<p>Hello! Looking for advice. Any resources for independent, graduate level programs in art history? Not sure I want to enroll in a formal MA/PhD program. Been out of university for a long time and have specific research areas in mind. Any tips appreciated!</p>
<p>Many art history programs will allow you to take graduate level courses without being formally enrolled in the MA or PhD program. You will have to inquire of the Director of Graduate Studies in each department in which you are interested. </p>
<p>However, this means you will have to pay full tuition for each course you take.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by “independent, graduate level programs,” though. There’s no such thing as a graduate program that does not offer an MA or PhD.</p>
<p>. . . designing your own program, identifying and taking relevant courses without having to follow a pre-defined set of requirements. I am looking for an online or long-distance learning program that would allow me to write my own study objectives. Thanks for your comments!</p>
<p>Pretty much nothing like this exists in the US. However, have you considered doing an MPhil through a university in the UK? It’s straight research, usually no classes, and several of them now allow you to basically do it by distance (you would likely have to travel to the UK once a year to meet with your advisor, but the rest is by phone/email).</p>
<p>If you want classes, there is really no decent option aside from paying full tuition as a non-degree-seeking student. If you choose to do this, you can take a few classes and then go for the MPhil. In most MPhil programs, you have the option of moving directly into the PhD program if your MPhil diss is good enough.</p>
<p>On review: Apparently, Prescott College offers such a master’s, but it’s questionable that a degree from them would help you in any way to move to a PhD program or, well, do much of anything else.</p>
<p>If you want to do it entirely online, Open University in the UK has the following option:</p>
<p>[Arts</a> and Humanities MA | Postgraduate Courses, Masters, Diplomas and Certificates - Open University](<a href=“The Open University | Courses and Qualifications”>The Open University | Courses and Qualifications)</p>
<p>Cornell has a program where you set up your own panel of professors. With their help you design an individually tailored program. Best of Luck.</p>
<p>Well… are you looking to get anything out of this? If this is just for <em>fun</em> you can certainly enrich your knowledge by doing your own readings and attending lectures in art muesums, galleries, and department talks on a campus near you. On the other hand, if you’re looking towards a PhD, you’ll still have to take courses that you don’t necessarily what to do as a preparation to make you a bit more well-rounded scholar.</p>
<p>Harvard has a couple of options, which makes me wonder if other schools do, too.</p>
<p>1) You can be a nondegree graduate student:</p>
<p>[Non-Degree</a> Status](<a href=“http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/publications/hb-non-degree_status.php]Non-Degree”>http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/publications/hb-non-degree_status.php)</p>
<p>You still have to apply to the program, and there’s no financial aid (it’s something like $4000 a class), but you get to take graduate classes. From what I’ve heard, it’s really not very competitive at all…assuming that you have an undergrad degree and a legitimate reason for wanting to take classes, the application process is not that rigorous. But I haven’t looked into it that much: I just have one friend who did it, and she wasn’t a supercompetitive academic applicant, so I’m inferring from a sample size of one.</p>
<p>2) You can take extension school courses with regular faculty…not necessarily graduate level work, but you can make the faculty connections that allow you to do graduate level research.</p>
<p>I’d either call the schools in your area or go to their websites and hunt around the GSAS website, because a lot of these programs are probably little-known.</p>