<p>Child # 1 is safely placed at University. Child # 2 is a rising senior. She wishes to major in Theatre Arts with a minor in Linguistics. She is very active in Theatre at her schoo, with regional companies, and attends classes in NYC. She also has an especially keen eye (not ear but eye) when it comes to Linguistics. She sees language.<br>
We're looking for a school in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, DC (any major East Coast City) that may provide a dual major in Theater and Linguistics or a major and minor in same. Any suggestions?
Many thanks</p>
<p>Linguistics is not about studying foreign languages, I hope your D realizes it. It's also heavily mathematical. I know someone who majored in math then went on to a Ph.D. in linguistics.</p>
<p>She knows about Linguistics as I was a foreign language major myself. And so, I also understand the difference. She does not wish to study foreign language (although she is quite adept at same). She wishes to study linguistics.</p>
<p>NYU and BU both have a linguistics and theater department. Emerson and Fordham have well regarded theater departments but no linguistics.</p>
<p>Thank you. Marite! NYU and BU would fit in perfectly as she is a city kid and has said that she wants to study in a major city. Many thanks again.</p>
<p>It sounds like there's a combined desire to be creative and in productions (the theater major) but also academic and theoretical about language (linguistics).</p>
<p>It is exciting to be able to "see language," and I understand that. Is the minor in linguistics the only route to explore all that? As the parent of a theater and music double major (Amherst), I'd only urge you to expand your list of possible minors, or not even worry about that piece. Minors have a way of evolving and falling into place once the kid is on campus and figures out where the strong profs are, how scheduling will work in practicality, and so on.</p>
<p>To round out a theater major, for example, a minor in English, creative or dramatic writing, or even the study of a foreign language, religion or anthropology might satisfy the intellect. But keep in mind: it's not always necessary or better to have a minor. Some theater departments have courses in playwriting right in the department, for example, so that's an avenue within the major field.</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck; I'd just start with a smart school and find out if they have a filled-out theater department, which to me means 3 or more professors and regular performances sponsored both by the department and ad hoc by students that attract the department's interest as well. </p>
<p>There's a consortium of College Theaters with national competitions and so on that might name the schools with strong departments, recent competition-winners and so on. My impression is that they reward avante-garde productions, but I'm not positive about that.</p>
<p>Look at the theater department's mission statements on the websites (Course catalogue at top of each department, or their own department webpage to find out whether they link theater to academic inquiry, or are more involved in grooming/training performers vocationally. </p>
<p>I'm thinking that if your kid loved everything else about a school but Linguistics itself wasn't there, then perhaps the same neurons can be tickled via a minor in Philosophy or English Literature. </p>
<p>Anyway, places that come to mind are: NYU/Tisch which is a conservatory that allows double majors elsewhere within NYU; Amherst College; Brandeis U; Wesleyan; Yale perhaps Columbia. Since you didn't post stats, it's fishing a bit in the dark, but these places come to mind. Check out Smith College, too within the Five-College Consortium. Sarah Lawrence pours students into NYC each weekend. If you can go off the East Coast, consider Oberlin College which has a strong college theater department and depth of critical thinking in every other department. If you can get over the isolation (it's a suburb of Cleveland), the level of activity on campus is like a small city, with all staying on-campus each weekend to generate productions of all sorts. </p>
<p>I'd encourage a hard look at each school's theater department first. There's such a wide range, from places with a few adjunct professors to highly developed college programs with resident artist/professors who have quality liberal arts educations themselves (See in the faculty list under the department website. I could be a prestige junkie but I did find it reassuring to read about theater professors with undergrad degrees from strong universities or top LAC's. I just figure they have a wide foundation and support students' cross-disciplinary inquiries. </p>
<p>So, I'd key the college search to the Theater program. If you have to compromise on anything it should be to widen the menu for possible minors, including no minor at all. It might be good to take many courses of interest, from History to foreign languages. </p>
<p>Good luck, I hope it is a satisfying quest!
BTW, last night on Biography I learned that actor Fred Gwynn (Car 54 cop, Munster Family dad) went to Harvard, where he expressed a wide range of talents as an undergrad. I knew this about Matt Damon, but Fred Gwynn surprised me!</p>
<p>I was thinking, too, that many undergraduates major in conventional fields while participating in theater performances. Harvard and Yale come to mind as giving undergraduates plenty of opportunities to perform without necessarily being theater majors.</p>
<p>It is hard to narrow the suggestions without knowing anything about your daughter's academic profile. Also, if she does a theater major, is she only considering a BA or would she consider a BFA (these are very different programs)? </p>
<p>At BU and NYU, the theater major is a BFA (audition to get in). I know at NYU/Tisch, one can minor or even double major (the latter would be much harder to do ) with another subject. A college offering a BA in Theater might be better for your D if she wants to study two things, though don't overlook BU and NYU. I also agree with marite that at some schools with a very active theater scene, she can ma jor in something like linguistics and still do a LOT of theater. Like she says, this is true at Yale and Harvard and it is also true at Brown, among other schools with good extracurricular theater. </p>
<p>Given East Coast city and theater and linguistics.....</p>
<p>Explore further....</p>
<p>Penn
BU
Brandeis
Brown
Columbia
Harvard
Haverford
Hofstra
NYU
Swarthmore
Temple
UConn (not in a city though)
Yale
College of William and Mary (not in a big city)</p>
<p>Most of the above have majors in both theater and linguistics. </p>
<p>Georgetown has a major in linguistics but only a minor in theater and isn't as particularly known for theater.</p>
<p>Paying 3 Tuitions-
Thank you for all of your suggestions. My daughter continues to amaze me. She was always very shy but yet she took the lead in enroling herself in acting classes in NYC. She has gone out on cattle calls for auditions on her own. She participates in regional theatre on her own. I once told her that I refused to be a stage mother but that I would support her if she found reputable organizations to join and she has done so.
