Let me give you the rundown on the whole “homologation process” (does anybody know if “homologation” is really a word in English??).  To have your degree “homologated” (another possibly made up word in English), the ministry you need to talk to is the Ministry of Education; which, incidentally, has changed its name about three times in the past year.  But this post isn’t about the various name-changes that the Ministry of Education has undergone recently, it’s about degree recognition — so let’s get back on track. You can find information about the recognition of foreign studies on the Ministry of Education’s website.

Basically, there are two types of university degree recognitions in Spain.  The first type is what they call Homologación a un Grado Académico Español. This first type gives you a piece of paper saying that your degree is similar in difficulty and duration to a Spanish Diplomado or Licenciado degree.  Thus, it does what its name suggests: it aligns your degree to a specific academic grade or level but it doesn’t align your degree to a specific academic major.  The second type aligns your degree perfectly to a Spanish degree from the Official Spanish Catalog of Degrees.  With this type of homologation, not only do you have your level of studies recognized but also your major.  In both cases you have to submit legalized copies of your university degrees and transcripts, along with sworn translations. 

I have the first type of degree recognition for two reasons.  First, it’s faster than the second type (my homologación a un grado académico took about eight months, people tell me that the other type can take over a year).  Second, my degree from the USA doesn’t really align perfectly with any degree from Spain’s Official Catalog, so I figured the chances of them actually giving me a “type-two homologation” were pretty slim.

In any case, I got a letter the other day in the mail stating that my degree had been “homologated” and telling me that I had to go to the central office in Madrid to pick up my official certificate.  Making a trip to Madrid from Burgos just to pick up a piece of paper… convenient, right?

In fact, the exact words in my “homologation letter” were the following:

“Con objeto de ofrecerle un mejor servicio, le rogamos no demore la recogida de su documentación.”

Translated, that basically means, “In order to serve you better, we respectfully request that you don’t delay in picking up your documentation.”  I love that logic: in order to serve me better, I have to make a three-hour trip to Madrid ASAP to pick up a certificate that they could have easily sent to me in the mail.  Oh well, it’s not the first time I’ve had to handle Spanish bureaucracy and it probably won’t be the last.

So I went to Madrid and picked up my official document and now I can proudly say that I have my degree recognized to the level of Licenciado in Spain.  I’m hoping to do a master’s degree here soon, so this recognition should be helpful with that in the near future… I hope.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

“Ya sabes que vamos a proceder a las adjudicaciones de las plazas en los diferentes centros educativos de nuestra Comunidad Autónoma. Para llevar a cabo este proceso necesitamos urgentemente: a) Una dirección a la que podamos enviarte todos los documentos necesarios para la obtención del visado. Te pido la dirección concreta porque muchos de vosotros habeis marcado dos direcciones dentro de los datos personales del programa PROFEX. b) Número de pasaporte. Sin él no puedo mandarte la carta de nombramiento.”

Well, that’s small part of an email that was recently sent to me by the MEC about the scholarship that I’ve been awarded. I’m glad I got this email… it means that the visa process is about to begin (I was starting to wonder if the visa thing was EVER going to happen). Anyway, according to the email they need my passport number and confirmation of my home address before they can send me the necessary documents for the visa. Soooo, I sent off my home address and passport number in an email to the appropriate place and now I just have to await their response. 

I should soon receive a letter stating exactly where I have been placed in Spain and confirming that I am indeed a scholarship recipient. This letter is one of the many documents that I need in order to request a visa to study in Spain. I will write about the other visa requirements shortly… stay tuned!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Goal #1: Get the Visa to go to Spain:
The first thing that I need to do is get a Student Visa in order to spend my year abroad. This is the step that I am currently embarking upon and it is my first priority. You see, right now I’m waiting on information from the scholarship which will allow me to get a Student Visa (I actually need a letter from the MEC… they should be sending it to me soon… I hope). As soon as I get the Visa information from the MEC, I can start the Visa process. Don’t worry… I’ll detail every step of the process here on abroadinspain.com.  Stay tuned for that information!

Goal #2: Buy a plane ticket to go to Spain:
Once I have the Visa issue settled, my next “priority” will be to buy a plane ticket to Spain. I’ve traveled to Spain several times before so I’m no stranger to buying cheap plane tickets. Thus, when I get to this “phase” of my preparations for going to Spain, I’ll be sure to post my money-saving tips on the site. Stay tuned for that as well!

Goal #3: Find housing in Spain:
The last thing that I would like to do before leaving for Spain is secure a few housing options. I asked to be placed in the “Castilla y León” region of Spain for a reason: I’ve studied there before and have contacts there. I’m hoping that my knowledge of the area as well as my contacts there will be able to help me secure some housing options before I leave in September. Once I get my Visa and buy my plane ticket, I’ll focus my attention on this area and will post my progress on the site. This is going to be the hardest “goal” for the summer so stay tuned to see how it turns out!

I hope that my prioritizing of what I’d like to accomplish this summer gives you – my readers – a bit of an idea of what is to come over the next few months here at Abroad in Spain. Check back often as I continue to document my experience!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

The second (and more important) thing that I’d like to mention in this entry is that I was recently notified that I was awarded the scholarship that I applied for to go to Spain and teach English.  If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you know that I have spent time in Spain before and applied for this scholarship to have the opportunity to go back to Spain and spend even more time practicing and honing my Spanish skills.  (If you are unfamiliar with this blog, you may want to read my fist post to get yourself up to date.)  Anyway, I was very excited about the scholarship, in fact I didn’t sleep last night after I found out I had won it (haha).

For those of you who are interested in knowing, the scholarship has assigned me to the Castilla y León region of Spain.  I was very happy that I got that region because, during my last study abroad experience in Spain, I lived in Valladolid, a large city located more or less in the center of the Castilla y León region.  So… I’m glad that I know the area in which I have been placed by the scholarship. 

Also for those of you who are wondering, the scholarship that I was given was granted to me by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC).  I don’t want to sound rude, but I have gotten a lot of emails from people asking me to help them get scholarships in Spain and I am really unable to help those people.  Please keep in mind that I have no pull whatsoever in these matters and the only information I know about the scholarship is the information that is on the MEC website which I just linked to.  Please, do not direct your questions about scholarships in Spain to me… the MEC and other organizations like the Fulbright organization are the ones in charge of those things and they can help you much more than I can. 

I think that’s about all I have to say right now about my scholarship.  Over the next few days, I hope to post some more about my reaction to winning the scholarship and my next steps to get the visa to go to Spain. 

Hasta la próxima,
–Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com

Basically, before the end of March I’ll need a statement from my doctor, a criminal background check, a CV in Spanish, a letter of reference in Spanish, an essay in Spanish, transcripts from my college, and a few other miscellaneous items.  I have already notified my family doctor about the doctor’s statement and have started writing my essay and CV in Spanish… the only problem that I’m having right now is getting my criminal background check sealed with the Apostille of The Hague (a necessary seal for the government of Spain to accept the document).  But… that will be the topic of my next post.

Until then, wish me luck as I complete the application (hopefully on time) to go to Spain and teach English.  I’ll keep you updated on the application process as I go along.

Hasta la próxima,
–Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com