Congratulations and I wish you all the best. This topic surfaces quite regularly 
on this forum. You might begin by searching under subject lines like "job 
advice" or such. Also search for my post on "there is no magic bullet; there 
are (almost) no jobs" and follow that thread. 

Museum work is a very rewarding and a very frustrating field. While we all feel 
quite dedicated to both our institutions and our visitors, we are all underpaid 
and face stiff competition trying to find work. 

You've already received good advice on how to make yourself stand out and 
how to evaluate your chosen program. Please take seriously the post on 
asking Tufts about placement rates and starting salaries. Many, many, many 
universities add museum studies programs as a way to attract students, not 
as a response to a wide open job market. I could go on at length on this...all 
I'll say is be careful and critical. Are you going to get practical skills in addition 
to theoretical ones? Will you receive training in material culture studies, 
exhibition development, audience evaluation, hands-on/minds-on learning 
theory and application, in addition to a couple of administration and theory 
classes and a practical internship? 

This training will help you get a job. A couple of classes on how to administer 
a museum won't. 

Good luck
Diane Gutenkauf


On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:11:47 -0400, Emily Brunell 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Hello all...
>
>I've been accepted to the Museum Studies certificate program at Tufts.
>Before I enroll (partly because my parents are convinced there's no future
>in this line of work), I was wondering if any one has any information on how
>a certificate from a program like that would affect my being hired in the
>future.  Is it actually worth doing?  Also, what might be some other
>(possibly more effective?) ways of 'breaking into' the museum field?
>
>Thank you,
>Emily
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).