SO, graduate school the ulcer of every BA art history student in the world. After literally a year of research and advice and crying I have applied.
The major issues:
- deciding what to study
- the right fit
- the right city
- relocating for two
- dealing with my academic issues
The majors I considered were Museum Studies, Arts Education, and Arts Administration. Everyone wants something different, some employers want Art History majors, some want you to be ten years older, some want specific research interests. I decided on Arts Administration, because I know what I want my endpoint to be and in order to get there I have to write grants, develop programs, know cultural policy, have management skills and have knowledge and passion for art. Only Arts Ad gives me all of this education in one place.
The right fit is difficult to determine without being able to spend a month in each place, feeling out all of the professors and coffee shops. Ultimately I know I am going to study community partnerships and programming. It is important for non-profits to be the focus of the program. I believe that knowledge and access to art can make such a difference in peoples lives that I devote mine to bringing art to everyone. I need a program that will support unusual ideas. But also offer a wide variety of courses, arts ad is designed to prepare people to be directors and down the line so really its just the culture of the program and the expertise/ experience of the professors that determine the fit.
The right city, some cities are much more supportive of the arts than others. The other issue that I am facing in terms of the city is the need for an existing infrastructure of community programming and organizations. There is not a lot of sense in trying to study running community orgs in a place that A: doesn’t have any or B: doesn’t care about them. Nor does it make sense for me to settle in a place where I can’t work.
Relocating for two. A couple years ago when one of my professors heard I was engaged we had a conversation that went like this:
R- so I heard you’re getting married?
Me- Yep
R-yeah I did that once
Me- yeah? what happened?
R- its just important for you to know where you are in your lives. You planning on going to grad school?
Me- yes
R- whats he gonna do?
Me- so far we plan on him moving with me and working while I go to school, then when I am done, he goes to school.
R- so you’ve thought about it then.
Me- yep, so are you divorced?
R- when I graduated from grad school, my wife moved to Australia to get her doctorate, and I moved here to work, we figured we would see eachother for christmas, but neither of us are big planners so were tickets are $2000, so I haven’t seen her in a year.
We still plan on moving together and taking turns going to school, it is important for him to live in a place where he can have a good job (undergrad location wasn’t a good place to have a job) and advance his career in the mean time. Planning for two is good because I can hopefully fall back on his income, and bad because I have to plan around his needs. Then of course, who knows how a graduate course load plus extra work will effect our relationship. The first two years of marriage have been solid, I think we can handle it.
Dealing with my academic issues is a doosie. I am not a great writer and have little experience in some of the fields I will be studying. But I have a lot of experience in other areas. My overall GPA is not great, so I will have a hard time getting scholarships at public universities. what I lack in standardized test scores, I make up tenfold in elbow grease and intuition, but how you prove that to a stranger at the end of a phone line? I did not have time to take my GRE with all the work at the gallery and WFHPI during my last semester, this is something I just let slip through the cracks, it disqualifies me from some great programs and we will see how much it really matters to schools that don’t require it.
Final consensus: I applied to five schools (because they were almost paid for by the SB Perry Scholarship) and each of them has very specific strong points. the bottom line is that all my work, everything I did to prepare, I really have no idea what will really get me in.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago- The city of chicago has the best community atmosphere that I could find in terms of arts orgs. I think the culture of the school suites me and I like that it is an art school, and their co-op can’t be beat. Admittedly I have put the most time and devotion into admittance for this program.
Drexel University- Philadelphia is also a great city for arts partnerships. I like the professionalism exhibited by the program and the existence of the AGAA, a very active student organization just for Arts Ad students. (UPDATE: After a phone interview with Cecilia Fitzgibbon, the Director, I have been accepted to this program 2/3/10)
Columbia College Chicago- Once again Chicago’s unique community climate. Initially when I applied to this program there was a specialization in community arts, which has since been consolidated with the other five arts management programs offered. It makes me very nervous to come into a program at the first year of a new organization, but CCC is still a great school.
University of Oregon- The west coast has a lot of appeal for Jason and I. Oregon is known for being more politically liberal. The program is focused specifically on community arts and activism, the Director has done all of my dream research and it would be great to study under him. But the smaller city is not great for building a career for me or Jason, with a much more limited number of jobs.
NYU Steinhardt- NYU is NYU, it would be really nice to be a graduate of New York University. I will get great experience and an unrivaled network, I am worried about going into such a large program. I am really kind of scared of this one.