And then, just a few months ago, she mentioned Linguistics. I know about Linguistics as I was a foreign language major. I know language well. I understand the mechanics of language, both in English and other languages. The ability to "see" language is intellectual. And yes, my daughter seems to be guided by both a creative pursuit as evidenced in her interest in theater as a performer as well as an intellectual pursuit in Linguistics.<br>
I have no problem supporting her interests in Theater, immediate financial gain is not the goal of our household. If my child is doing what she wants to do and especially since she has already shown great committment to this end, then I and my husband will do all to help her.
NYU and Yale have already contacted her but we fear we are not in the financial position to support tuition at these colleges. Although, thanks to Marite's posts, we are going to do a bit more with NYU.
You must be my comtemporary for I remember Car 54 -where are you ?
Many thanks again, Paying 3 tuitions -you have summed up the situation nvery well. Thank you for all your understanding.</p>
<p>I have a daughter who attends NYU/Tisch for theater and may be able to answer questions. I happen to have a sister-in-law who has been a Linguistics professor as well.</p>
<p>I think all suggestions have been wonderful. If she doesn't have Stats for Columbia I want to suggest Barnard where my daughter goes. The drama major for both Barnard and Columbia is at Barnard, and Columbia has an excellent linguistics major. It's easy to take a major at each school. My daughter is double majoring: American Studies at Barnard and Human Rights at Columbia (she wants Law). Cynthia Nixon simultaneously acted in two Broadway shows while at Barnard and managed to graduate.</p>
<p>Recently, because of her summer job at the Provost's Office my D helped a theater professor move office. She is doing a fascinating project that many schools are working on: a cycle of one acts in which each school presents one piece that contributes to cycle. My D has extensive performance background as dancer and actress but hasn't yet done anything in college. Professor immediately recognized her talent and solicited her for this play.</p>
<p>Oh, and as per Soozievt's post, it's a non-audition BA program which can be good if linguistics is a serious pursuit or not quite intensive enough if it isn't. Still, although I don't think the department has the cache of Tisch, I know many serious and working actors have attended (Julia Stiles, Lauren Graham, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Sean Leonard among others.) Cynthia Nixon and Lauren Graham at Barnard, the others at Columbia, but it is one drama department.</p>
<p>Actually, neither Barnard nor Columbia have a linguistics major. The linguistics department at Columbia fell apart in the 1980's with the departure of various faculty amid internecine feuding among the faculty and funding cuts. The Barnard linguistics major was dropped a few years after Columbia's. Currently there are a handful of profs at Columbia interested in teaching & reviving linguistics, but no formal major. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Barnard/Columbia is a great place to go to discover that you don't want to major in linguistics after all. ;) They do offer some courses, and as Marite correctly observed, it turns out that the study of linguistics is kind of mathy. </p>
<p>If you are interested in the sordid details of the demise of linguistics, here's a good article:
<a href="http://www.bwog.net/index.php?page=post&article_id=6%5B/url%5D">http://www.bwog.net/index.php?page=post&article_id=6</a></p>
<p>"If you can go off the East Coast, consider Oberlin College which has a strong college theater department and depth of critical thinking in every other department."</p>
<p>Yes, do, but recognize that it offers no minor (or major) in linguistics and barely offers instruction in this subject at all. Actually I can only recall seeing one such course in their catalog- in the Spanish department, IIRC.</p>
<p>Truth is, though- lots of people talk about this subject before they enter college, but I hardly hear about anybody walking out the other end with a major or minor in this area. Or even a course. Even where such courses are offered.</p>
<p>Generally, I hate to join the chorus of "my kid's college . . . ", but I know that my kid's college, the University of Chicago, both has a decent linguistics program and a (somewhat hidden, but fairly popular) theater studies program. The theater studies is an option within Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, and a whole bunch of my daughter's friends are doing that. That program would also probably easily accomodate a linguistics minor, or a student could major in linguistics and take all the theater courses, too, and participate in student theater activities. (My daughter, who is not a theater student per se, has a grant to produce and direct a play next fall.)</p>
<p>Chicago obviously flunks the "East Coast city" criterion, but ought to qualify in every other respect. And the great advantage of Chicago for someone like your daughter is that all the theater kids are like her -- very serious about theater, but also fundamentally intellectual and interested in a lot of things that are outside the theater, too. Very impressive kids.</p>
