<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am currently seeking transfer admissions to Harvard, UChicago, Cornell, Yale, and Dartmouth. I love these schools all for their environment, intellectual environment, among other reasons. Each one has a superb Spanish department. However, I was wondering if anyone knew which of these has the BEST Spanish department, courses, faculty, etc. I've heard a lot about UChicago's small, but reputable Spanish Department. Can anyone give me insights into these specific schools? I realize that people who often go to these institutions rarely major in Spanish (WHY IS THAT??). Thanks all</p>
<p><em>Student</em> “I’m going to go to major in a field that no one majors in!”</p>
<h2><em>Adcoms</em> “Hmm… This person isn’t that great, but we do need to make a diverse class… We can take this person because he/she is doing a major no one else is doing.”</h2>
<h2>Half a year later into college…</h2>
<p><em>Student</em> “Now, I can finally switch over to the major that the college is really famous for and not do the major I wanted to do, written on my application”</p>
<p>That is probably the biggest reason.</p>
<p>In the recent NRC graduate rankings for Spanish depts., Yale is ranked #1 and Cornell #8; Harvard, Dartmouth, and Chicago were not listed in the rankings —not sure why, except that Dartmouth does not have a grad program in this field— though all of these schools could provide you with an good program in Spanish. When comparing these depts., look at course offerings and requirements for the major, the balance between Iberian and Latin American emphases, whether any faculty received teaching awards, study abroad opportunities, presence of active extracurricular opportunities (e.g., language tables, language houses, clubs, film series and other cultural events, etc.), area studies courses in other depts. (e.g., Spanish history, Latin American ethnography, etc.), # of professors, and so on. </p>
<p>“I realize that people who often go to these institutions rarely major in Spanish (WHY IS THAT??).”
This is true for most languages, not just Spanish. Language enrollments follow trends—some languages are “hotter” than others right now, e.g., Arabic, Chinese, whereas, enrollments in other languages have dropped off, e.g., German, Russian due to changes in economic and political factors. There are a number of other reasons.
-More limited job opportunities, other than teaching, compared to other fields.
-For students who plan to pursue academic careers, there is a surplus of humanities PHDs pursuing too few academic positions.
-Many students combine another major with a language major, or they just take language courses without a formal major or minor.
-Many students might choose to major in an interdisciplinary field such as Latin American studies or International Relations, which would include language courses, instead of just a straight language major.
-There are opportunities for other types of combined majors that siphon off language majors (e.g., History & Literature (Harvard), Comparative Literature).</p>
<p>Cornell does have a program house for languages where you would live and eat with other students studying your language, along with a native speaker.</p>
<p>Yes, I got into Cornell. And yes, it’s called the Latino Living Center, which I’m enrolled in!</p>