Linguistics at Harvard

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>I am wondering what the Linguistics program is like at Harvard. I have to say that I'm pretty much just determined to go to Harvard because of the brand name. I can admit that. But I do want to know what the Linguistics program is like, since that is my current degree concentration of choice.
I am also very nervous that I won't get in, already. And I still have two or three years (I'm planning on doing a year exchange to Japan the year after Grade 12). Until now, I thought I wanted to study neurobiology. But my recent exchange to France has convinced me I wanted to study Linguistics and foreign languages. I know that being multilingual is not a necessity for studying Linguistics, but I still want to be at least trilingual when I apply. Are exchanges considered as good ECs?</p>

<p>Anyone with anything to say would be greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>It's a great program, but you may want to consider a different major or maybe minor in linguistics.
There are a few people I know who majored in linguistics at Harvard and are having a very difficult time getting a job.
Just fyi</p>

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<p>From what I've found, Harvard's linguistics program is somewhat mediocre. Some ling grads I spoke to even agreed it was a somewhat weak program.</p>

<p>If you look at the rankings, Harvard tends not to rank high in the field.</p>

<p>NRC ranking (old but relevant):</p>

<p>1 MIT 4.79
2 Stanford 4.59
3 UCLA 4.56
4 Massachusetts 4.44
5 Penn 4.16
6 Chicago 3.97
7 Cal Berkeley 3.97
8 Ohio State 3.80
9 Cornell 3.78
10 Cal Santa Cruz 3.66
11 Texas 3.61
12 Southern Cal 3.58
13 Arizona 3.58
14 Cal San Diego 3.43
15 CUNY 3.41
16 Connecticut 3.36
17 Washington 3.16
18 Illinois 3.10
19 Georgetown 3.00
20 Brown 2.94
21 Harvard 2.92</p>

<p>And the Gourman undergrad ranking:</p>

<p>UCLA
U Chicago
UC Berkeley
U Penn
Cornell
UC San Diego
Yale
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
Stanford
MIT
U Michigan Ann Arbor
Indiana U Bloomington
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
NYU
Ohio State
U Rochester
Harvard</p>

<p>My own exploration of the program leads me to believe that it has the potential, but the research, courses, etc. don't seem to be on par with other schools of similar caliber (Stanford, for example).</p>

<p>You can dual-enroll in courses at MIT, which is known for its linguistics department, but as I've said before, MIT isn't a good choice for undergrad linguistics.</p>

<p>
[quote]
It's a tiny, tiny program -- only graduates about 3 people in linguistics each year. The worst part of the program, though, is its course selection. It has a very good theoretical program, but its applied just plain sucks. Of course, you're allowed to take courses at Harvard (with limitations), but overall, MIT's undergrad isn't as strong as its grad for ling. Its program grew mainly because it had Chomsky, but Chomsky has long retired (not to mention a lot of students disliked him for his infusion of political debate to his ling lectures).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>(I'm not a student at Harvard or MIT, so take this all with a grain of salt.)</p>

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<p>From my personal experience with friends who are Linguistics concentrators, it is a great concentration. Most students tend to focus on linguistics and its applications to psychology. You will have a solid grounding in the field, but I know that the linguistics courses offered are somewhat limited.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
It's a great program, but you may want to consider a different major or maybe minor in linguistics.
There are a few people I know who majored in linguistics at Harvard and are having a very difficult time getting a job.
Just fyi

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I believe you, but I'm not sure your friends are representative of the norm... I've found that companies don't care too much about your concentration, so long as you have a good GPA and do some interesting extracurricular activities that show an interest in the sector you want a job in. Depends on what sort of jobs your friends are looking at, though.</p>

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<p>My only problem with changing schools is that, from what I've read, Harvard is the only Ivy which offers international financial aid. I definitely cannot afford to go to an Ivy League without FA, but i definitely want to go to an Ivy. I know I should't pick a school just because of the name, but I really want to:). It's disappointing to hear that Harvard doesn't have a good linguistics program...but they do have the Mind, Body, Brain program, which you can do with Linguistics. I don't know.
IF anyone knows of any Ivies which have Internationa FA, I'd love to know! (Especially if they have good linguistics programs!) Thanks!</p>

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<p>Princeton and Yale have international FA</p>

1 Like