The School of Languages and Cultures offers graduate study leading to the M.A. degree in French, German, Japanese and Spanish (with tracks in literature or applied linguistics) and the Ph.D. degree in French, German, and Spanish. M.A. and Ph.D. degrees are also granted in Applied Linguistics/Foreign Language Acquisition. In addition, the School of Languages and Cultures participates in curriculum for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees granted by the Program in Comparative Literature. A minimum of 30 hours of graduate-level course work is required for the M.A. (24 hours for the M.A. thesis option). For the Ph.D., 60 hours of course work beyond the B.A. are required, along with a dissertation (30 credit hours of research). For full-time students, the M.A. program normally takes four semesters to complete. Graduate students receive college-level teaching experience while pursuing their degrees. Because of the favorable faculty-student ratio, individual guidance of student programs of study is possible, and graduate classes and seminars are small.