M.A. in Art History

Admission

Admission to the M.A. program is selective. A minimum of 12 credit hours of undergraduate art history above the survey level or equivalent is required before a student may begin to accumulate hours for graduate credit. Students who have been admitted without adequate undergraduate preparation will be expected to take the requisite number of undergraduate hours before or during their first term at SMU. The applicant should have a reading knowledge of one language other than English.

Once applications to the M.A. program have been reviewed in January, offers will be made to the top applicants.

All students admitted to the program will receive fellowship support and close mentorship within a small-program setting. Candidates are ensured professional success through a program featuring:

• Small graduate seminars of 6-8 students.
• Teaching Assistantships for all first and second year M.A. students.
• A lively program of extracurricular events including Comini Lectures, work-in-progress seminars, and professionalization workshops for graduate students.
• Close mentoring from matriculation to graduation and beyond.

Funding

Art History awards four M.A. Fellowships each year. The Fellowship is renewable each year for two years and includes:

• Scholarship covering the full cost of tuition and fees
• $12,000 Assistantship
• Up to $2,000 toward summer research between first and second year 

Degree Requirements

This is a 36-credit hour program. Students take three graduate seminars per semester, each seminar is 3-credit hours. The M.A. thesis, taken in the second year, amounts to 6-credit hours. Prior to enrollment in thesis hours, all students must pass a translation exam in a language related to the field of study and their graduate colloquium, which is generally scheduled at the beginning of their third term. If a student does not pass the colloquium, he or she has the opportunity to present the work one more time. If unable to pass the second colloquium, he or she will be dropped from the program. The thesis must be approved by a committee of three faculty members at the conclusion of the student's M.A. work.