<p>brooklynmom, I have a D who recently graduated from Tisch who double majored while there. It is possible, but as Susan says, it's not easy. One thing your D will have to decide is if the theatre/drama part of it is her first priority, because at NYU, it has to be. She would have to apply to and audition for Tisch for drama, then once enrolled, speak to her advisor about what is required for double majoring, or minoring, in CAS. If she would prefer to have the linguisitics as her first priority, she would apply to CAS but she would not be able to then take the same classes as drama majors do. The double major only works one way, and there is no minor in theatre/drama at Tisch. The only courses that non-Tisch kids can take are in the Open Arts curriculum, and they are very limited in selection and not the same as those taken by drama majors. It's something that potential students should know before they add NYU to their list.</p>
<p>Good luck to you, and to her, as you look for the right schools for her. :)</p>
<p>I put Columbia on the list because it has right on their site....a Linguistics concentration. This doesn't correlate with what Calmom wrote but maybe she knows something that I don't, since her D goes to Barnard, but the site shows a major in Linguisitics at Columbia.</p>
<p>I'm glad AlwaysAMom was more specific about NYU because as I also said, their drama major is a BFA degree which is very different than a BA major. And it is good that she pointed out that at NYU, your D could major in Drama (the BFA) and minor or possibly double major in linguistics, but not vice versa. To do drama at NYU, you must major and be accepted directly into the BFA program, including with audition.</p>
<p>Requirements for the Linguistic Concentration in Columbia's Linguistic Dept:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Undergraduate Requirements</p>
<p>In Fulfillment of the Language Requirement for Linguistics</p>
<p>The language taken in fulfillment of the linguistics requirement should be chosen in consultation with the program director. It can be either an ancient or modern language but should neither be the students native (or semi-native) language, nor belong to one of the major groups of modern European languages, such as Germanic, Romance, or Slavic.</p>
<p>Languages recommended for language requirement</p>
<p>The following list is by no means exhaustive. Please consult with the program director about other languages which may be offered in specific years to determine if they are acceptable for the linguistics language requirement.</p>
<p>Akkadian
Anglo-Saxon
Arabic
Armenian, Classical
Armenian, Modern
Bengali
Chagatay
Chinese
Finnish
Georgian
Greek, Classical
Greek, Modern
Hausa
Hebrew, Biblical
Hebrew, Modern
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Japanese
Korean
Latin
Nepali
Old Church Slavonic
Persian
Sanskrit
Sumerian
Swahili
Syriac
Tajik
Tibetan
Turkish, Modern
Turkish, Ottoman
Uyghur
Urdu
Uzbek</p>
<p>For a Special Concentration in Linguistics</p>
<p>The special concentration in linguistics is not as of itself sufficient for graduation. It must be taken in conjunction with a major or a full concentration in another discipline.</p>
<p>Requirements: In addition to fulfilling the requirements for a departmental major or a full concentration, students must take 18 points of courses in the linguistics program as follows:</p>
<p>Three core courses in linguistics</p>
<p>Two additional courses in linguistics and related fields (e.g. the history or structure of individual languages, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, sociology)</p>
<p>At least one language course beyond the general language requirement (preferably, not an Indo-European language) at the intermediate level.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are only five actual LINGUISTICS classes in the department but then there are other classes in other departments that are related to linguistics that count for this concentration. They are listed on the site. </p>
<p>A student could major in theater and also study linguisitics at Columbia, as the OP's D was interested in.</p>
<p>If she was willing to move to Ohio...</p>
<p>The Ohio State University has a tremendous Linguistics program. </p>
<p>The Theater dept offers a Bachelor of Arts as well as several graduate degrees. (Ph.D. in Theatre Studies, M.A. in Theatre Studies, M.F.A. in Acting, M.F.A. in Design)</p>
<p>It would be important for the student to understand the difference between a B.A. in Theatre and a B.F.A. The former is a liberal arts degree; the latter is a pre-professional degree which requires an audition and wouldn't allow for much other than completing the core curriculum and the major - few if any electives. Generally, the BFA is incompatible with a double major unless the student wants to stay an extra year or two. The reference to NYU might be an exception because NYU has an unusually extensive core in their BFA programs, but even then it would be very difficult if not impossible to do in four years.</p>
<p>A major exception is Northwestern, which has a remarkable and well-known Theatre program that is a B.A. They also offer a degree in Linguistics and they operate under the quarter system, so students have the opportunity to take 12 courses per academic year instead of 10.</p>
<p>gadad, it's definitely not impossible for drama majors to do a double major in four years at NYU. As I said, it's difficult but it is possible. My D, and many of her friends and fellow classmates, have done it without requiring an extra year. I would not, however, recommend it to the OP's D unless drama is her top priority and she is looking for a pre-professional program, which, from the initial post, is not obvious.</p>