Doctor of Philosophy in History - Latin American and Caribbean History

Vanderbilt University has one of the oldest programs in Latin American studies in the United States. Our doctoral program focuses on developing scholars and teachers with both a broad knowledge of Latin American and Caribbean history and intensive training in research and writing in their specialty. Doctoral students normally do four semesters of classes, then take their qualifying exams at the end of their fourth semester or the beginning of their fifth semester. Working closely with our historians of Latin America and the Caribbean, students develop a dissertation topic and prospectus during their fifth semester.

From their first semester, we encourage our doctoral students to become actively engaged in the profession through field research, networking, publishing, collaborative projects, and grant applications. Our students have presented their research at numerous national and international conferences including the American Historical Association, Conference on Latin American History, Latin American Studies Association, Brazilian Studies Association, Association of Caribbean Historians, and the Southern Historical Association. Over the last decade our students have won many prestigious internal and external research awards (ACLS, Mellon, Boren, SSRC, and Fulbright).

Qualified applicants with bachelor's or comparable non-U.S. degrees are eligible for admission to the Graduate School. Applications from international students with three- year bachelor's degrees will also be considered.
Applicants must upload an unofficial copy of transcripts from prior undergraduate and graduate work as part of their online application for admission. Official transcripts are required only after an offer of admission is made and accepted.
The minimum acceptable score on the TOEFL PBT (paper- based test) is 570, and for the TOEFL iBT (internet- based test), 88. Many programs, however, require a considerably higher level of proficiency.
IELTS, the minimum acceptable score will vary by program. In many cases, a score of at least 7.0 is desirable.