Hello everyone,
I am currently a student at Bentley University looking to transfer in order to study Linguistics. I am wondering which schools in Massachusetts, preferably those in the Boston area, are known to have the best linguistics programs. If anyone also knows how selective these programs are that would be appreciated!
Umass Amherst and Boston University have good programs.
UMass Amherst has a great linguistics program with multiple language tie in’s. (They have a standalone linguistics major as well) http://www.umass.edu/linguist/programs/major_reqs.php
MIT has a very distinguished linguistics program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky
In 2013-14 MIT accepted 21 out of 497 transfer applicants.
Well to most students MIT is out of the picture. It’s arguably the top Uni in the world.
Thanks for the feedback! How do the NEU, BC, and BU programs compare?
As both BU and Umass Amherst are quite selective with Linguistics. I would look into both schools since they each offer their own advantages. UMass Amherst is a solid school and comparatively affordable since it’s subsidized by the state. Additionally, it’s linguistics program has a great selection of languages to combine with a Ling major. BU on the other hand is in the Boston area, like you like, and is somewhat higher ranked than UMass. This being said, try looking into both schools as each is a great choice. I’m not sure what your GPA is but BC may not be a solid option to transfer to since they seem to be quite tough. (NE slightly less so but you can try)
http://thelousylinguist.blogspot.com/2010/09/rankings.html
BU is the only one of the 3 to show up on this list (which is a graduate program ranking, but may be relevant to undergraduate programs as well.)
However, with undergraduate linguistics programs, an old Russian saying about dancing bears comes to mind: the marvel isn’t that the bear dances well, but that it dances at all. Linguistics is a fairly low-demand major that many colleges don’t offer. Your first challenge is to find any school you like that covers the gamut of core linguistic subjects (phonetics & phonemics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and historical/comparative linguistics). If it also covers computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, or sociolinguistics, so much the better if you are interested in one of those areas.
Look through the online course catalogs. See if all those core subjects are taught every year. You might also want to check the faculty bios and the number of linguistics majors each school enrolls. Go visit each school and talk to people in the program. Check out the requirements for linguistics majors at each school.
http://ling.bu.edu/
http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/slavic-eastern/undergraduate/linguistics-major.html
http://www.northeastern.edu/linguistics/major-minor-requirements/
The linguistics offerings at Boston College appear to be pretty sparse (although BC overall has a good reputation.) It looks like BU and NEU each has a small cadre of linguistics professors with doctorates from strong programs who cover the core subjects, along with enough courses to support a reasonably ambitious set of graduation requirements for the major.
@tk21769 - Those rankings from “Thelousylinguist.blogspot” are 5 years old. (2010) Here’s another 5 year old site that ranks UMass Amherst in the top 10. (http://■■■■■■■.com/nnegvxb) (It’s quite well written nonetheless!) This being said, the newest QS list, which QS is arguable the the top global Uni caparison Organization, lists UMass Amherst as #8 in the world in linguistics whereas BU doesn’t break the top 50. (http://■■■■■■■.com/ngyrkcj) I guess it depends on where you look… but it seems that BU has the better overall school reputation slightly, and UMass has the better linguistics reputation/program. (In the general rankings UMass is ranked #76 in the nation among top Unis and BU is ranked #42) (http://■■■■■■■.com/82cl5x2 / http://■■■■■■■.com/8a53apl)
@tk21769‌ - Also your list “Thelousylinguist.blogspot” ranks UMass Amherst as #3… lol Just sayin 
PS - I know you where just replying to his question about those 3 Boston schools, and giving a synopsis, but I just want to make sure that the more affordable state Uni option is included as well. As obviously one of it’s specialties is linguistics and I can’t say the same for the other three.
I wouldn’t necessarily expect department quality to change very much in 5 years.
Here’s an NRC ranking of departments from 1995:
http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html
Some of the top ~10 schools ca. 1995 (MIT, Stanford, UMass, Penn, UCLA) were still among the top ~10 around 2010 (according to “lousylinguist”). Although, especially in a small department, the departure of even a single professor could have an impact.
Make what you will of these rankings. The OP may have some reason to want to be right in (or very near) Boston.
Which is the most affordable is a whole 'nother question. UMass may well have a much lower net cost than the Boston-area private schools, especially if the OP is a Massachusetts resident.
Another issue worth thinking about, though admittedly not as big a deal for undergrad studies as for graduate work: Some linguistics programs are pretty much purely arch-theoretical coughMITcough, while others have a more applied focus, others include sociolinguistic components, and so on. If you’re the sort of person whose interest in the field is centered on language as a window into cognitive realities, you’d probably be unsatisfied by a program with a strong focus on, say, language pedagogy; on the other hand, if you’re interested in linguistics as a way to explain the ways individuals learn languages, you’d likely find yourself chafing under the restrictions a program with a purely theoretical focus would place on you.
Also, I’m not completely familiar with linguistics programs in the Northeast, but nationally a lot of linguistics programs are embedded within English and anthropology departments, rather than being offered by standalone departments.
@tk21769‌ - Ya, obviously there is advantages and disadvantages to public vs private. Unfortunately the only public in Boston is Umass Boston, which is not selective at all, and something tells me that it is not what OP is looking for. UMass Amherst is the only one that can compete and come somewhat close to the elite privates in Boston. That being said, because of some genius, Umass prime is located over two hours away from the city. (Something tells me that is pushing it for OP…)
PS- Another reason I am saying this is transfers usually get much less aid, since they know you want to leave, and I don’t think that Bentley has linguistics.
Northeastern and BU have decent linguistics departments. They are pretty competitive compared to Bentley.
Ok, last question. So would I be better off going to a school like Northeastern or Umass Amherst for Linguistics? NEU seems to have a better overall reputation and education, but is less known for linguistics. Umass has less reputation, but seems to be more well known for linguistics.
Depends on what you want to do with it. Get a job in whatever field? Go to the school with better overall prestige. Get a job in linguistics, or go to grad school? Go to the school with more prestige in the field.