Great linguistics programs (?)

[ValRN]

Can anyone recommend a great linguistics program for DD? I'd thought I'd ask on this board because there are so many wonderful moms & dads here with an expanse of knowledge and experiences.

 

DD is a junior and will be going through the application process in the fall. I've been through this process twice before with two DSs (one music focused and the other engineering focused), so the process isn't new to me...the focus is new to me. 

 

DD started researching schools and linguistics programs this year, and wants to attend a college with a great program. She's a strong (but imperfect, still blossoming) student, so she's a candidate for even "highly selective" schools. She also is not opposed to attending a "non selective" school with a great linguistics program.

 

Once DD has a suggestion of a school to research, she visits the schools' websites and gets the finer details for herself. However, just in case one of you wants more details, here is what she THINKS she's looking for (She's also doing the research on what she should be looking for in a linguistics program):

 

1. Strong foundation in syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, semantics, and historical linguistics.

 

2. She believes that she wants a program that teaches ling. from an anthropological and historical perspective. She's not sure about this, though. She's going off her love for understanding how language works and seeing how it  has changed over time. Her goal is to go on to graduate studies, so she could certainly specialize in grad school. Ultimately, she'd like to work for the government in some way using linguistics and foreign languages and be able to travel the world.

 

3. She wants to minor in computer science or informatics.

 

4. DD loves learning foreign languages, so she's interested in a school that also has a diverse offering of indo-European, East Asian (especially Korean), and a sprinkling of critical languages. Oh, she also wants the school to have upper level American Sign Language offerings. By the time she gets to college, she will have 4 years of ASL under her belt.

 

Like I said - No need to worry about the specifics. DD will do the research herself. She simple wants  a starting point...recommendations from people who have ANY experience with linguistics programs. She wants to narrow down her search by the start of summer because that's when she'll start her college apps.

 

:bigear: to any and all feedback. Thanks for reading!

 

ValRN

 

Edited January 12, 2018 by ValRN

[8filltheheart]

There is a poster on CC, dfbdfb, who is a linguistics professor.  He is very informative (and opinionated) about linguistics as UG major.  I would suggest PMing him and asking his advice.

[ValRN]

There is a poster on CC, dfbdfb, who is a linguistics professor.  He is very informative (and opinionated) about linguistics as UG major.  I would suggest PMing him and asking his advice.

 

Thank you! I will look him up immediately.

[Matryoshka]

My dd is in the Linguistics program at UMass Amherst, and it's apparently one of the top ranked. Local to me, Brandeis I believe also has a good Linguistics program, and of course MIT.

 

UMass has a ton of foreign languages as well. Dd's been taking Catalan recently, of all things. You can also take classes at any of the other 5 colleges (Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mt. Holyoke)

[bibiche]

My dd is in the Linguistics program at UMass Amherst, and it's apparently one of the top ranked. Local to me, Brandeis I believe also has a good Linguistics program, and of course MIT.

 

I'd add Penn to your list. Harvard as well.

[ValRN]

My dd is in the Linguistics program at UMass Amherst, and it's apparently one of the top ranked. Local to me, Brandeis I believe also has a good Linguistics program, and of course MIT.

 

UMass has a ton of foreign languages as well. Dd's been taking Catalan recently, of all things. You can also take classes at any of the other 5 colleges (Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mt. Holyoke)

 

Thanks Matryoshka! I'll tell her about UMass, Amherst  and Brandeis (brrr...so cold). She ruled out MIT because she felt the school would be too technology focused for her (but she wants to minor in comp sci. :confused1:  I don't get it).

 

Val

[mom2att]

These don't meet your selective school parameters, but here are a couple of public Uni suggestions:

 

My dd is at University of Florida studying Linguistics. She'll graduate in May and has found it to be a great program.

 

Indiana University has a great East Asian studies department as well a strong Linguistics program.

 

 

[ValRN]

I'd add Penn to your list. Harvard as well.

