Master of Arts, History of Art, 4+1 Program

The Art Department now offers a 4 + 1 program leading to the BA and MA in Art History. This program is intended primarily for outstanding undergraduate majors at Tulane who are eager to continue their study of art history beyond the BA but either do not intend to pursue the PhD or are not yet ready to do so. Students in the program take more advanced courses as undergraduates and then continue as graduate students for the fifth year, writing a thesis the final semester. Students in the 4 + 1 program then emerge with the BA and MA. They may then go to other universities for the PhD but may not pursue the PhD at Tulane.

Application

  1. The student must have an undergraduate major in Art History and a minimum GPA of 3.0 overall and 3.25 in the major by the fall semester of their junior year in order to be considered for acceptance. 
  2. The student should apply for the fifth-year MA by January 10th of the student's junior year. 
  3. Applicants complete an online application form available from the Graduate School and submit it along with the application fee. 
  4. No GRE scores or official transcripts are required. However, a statement of purpose is required, as are two letters of recommendation and a writing sample (e.g., term paper).
  5. The student is required to complete the normal course and distributional requirements for the BA: the three required seminars must be at the 6000 level. Once the student is accepted into the 4+1 program, seminars are expected to be performed at the graduate level. In the junior and senior years, the student will be expected to take one additional 6000-level seminars or 7000-level courses so as to accrue 4 courses (12 credits) at the 6000 or 7000 level. Up to but no more than four of these higher-level courses may count toward fulfilling the MA requirement--as long as the student followed graduate guidelines in these courses (i.e. wrote more substantive papers).
  6. The MA requires 30 credits hours (8 courses at the 6000 or 7000 level and 2 thesis-writing independent studies), plus a thesis. The student, having taken 12 credits (4 classes) at the 6000 and 7000 level as an undergraduate, would typically take 3 graduate-level courses and a thesis-writing independent study in the fall semester of the fifth year, one graduate-level course (3 credits) and a thesis-writing independent study in the spring, and finish the thesis. The student will have to satisfy the (slightly different) distribution requirements of both the BA and MA programs.
  7. The student must satisfy the graduate foreign language requirement by the end of the senior year. This means that the student should take a translation exam in the area most relevant his or her area of specialization.

Costs

Although there is no financial aid available for the fifth year of the 4+1 program, tuition is offered at the reduced rate of $16,974 for the year, or $8,487 a semester. Fees are $990 a semester. [current to 2017]

If you have any questions regarding admission into the 4+1 MA program, please check our Graduate Admissions page or our Frequently Asked Questions section.

To check on the receipt of your application, please email Molly LeBlanc, mleblan7@tulane.edu.

For other questions about the program requirements or application process, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Barbara E. Mundy, bmundy@tulane.edu.

 

[revised 12/07/2023]