MA in Spanish: Admission Standards

Application Deadlines:
Fall & Summer Admission-March 15; Spring Admission-October 15

Click here for MA in Spanish Info Sheet - PDF format >
Click here for MA in Spanish Admissions Checklist - MS Word format >

Regular Admission:

For regular admission to the graduate program in Spanish, applicants must:

1. Hold a baccalaureate degree in Spanish from an accredited institution, or hold a baccalaureate degree in another discipline and have language skills that meet the Departmental standards.
2. Demonstrate promise or ability to pursue advanced study and research, as shown by previous scholastic records.
3. Have at least a 2.5 undergraduate grade-point average on all previous work and a 3.0 grade-point average in courses taken in Spanish at the baccalaureate level.
4. Submit a completed Application for Admission
5. Submit the graduate application fee ($50)
6. Submit two copies of official transcripts of all colleges attended
7. Present three letters of recommendation, at least two of which should come from people familiar with the student's academic work
8. Submit a statement of approximately 500 words, in Spanish, on one of the following topics:
   
   • What single course or combination of courses was the most interesting and helpful to you during your Bachelor's Degree?
     
   • How do you plan to put the Spanish M.A. to use professionally?
9. Demonstrate Spanish and English oral and written proficiency at the Advanced level, as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. This is to be accomplished through submission of a five-minute audio recording (CD or full-sized cassette) of the applicant, with at least two minutes in Spanish and at least two minutes in English, in which the applicant describes his/her experience with the Spanish language and explains his/her motivation for pursuing a Master's in Spanish.  The recording must be unscripted (spontaneous), and not read; recordings read from a script will not be accepted.  Departmental faculty reserve the right to schedule an in-person interview with the applicant to discuss the program in more depth.

Provisional Admission:

Applicants who do not meet the requirements for admission as a regular degree student may be considered for admission to the Master's program as a provisional degree student upon the recommendation of the program faculty. Programs may admit students under a provisional agreement subject to the following requirements:

1. The term of the provisional period shall not exceed two semesters of course enrollment.

2. The student must complete each semester's course work with a GPA of 3.0 or higher on all work taken (whether applied to the master's degree or not).

3. The provisional agreement should clearly state any additional program requirements. Failure to meet the conditions of the provisional agreement will be cause for exclusion from the program..

Transfer Students / Application of Previous Credit:

Requirements for transfer students and for students seeking to transfer graduate courses taken as non-degree students are the same as those for students applying for regular admissions, with the following provisions:

1. For transfer students, two of the letters of recommendation must come from faculty members in the graduate program from which the student is transferring.

2. A maximum of nine (9) credit hours of transfer course work may be applied to the master's degree. Transfer courses are those taken at any campus other than the University of Colorado Denver. Graduate work done at one of the other CU campuses counts as transfer credit if it is completed prior to admission to the UC Denver master's program and counts as part of the 9 credit hour maximum. Graduate work done at one of the other CU campuses after admission to the UC Denver master's program counts as resident course work if approved by the program and is exempt from the credit hour maximums above.

3. A maximum of nine (9) credit hours of UC Denver course work taken prior to admission into the program may be applied to the master's degree.  These courses count as transfer courses.

4. All transfer courses and pre-admission courses must meet the following criteria:

a. The courses are recommended by the program for transfer and approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UC Denver.

b. The courses were not applied toward another degree.

c. The student received a grade of B- or better (no pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory grades are transferable).

d. The courses were completed within ten years of the time the approval is requested. A student may request a waiver to transfer course credit more than ten years old at the time approval is requested.