offered, lots of internship opportunities are available (though many of these might be unpaid or involve additional housing costs for the summer.) Depending on your particular art history interests, you also should consider related areas to supplement art history, e.g., art education, arts administration/nonprofit management, anthropology/archaeology, historic preservation, textiles, chemistry, etc.</p>
<p>Your test scores will put the very top programs out of reach, but U Delaware is well worth considering:
/
<a href=“Art History”>Art History;
Also, check out these two programs:
<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/programs/museum-studies”>http://www.rit.edu/programs/museum-studies</a>
<a href=“http://museum.unm.edu”>http://museum.unm.edu</a></p>
<p>Some other links:
<a href=“http://arthistory.we-wish.net/2012/03/13/how-to-get-a-museum-internship/”>http://arthistory.we-wish.net/2012/03/13/how-to-get-a-museum-internship/</a>
<a href=“Alternatives for Art Historians”>http://www3.nd.edu/~crosenbe/jobs.html</a></p>
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<p>Is it out of the question, OP, that you would re-take the ACT or take the SAT to make your test scores closer to your GPA? </p>
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<p>Take a look at Northwestern. It’s not far from downtown Chicago and the program is “highly ranked”, according to their website. </p>