Latin American and Caribbean Studies MA Programs

[existentia]

Hello Everyone!

I've searched this forum and have managed to find very little about the masters programs in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Does anyone have insight into how competitive these programs are, what a typical accepted student profile would look like, how difficult it is to get FLAS funding...any information would be greatly appreciated. If you are also applying (or applied), what have your experiences been?

I'm particularly interested in Vandy, Columbia, Tulane, Georgetown, Wisconsin-Madison, UT-Austin, and NYU.

Edited January 4, 2011 by wcjohns2

[brandmatth]

I would love to know as well...hope someone out there knows something.

[lasgirl]

I'm currently applying to LAS programs right now, so hopefully I'll have some ideas or answers soon

[froggerz9]

I have no idea what schools are looking for. I have a strong GPA and international experience, but I'm worried that my GRE scores will be low or my undergraduate studies may not tie closely enough with my future aspirations. Hope to hear more soon..

[Jdealla]

I had a long conversation with the assistant director at Indiana's CLACS and he said that half of the current full time students were funded. However, he said that some of them are doing dual degrees and might be funded by other means or, because of a different mentality of the financial returns with their other degree, are taking out loans. However, he did mention that, like what StrangeLight said, there are definitely not enough packages for the entire incoming cohort in a given year.

[lasgirl]

Not sure where else to put this, but just got my first acceptance at UCSD with a graduate student research assistant position offered, providing full tuition and a modest stipend, plus a travel grant for research abroad summer 2012! So while it may seem impossible, there really IS some funding offered for LAS MA students, as rare as it may seem

[froggerz9]

does anyone know anything about rankings for LAS programs?? Particularly interested in Georgetown, NYU, Texas, WashU, Denver...

[lasgirl]

Looks like some more results are starting to pop up on the results board - how's it going for everyone? It's going way differently for me than I expected so I'm curious about all of you guys!

[Sr. T]

I'm in my final semester in the LAS program at Vandy. I've been very satisfied. If you are interested in Brazil, this is one of the best places in the country to study. I specialize in Modern Mexico and there are plenty of resources here for that as well. Mesoamerican and Andean anthropology are especially strong here as well. The facilitiies, profs, and students are great. The program accepts about 5 people each year and every MA student gets funding, FLAS or not.

[froggerz9]

i got my official acceptance letter from the dean at georgetown yesterday. i assume since there was no mention of funding, i was not awarded anything...but i have an april 15 deadline to accept. am i reading too far into this? has anyone heard about funding from GT? good luck to all

[lasgirl]

i got my official acceptance letter from the dean at georgetown yesterday. i assume since there was no mention of funding, i was not awarded anything...but i have an april 15 deadline to accept. am i reading too far into this? has anyone heard about funding from GT? good luck to all

They offered funding (of varying levels) to the top 10 applicants they admitted, and information was sent in the official acceptance packages.

[lasgirl]

I'll be going to NYU!

Has anyone else decided yet?

[Astraea]

I got into Columbia and Georgetown!   Funding is not an option in either program because I learned that I would need to apply to grad school a year earlier than I'd expected and didn't have the chance to apply by the funding consideration deadlines.

 

Do you have a sense of which is the better program? And should I still apply to NYU?

 

I'd appreciate your input!

[Astraea]

Anyone?