Romance Languages and Literatures

Deadlines and Prerequisites for Admission

The M.A. application is due on February 2. Students applying for admission to graduate degree programs in the Romance literatures must satisfy the following prerequisites: (1) a general coverage of their major literature at the undergraduate level; (2) a formal survey course or a sufficient number of courses more limited in scope; (3) at least four semesters of advanced work in period or general courses in the major literature. There is no GRE requirement for M.A. candidates. For complete information concerning the graduate programs, visit the Master of Arts Degree in French, Hispanic, or Italian Literature and Culture page.

Master of Arts Degree in French, Hispanic, or Italian Literature and Culture

• Thirty-one credits (i.e., ten courses) which includes ten RLL courses and the one-credit Professional and Pedagogical Seminar
• Completion of the Independent Research Project
• Graduate students must take whatever graduate courses are offered in their language section before they will be allowed to take courses in other language sections in the department, outside of the department, or another school within the Graduate Consortium
• In any given semester, if their language section does not offer sufficient graduate courses, students may obtain credit by taking a graduate course in another section of the department or in another Boston College department, or in a graduate seminar taught in the target language at Boston University.
• Graduate students can only earn credit for graduate-level courses (“mixed level” courses open to both graduates and undergraduates are included in this category)
• Distribution Requirement in French: Each French student should endeavor to take at least one course from as many different areas of the curriculum as possible (Early Modern, nineteenth century, twentieth century, Francophone). The fulfillment of the Distribution Requirement is to be overseen and verified by the Faculty Advisor.
• Distribution Requirement in Hispanic Studies: Hispanic Studies students must take a minimum of nine credits in Peninsular Spanish and nine credits in Spanish American Literature
• Distribution Requirement in Italian: Each semester the Italian section faculty offer two 8000-level graduate seminars (and/or 5000-level advanced courses open to graduate students and qualified undergraduates). M.A. students in Italian are required to take both of these 8000-level or 5000-level courses each semester.
• Entering M.A. students in French and Hispanic Studies are strongly encouraged to take FREN7704 Explication de texte, and SPAN9901 Advanced Textual Analysis in Spanish and/or SPAN9904 Topics in Advanced Literary Analysis, respectively, during their first year of graduate study
• Students wishing to register for Graduate Consortium courses may do so in their second year of study, and must secure permission from their advisor as well as the Graduate Program Director prior to registration
• Before registering for any and all courses before the start of each new semester, graduate students must have their course selection approved by their advisor, who will sign the appropriate departmental permission form

Independent Research Project

• All M.A. candidates in French, Hispanic Studies, and Italian are required to complete the Independent Research Project (IRP) as part of their degree programs. During the summer between their first and second years, M.A. students write a paper, in the target language, which represents a significant revision or extension of a paper written in a graduate course taken during the first two semesters of study.
• The IRP should be between 20–25 pages in length, including bibliography.
• The IRP deadlines must be strictly adhered to. They are as follows: (1) May 15: IRP topics and outline must be finalized and approved by the IRP director; (2) August 15: first draft of the complete essay must be sent to the IRP director; (3) September 10: no later than this date, students must meet with director to discuss the IRP draft and receive feedback for completion of the final draft; (4) October 10: final draft of the IRP must be submitted to director; (5) November 1: final version of IRP must be submitted to all faculty members in their language section.
• The student who does not meet the November 1 deadline will not be allowed to continue with the IRP and will instead be obliged to take a written, comprehensive exam. This four-hour, Pass/Fail exam will take place in the spring semester (during the week following Spring Break) and will cover all of the student's completed courses.
• Complete information on the Graduate Program is available on the department website: www.bc.edu/rll.