 

Thanks bibiche. She has Penn on her list, and she likes the program thus far.

Val

[Arch at Home]

I would take a look at both Truman State University and Wellesley College. I don't know about the quality of the linguistics programs but both schools are good. Truman is very affordable if she doesn't mind rural Missouri.

[Crimson Wife]

UCLA has several cool concentrations within the linguistics major including anthropology.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Corraleno]

Top 20 US programs from the QS rankings:

 

MIT

Harvard

U Mass Amherst

Stanford

Berkeley

UCLA

U Penn

UMCP

Ohio State

U Chicago

NYU

UIUC

Michigan

UT Austin

UCSD

Georgetown

UCSB

Yale

Cornell

UC Santa Cruz

 

I think that list is pretty accurate, if you compare it to the CVs of linguistics profs at top schools. The one exception (IMO) would be UCSC, which I think should be ranked higher than it is, and which appears more frequently on CVs than some of the schools ranked above it.

 

DS will be attending OSU next year as a linguistics major. It's quite a large department, covering a wide range of interests, and there is a strong emphasis on undergraduate research (which was important to him, since he plans on grad school). There are linguistics courses that qualify in most of the GenEd categories, which is a plus if your student wants to dive into linguistics right away and not spend freshman year taking a bunch of unrelated GenEds. There are also many active specialist groups where undergrads, grad students, and profs with similar interests (e.g. phonetics, syntax, language change, etc.) meet regularly to present papers, discuss research, and listen to invited speakers. OSU also offers a ton of foreign languages, including many unusual ones, which was also something that DS was looking for.

 

Ohio State Linguistics

[ValRN]

These don't meet your selective school parameters, but here are a couple of public Uni suggestions:

 

My dd is at University of Florida studying Linguistics. She'll graduate in May and has found it to be a great program.

 

Indiana University has a great East Asian studies department as well a strong Linguistics program.

Thanks mom2att. Indiana University is on her list. She likes the language offerings they have. I tried to get her to consider schools in Florida (warmth), but she has no interest.

 

I would take a look at both Truman State University and Wellesley College. I don't know about the quality of the linguistics programs but both schools are good. Truman is very affordable if she doesn't mind rural Missouri.

Thanks Arch At Home. I'll pass this information along to her.

 

UCLA has several cool concentrations within the linguistics major including anthropology.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Crimson Wife. UCLA is one of the schools at the top of her list. So far, it has everything she's looking for.

It seems as though she's on the right track with the schools she has on her list thus far. I appreciate everyone's input.

[ValRN]

Top 20 US programs from the QS rankings:

 

MIT

Harvard

U Mass Amherst

Stanford

Berkeley

UCLA

U Penn

UMCP

Ohio State

U Chicago

NYU

UIUC

Michigan

UT Austin

UCSD

Georgetown

UCSB

Yale

Cornell

UC Santa Cruz

 

I think that list is pretty accurate, if you compare it to the CVs of linguistics profs at top schools. The one exception (IMO) would be UCSC, which I think should be ranked higher than it is, and which appears more frequently on CVs than some of the schools ranked above it.

 

DS will be attending OSU next year as a linguistics major. It's quite a large department, covering a wide range of interests, and there is a strong emphasis on undergraduate research (which was important to him, since he plans on grad school). There are linguistics courses that qualify in most of the GenEd categories, which is a plus if your student wants to dive into linguistics right away and not spend freshman year taking a bunch of unrelated GenEds. There are also many active specialist groups where undergrads, grad students, and profs with similar interests (e.g. phonetics, syntax, language change, etc.) meet regularly to present papers, discuss research, and listen to invited speakers. OSU also offers a ton of foreign languages, including many unusual ones, which was also something that DS was looking for.

 

Ohio State Linguistics

 Thanks for this list. She's on the right track because she's currently doing research on 11 of the listed programs. What do you mean by "CV"?

