Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

All applicants to the M. A. and Ph. D. programs in Spanish must submit a narrative statement of intent. This document is one of the most important components of the application, and should be prepared thoughtfully.

For applicants to the M. A. program, the statement should include a description of their undergraduate studies in Spanish and related areas, any additional experiences which bear on their qualifications or interest in graduate studies, and a clear indication of the reasons for pursuing a graduate degree. Applicants should describe their specific interests within the programs offered by the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and they should indicate why they have chosen Penn State University. In addition, applicants should outline their future career plans in as great detail as possible. Simply stating that "I have always enjoyed Spanish," "I want to learn more about Spanish/improve my abilities," or "Spanish is my native language" is not adequate. The M. A. is a professional degree, and applicants need to indicate why they are qualified to undertake this professional training, and what they intend to do with it.

The Ph. D. is a research-oriented degree, which presupposes both the ability and the interest in undertaking sustained, original research, including publication, scholarly presentation, and teaching. The commitment to research must go beyond the completion of the doctoral dissertation, which should be regarded as merely the first major document in an ongoing scholarly career. Applicants to the Ph. D. program should 1) outline their previous graduate studies in as great detail as possible; 2) describe their specific interests, including possible dissertation topics, collateral areas, and related research; 3) to the extent possible, applicants should identify specific faculty members and/or university and community resources that would make their doctoral project feasible at Penn State University; 4) they should justify the choice of Penn State University as the appropriate institution for their doctoral career; 5) finally, and most importantly, they should elaborate on their abilities to conduct original in-depth research, and should describe their future professional plans and aspirations.