Qualified Spanish majors, interested in obtaining an MA in conjunction with their BA degree, may apply in the beginning of the second semester of their Junior Year (normally January).

To be eligible, these students must have:

• a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5
• a GPA in the major of at least 3.75 (including at least 15 SPA credits above the intermediate level by the end of the Junior year)

Application Process

Interested students who meet the above requirements must submit a personal statement and three academic letters of recommendation. The personal statement of no more than two pages should contain an explanation of the student’s career objectives and reasons for seeking admission to the combined degree program. The GRE exam will be waived. Acceptance into the program is not automatic. In any given year a number of factors may effect selection: the total number of undergraduate students applying, enrollment in the MA program, the number of faculty on sabbatical or leave-of-absence, the judged correspondence between the student’s goals and the nature of the program, etc.

Curriculum

Students who are accepted into the program will take a total of four SPA graduate courses during both semesters of their senior year, only three (3) of which may count toward fulfilling the remaining upper level Spanish courses needed to complete the major in Spanish. These graduate courses will be applied to both the BA and MA degrees. Students will take their remaining seven graduate courses during the spring of their fourth year and in the fall and spring terms of their fifth year; normally 2 in the spring term of senior year, 3 in the Fall semester, and 3 in the Spring semester of their fifth year. Students with AP credits toward their undergraduate degree may take with permission more than four graduate courses during their senior year, but they will have to pay for these courses using graduate tuition rates. Students must retain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 throughout their fourth and fifth years to remain in good standing. Additional curricular issues include the following:

• All Core Curriculum Requirements are maintained, including core humanities, ethics, foreign language, fine arts, natural sciences, history, literature, philosophy, theology, social science, math, and the core distribution requirements (diversity, integrative sequence, and writing requirements).
• The total number of Spanish credits normally required for the BA degree is 30 (10 undergraduate SPA courses), and the total number of Spanish credits required for the MA degree is 30 (10 graduate SPA courses). In the combined BA/MA program, however up to three graduate courses may count for undergraduate coursework fulfillment as well, so in reality these advanced students take 17 courses instead of 20 (and 10 of these must remain graduate courses). Courses taken in other departments do not qualify for this degree.
• All students admitted into the program will be awarded a BA degree in the same four years as all other undergraduates and march with their graduating class, provided they have completed a minimum of thirty one (31) undergraduate courses by the beginning of the fall semester of their senior year.

Course Distribution

* Many students come in with several years of Spanish in high school and are placed directly into SPA 1131 or higher as Freshman. While SPA 1121 and 1122 do not formally count toward the 10 undergraduate courses required for the major, SPA 1131 and above do.

** In the senior year three graduate courses will be paid at the undergraduate tuition rate. The fourth course will be paid at the graduate tuition rate. Only a total of three graduate courses may be counted toward both the undergraduate and the graduate degrees.

Undergraduate and Graduate Tuition

Students will pay for the three double-counted graduate courses with the standard undergraduate tuition rate. They will pay for four graduate courses using the standard graduate tuition rate. The final three graduate courses (9 credits) are covered by tuition remission through the Graduate Studies Office.

Advisement

Students in the program will be advised by the Graduate Director in their Senior year and in their fifth year.

For more information and to apply, please contact Dr. Carlos Trujillo, Director of Graduate Program in Hispanic Studies:  carlos.trujillo@villanova.edu.