Master of Arts in American Studies
American Studies at UNM provides students with the tools to understand their lived experience in relation to questions of identity, place, and power. Our classes offer new approaches to not only learn about the systems of racism, colonialism, capitalism, nationalism, and gender and sexual normativity as they impact our lives, but also to actively transform the world in which we live. Rather than focusing mainly on the study of “American culture,” American Studies encourages students to begin from an understanding of the specific place and context in which we study in order to unsettle the relations of power at work in conventional ways of making sense of the world. Since its beginning, the Department of American Studies at UNM has maintained a hemispheric and global perspective, while also focusing on scholarly explorations of the Southwest and New Mexico.
American Studies offers students the combination of flexibility and focus to develop their own their own specific areas of interest. We are interdisciplinary in that our faculty come from a variety of academic disciplines and our students receive training in a broad range of historical, literary, visual, and ethnographic approaches. Critical Indigenous studies, Critical ethnic studies, Black studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies, Religious studies, the study of Law and Society, Cultural studies, and the study of social and liberation movements (for prison abolition, decolonization, racial and gender justice, migrants and refugees, and queer, transgender, and gender nonconforming/nonbinary peoples, among others) are vital to the interdisciplinarity of American Studies. The specific field of study called American Studies first emerged in response to the global crises of the 1930s with the idea that studying contemporary society requires more than one set of scholarly tools for analysis. In a world where social, economic, political, and environmental crisis appears as a regular feature of our lives, American Studies brings a sense of the urgency and purpose with which we engage in scholarly inquiry.
Intakes
- Jan
- June
- Aug
Application Processing Time in Days: 20
Minimum English Language Requirements
| English Level Description | IELTS (1.0 -9.0) | TOEFL IBT (0-120) | TOEFL CBT (0-300) | PTE (10-90) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert | 9 | 120 | 297-300 | 86-90 | |
| Very Good | 8.5 | 115-119 | 280-293 | 83-86 | |
| Very Good | 8 | 110-114 | 270-280 | 79-83 | |
| Good | 7.5 | 102-109 | 253-267 | 73-79 | |
| Good | 7 | 94-101 | 240-253 | 65-73 | |
| Competent | 6.5 | 79-93 | 213-233 | 58-65 | |
| Competent | 6 | 60-78 | 170-210 | 50-58 | |
| Modest | 5.5 | 46-59 | 133-210 | 43-50 | |
| Modest | 5 | 35-45 | 107-133 | 36-43 | |
| Limited | 4 | 32-34 | 97-103 | 30-36 | |
| Extremely Limited | < 4 | < 31 | < 93 | < 30 |
Job Opportunity Potential
Our office provides professional career advisement to current UNM students as well as UNM alumni and community members.
Career Development Facilitators (CDFs) are available through appointments or walk-ins to assist students with:
- Choosing or changing their major
- Assessing abilities, interests and values
- Clarifying career goals
- Writing a resume or cover letter
- Preparing for interviews
- Conducting a job search
- Preparing to attend graduate school.
Our office provides students and employers an opportunity to meet face-to-face. This time-saving, cost-effective service allows students to have their resumes screened by employers and be selected to interview on campus for employers' job opportunities. Students must be registered with our office in order to participate in the on-campus recruiting program.
PSW Opportunity
3 years PSW
Admission Requirement / Eligibility Criteria
Secondary (X) and Higher Secondary Certificate (XII) Results
English Proficiency Exam
Completion of four years of US high school with a 2.5 GPA or better.
ACT English score of 19 or better (test not REQUIRED for admission).
SAT Evidence-Based Reading/Writing (post-March 2016) score of 500 or SAT Verbal score (pre-March 2016) of 480 or better (test not REQUIRED for admission).
1 year of full-time study (minimum 24 credit hours) at a regionally-accredited US college or university with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
Completion of two semesters of freshman English composition (English 110 and 120 equivalent) with a grade of C or higher at a regionally- accredited U.S. college or university. (These courses must be completed on an A-F grade scale.)
Bachelor's degree from a regionally-accredited US college or university or a recognized institution in English-Speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand.
Attendance in the Center for English Language and American Culture (CELAC)program at UNM with successful completion of full-time studies in the Academic Bridge
level of English instruction (2.5 GPA or better) and good standing.
The table below outlines the minimum score required for Graduate & Undergraduate applicants with instructions for score submission based on the English proficiency test taken.
Test
Undergraduate
Graduate
How To Submit
Duolingo English Test
95
105
Send score to UNM through the Duolingo website
IELTS
6.0
6.5
Upload your results page here
TOEFL
68
79
Through ETS - our code is 4845
TOEFL Essentials
B2
C1
Through ETS- our code is 4845
SAT Reading/Writing
500
n/a
Through The College Board
Pearson Test of English (PTE)
47
53
Upload your results page here
Cambridge Test (CAE/CPE)
C1
C2
Upload your results page here
- Course Type: Full Time
- Course Level: Masters/PG Degree
- Duration: 01 Year
-
Total Tuition Fee:
27846 USD
Average Cost of Living: 14000 USD /year
Application Fee: 25 USD
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