We didn't think to consider if the linguistics courses satisfy Gen Ed requirments. That's a great point, Corraleno. I will tell DD to include that on her list of things to consider. DD will definitely want to jump into linguistics right away. I'm going to look at OSU's linguistics website to see if DD might consider attending college in OK.

Edited January 12, 2018 by ValRN

[Corraleno]

...here is what she THINKS she's looking for (She's also doing the research on what she should be looking for in a linguistics program):

 

1. Strong foundation in syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, semantics, and historical linguistics.

 

2. She believes that she wants a program that teaches ling. from an anthropological and historical perspective. She's not sure about this, though. She's going off her love for understanding how language works and seeing how it  has changed over time. Her goal is to go on to graduate studies, so she could certainly specialize in grad school. Ultimately, she'd like to work for the government in some way using linguistics and foreign languages and be able to travel the world.

Any university that offers an actual linguistics major will cover syntax, morphology, phonology/phonetics, and semantics; in most cases at least one full course in each of those will be requirements for the major, and most large departments will have multiple courses in each area. OSU even has separate special interest research groups in each area.

 

As for #2, again any university with a decent-sized, well-ranked department will offer courses in historical and cultural linguistics, so it's really not a matter of finding a department that teaches entirely "from that perspective."

 

That said, some departments do lean more theoretical and some (e.g. UCLA) lean more applied (language acquisition, pedagogy, forensics, discourse analysis, etc), so that's something she'll want to look into. Looking at the CVs and research interests of the profs, and the list of undergrad courses available, should give her a good idea of which way the department leans.

[Corraleno]

Thanks for this list. She's on the right track because she's currently doing research on 11 of the listed programs. What do you mean by "CV"?

We didn't think to consider if the linguistics courses satisfy Gen Ed requirments. That's a great point, Corraleno. I will tell DD to include that on her list of things to consider. DD will definitely want to jump into linguistics right away. I'm going to look at OSU's linguistics website to see if DD might consider attending college in OK.

OSU is Ohio State (not OK), sorry if that wasn't clear!

 

CV is Curriculum Vitae, an academic resume. Most departments will have links to the CVs for the profs.

[ValRN]

OSU is Ohio State (not OK), sorry if that wasn't clear!

 

CV is Curriculum Vitae, an academic resume. Most departments will have links to the CVs for the profs.

 

Oooh...ok...Ohio State. I've already mentioned to DD that I though Ohio State has a good ling. program, but being that her father is a ardent University of Michigan fan, she would not even consider Ohio State. I don't understand how that football rivalry has spilled over into my DC. Of course, DD has UMich on her list.

 

Thanks for all of the information you've given. You've brought up some very critical points for her to consider in her research and to look for overall. I appreciate your help.

 

Val

[ValRN]

Any university that offers an actual linguistics major will cover syntax, morphology, phonology/phonetics, and semantics; in most cases at least one full course in each of those will be requirements for the major, and most large departments will have multiple courses in each area. OSU even has separate special interest research groups in each area.

 

As for #2, again any university with a decent-sized, well-ranked department will offer courses in historical and cultural linguistics, so it's really not a matter of finding a department that teaches entirely "from that perspective."

 

That said, some departments do lean more theoretical and some (e.g. UCLA) lean more applied (language acquisition, pedagogy, forensics, discourse analysis, etc), so that's something she'll want to look into. Looking at the CVs and research interests of the profs, and the list of undergrad courses available, should give her a good idea of which way the department leans.

 

Question for you - #2 If DD isn't sure if she has a preference on which way a department leans, but knows that she would like to go on to grad school (very high priority), that she wants to be involved in research, and that she DEFINITELY has no interest in pedagogy; does it matter if she chooses a department that leans one way or the other? If so, which "lean" should she gravitate toward? Sorry for all of the questions, but I know nothing about linguistics. We've been on Linguistic Society of America and other similar websites to get as much information as possible, but we still feel sort of lost about what things to consider most in an undergrad linguistics program.

