Hey Ciboney, thanks for the suggestion! Will check it out and if I can get a waiver I will apply to some for sure. My project is more sociological (as the dept. at Michigan is very interdisciplinary and I have an MA in Cultural Studies) but I have a lit. background so I am planning on working on Latin American lit. as a secondary interest. I will let you know if I hear from them, too.
10 out of 50? Wow, that's not too bad! Most PhD programs accept 4-6 students so I have to say that raised my hopes up, so don't lose hope! I could only apply to one place as my country's currency took a drastic downfall this year so an application costs me way too much. Michigan is my dream school so I went for it, and the Spanish program there indeed looks amazing.