<p>I'm a researcher of Cultural Studies, that are called Spanish studies in the USA universities. I want to know more about the programs in Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign because I will travel from Latin America for a degree in one of these universities. Spanish Literatures and Cultures program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign research and teach about the literatures and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas.
Department of Spanish and Portuguese research interests range across Spanish, Latin American and Brazilian literatures and cultures. Both look great but I would like a feedback with pros and cons.</p>
<p>Easy choice. If money isn’t an issue, Northwestern.
More well-known, better ranked, more personal attention, not in the middle of nowhere, has more financial resources, etc.</p>
<p>^This is for a graduate degree. You can’t make those kinds of assumptions about graduate programs, because university and program rankings are very different for graduate degrees than they are for undergrad programs. Most academic graduate programs have similar student to faculty ratios (and thus the potential for similar amounts of personal attention). There’s also no basis for thinking that Northwestern’s Spanish department has better financial resources than UIUC’s, because resources aren’t necessarily distributed evenly across universities. Moreover, choosing graduate schools is more about fit than prestige - even if Northwestern were the better ranked of the two in this field (which it isn’t), if OP is interested in Lusophone literature, for example, Northwestern may have one or zero people who do that while UIUC might be overflowing with people.</p>
<p>(TBH, UIUC’s academic graduate programs are VERY strong in most areas and often better-reputed than Northwestern’s equivalent programs. In my own field, I would choose UIUC in a heartbeat any day of the week over Northwestern.)</p>
<p>In this case, UIUC’s PhD in Spanish program is well-established and ranked in the top 10 by the National Research Council. Northwestern’s PhD program in Spanish is brand-new. May it one day be a great program? Probably, as Northwestern is a great university and none of their programs are just abysmal.</p>
<p>The answer is that it really depends on your interests, OP. Northwestern has a special cluster in Latin American and Caribbean studies and also has a connection with comparative literature. UIUC has a specialty in Spanish linguistics and also seems to extend some of their work to Lusophone Africa. Northwestern has a variety of secondary certificates you can get; at UIUC, you can get certified in teacher education if you like. Northwestern also has this interdisciplinary cluster program that might enrich your study if you are interested in that.</p>
<p>It also depends on what you want to do. As a top 10 ranked program UIUC probably has an established placement record of putting PhD holders into academic positions. Do you want to be a professor of Spanish literature and language? That might be the way to go. Since Northwestern is new, it may not have that track record - but it may soon rise up to be a top program; there’s simply no way to know.</p>