Degree Requirements

""For admittance to degree candidacy, you must:

  • satisfy all outstanding prerequisites
  • complete a minimum of 51 approved course credits
  • achieve a final grade point average (GPA) of 3.0
  • complete at least one official internship
  • have your qualifying paper proposal approved by  the thesis committee

You have one year after achieving degree candidacy to complete your qualifying paper. You must complete your qualifying paper before being permitted to attend the graduation ceremony. 

Language Requirement

Successful applicants must have proficiency in the use of at least one language other than English as a research tool. Native speakers of other languages, for whom English is a second language, may be recognized as meeting this standard. The most useful languages for fashion and textile studies are French, Italian, Spanish, and German, but many other languages are also acceptable/useful for research.

Proficiency can be demonstrated with satisfactory completion of at least two college-level courses in a particular language or through satisfactory scores on an approved proficiency exam. Applicants may contact the admissions office for a list of approved proficiency exams. 

Internship

The Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program emphasizes practical, professional experience, and therefore each student is required to complete an approved internship. Although only one internship is required for graduation, students may choose to serve additional internships for networking opportunities and as aids to professional growth.

Internships may be pursued during the academic year or during winter or summer breaks, and require a minimum commitment of 80 hours. Past sites for internships have included The Museum at FIT, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Costume Institute, Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, the textile conservation lab at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Jewish Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Current lists of internship opportunities, descriptions, guidelines, and procedures are kept by the Fashion and Textile Studies department. Each student, in consultation with the faculty internship advisor, makes a formal application for a position, and if selected, reports directly to a staff member at the internship location, who then supervises and evaluates the student's work. Students are required to maintain an internship journal, and to write an essay summarizing their experience. Academic credit cannot be granted for any internship that has not been approved by the faculty advisor before the internship begins.

Qualifying Paper

The qualifying paper may take the form of a scholarly research paper or article, an exhibition proposal or catalog, a conservation treatment proposal and report, a grant proposal, a collection survey, or an interpretive program utilizing a variety of formats, including electronic media.

Students should select a topic whose research and explication is completely manageable within a single year. When completed, a qualifying paper—including but not limited to text, footnotes, bibliography, and illustrations—should not exceed 30-40 pages in length.

It is the student's responsibility to propose a topic and to select an advisor from the graduate faculty, with the support of the qualifying paper seminar instructor. Written proposals must be submitted to, and approved by, both the advisor and the committee before the student may proceed. Students are encouraged to complete proposals by the end of their fourth graduate semester. Detailed guidelines are available from the Fashion and Textile Studies department.

Time Requirement for Degree Completion

Students matriculating full time will have three years to complete all degree requirements, including the qualifying paper (two years of coursework plus one year of Maintenance of Matriculation to write and complete the qualifying paper). Part-time students will have five years to complete all degree requirements (a maximum of four years of coursework plus one year of Maintenance of Matriculation to write and complete the qualifying paper).