Help Amanda get her MA at Sotheby's

If you’re going to dream, dream big!

After graduating from Southern Oregon University in 2011 with my BA in art history, I realized graduate school was where I needed to be to achieve a career in the art world. My time at SOU allowed me the opportunity to study abroad in London, England in 2010, and I fell in love with the city. I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else to start my career, I mean, what better place than the center of the international art world!

For three years now I have been working my way toward graduate school.  I was finally able to start applying in 2013 and applied with University College London for their MA program in art history. I interviewed with the program but was not accepted. I was devastated, but told myself I was not going to give up.

In the months that passed I found a program that suited my aspirations better than UCL through Sotheby’s Institute of Art. In November 2013, I found out I was accepted into Sotheby’s Institute of Art for the MA program in contemporary art for the 2014/2015 school year. Finally, I would be able to start my career, something I have worked so hard to achieve, in the place I’ve been working so hard to get back to!  

The program at Sotheby’s is very small and difficult to get into, I felt honored to have been accepted. I reserved my housing and was starting to get everything in order to go when my funding fell through three months before I was supposed to leave. Once again, I was devastated. To add another blow to the situation a few days after realizing I wouldn’t be able to go, I was awarded a grant from Sotheby’s, I had no choice but to decline it.  

I’ve picked myself back up once again, and won’t give up. The institute has luckily deferred my enrollment until the 2015/2016 school year, but my task now is to find funds. The Student loan program will not work becuase I need a co-signer, which I don't have. I am researching grants and scholarships but know I need to try every avenue I can. I am doing this all on my own and am saving as much as I can, while paying on other student loans at the same time.

The total cost of the Contemporary Art program is $46,012. I will once again be applying to the Sotheby's Institute Grants and Merit Awards, the institute’s financial assistance in the form of partial-tuition awards. To receive an education from Sotheby’s, a name deeply rooted in the international art world, would be a privilege and an immense advantage in furthering my career.

I am hoping for a miracle, but either way I need help. Please take the time to consider me, an opportunity like this does not come easily. The institute believed in me enough, and now I need you to believe in me as well, and I promise to send you a postcard when I get there!