The Path From Education To Career
Tailor Your Education to the Field You Want
After completing your first museum internship, you will probably have some idea of how your colleagues obtained their positions in museums - so where do you go from here?
After completing your first museum internship there is a good chance that you have some idea of where you would like to work within the museum. Perhaps you have decided that you would like to work with museum collections (or objects), or perhaps you enjoyed working with school groups visiting the museum and would like to work in a museum's education department. Whatever you have decided, your next goal should be to explore how people obtain positions in those careers.
If you are still an undergraduate, you will more than likely have gained some idea as to whether or not you are on the right track educationally for the position you desire. In my last article, I suggested that you talk with people you meet in the museum about their background. Most museum professionals will explain where they gained an undergraduate education and what they majored in while in college. Those working in an education department of a museum, for example, often have degrees in education or teaching while those designing exhibits often studied graphic design. On the other hand if you are still unsure about what you would like to do within the museum, but are rather certain about your desire to work in an art museum, for example, obtaining an art history degree is a good place to start.
In the same conversations with museum professionals, you will more than likely have gained some idea as to whether or not those in the positions you desire have gained a master's degree or museum studies certificate after completing their undergraduate education. Another good trick is to look at job descriptions posted on the websites of museums you may be interested in working with in the future and explore what their minimum requirements and desired backgrounds are for their job postings. A position as a Collections Manager at a major or medium size museum in the United States may desire at least 2-3 years of experience working with collections OR a higher degree or certificate in museum studies, and a Curator post may require that you have a PhD in the area in which you hope to curate.
After exploring the desired backgrounds of candidates for positions that you may hope to attain in the future you might conclude that obtaining a museum studies degree is the best path for you. Once you have decided to apply to graduate school, the best thing you can do is start to explore the application requirements of museum studies programs. The Museum Employment Resource Center web page offers a list of museum studies graduate programs all over the world. In addition to finding out details of application requirements, exploring the web pages of museum studies programs that you might be interested often proves to be a crucial element of deciding whether a program is a good fit for you. Graduate school applications typically require application forms, GRE (or Graduate Record Examination) scores, letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose.
My next article on applying for graduate programs in Museum Studies will begin to outline the process of actually filling out these applications.
