<p>So no luck with Ph.D programs and so far only one MA offer in Canada, where I did my undergrad. I’m still waiting on 3 more US schools in MA programs.</p>
<p>1) I know my application wasn’t particularly strong when it came to SOP and WS, which is the most important part of my app in art history. It was done all in a hurry so perhaps, taking a year-off and try one more time for Ph.D in US would be an option. GRE can be improved, and I could work as an intern/full-time. But my relationship with professros aren’t very strong, and I’d be going back home in Asia - which makes it a bit hard to “take courses and do research for the professor” at where I’m graduating.</p>
<p>2) In the meantime, there’s this MA offer with significant funding. It’d be very cheap to do my MA this way, getting some more academic experience, closer relationships with profs. But I’m not sure if it would end up being another round of hectic application process, confused. I hope to get into Ph.D programs in the US for personal reasons, and not doing MA in the states excludes me from many fellowship eligibility and some conference participations. </p>
<p>There’s also the funding issue. There has been an increasing tendency to accept fewer students in order to give them full support. Which in turn, makes most MA left un-funded. So finance-wise, a very cheap MA, year-off, or full-ride in Ph.D is what I need, not an expensive $60K MA.</p>
<p>So would it be worth doing MA? Or should I take a year off and hope for the best next year (reads:this coming September)? Bah.</p>