# Prospective graduate students Thanks so much for your interest in my work, and in studying in History of Art and Architecture or the Ph.D. program in Film and Visual Studies. ## **My policies** In March or April accepted applicants will be invited to Harvard to meet me, other faculty, and current students, and get a feel for to the campus and the department before they make final decisions (with all travel and lodging at Harvard's expense). Therefore, ***it's my policy not to schedule meetings or calls with prospective students until after admissions decisions have been made.*** I could go into a long justification, it suffice it to say it's in the interest of fairness as well as time management. That said, I am happy to answer by e-mail any questions you might have for me *specifically*. **If you don't have a question that will affect either your decision to apply or how you write your application, you do not need to contact me directly.** I will read your application carefully, I promise! (But note: some of my colleagues *do* like to hear from prospective students in advance. This is my personal policy only). Questions about the application process or the department or program that aren't specifically for me but can't be answered by looking carefully at the websites (of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or the department/program itself) are best answered by the able graduate program administrators in each department, who can be contacted from the "People" and "Staff" pages of the HAA and AFVS websites. Applications are submitted electronically through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences website. When asked to indicate professors you would like to study with, be sure to select my name if you want to be sure I see your application in the first round. HAA applicants who are thinking of me as their potential primary (dissertation) advisor should **choose "Contemporary" as applicant's subfield** (instead of or in addition to "Modern, 20th Century"). It is important for all applicants to explain why a professor or professors in the department will be right to guide the kind of research they plan to do. ## General advice for graduate school applicants The best advice on when, where, and how to apply to graduate school comes from college professors you've studied with, especially in the discipline you plan to study. But not all prospective graduate students have advisors familiar with the current particularities of the application process or the US model of graduate education. This page is my attempt to offer the generalizable advice I typically give undergraduates who are are considering graduate school in my field. Please keep in mind that everything below is based on my own personal, situated perspective and my limited knowledge, and hasn't been fact-checked. These are my experience-based opinions only, not rulings on what you must or must not do. And I am primarily talking about applying to Harvard and to the Ph.D. programs in the departments of HAA and AFVS. Graduate school admissions are different than college in that you are applying to the department (or program within a department) rather than to the university. This means that the reputation of the institution overall might not correspond to that of the Ph.D. program in your field. **The best programs for you to apply to are the ones that have faculty whose whose books, articles, or exhibitions you admire.** Look at the texts you found most exciting to read as a student, and see where the author is based as a professor. If you are fortunate, you'll have an advisor in college who can direct you to the most appropriate programs for you, but everyone can look up professors' publications, c.v.'s and websites. The bottom line is that you need to find the programs where there is a professor or professors you would want to study with, who could advise the kind of dissertation you hope to write. Department staff and the folks at GSAS can answer informational questions about the program (size of entering class, funding packages, fields represented, alumni placement...). They can also give you practical advice about important issues: how to frame your statement, what to submit as a writing sample, and who should write your letters of recommendation (if there's something they can't answer, that's a good time to email me directly). Please inform yourself about all this as well as possible, because sometimes great candidates make uninformed choices, and while I try to give the benefit of the doubt it does make it hard for them to rise to the top of a highly competitive pool. ### Common misunderstandings For example, an applicant might reasonably assume graduate school applications ask for a "**writing sample**" so that faculty can evaluate your ability to write good prose. In fact, while that aspect of writing certainly matters, what we want to get from your sample is a sense of the kind and quality of work we can expect you to do in our classes, and eventually in your dissertation. So if your very best college paper is not about art or visual culture, it won't be as helpful to you as your second-best paper if it is on a relevant topic. Also, we hope to see an extended piece of work, one that you worked on independently over weeks or months. Other kinds of assignments or essays don't give us the information we need. Note that there is no rule that you have to turn in a paper exactly as it was when you submitted it for a grade. (You can even write a new paper for the purpose of the application.) When it comes to the **letters of recommendation,** an applicant who has been out of school for a few years might think it reasonable to ask employers they've recently worked with rather than former professors from some years back. But, even if you plan to work outside the university after you get your Ph.D., you will be a student first, so in my opinion at least one of your three letters should be from someone who knows you as a student. That said, there are certainly cases where you should have a supervisor write for you, especially if your work for them was related to art and visual media. But, as a rule, such letters still won't be as helpful as a one from a professor. It's a question of who can evaluate exactly the skills and competencies needed for success in graduate school. If none of your recommenders worked with you in a teaching or advising capacity, explain the situation in