twentysix Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 I wanted to create a thread for Latin American Studies for this application year. I am starting to hear back from universities. Where have you applied and have you received any acceptances/rejections yet? Also, what is your focus within Latin American Studies? I applied to: University of Wisconsin (accepted, but they do not fund any grad students) University of California, San Diego (accepted and nominated for a fellowship) University of California, Los Angeles (no response yet) University of Texas, Austin (no response yet) Tulane University (no response yet) I am focusing on the history and archaeology of colonial Mesoamerica. In May, I will earn a BS in Anthropology (Archaeology) with a Sociology minor and a BA in History with Spanish as a foreign language.
victorydance Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 I study comparative Latin American politics. I am an international student. I got accepted to UT Austin. Also applied to UChicago and am waiting for a response but can't justify going there over the former. I applied to some other programs in political science but will probably accept the UT Austin admit.
twentysix Posted February 18, 2015 Author Posted February 18, 2015 Were you offered funding at UT? I am still "in review" at UT.
victorydance Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 No. I don't think there is much funding available for international students. Although I am fairly certain I can secure an RA position so I am not really that concerned about it. I am technically "in review" still as well but got unofficially accepted from the LAS department. Don't know what that means for your application?
twentysix Posted February 18, 2015 Author Posted February 18, 2015 There is nothing that I can really do but wait on the other three schools. UCSD has been very helpful and has had prompt responses to all of the questions that I have asked. Also, funding looks promising, as well as priority housing status. The University of Wisconsin outrightly told me that no RA/TA exists within their LACIS program (and since submitting my application to the University of Wisconsin, their university system is under siege by their governor... to the tune of $300 million). I am pragmatically waiting for responses from Tulane, Texas, and UCLA.
twentysix Posted February 18, 2015 Author Posted February 18, 2015 I honestly have fantastic fit at all 5 schools I applied too. Funding will be the largest deciding factor.
twentysix Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 Anyone else applying to LAS programs? I saw a second acceptance to UCSD on the results board.
Randomgal Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Hello! Here's the list of the places I've applied/currently applying to: UCSD (accepted with fellowship nomination) UCLA (applied-no response yet) San Diego State (currently applying to) Cal State LA (currently applying to) I'm from Southern California, so I applied to the local programs because I can't really afford to go out of state (nor do I really want to). As for my focus, I put that I am interested on focusing on intersections related to urbanization (I want to look at culture, politics, and urban development) Twenty six, is the wait for UCLA killing you? Because it's killing me, it's been a good two months since we submitted the app!
twentysix Posted February 22, 2015 Author Posted February 22, 2015 I was rejected from UT last week, so UCSD is looking like a great option. However, I have been checking the UCLA website. I found this link to the decision status: https://appstatus.grad.ucla.edu/account/login.aspx. It seems like most people are accepted to UCLA through email though. When I looked into the San Diego fellowship at UCSD, it said that departments can nominate up to 6 students. However, I didn't find any information about the number of students who are awarded the fellowship. I read an article (https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/san-diego-fellowship-awards-record-number-scripps-students) about a program bragging about four of their students winning it, so that makes me wonder about the likelihood of actually being awarded it. I assumed that all of the deadlines have already passed. Tulane was the latest deadline for me (February 1).
Randomgal Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Yes, Im thinking UCLA is most likely going to contact through email. I guess we'll just have to wait. And I believe their Graduate Opportunity Fellowship (the equivalent of the San Diego Fellowship) is $20,000 plus tuition. BUT, it is super expensive to LA and especially in Westwood, where UCLA is at. Same goes UCSD too, UCSD is in La Jolla, which is also super expensive. Generally, California is just plain expensive, but Im told the weather beats the rest of the country (honestly, this is just from what my acquaintences tell me, I haven't really gone out of state). I believe from what I read the Department writes a letter to the fellowship committee, so hopefully that helps our nominations! And bummer about the UT rejection, but you got into UCSD, which is pretty hard to get into! Good luck!
twentysix Posted February 22, 2015 Author Posted February 22, 2015 I'm from North Dakota and it gets down to -40 degrees with wind chill in the winter. California weather would be a welcome change. If I decide to go to UCSD, I'm hoping to live in the grad housing. However, in LA, I have a place to stay with a friend until I get set up. Either way, California will offer great weather, but the cost of living is a lot higher. Good luck to you too! We'll see what happens with the UCSD fellowship in March.
