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What is Spanish Language and Literature?

Spanish Language and Literature is a field of study focused on the Spanish language, culture, history, traditions, economy, politics, and social constructs.  The Spanish language is part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages and originated in the Castile region of Spain.

Spanish is spoken by over 500 million people with native competence and nearly 600 million as a first or second language worldwide.   Further, Spanish is one of six official languages of the United Nations.  A large number of accredited colleges and universities offer a Spanish Language major and/or minor track which provides ample opportunity for students to engage in this field of study.

Career Summary

MEDIAN SALARY

$73,750

PERCENT ABOVE NATIONAL
INCOME AVERAGE

49.74%

TOTAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

28,720

Degree Median Salary vs Adjacent Degree Types

Source: BLS, US Census, and IPEDS

2024 Best Spanish Language and Literature Degree

The Department of Spanish Languages and Literature at Harvard University provides language courses in French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. These are all available for the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. They included substantive content related to all aspects of culture as well as literature in studying these four major languages. They aim to enhance the intellectual experience of students in learning a new language.

Acceptance Rate

4.64

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

The top-rated Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University provides instruction in the cultures, languages, and literatures of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian worlds. The major in Spanish that they offer is a liberal arts major that provides a wide range of courses. Study the cultures, language and literatures of twenty countries that speak Spanish. This program gives the students the opportunity to acquire thorough linguistic proficiency of both cultural and literary topics.

Acceptance Rate

6.08

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Columbia University in the City of New York has a Language Resource Center which supports students throughout their course of study. It offers flexible physical and virtual spaces for language learning and connects their students to language-related opportunities in Columbia and beyond. LRC also facilitates access to resources. Columbia Spanish Language program can be taken in this department.

Acceptance Rate

5.45

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Brown University has taken an interdisciplinary approach to the literature and cultures of Spain and Latin America through their Department of Hispanic Studies. The teaching and research of the dynamic faculty that they have covers a full range of both time periods and geographies. They provide a unique and well-integrated community. Everyone working in this curriculum shares the same objective; to focus and critically explore the cultural crossings that constitute the Hispanic world.

Acceptance Rate

7.07

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

A BA in Hispanic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania imparts knowledge of Spanish cultures. Students here will gain more than just the ability to communicate in the third-most-spoken language of the world. It will also prepare them for an absolutely different national, continental and global reality with all its complexities. Majors in Hispanic Studies are indeed overwhelming double majors that bring dialogic perspectives in the classes.

Acceptance Rate

7.66

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

The major in Hispanic Studies at Dartmouth College consists of at least 9 courses numbered twenty or higher taught in Spanish. In this major, both Spanish and English (one) will be studied. These are all introductory courses with either historical or survey approach. The students who do not participate in a Foreign Study Program may count up to two of these courses toward the major, but approval for this option will be granted.

Acceptance Rate

7.93

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Stanford University offers Spanish Language Courses and Spanish Literature Courses. They designed these courses for beginners and advanced heritage speakers. These courses aim to help students prepare for living, researching, studying and working in countries that speak Spanish. Stanford students who wish to take Spanish classes and had previous exposure to the language are required to take a Spanish Placement Test first.

Acceptance Rate

4.34

Student to Faculty Ratio

5:1

Being able to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language is a requirement of Duke University to all of their students. That is one reason why they designed a Foreign Language Curriculum code with suitable courses that will help their students reach their requirement. The Spanish Language degree program at Duke has courses that can develop four language skills. Students will learn how to understand, speak, read, and write in Spanish language.

Acceptance Rate

7.6

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

The Spanish Department at Amherst College offers courses in Spanish language and Hispanic culture and literature. Studies in culture and literature are done with a modern critical perspective and does not isolate it from its context. Students here are able to explore the aspects of the Spanish-speaking world while having fuller understanding of the roots and intersections of century’s legacies. Diverse learning experience is obtained by the students through coursework, study abroad, and research-based projects. 

Acceptance Rate

11.31

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

You can be an advanced speaker, writer and reader of a foreign language through the major and minor in Spanish curriculum at Pomona College. Along with that, you will also gain a sophisticated grasp of the literature and understanding of Hispanic cultures. Majors are motivated to participate in the Study Abroad Program. They will be encouraged to spend at least a year in the Spanish language hall of Pomona’s Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations.

Acceptance Rate

7.4

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Department of Spanish at Swarthmore College is organized in three tiers, the Language Courses, Introductory Courses, and Advanced Courses and Seminars. Language courses are where you’ll meet ample opportunities for encouraging the development of communicative proficiency and cultural competency. Introductory courses is a writing course that allows students to move toward writing proficiency in the Spanish language. In Advanced courses and seminars, students explore specific topics pertaining to the literature and cultures of over 9 countries.

Acceptance Rate

8.93

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

The Spanish major at Cornell University engages students with literary and visual cultures. During their classes, students will develop proficiency in oral, and written Spanish until they become astute critical readers and thinkers in Spanish. Aside from the target language they will also have critical inquiry and analytical writing in English. They’ll gain mastery of Romance language at the second-year level or even higher.

Acceptance Rate

10.85

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

The major in Spanish at Northwestern University is designed to immerse students in the complexity of literature and traditions in Latin American and Iberian cultures. Students will attain this while achieving fluency in the target language. Majors will be encouraged to focus on particular interests. They can join the majority of students that fulfills some of the requirements through courses taken in Study Abroad Programs.

Acceptance Rate

9.05

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Williams College offers a major and certificate program in Spanish that is designed for students who wish to explore the Spanish language. These courses will introduce them to the historical and political context of the material. Students will be provided with the theoretical and cultural frames of reference for study. As a result, they will be able to explore a wide range of disciplines, genres, and cultures in the student-centered classes that Williams conducts. 