your statement of purpose or the section of the application that asks for additional information. Along these lines, if someone says they will write for you but that they can't offer their strong support, I advise you to say "no thanks." A negative or lukewarm letter will not help, and in almost all cases will hurt your application. (Again, if you have no choice but to use such a letter to complete your application, be sure that somewhere in the application you explicitly address the situation that left you without the most appropriate recommenders.) Even if a professor from many years ago doesn't remember you, they may be willing to write for you after a quick Zoom conversation to catch up (send them work from their class if you have it, as well as list of courses you took, cv, and writing samples). ### Is a master's degree required? No. Graduate students who don't enter with an MA receive one at the point of advancement to candidacy in our program (after required coursework and general exams). Some of our Ph.D. students come to Harvard straight from college, or have been working in related or unrelated jobs. But it is also true that many students do apply with an MA in art history or visual studies. The MA can help in several situations. Your application is likely to be stronger once you've completed a master's degree if you didn't major, minor, or take several college courses in art history/visual studies; if you've spent many years in unrelated job(s); if you are also acquiring languages you will need in your Ph.D. work; if you are switching to a very different period or region of study; if your grades in college don't reflect what you'll be like as a graduate student; or if you're not 100% sure this is what you want to do with the next 7 years. However, most MA programs cost *a lot* of money. We know this, and **it is never a strike against an applicant if they do not have one.** Once at Harvard, it's my experience that while it may be a bit smoother going at first for students who come with an MA, the advantage evens out quickly, and doesn't predict which students are most successful in the end. Therefore **I would never advise a student to take on significant debt in order to get an M.A.** What if you feel you won't be a competitive candidate without the MA? First, get a few academic professionals to double-check your reasoning (that's something you could write to me about if you like). Then, if you have family support or savings, great. If not, you can limit your applications to the MA programs that offer merit-based scholarships and/or teaching assistantships (and only go if you get one). You can apply for external scholarships for graduate study (like those from the Ford Foundation) at the same time you apply to MA programs. You might be able to reduce the total cost with a master's program outside the US (European programs are usually one year rather than 2). Or, if you can't get the master's degree without significant debt, I would consider taking one or two classes at a community college, university extension program ("night school" or "summer school") to gain relevant knowledge and experience (and demonstrate your commitment). Online classes--including open-access versions, and those that offer a certificate of completion rather than course credit, for a much lower tuition fee--could help you get more prepared for graduate work, and also demonstrate your deep interest and determination. ### Languages Most graduate programs require students to have or acquire at least one foreign language, and for many fields of art history you will need more than one as a practical matter. In my experience, it won't disqualify an otherwise fantastic applicant if they haven't begun study of a language they need, but it does add a degree of difficulty to their graduate school experience and that is something we have to weigh in our final decisions. The key thing is to have, or have a plan to get, advanced knowledge of at least one language that will help you in your research and/or professional life. In my field of contemporary art history almost any language could be relevant, depending on your area of interest (the more the better!). It's *possible* to start from scratch and meet the requirement in the summers or while you are in coursework at Harvard, but not ideal. I recommend taking every opportunity to get your study of a language underway in advance of your application to graduate school. Because of the speed of our degree programs, students **must be able to speak, conduct research, and write well in English** when they apply. That doesn't mean you have to be perfectly fluent, of course--you will improve quickly once you are studying here, and there are university resources to help--but in my areas of study successful applicants are typically fluent in English at the time they apply. When we assess applications we are thinking about whether a student is prepared to get everything out of this big investment of their time and energy (and ours). This won't happen if English is too much of a barrier to meaningful participation in class, and adds too much difficulty to the writing process for you to stay in sync with peers. ### What it means (and doesn't mean) if you don't get in Keep in mind that the Ph.D. programs I'm involved in are small (typically, 3-4 students each year in FVS and 8-12 in HAA). When an applicant gets word they have not been accepted, they may imagine it is a simple judgement on their merit, but the reality is different. Every year, the final round of deliberations involves excruciating decisions to "force rank" between candidates who are all equally qualified. Factors other than raw merit necessarily come into play. There's the question of a match with our areas of expertise that I discussed above, but also contingencies such as which areas of the department have accepted students in the last few years, or whether a particular professor will be on sabbatical, or serving as chair. We are often in the position of unanimously recognizing a candidate's aptitude, talent, and qualifications, and *still* not being able to offer them a spot. All of this is to say: being accepted to a Ph.D. program indicates that your application was terrific--but *not* getting accepted isn't a reliable indicator that it wasn't. It may well be worth trying again next year, or honing your sense of which programs are and aren't right for the kind of work you want to do.