Hola todos! I am just thinking of places for college and I am truly thinking about studying in Spain...either University of Granada or University of Madrid...any other good colleges? what would u compare those 2 colleges to in the USA?

Are you talking about doing your entire college degree abroad? Or studying abroad while in college at a US university.

I can honestly say I have never heard of anybody doing the first option, your entire degree abroad, but thats not to say its not a possibility!! If you are considering that, you would want to put some serious thought into how useful that degree would be once you were back in the U.S., once again im not really sure about that.

If you are talking about studying abroad, now that is a WONDERFUL idea, something I managed to take advantage of in Spain twice. The first time I was at the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, and the second time, the the Universidad de Granada. I loved both, wherever you go it is an amazing experience. Go for an entire year if you can, you wont regret it!! If your level of spanish is high enough, id also strongly suggest not doing the typical american study abroad route (ie taking spanish language classes with other americans), and instead enroll directly in normal university classes with your spaniard peers... thats what i did and i think i got a much better, and more "authentic" experience than my friends who went the other route. Most importantly dont live with american, avoid them while you are abroad, thats the entire point!

Good Luck!
Kelly

Thanks so much. For the U. of Granada, what college is it comparible to in the US? I am not sure...I was thinking about doing my entire 4 years but I am not sure. I would like to be a translator and somehting with fashion so that is ok if I do work in the US. I am not sure once again if I'll live in Spain. Of course I will not want to take classes with Americans, I have been to Spain b4 and they are just obnoxious...my Spanish is good considering I am 16 and I taken it for 5 years. I've also traveled there alone twice...Thanks

You can do your whole degree at the Complutense, that I know. I'm sure Granada has a similar program- it's for foreigners but not an exchange program. The website for the program for foreigners at the complutense is:
CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE

The university is hard to compare to a U.S. university- the Complutense is very large but you really stay mostly in your building or cluster of buildings. You see the same people who are studying the same major as you are but there's not too much mixing of majors. The university itself is in the same general area but you don't have the type of campus found in the U.S. Each building has a cafeteria or two and that's basically where everyone socializes between classes. There's not too much else to it- for shops and things like that you would need to go to Moncloa, where you'll find copy stores, book shops, bars, etc. Many students hang out there but it's also a residential area.

Getting into a public Spanish university (like Complutense) would be next to impossible coming from a US high school. In order to enter, you need to take a difficult entrance exam that covers all of Spanish history, literature, language, Latin, etc. Also, you need to decide exactly what you want to study right off the bat. Unlike the US, where you get a few years to mess around and take a little here and there before you "settle down."

Many Spaniards take a year between instituto and university to study for the test. At Complutense, they give a year-long prep course that meets for four hours a day...

And once you get in, it is five years to get "licenciatura". Three years to get a "diploma".

A good option for you might be to come and do a one year "hispanic studies" program or Spanish language program that has a history/culture component. That way you would learn a lot of what you might need to pass the entrance exam and you would also find out if you can succeed in the Spanish system.

http://www.ucm.es/info/cextran/Index.htm

Complutense has one, as do many other universities. A lot of US "semester abroad" types take these classes (though they pay a lot more tuition to their US schools than you would if you went through Complu). The downside would be that you wouldn't get any credit for the course, unless you were enrolled in a US school that recognized it.

But, what you are looking for may not be a University at all... As far as I know, Complutense doesn't offer fashion or tranlation degress. It's a very academically-oriented institution. For this sort of training, you would probably go to a design school or a professional school....

Thanks for the info guys..I was a little offended tho by Maripositas response. First of all, just because I am from the USA doesn't mean I can't pass that. I don't like being doubted and it's always worth a try. I come from the number 7 school in my state. Second, you said translation wasn't very academic oriented. Personally, I believe learning a language is very difficult, much more speaking it fluently!

I'm sure that mariposita didn't mean to doubt you're academic abilities, but I do agree with her that the entrance exam will be difficult. Obviously the US and Spain have very different education systems, so it's quite possible that you'll be tested on things that you never even studied in the U.S. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to pass, but you'll have to do a lot of preparation for it.

You'll also need to "convalidar" your high school diploma, which could also be difficult given that in the U.S. you might not have had the same classes as a Spaniard. This process can also take several months, so the sooner you start preparing the better.

Also, if you're interested in translation you can study "traducción e interpretación" at the Complutense. HERE is a link where you can see the classes you'll take if you study translation.

No offense intended at all.

Just wanted you to understand what it entails. The truth is that it is much, much harder to enter into a Spanish University than an American one and it takes a great deal more time, preparation, testing, and paperwork.

About the entrance exam: In the US, we don't study the entirety of Spanish history, literature, philosophy, geography, etc. and that's what you would be tested on. I have a US college degree, other studies related to Spain, many professors pulling for me here, and I am still having a difficult time getting into a "carrera".

It will probably take another year of enchufes, "homologacion" and "convalidacion" to gain entry. So I just wanted you to get a realistic view of how it works--which you'll need if you want a good shot at getting in.

Good luck.

Mariposita said This is interesting...

I've noticed that places with Latin/Romance-based culture tend to have some type of courses that one may attend between highschool and university...

For example, in Canada's French speaking Province of Quebec, if one wishes to attend univesity, one must usually attend 1-2 years of prep. school(free)named CEGEP in Quebec...We used to have something simular in Ontario called OAC, but our past provinical government ditched the program

By the way Mariposita, what is "carrera" ?

meencantaespana said Meencataespana, I guess this would be "the measure"if you could attend a regular program in a Spanish University that would be studied by a person who went to school all their life in Spain, could you write a 15 page thesis paper on the societal changes that occurred in Galicia from the period after Franco's death to say 1992 at an "instituto" level of Spanish??? (I sure well cannot)