<p>I am a senior in high school who would like to earn a doctorate in (historical) linguistics from a prestigious university. Yet, I am most likely going to go to a university that has no linguistics program for undergrad. So, essentially, I have two questions:</p>
<p>As a student at an average undergraduate university, is it possible to get into a prestigious universitys graduate linguistics program?
Is it possible to get into such a university without a linguistics degree?</p>
<p>I am very interested in languages. As a senior in high school, I am only proficient in Spanish and English. However, I will be proficient in German and Russian by the time my undergraduate education is done, as I am already at an intermediate stage in them. Additionally, I hope to possess a reading knowledge of Latin. Will knowledge of several prominent Indo-European languages support an application without a linguistics degree? I am deeply interested in this field and I have begun to read undergraduate-level material on historical linguistics. Yet, I will have no course work to prove that I know anything.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that you know that linguistics is not the study of specific languages but rather the scientific study of language itself. Your college background should include computer science and math in addition to (possibly) philosophy, anthropology, psychology, and even biology or neuroscience. </p>
<p>Based on the blurb on the MIT linguistics site (MIT has one of the best linguistics PhD programs in the country), you don’t have to major in linguistics, although you should have some experience through courses and/or research:</p>
<p>I should add that I know a respected linguist whose native language is Chinese and who speaks only English in addition to Chinese. Although I can’t pretend to know exactly how and what she researches, we had a conversation about the different mouth shapes and tongue positions needed for languages that she did not speak. She knows the syntax rules for languages she doesn’t speak/understand. And the evolution and origins of languages and dialects. </p>
<p>That said, you will be a stronger candidate for having studied languages.</p>
<p>I neglected to mention in my first post that the area on which I wished to concentrate is historical linguistics. For this branch of the field, is it still necessary to have such a strong background in sciences and mathematics? Or is it still very important?</p>
<p>Also, departing from the original purpose of the thread slightly, does anyone know if I may be qualified for studying comparative literature as a graduate student? This is the other discipline which interests me greatly.</p>
<p>Stockholmjoy, since you are still in high school, you may be surprised by how much your interests change once you are exposed to the greater variety of subject matter in college. Believe it or not, you don’t need to decide these things now. First, find an undergraduate institution that matches your personality and academic interests (yes, plural). After your first year, you can start talking to professors about a plan that will match your goals.</p>
<p>Just to show you how things change: my daughter went into college thinking she would major in East Asian studies, and she is graduating a neuroscience major. One of her friends went in thinking she would be a linguist and is getting a degree in art. Another thought she’d major in physics and will be graduating as a classics major. These changes had nothing to do with ability but instead with changing interests and an exposure to material that they had never encountered previously.</p>
<p>You’re definitely right. I suppose the main reason I posted here was to be sure that I wouldn’t be limited in my choice of undergraduate institution. And the more I think about it, I realize that I am probably not. Thanks for responding to my question, though. I really apppreciate your help on this. :)</p>