Great Value. Tremendous Return on Investment.

The best part about the Masters programs is that the Universidad de Acalá - Instituto Franklin Teach and Learn program continues to evolve and change based on feedback from students. The most notable change since I was there in 2014-2015 is the option to pay tuition and work for the Spanish Ministry of Education, if you decide to not teach in the concertados (charter schools). If you're already in the teaching assistants program and you'd like to stay at your current school, you now have that option.

You'll enjoy a small small classroom setting. In the Teaching and Learning Spanish Masters that I did, we were 18 students. In the other Masters, I believe that they had approximately 25 students. My fellow classmates and colleagues from the practicum school from the Masters are some of my best friends and you'll walk away with unforgettable memories.

The classes were taught intensively with 5 hour classes on Fridays, which can be a bit hard after a long week of teaching, but I enjoyed all my classes and the professors were AMAZING and well qualified. The teachers want to learn your name and connect with you. They were really approachable and friendly yet professional.

Almost all the teachers have PhDs and the ones that don't have an outstanding body of academic and professional work. Some might even still be working on their PhDs, but they may work full-time for the university and teach classes through Instituto Franklin or work with other institutions. For instance, a teacher may teach at La Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (Spain's longest standing, state-sponsored language school) or write language education books for the Universidad de Salamanca--one of Spain's most prestigious institutions in publishing academic workbooks.

They keep in contact with alumni and they value our feedback. I met with Iulia and Carlos over the summer when I was thinking about transitioning careers, and they sat down with me to give me some ideas and feedback. I don't know that I would have confidently taken the steps to transition and to go from teaching to international education if it wasn't for their help.

In terms of post-grad value, I've been able to negotiate pay increases in three separate job interviews in both teaching and international education. In those interviews, the Masters was a huge selling point and I can comfortably say that it legitimized my level of Spanish and my time abroad.

I doubt that you'll find a more comprehensive Masters that allows you to work and study without going $20,000 dollars or more in debt.

*Please note that I put 10 for housing, but you'll have to find your own housing since schools are located in the autonomous community of Madrid. I had to mark it when I filled out the survey.