Edited January 12, 2018 by ValRN

[Corraleno]

Question for you - #2 If DD isn't sure if she has a preference on which way a department leans, but knows that she would like to go on to grad school (very high priority), that she wants to be involved in research, and that she DEFINITELY has no interest in pedagogy; does it matter if she chooses a department that leans one way or the other? If so, which "lean" should she gravitate toward? Sorry for all of the questions, but I know nothing about linguistics. We've been on Linguistic Society of America and other similar websites to get as much information as possible, but we still feel sort of lost about what things to consider most in an undergrad linguistics program.

Applied linguistics focuses more on language learning/teaching, literacy, multilingualism, language contact, etc., so if those areas are not of particular interest, then she'd want to make sure than any department that has more of an applied focus at least has enough other courses in her areas of interest. For example, if you look at UCLA's linguistics course list, many of the courses are on topics like language acquisition in children, bilingualism, translation/interpreting, language and identity, applied phonetics, and language teaching. So if those are not areas your DD is interested in, then her choices will be limited to the basic semantics/syntax/phononology/morphology courses plus a single course in historical linguistics, a single course in neurolinguistics, etc. OTOH, UCLA does offer a variety of interdisciplinary majors, such as linguistics and computer science, linguistics and anthropology, linguistics and Asian languages, etc.

 

Compare that to schools like UMass Amherst or Ohio State, where the courses are more theoretical/"pure" linguistics, there are more historical/social/cultural type courses, and there may only be one or two courses in applied areas. Michigan is kind of in the middle, with a good array of theoretical/social/cultural courses as well as very specific applied courses such as Teaching ESL in Migrant Communities.

[Kassia]

Applied linguistics focuses more on language learning/teaching, literacy, multilingualism, language contact, etc., so if those areas are not of particular interest, then she'd want to make sure than any department that has more of an applied focus at least has enough other courses in her areas of interest.

 

This looks like a perfect match for my dd.  I didn't know there could be a focus in applied linguistics.  

 

I'm sorry if I'm derailing the thread, but can you recommend some schools for this focus and give me some ideas about careers?  You could pm if that's better.  

[Corraleno]

This looks like a perfect match for my dd.  I didn't know there could be a focus in applied linguistics.  

 

I'm sorry if I'm derailing the thread, but can you recommend some schools for this focus and give me some ideas about careers?  You could pm if that's better.

I don't know that much about applied linguistics, as DS is interested in the theoretical side (and my own interests come from an anthropological/philosophical perspective), but LSA lists the following schools as offering degrees in applied liguistics:

 

Arizona State (NB: looking at the website, it seems that at the undergrad level, this is an English degree with a specialization in linguistics/TESOL)

Ball State

Biola

Georgia State (BA in applied linguistics)

Northern Arizona U (I know they also have a Critical Languages program, too)

Old Dominion

Portland State (BA in applied linguistics)

Teachers College / Columbia

Texas Tech

U Alabama

U Alaska

U Mass Boston

 

I also believe the following schools offer applied linguistics majors (maybe they didn't show up in the LSA list because they might not offer grad degrees specifically in applied ling vs general ling? not sure): WUSTL, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, Penn State.

 

Other schools (e.g. CS Northridge, UW Milwaukee, San Diego State, and I'm sure many others) offer an "applied specialization" or "applied track" within a general linguistics major, or a joint linguistics/TESOL degree.

 

I think most people with a degree in applied linguistics combine it with a TESOL certificate, as that is the most common career.

[Kassia]

Thank you so much!

 

[ValRN]

Applied linguistics focuses more on language learning/teaching, literacy, multilingualism, language contact, etc., so if those areas are not of particular interest, then she'd want to make sure than any department that has more of an applied focus at least has enough other courses in her areas of interest. For example, if you look at UCLA's linguistics course list, many of the courses are on topics like language acquisition in children, bilingualism, translation/interpreting, language and identity, applied phonetics, and language teaching. So if those are not areas your DD is interested in, then her choices will be limited to the basic semantics/syntax/phononology/morphology courses plus a single course in historical linguistics, a single course in neurolinguistics, etc. OTOH, UCLA does offer a variety of interdisciplinary majors, such as linguistics and computer science, linguistics and anthropology, linguistics and Asian languages, etc.

 

Compare that to schools like UMass Amherst or Ohio State, where the courses are more theoretical/"pure" linguistics, there are more historical/social/cultural type courses, and there may only be one or two courses in applied areas. Michigan is kind of in the middle, with a good array of theoretical/social/cultural courses as well as very specific applied courses such as Teaching ESL in Migrant Communities.

 

Corraleno, my DD said, "Thanks.This information helped me tremendously!" Based on your descriptions, she is sure that she wants to look for a department that leans toward theoretical logistics. She does love learning languages (studying 2 right now and plans to add a third next year) and plans to continue studying critical languages in college. However, she likes the intricacies of languages and grammar and is more interested in pure linguistics. Even though her mind is set now, I understand that she could flip her focus (and major) after actually beginning her UG studies. We are at ease with that possibility. We are extremely grateful for your clarification and everyone else's suggestions.

 

Val

 

[Matryoshka]

Applied linguistics focuses more on language learning/teaching, literacy, multilingualism, language contact, etc., so if those areas are not of particular interest, then she'd want to make sure than any department that has more of an applied focus at least has enough other courses in her areas of interest. For example, if you look at UCLA's linguistics course list, many of the courses are on topics like language acquisition in children, bilingualism, translation/interpreting, language and identity, applied phonetics, and language teaching. So if those are not areas your DD is interested in, then her choices will be limited to the basic semantics/syntax/phononology/morphology courses plus a single course in historical linguistics, a single course in neurolinguistics, etc. OTOH, UCLA does offer a variety of interdisciplinary majors, such as linguistics and computer science, linguistics and anthropology, linguistics and Asian languages, etc.

 

Compare that to schools like UMass Amherst or Ohio State, where the courses are more theoretical/"pure" linguistics, there are more historical/social/cultural type courses, and there may only be one or two courses in applied areas. Michigan is kind of in the middle, with a good array of theoretical/social/cultural courses as well as very specific applied courses such as Teaching ESL in Migrant Communities.

UMass Amherst also has a ton of interdisciplinary majors with Linguistics; my dd is taking one - Linguistics and Philosophy. The Philosophy involved is mostly Logic-based. She is thinking maybe she'd be interested in computational linguistics (still not sure, though).

 

The Linguistics dept also has interdisciplinary majors with Anthropology, Psychology, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, or Russian.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Matryoshka

[GoodGrief]

University of Washington Seattle. If cost is an issue though, the aid for out of state students is minimal and OOS tuition is high. My daughter majored in linguistics for a time there (ultimately dropped for health reasons but the program is great.)

[Matryoshka]

University of Washington Seattle. If cost is an issue though, the aid for out of state students is minimal and OOS tuition is high. My daughter majored in linguistics for a time there (ultimately dropped for health reasons but the program is great.)

Do you know anything about their grad program in computational linguistics? I keep seeing that coming up.

[GoodGrief]

Do you know anything about their grad program in computational linguistics? I keep seeing that coming up.

 

I don't. My daughter didn't get that far in the linguistics department :-) I would imagine they have some quality resources there though.

[ValRN]

Thanks everyone!

[Crimson Wife]

I think that list is pretty accurate, if you compare it to the CVs of linguistics profs at top schools. The one exception (IMO) would be UCSC, which I think should be ranked higher than it is, and which appears more frequently on CVs than some of the schools ranked above it.

 

Good to keep in mind if my DD isn't able to transfer to UCLA (her top choice) or Berkeley. Santa Cruz participates in the transfer acceptance guarantee program at her community college and she ought to be well over the minimum GPA to do TAG.