Best Graduate Programs in Latin American Studies - Updated 2021

What do you learn in a Latin American Studies program?

Latin American Studies is the study of societies within Latin America and the Caribbean. A typical Latin American Studies program will consider the culture, development, history, international relations, and politics of Latin America. Some universities merge Latin American Studies with Latino Studies, a field that examines the experience of Hispanic-identifying people in the United States.

Latin American Studies is a discipline that dates back to Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in 1492. In a Latin American Studies program, you will likely enroll in courses that consider the history of colonialism, the effects of colonialism in contemporary Latin America, the cultural identity of Latin Americans, and how Latin America interacts with the rest of the world.

There are 74 schools offering graduate degrees in Latin American Studies. Georgetown University had highest number of international students receiving a Master's degree. Georgetown University had the most women graduates in this program.

Princeton University

Ranked as: #1 in Best National University
Tuition: $49,450
State: NJ
Acceptance: 5.48%
Latino Studies Certificate Requirements for Students Enrolled Before June 2018. Summer Dissertation Support for Research in American Studies. An additional grant, in the amount of $5,000, may an exceptional late-stage graduate student working on a dissertation that is seriously engaged with core American studies themes.

Program in American Studies

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Columbia University in the City of New York

Ranked as: #4 in Best National University
Tuition: $46,216
State: NY
Acceptance: 5.91%
Program Category: PhD ProgramsChair: Graciela Montaldo Director of Graduate Studies: Alessandra RussoWebsite:laic.columbia.eduDegree Programs: Full-Time: MA, MPhil, PhD. The department is located in the Casa Hispánica, a five-story townhouse adjoining Columbia Morningside campus, between Broadway and Riverside Drive. It contains classrooms, a lecture hall, a graduate lounge, and a library. The Hispanic Institute, housed in the department, offers a regular program of lectures and activities.

Latin American and Iberian Cultures

Columbia University in the City of New York GRE score and admission requirements for graduate programs in Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender And Group Studies
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Stanford University

Ranked as: #4 in Best National University
Tuition: $50,703
State: CA
Acceptance: 4.36%
The Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University supports doctoral study in the literatures and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America (including Brazil). In addition to geographic breadth, the program offers historical depth, training students in the medieval and early modern origins of the pertinent literary cultures and in the late modern and contemporary stages of the same. Our students may undertake cross-disciplinary work within the division through team-taught seminars, focal groups, research groups, lecture series, graduate conferences, and other opportunities for intellectual exchange with peers in cognate departments.

Iberian and Latin American Cultures. Graduate Program

GRE score required at Stanford University master's degree programs in Latin American Studies
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Northwestern University

Ranked as: #13 in Best National University
Tuition: $54,120
State: IL
Acceptance: 8.47%
African American Studies, by its very nature, is an interdisciplinary field. African American Studies brings together the voluminous scholarship generated by past and present historians political scientists sociologists anthropologists cultural, literary, and performance studies critics and scholars working on diverse topics and constructions of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. The Department offers advanced graduate training through a PhD in African American Studies. The PhD program in African American Studies provides students with the historical background in the experiences of people of African descent, the analytic preparation to carry out rigorous empirical research, and the professional development to pursue careers in academia or beyond.

African American Studies

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Vanderbilt University

Ranked as: #16 in Best National University
Tuition: $47,208
State: TN
Acceptance: 9.61%
The M.A. in Latin American Studies requires course work with a Latin American content or with subject matter that is closely related to the area. Candidates for the M.A. choose a thesis (24 semester hours plus 6 thesis hours) or non-thesis (33 hours) option. Each option requires completion of LAS 5901- Research Seminar (an interdisciplinary seminar which focuses on research methodologies and the use of reference materials for Latin Americanists). Master’s degree candidates are expected to demonstrate language competence in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole or K’iche’ Maya. This means advanced proficiency in one of the four languages and intermediate proficiency in another.

Master of Arts in Latin American Studies

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University of California-Berkeley

Ranked as: #20 in Best National University
Tuition: $11,442
State: CA
Acceptance: 14.84%
The MA in Latin American Studies is a two-year program that allows students to pursue a diverse curriculum in Latin American Studies spanning a wide range of departments and professional schools, including the schools of Natural Resources, Public Health, Public Policy, Social Welfare, Journalism, Law, Education, and Environmental Design. Students begin by taking courses that offer a broad of the field of Latin American Studies and introduce them to Latin Americanist research at Berkeley. COVID-19 Notice The latest resources, accommodations and information for graduate students.

Latin American Studies

University of California-Berkeley GRE score and admission requirements for graduate programs in Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender And Group Studies
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Emory University

Ranked as: #21 in Best National University
Tuition: $41,800
State: GA
Acceptance: 18.52%
The Latin American History provides students with an intimate, rigorous, and individually tailored graduate experience. The University active Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, which includes over fifty graduate students in varied courses of study, complements graduate offerings in History, and encourages interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching. program provides students with rigorous training in their fields of specialization while encouraging comparative study.

Latin American History

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University of California-Los Angeles

Ranked as: #23 in Best National University
Tuition: $11,442
State: CA
Acceptance: 14.04%
Established in 1980, the Master of Arts Program in African American Studies focuses on the origin of African and diasporic cultures in the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. IMPORTANT: The deadline for the Af-Am Masters Program for 2021-2022 is December 1st. For applicants and entering students, student funds at UCLA are provided to graduate students in the form of grants, fellowships, traineeships, teaching assistantships and graduate student researcher appointments. After exploring options and choosing a specific program, follow the steps on our University’s graduate application process.

African American Studies

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University of Virginia-Main Campus

Ranked as: #23 in Best National University
Tuition: $16,018
State: VA
Acceptance: 26.43%
MPH Candidate Jorge Gonzalez Mejia Pursues Latin American Public Health Issues with a Passion. Hispanic heritage is the flame that empowers me to go above and beyond. It is my identity and what I live for. As a result, the Public Health in Colombia program will not only provide me with a great insight of the public health practices that I will someday perform, but it will also provide me with the opportunity to work with my main population of interest, Gonzalez Mejia relates.

MPH Candidate Jorge Gonzalez Mejia Pursues Latin American Public Health Issues with a Passion

University of Virginia-Main Campus GRE score and admission requirements for graduate programs in Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender And Group Studies
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Carnegie Mellon University

Ranked as: #25 in Best National University
Tuition: $43,815
State: PA
Acceptance: 17.12%
Established by Executive Order 2015-08, the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs (GACLA) is dedicated to advising the governor on policies and legislation that impact Latino American communities. GACLA and its commissioners have proficiently served Pennsylvania’s growing Latino community since 1971. Our aim is to contribute to the governor’s goal of government that works, schools that teach, and jobs that pay. Pedro Anes, a native of Puerto Rico, brings 10+ years’ experience as President of the Latino American Alliance and Chairman of the Scranton Human Relations Commission.

Pennsylvania Commission on Latino Affairs

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