<p>I'm trying to find liberal arts colleges in the Midwest and Northeast which offer either a major or minor in linguistics. So far, I've found and really liked Carleton, Lawrence, and Bucknell. However, I haven't been able to find any engine which lets me search by minor, and I know of some other schools which offer only a minor. Any help?</p>
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<p>Macalaster College does (major and minor)</p>
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<p>Drew (minor in linguistic studies)
Earlham (major is called Comparative Literature and Linguistics)
Grinnell
Swarthmore
Wellesley (if you’re female)</p>
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<p>Also, St. Olaf (MN), Colgate (minor) and Ct. College (minor).</p>
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<p>Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about Colgate’s program; I’ll look into it. I visited St. Olaf, Grinnell, and Macalester and didn’t particularly care for them, and don’t think I have very much in the way of chances for Swarthmore. I know nothing about Drew either - I’ll give it a look.</p>
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<p>I’ve read (maybe here on CC somewhere) that Middlebury is starting up a Linguistics major. If so, I’d expect it to be good. But Midd is nearly as selective as Swarthmore.</p>
<p>You are unlikely to find many LACs that have a very robust Linguistics major. I’ve looked over the Macalester program, for example. It looks quite good for a minor but there seem to be some holes in it if you were going to major there. I don’t see courses in Semantics or Discourse Analysis. There are very few faculty (though the program seems to be nicely organized and to leverage other departments well).</p>
<p>In the Midwest, I think the ultimate destination for Linguistics would be the University of Chicago. Oldest department of Linguistics in the country. Of course, it’s very urban, and is a full-blown research university not a LAC, but it does offer small class sizes. </p>
<p>But if you expect to go on to grad school in Linguistics, you really do not need to major in it as an undergrad. Historically, Linguists often have approached the discipline from the perspective of other fields (mathematics, anthropology, etc.) You would not do badly to choose a good college that you really like, even if the Ling offerings are a little thin, and minor in it. Or just take a few courses in Linguistics and major/minor in related fields.</p>
<p>My son’s school (Colorado College) does not even have a Linguistics department but appears to offer about as many Linguistics courses as Macalester. They are integrated into the anthropology department (which seems to be quite good.) So don’t overlook your options at schools you like that don’t have this department.</p>
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<p>Hampshire offers linguistics in conjunction with U Mass.</p>
<p>[Linguistics</a> at Hampshire](<a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/linguistics.htm]Linguistics”>Language, Linguistics, and Translation Studies | Hampshire College)</p>
<p>Only MIT, Stanford, and UCLA have stronger linguistics departments than U Mass.</p>
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<p>You might also take a look at Dickinson (minor in linguistics) and St. Michael’s College (minor in language and linguistics). Also, Brandeis (approximately 3000) students has a major in language and linguistics.</p>
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<p>Good work also has been done at UMass in allied areas of Computer Science (Natural Language Processsing).
[Andrew</a> McCallum’s Home Page](<a href=“http://www.cs.umass.edu/~mccallum/]Andrew”>Andrew McCallum Homepage)</p>
<p>The intersection of language, linguistics, and computer science is an interesting area to consider (whether you’re a computer weenie or more of a language geek.) There are even actual, paying jobs in this field.</p>
<p>I like the idea of having a home base at a LAC like Hampshire but also being able to take courses at a larger school with a big Linguistics department. Less limiting in this field than being off at a isolated little LAC in the boondocks (as appealing as some of them are). But again, often you can work out a variety of programs even at a small school, depending on your interests.</p>