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Degree Requirements

Timeline to degree and registration information can be found at the following link on TGS's website. Graduate students should be registered for classes at all times throughout their program.

Timeline and Registration

Coursework Requirements and Time to Degree

The course requirements reflect the Department’s desire to provide its graduate students with a firm grounding in Latin American, Iberian, and U.S. Latino literatures and cultures. The course requirements contain both mandatory courses that provide essential tools for scholarly investigation as well as a high degree of flexibility that allows students to specialize in particular subfields and to undertake interdisciplinary investigations.


Students are required to take a total of 18 courses: 9 courses in each of the first two years of study. During the second year, when typically students hold teaching assistantships, the program's flexibility will also allow students to take independent study classes. The time to degree will typically be five years. If newly-admitted students are not already fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, language study during the summer prior to matriculation is encouraged. More information regarding languages can be found on the following pages: