Applied Linguistics Programs at CSUs - Your Opinion in the U and P

<p>Hello every one..</p>

<p>I must admit that I was very happy and pleased with this treasure called College Confedential :) I really found the essense of students helping each other :)</p>

<p>I am an international student willing to enroll in one of the Applied Linguistics Master Programs offered by one of the CSUs.</p>

<p>After some searching through these universites, I came to find myself in one of two universites; CSU, Northridge and CSU, Long Beach.</p>

<p>And I look forward to attending the Long Beach U but this choice came only after looking for information through the internet in which I found their program is the best that suits my needs. </p>

<p>My UG GPA is 3.70 out of 4 in English language with emphasis on linguistics. What are my chances of getting admitted? And do you think I need to take the TOEFL? They require 80 in iBT for graduate students and that's ok!</p>

<p>What is not ok is if they require GRE, do they? The difficulty here comes from that I last studied maths was in middle school and I forgot all about it since then! Do you think they stick to this requirement for this major if it was there?</p>

<p>What do you think of the university in general? Do you recommend it over Northridge? And why?</p>

<p>I'm asking these questions because I'm sure that there are a lot of students here studying at or familiar with the university system.</p>

<p>The last question is intended to those, if there are any, who are studying BA in linguistics at CSULB, how is the program in anyway you see it? </p>

<p>I'm holding my breath waiting for your informative answers :)</p>

<p>AND thanks in advance.</p>

<p>THEULINGUIST</p>

<p>My friend got into a grad program @ CSULB without taking the GRE because she had a high GPA. You should contact the school and ask if you need to take it or not.</p>

<p>Thank you very much SMCguy : )</p>

<p>Your answer really made me more comfortable</p>

<p>What did your friend apply to? What college/subfield?</p>

<p>How does she describe the experience at CSULB? More of a complaint or a satisfaction?</p>

<p>Waiting… </p>

<p>Thank you again.</p>

<p>She did some type of grad program in social work @ CSULB. I believe she went to CSULA for undergrad and earned around a 3.80 therefore the GRE was optional. Also, I believe most of the grad program was paid for by a grant. She really enjoyed Long Beach =)</p>

<p>Contact the Applied Linguistics dept @ CSULB and ask if the GRE will be optional for you.</p>

<p>Will do…</p>

<p>Still waiting for more experienced/familiarized students with CSULB OR CSUN</p>

<p>Bump</p>

<p>sorry :(</p>

<p>Any help out here please?</p>

<p>…bump…</p>

<p>I don’t know the answer to your questions, but if language and communicative disorders are your interest, you might look into SDSU (another one of the CSUs). Among PhD programs it was ranked among the top 4-16 in the [NRC</a> ranking](<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Linguistics”>NRC Rankings Overview: Linguistics) for linguistics - which surprises many, considering that for linguistics in general (what most of the other universities in the ranking have), SDSU is not a top school. But for certain areas of applied linguistics (specifically relating to speech and language pathology), it does well. The SDSU program also offers a master’s program.</p>

<p>Thank you phantasmagoric very much for the information.</p>

<p>Still waiting for more on these two universities!</p>

<p>I’m a student in their program (MA-applied linguistics)…</p>

<p>1) you have to take the IELTS or TOEFL exam, they wont look at your application otherwise, and you need the score they say or your application is thrown out before it even gets to the linguistics dept. </p>

<p>2) our dept requires no GRE scores.</p>

<p>3) you have to have a 3.0 GPA or higher.</p>

<p>4) once you get in you need to take a writing proficiency exam, if you fail it you enroll in a remedial class.</p>

<p>5) math is not a requirement</p>

<p>6) our program is the best one of the CSU’s. We have people with degrees from UCLA who go to us for grad school</p>

<p>7) contact Dr.Liang if you want to know more information, she’s the graduate advisor.</p>

<p>8) The dept has a separate application package you mail to them, and one general one to the school (check the website). I believe they require letters of recommendation, a writing sample, etc. </p>

<p>9) the program is not easy, they will work you… :)! you can choose four separate options as emphasis or create your own. Most of us are TESOL, but some choose language and culture, general linguistics, or they make their own option up.</p>

<p>10) we have some great faculty…</p>

<p>Their undergraduate program in linguistics is ok, as a graduate student there are several undergrad level classes you will more than likely have to take (syntax, phonology, language acquisition) as pre-requisites. I think their grad classes are a lot more fun and challenging though and I personally like them a lot better. </p>

<p>we have a lot of international students from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe enrolled in our program. </p>

<p>Classes are small, ranging from 7-20 students. Most classes have around 10 though at the grad level. Undergrad classes are more crowded 25-30. </p>

<p>in regards to admissions there are two admissions processes. One application goes to the international admissions office (like your TOEFL score and grades from your previous college) and the other goes to the linguistics department (your grades (again) and essay, personal statement, letters). </p>

<p>your gpa is good, they would want to see good letters of recommendation and an essay from one of your previous classes that was decent (writing sample). </p>

<p>Some foreign students get ESL tutoring as well or course content tutoring which we have on campus (if you ended up needing it).</p>

<p>also we have a lot of classes…
syntax, phonology, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, ethnography and communication, discourse and grammar, field methods, educational linguistics, testing and assessment, language acquisition etc…
I think the number of classes and the professors we have (all quite good) really make the program worthwhile. Also the professors for the most part are really friendly and help you out a lot</p>

<p>FieldPanda,</p>

<p>How can I ever thank you enough?! </p>

<p>I appreciate every word you have written and every minute you have spent in your informative replis.</p>

<p>For almost 2 months, I have been looking for such general information.</p>

<p>BUMP</p>

<p>I need more help!</p>

<p>Still hoping for more!</p>