Acceptance Rate

12.6

Student to Faculty Ratio

6:1

Vanderbilt’s faculty of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese is dedicated to training both undergraduate and graduate students. Courses in language, literature, culture, linguistics and Catalan can be taken here. Members of this department have won numerous teaching awards, not to mention the faculty that has been nationally and internationally recognized for their research. Faculty Productivity Index ranked them number one as the national most productive graduate program in the field in 2007. 

Acceptance Rate

9.12

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

The Spanish degree program at the University of Notre Dame offers a major and supplementary major and various form of specialization in concert with other fields of study. It can be joined with international economics/Spanish or the Romance Languages Major. If you choose Spanish program, you will be a part of a lively community, aside from many lectures they also facilitate conferences, social events, cultural experiences, film screenings, and concerts each year. Students can choose to join the student-run Spanish Club or CBL related events or decide to participate in both.

Acceptance Rate

15.83

Student to Faculty Ratio

10:1

MS and PhD in Spanish Literature and Cultural Studies are available at Georgetown University. Since their students come from many places, the challenges that their students with diverse backgrounds face are recognized. They are committed to support each student and create an inclusive space for both students and faculty. They claim to follow Jesuit values that affirm respect, dignity and social justice.

Acceptance Rate

14.36

Student to Faculty Ratio

11:1

Washington University in St. Louis offers an undergraduate and graduate degree in Spanish. Students who complete the undergraduate program, graduates with top-notch communication skills. Moreover, the graduate program has faculty that possess wide-ranging expertise. Graduate students will be given the opportunity to specialize in a variety of areas of Latin American and Iberian cultures.

Acceptance Rate

13.85

Student to Faculty Ratio

7:1

Barnard College offers a top rated major in Spanish and Latin American Cultures. Students here will develop excellence in expressing their personal ideas, analyses and interpretation with clear oral exposition as well as effective critical writing. They will learn how to use basic principles of literary and cultural theory in analyzing and interpreting different texts and cultural products. Students will rigorously apply to themselves what they will be able to learn.

Acceptance Rate

11.77

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

Tufts University established a program for those who wish to improve their Spanish language skills; the Language and Culture Program. This program will also enable the students to be exposed to the rich cultural traditions of southern Spain. This is structured for both language students and Spanish language and minors. This program provides a 5-and-a-half-week full immersion experience.

Acceptance Rate

14.95

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

A major in Spanish is available at the University of Southern California. These courses compliment interests in international relations, business, sociology, political sciences and an endless possibility. They also offer an Honors program for BA in Spanish. This is designed for students with a GPA of at least 3.5 in courses counted for major credit.

Acceptance Rate

11.42

Student to Faculty Ratio

9:1

A major in Spanish at Claremont McKenna College is flexible, it consists of nine courses after Spanish 33. They strongly encourage their students to spend a semester or a year abroad, two courses that they have taken abroad can be used for elective credit. They can choose to go to Spain, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador or Panama. They have approved programs in these countries.

Acceptance Rate

10.3

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

A major in Spanish at the University of California-Los Angeles is structured to help students prepare in the language, culture, literature and linguistics of Spanish-speaking world. Students are required to complete a senior thesis on a topic that they personally chose. They will gain working knowledge of scholarly discourse that is related to a specialized topic. They will enjoy engagement with peers while they do presentations, discussions and critique of student work.

Acceptance Rate

12.32

Student to Faculty Ratio

18:1

The Spanish degree program at Middlebury College combined the classroom study and activities. This powerful combination made them the World’s Premier Language Program. The total immersion environment that they provide helps their students achieve their language goals. Their dedicated faculty gives four hours of daily classroom instruction and students benefit greatly. 

Acceptance Rate

15.36

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

Washington and Lee University believes that a strong foundation in Spanish will be a powerful complement to any profession. With that in mind, they offered the major in Spanish which can prepare students for success in post-graduate study in Spanish and in many other academic fields. Majors will concentrate on learning to speak Spanish fluently. They will be guided as they explore the culture and history of Spanish-speakers with the help of the coursework and study abroad.

Acceptance Rate

18.57

Student to Faculty Ratio

8:1

Educational Requirements in Spanish Literature

Each school will have their own individualized curriculum for Spanish majors. Courses will be built around Spanish minors and Spanish majors along with undergraduate and graduate programs. Many Spanish degree programs will have a common foundation of courses. Examples of typical classes you will find in a Spanish major include the following classes.

Employment Overview & Language Specializations

Spanish majors have a trove of career pathways to consider after graduation. Practically any sector of the domestic and international market can be accessed by qualifying students. A range of specializations to consider for Spanish majors can include: international business, teaching, global finance, translating, political attach, interpreting, historians, museum manager, family counseling, social work, and adult literacy.

Spanish Language Job Growth

Given the vast career options for Spanish majors, the employment growth and salary are hard to approximate.  As such, we have provided a few career pathways for students to consider.  Employment growth for interpreters is set to jump by 29% and high school teachers at a 7% clip per the BLS.  Income for each job track will be determined by the organization, location, work experience, job responsibilities, work ethic, and upward mobility.

Additional Resources in Spanish Literature and Language

For more information about the Spanish literature and language track, there are a number of quality resources to learn more about.  The two most prominent associations include the American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese (AATSP) and the Spanish Language Association (SLA).  Both organizations strive to provide information, resources, tools, networking, and learning modules to help extend the understanding of the Spanish language and Spanish culture.

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