For a complete outline of degree requirements, see "Program Requirements for UCLA Graduate Degrees" available in the program office and on the Graduate Division homepage.
Program Overview
All students have to complete the following requirements for the degree before they can be awarded the M.A. in Latin American Studies:
1. Core Seminar - Latin American Studies 205 (Latin American Scholarship): offered during the Fall quarter. All incoming students are expected to take this course during their first quarter in the program;
2. Course Requirement: Students must complete at least eight additional courses* distributed across two or three fields, such as anthropology, art history, gender studies, history, politics, public health, sociology, and others. At least one of the chosen fields must be a social science;
3. Proficiency in two languages spoken in Latin America: one language at advanced level, the other language at intermediate level. Typically, students who enter the program have already achieved advanced level of Spanish, however, language proficiency in not required for admission to the program;
4. Final project: Thesis or Capstone Project.
*Students who choose the thesis option must complete at least nine courses in addition to the core seminar (ten courses total).
The thesis plan requires the completion of an approved thesis that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research. The thesis option is available by permission of the Program Chair. Upon obtaining permission, the student, in consultation with the Program Chair, selects a three-member faculty committee to supervise and assess the thesis. The thesis committee works closely with the student in the development, writing, and revision of the thesis, and is responsible for reading, evaluating, and approving the drafts and final version of the thesis, ensuring thereby that it meets the University standards of scholarship.
The forms and guidelines for the MA Thesis are available here.
The Capstone Project consists of the submission of three research papers (at least two graduate-level seminar and one undergrad upper division papers) and evaluation of them by the ad hoc committee. The original evaluators of each paper will constitute each student’s three-person ad hoc committee.
It is the student’s responsibility to contact each member of the committee as early as possible, so that faculty can indicate if they want revisions in the papers before they are formally submitted to program's office. Please make sure that you give the committee members plenty of time to review your papers, recommend corrections, and make comments.
The forms and guidelines for the Capstone Project are available here.
