<p>I am entering college next fall as a linguistics major and Im wondering which universities have the strongest linguistics program for undergraduates. I am fortunate to call California my home state as many UCs have phenomenal linguistics programs. </p>
<p>Therefore, I have already applied to UC Davis, UC Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC San Diego, and now I am looking at other universities that I am less familiar with. I am thinking about Stanford, Cornell, Chicago, UMass Amherst, Harvard, Yale, UPenn, and MIT. </p>
<p>However, I have heard contrary views on each of the universities. For example, avoid Chicago and MIT because they are mainly strong for graduate linguistics. Does anyone here have any extended experience or knowledge on the top undergraduate linguistics programs? Strength of the program is one of the main factors in finalizing my college list.</p>
<p>I know other threads have been made asking about top linguistics programs, but many are quite dated and the users who replied are no longer active. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that about MIT and Chicago, too, but have no reason to believe it. I do know that we have had success hiring linguists from Ohio State and Georgetown; however, that might say more about their grad than undergrad programs. When you say the threads are dated, how dated can they be? Program reputations don’t change quickly (except in very rare circumstances) because tenured faculty tend to remain at one institution for a long time. It’s seldom a matter of what have you done for me lately.</p>
<p>Here’s a post I did outlining linguistics at research universities a while back. While it may not exactly answer your question, it may be of some use.</p>
<p>It’s not about the program, but that I would prefer to hear from an active user so that I may further him. Inactive users are fine until you have further questions. See? Now it makes perfect sense why I would prefer a current thread.</p>
<p>Most of the schools you listed have good programs but are incredibly difficult to get into or get money from, especially the California schools. If I were you, I would think about applying to a few safe schools, because you don’t want to be in a financial hole by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>One suggestion I have for you is Macalester College, a liberal arts school in Minnesota. They have a lot of pride in their international scene, and they are supposed to have a good linguistics program. If you believe you qualify for the schools you listed, they would almost certainly give you money.</p>
<p>I don’t know why anyone would think Chicago and MIT don’t have strong undergraduate linguistics programs. If anything, I would expect private schools to do a better job of carrying their graduate program strengths over to the undergraduate level than most large state universities do.</p>
<p>Both Chicago and Berkeley provide much detail about their courses in the online class schedules and other pages.
[Berkeley</a> - Online Schedule Of Classes](<a href=“http://schedule.berkeley.edu/]Berkeley”>http://schedule.berkeley.edu/)
[University</a> of Chicago Time Schedules](<a href=“University of Chicago Time Schedules”>University of Chicago Time Schedules)
This is a low-demand major; many classes at both schools enroll fewer than 20 students. Chicago’s largest enrollment for Fall 2013 linguistics classes is 39 students. Berkeley has a couple of elementary/intermediate lecture classes that enroll over 100. This may not reflect a very big difference in the level of attention undergrads get. Berkeley indicates it has 13 faculty members for roughly 100 majors ([Undergraduate</a> Program | Linguistics at Berkeley](<a href=“Undergraduate Program | Linguistics”>Undergraduate Program | Linguistics)). That’s a good ratio. Chicago seems to have at least 14 faculty members teaching undergrads ([Department</a> of Linguistics](<a href=“http://linguistics.uchicago.edu/faculty]Department”>Language Variation & Change | Linguistics), note everyone with a collegiate/college position). I cannot find the number of majors but with about 1/5 the number of undergrads as Berkeley, I doubt Chicago’s undergraduate program could have nearly 100 majors.</p>
<p>On the following page, the Linguistics department Chair at Chicago describes his approach to undergraduate teaching. In 2012 Professor Merchant won Chicago’s highest award (the Quantrell award) for excellence in undergraduate teaching. It has long been characteristic for senior faculty to teach undergraduates in small classes at Chicago.
[Jason</a> Merchant, Professor and Chair of Linguistics | The University of Chicago](<a href=“Page Not Found | University of Chicago”>Page Not Found | University of Chicago)</p>
<p>If you’re a California resident who needs to keep costs under $30K, I think you’re right to start with the UC system. You’re also right to consider some tip-top private schools (assuming your stats are high enough). Depending on your family circumstances, the net cost might wind up lower at Stanford/MIT/Chicago than at one of the UCs. Macalester is a fine LAC with good need-based and some available merit aid. I’m generally biased toward LACs for quality of undergraduate education … but Linguistics is one major that generally is better supported at major research universities (public or private).</p>
<p>Thank you for the information. I was originally opposed to taking the junior college route, but now that I see the major tuition difference (12k to 1k) and that some actually have a linguistics program (Pasadena City College), it is beginning to appear more attractive. Would you recommend the JC route for a linguistics major?</p>
<p>Regardless, I’ll aim for some top schools and see if that gets me anywhere.</p>
<p>I’m sorry this thread is such a nuisance to you. Many of the more informative threads are dated, and yes, there are some more recent ones, but I thought it would be a good idea to make one myself so all the responses are tailored to my needs.</p>
<p>Yes, Pasadena City College does have a few linguistics courses.
These courses should be enough to give you a better idea of what the field is all about before transferring to a state university for your last 2 years. This would be a cost-saving strategy if you don’t get adequate aid from any 4-year college. However, you’d probably still need to take some basic linguistics courses (phonetics, syntax, semantics, etc.) after transferring. Pay attention to requirements for the major at your target school(s). For example, Berkeley requires all majors to take at least 3 of their 5 core courses at Berkeley.
[Major</a> Program | Linguistics at Berkeley](<a href=“Undergraduate Program | Linguistics”>Major Program | Linguistics)</p>
<p>I am completely fine with having to take university linguistics courses. I was hoping to finish my GEs early so I could begin my major’s classes before the two year mark, which will likely be possible with the UCs if I utilize CC courses. I guess I should wait until I see the aid before making a decision. Thank you for the insight.</p>