M.A. in Spanish: Options
- four summers at the graduate level in the Spanish School (completing a total of 12 Middlebury "units," or courses)
- one summer in the Spanish School and an academic year at the School in Spain (Madrid only)
- three summers in the Spanish School in Vermont and one summer at the Spanish School's Graduate Program in Guadalajara
Program Details
The M.A. degree consists of twelve courses to be taken in a combination of a summer in Vermont and an academic year in Madrid at the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Spain or over a series of four summers on the Vermont campus.
Students must successfully complete a preliminary summer of study (summer of application) on the Vermont campus before being officially accepted to degree candidacy. During the required preliminary summer in Vermont, students normally take three courses.
Summer Study in Vermont
The Spanish School has adapted to meet the needs of an ever-changing population of people interested in honing their Spanish linguistic abilities. Courses in political culture, instructional technology, second language acquisition, film, and the arts prepare graduate students for travel, study, and work abroad, as well as for increased facility in the Spanish language and grounding in the Hispanic culture here at home. The goal in both the curricular and the co-curricular activities is to equip students for the future through active engagement at all levels of sophistication and across a wide range of areas. In the years during and after the Spanish Civil War, the School was an important bastion of free Spanish thought and discourse. Today it honors its intellectual and cultural heritage with a commitment to academic inquiry and the celebration of language and life throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
The palabra de honor (the Language Pledge to speak to other students and faculty only in Spanish throughout the summer), combined with the carefully crafted array of courses and activities, allows for significant progress and often stunning results in overall communicative competence and academic achievement that substantially exceed the impact of ordinary course work.
Summer in Guadalajara
During the summer of 2004 the Spanish School inaugurated a highly successful graduate program in Guadalajara, Mexico, the first summer Language School campus outside the U.S. With the establishment of this program, graduate students who do not have the flexibility to spend a year in Spain now have the opportunity to study and live in a Spanish-speaking environment, to absorb the culture and language of our neighbor to the south, and to advance their studies toward the Middlebury M.A. in Spanish. This program is designed primarily for students in their third summer of M.A. course work. There is also the possibility that students may be allowed to participate during their second or fourth and final summer, depending on space available.
Academic Year in Spain
The Middlebury College School in Spain, Sede Prim, is housed at a central location within short walking distance of the Spanish National Library, the Prado, Reina Sofía, and Thyssen museums, as well as Cibeles and the Puerta del Sol, perhaps the most symbolic landmarks in the heart of the city of Madrid. There Middlebury has its offices, classrooms, a computer lab, and a small library. The faculty, staff, and students replicate the academic environment of the Spanish School by strictly following the Language Pledge. In Madrid, students follow a program consisting of four courses one semester and five courses the next. All courses are organized by Middlebury College for its own students and are taught by some of the most renowned scholars in Spain, including university professors and other authorities in the fields of letters, history, the social sciences, and the arts. The course offerings are organized with an emphasis on Spain in order to take advantage of the students’ presence there. However, Latin American subjects are also offered.