The Best Schools Offering Graduate Degree Programs in Art History
Higher Education Articles April 25, 2017Overview of Schools offering Graduate Degree Programs in Art History
Master’s and doctoral degree programs in art history are available through several highly-rated art history departments across the United States. Graduate-level certificate programs focusing on art history are also available through a few institutions. In two top-ranking schools, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, programs offered cover various different art styles and periods, including Baroque, Medieval, Italian and Modern. In this article, we take a look at these schools:
Columbia University in New York, NY
The U.S. News & World Report accorded Columbia University 7th rank on its 2013 list of top schools with graduate history programs. Columbia’s 2-year master’s degree program offers concentrations in various art history fields, except modern art that has its separate program. Fields covered include Asian, architectural, and Italian.
Akin to the master’s program, the doctoral program has a broad offering of art history concentrations, including photography and Medieval. After they complete the preliminary year of the Ph.D. program, students teach core art history courses and general undergraduate coursework, as teaching assistants, to gain teaching experience. The highly competitive admission process related to Columbia’s Ph.D. program entails the acceptance of only 15 new students annually.
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
The U.S. News & World Report accorded the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) 8th rank on its 2014 list of national universities. A master’s degree and a Ph.D. in art history are available at the school in Philadelphia, PA. Admission criteria for the school’s MA program typically require incoming students to be proficient in French as well as in German and complete a thesis in a specific topic area of art history. American, Asian, Baroque and Egyptian art history feature among the fields of study offered. Concentrations in numerous fields, such as North Renaissance, 19th Century, Byzantine and Islamic, are available to doctoral candidates in UPenn’s Ph.D. program. Students are required to teach undergraduate courses during the second portion of the program.
List of Schools offering Art History Programs
| School Name | Total Student Enrollment | Location |
| Harvard University | 29,652 | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Princeton University | 8,138 | Princeton, New Jersey |
| Stanford University | 16,980 | Stanford, California |
| Yale University | 12,385 | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Williams College | 2,171 | Williamstown, Massachusetts |
| Columbia University in the City of New York | 28,086 | New York, New York |
| University of Pennsylvania | 24,876 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Duke University | 15,984 | Durham, North Carolina |
| Pomona College | 1,663 | Claremont, California |
| Dartmouth College | 6,350 | Hanover, New Hampshire |
