Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish

The graduate program of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers course work and research supervision in all areas of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian literature, with related courses in linguistics, film and cultural studies, and theory. The department has close ties to a number of departments, as well as the Center for Latin American Studies, the program in Women's and Gender Studies, the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, the Center for Second Language Studies, the Center for Teaching, and the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA). The graduate faculty has a strong tradition of scholarly research and was ranked as the most productive in the country in 2007 by the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.

The Ph.D. in Spanish requires 63 hours of course work, which includes the 30 hours of the M.A. in Spanish and 9 hours for a minor, normally Portuguese, an M.A. thesis, a Comprehensive Examination, a Qualifying Examination, and a dissertation. An interdisciplinary certificate program in Latino and Latina Studies, Latin American Studies or another approved program of courses from one or more departments may be used in lieu of a traditional minor. Candidates must demonstrate knowledge of Portuguese by taking a graduate level class. (Another language may be approved by the DGS on a case-by-case basis.)

Applicants are expected to have a B.A. or an M.A. in an appropriate field and have high proficiency in reading, writing and speaking of Spanish (and/or Portuguese in the case of the combined Ph.D. program) as well as in English. In accordance with the Graduate School's requirements, prospective students must be prepared to submit the following documents:
Statement of Academic Purpose
3 letters of recommendation by faculty members (up to five letters may be submitted)
Transcripts for all secondary institutions attended uploaded to the application (These may be unofficial on initial application, but official transcripts will be necessary for formal admission.)
GRE scores (no older than 5 years) GRE codes: Vanderbilt 1871, Spanish 2608
TOEFL scores: All international students whose native language is not English and whose undergraduate degree is from an institution in a country whose official language is not English must submit scores of the test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or from the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
TOEFL PBT 570, TOEFL IBT 88, IELTS 7