Randomgal Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 ^ Thanks! Funny thing, Californians consider anything below 60 to be cold.
victorydance Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 After living in pretty much every climate possible in North and South America, I feel like weather is the least important factor in choosing a program personally.
twentysix Posted February 22, 2015 Author Posted February 22, 2015 After living in pretty much every climate possible in North and South America, I feel like weather is the least important factor in choosing a program personally. It's just an added bonus that all of the programs with great fit for my research interests have warmer weather (except UW-Madison). I'd consider going to school in Antarctica if there was a top university with great fit.
xolo Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Same thing happened to me with UT Austin. But I got into my tippy top choice, so hey!
twentysix Posted February 22, 2015 Author Posted February 22, 2015 Same thing happened to me with UT Austin. But I got into my tippy top choice, so hey! Congrats!
victorydance Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 How did you guys/girls become interested in LA?
twentysix Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) How did you guys/girls become interested in LA? Intially via exposure to archaeology and history (~17,000 BCE to about 1950). Though, it has certainly been increased by travel and language studies. How about yourself? Edited February 23, 2015 by twentysix
victorydance Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Always had a weird fixation with Latin America for no particular reason. Then substantially grew as I started spending a lot of time living there since high school. Eventually my interest in the region merged into my political science interest and now its pretty much interlocked.
twentysix Posted February 24, 2015 Author Posted February 24, 2015 Always had a weird fixation with Latin America for no particular reason. Then substantially grew as I started spending a lot of time living there since high school. Eventually my interest in the region merged into my political science interest and now its pretty much interlocked. You went to high school in Latin America? Wow! That must have been a huge boon to your applications.
victorydance Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 You went to high school in Latin America? Wow! That must have been a huge boon to your applications. No, haha I meant since finishing high school. I have taken a number of gap years (4 including my current one) and have lived in places like Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Quito, Buenos Aires and currently in Mexico City. Basically whenever I wasn't doing my bachelors, I was down here.
Randomgal Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 No, haha I meant since finishing high school. I have taken a number of gap years (4 including my current one) and have lived in places like Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Quito, Buenos Aires and currently in Mexico City. Basically whenever I wasn't doing my bachelors, I was down here. Wow, you've have been to a lot of places. I've mostly been to Mexico, mainly Aguascalientes (where my parents are from), Guanajuato, and Michocan. I'd love to go to Central and South America though, I just want to see if it differs a bit.
victorydance Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Mexico's a fantastic country, and Michoacan and Guanajuato are beautiful states. And yes, Mexico is quite different from the rest of Latin America culturally, particularly the food. Edited February 24, 2015 by victorydance
buencabro Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Hi all! I'm also deciding what to do next year. I'm between a phd in sociology and the MA in latin american studies, both focusing on latino integration in the US. For LAS, i applied to berkeley (which isn't accepting a new class, and my app fee was refunded) and was accepted to UT and georgetown. I was wondering what motivated everyone to apply for the MA. Do you see it as something that would strengthen your application to a phd program later, or do you see it as a goal in and of itself? My advisors tell me that an interdisciplinary masters isn't a great idea because it lacks the rigor of a phd in what ACTUALLY interests you (like soc or anth) and doesn't have the pre-professional benefits of an MPA or MPP. For this reason, I'm told that Latin Americanists aren't that well-regarded. I think, though, that the MA could be a good way to transition into a decent phd program later. I guess I'm nervous to commit to a PhD, especially if I don't get into a great program this application cycle, but I also don't to spend more money getting a degree that won't be valued. Has anyone else run into the same issue, and what advice have you received?
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