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What do language graduate programs place emphasis on?


Alyciabaleesha

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Hello everyone!

 

As the title alludes, I am seeking advice in applying to a master's program focusing on either bilingual education or Latin American literature and culture. I graduated in December 2013 with two bachelor's degrees, one in both English and Spanish. 

 

I am one of the "low overall GPA" students with a 2.99 cumulative. My program GPA for Spanish is a 3.7, and the GPA for my last 60 hours of credits taken is 3.5. There is a clear difference between my first few years of college versus my last, and I believe I have a good explanation for the bad decisions made during the first part of my undergrad career (I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attempting to find a correct dosage of medication while attempting to take classes). I have never received anything lower than a B+ in any of the classes of my last few years except for biology, and I've received solid A's in all of my upper-level Spanish classes. 

 

I have some really great recommendation letters lined up and the full support and advice of every single one of my Spanish professors. 

 

My question is this: what do graduate programs that center around a language place the most emphasis on? I know my cumulative is low and that I will need to absolutely slaughter the GRE, but I am also confident (based on every single other standardized test I've taken) that I can do so. I have some volunteering experience in teaching English as a secondary language to native Spanish speakers and studied in Mexico for two summers. Because I added Spanish so late in my undergrad experience (I was essentially finished with my English degree), I didn't have much time to work on things like fellowships or conferences - I completed everything for my Spanish degree in about 2 years.

 

Should I be looking into volunteering in the local Hispanic community? Should I try and take a graduate level course before applying in order to more fully illustrate that I am capable and passionate about my studies? 

 

I'm not at all sure what to do. I am meeting with several of my former Spanish professors next week to obtain advice, but I would like to ask someone who has recently been through the process for their opinion about what I can do to make my application appear decent. In your experience, was your overall cumulative GPA the most important factor in being admitted, or do you believe your program GPA and extra-curricular activities helped you be admitted? I've heard that a lot of emphasis is placed on your grades in courses pertaining to the language you're applying to study - do you believe that to be the case?

 

Thank you for your time and advice, and I apologize for how long-winded this is! 

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The answer is: grades in your language courses, study abroad experience, and ability to speak well enough to teach intro courses (if you're looking for funding). Decent scores on the GRE will be enough to overcome my crappy cum GPA given my strong program GPA, and the second BA helps a lot with that as well.

 

The above is the advice I was given after contacting various programs and speaking further with my professors. Your mileage may vary, especially if you're looking to study somewhere like Columbia (I am clearly not) or in a program with a lot of heritage and/or native speakers - you'd need to be as close to fluent as you can get in the target language if either of those things is the case. 

 

Hopefully this helps someone who has the same question I did! 

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