<p>I'm looking to major in Linguistics (or possible journalism) at a competitive school in an urban area, preferably. I've looked at Northwestern, Penn, Georgetown, etc., but they all seem like too much of "reaches." Anyone have any suggestions? I'm open to looking into anything, I'm kinda getting desperate.</p>
<p>SAT: 2260 (M:680, CR: 780, W: 800, essay: 11)
SAT II: 780 USH, 740 Latin, 720 Bio M
GPA: 3.94
Rank: 16/272 (pwn'd, I know...SO CLOSE to the top 5%, and yet so far!)</p>
<p>ECs: Debate and Speech (captain 2 years), JCL (editor of newsletter), mentor to Sudanese refugees, 200+ volunteer hours all over the place, and other crap</p>
<p>Awards: too many in speech and debate to list, NMS semi-finalist, 4 golds on NLE, 1st in state on NFE</p>
<p>Sorry if I left out some kind of vital information, let me know if you need to know anything else...</p>
<p>Oh yeah! I'm white, male, live in North Dakota.</p>
<p>MIT is know for their Linguistics department.
If you were from NY, NJ, CT or MA, you wouldn’t add geographic diversity to any school.
ND is a big plus for schools on either coast.</p>
<p>What size school are you looking for? Are you looking for a school with good airline connections or are you ok with changing planes twice and having a much longer ride home?
Do you like LACs? Did you look at Macalester for a match?
Have you researched the many schools in Boston? Tufts and Boston College might interest you.
Are you needing to get merit money to help offset the cost of college?</p>
<p>northwestern has an excellent communications program, and i think you have a good shot of getting in
look into syracuse as a safety. they have a good communications program, too</p>
<p>^ I just wanted to agree with marymac. Colleges look for geographic diversity during the admissions process. Your state of residence may help you.</p>
<p>Haha, thanks, I’ll look into those. I thought about MIT, but I haven’t taken the math subject test (which they require) and math really isn’t my strongsuit.</p>
<p>I’m looking for schools between like 4k-10k undergraduates probably. I visited Northwestern and I really liked the size, but I can see going to smaller also. I don’t care that much about location/airline connections, etc. Unless I go to a school in Minneapolis or Denver, a direct flight from ND isn’t going to happen. I would like merit money, but it’s not the most important aspect of my search by any means. I’ll probably get at least some need-based aid, so I’m not too concerned.</p>
<p>I’m really hoping geographic diversity will help me in the admissions process. Living in North Dakota sucks, I might as well benefit from it in some way.</p>
<p>The thing I’m most worried about, perhaps needlessly, is my class rank…</p>
<p>Wait…if you live in NORTH DAKOTA,
I don’t think those schools are really reaches any more.
(and don’t worry about your rank, its fine. They really look to see if you’re in the top 10% anyway, I believe).</p>
<p>the fact that you’re from North Dakota makes you in a very good spot for the top Northeastern schools… look at Boston College, UChicago, Macalester and Carleton, Wash U in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill, Georgetown, University of Virginia; I thinl all excellent suggestions; look into them</p>
<p>Consider the University of Chicago, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, and Villanova. I believe they meet your size & location requirements. Not sure about Linguistics departments. Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, before you choose a college based partly on their great linguistics program, if you haven’t already had a linguistics class: be sure you nave looked looked at the textbooks or lecture notes from a few first or second year college linguistics classes.</p>
<p>It seems like I should get into some schools just on being from ND, but honestly, that’s not how it is. There are people who go to my school and other schools in the state who are ranked higher than me and have equally high SATs, and are applying to most of the ivies and other top colleges. There goes my advantage!</p>
<p>Also, I’ve read many linguistics textbooks (huge nerd, I know) and I’m really in love with the subject. You’re right though–I want to choose a college that’s good in a variety of areas besides linguistics, just in case I change my mind.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, though, everyone.</p>
<p>Definitely don’t look into Tufts then - they don’t have a lingustics major! Your stats are good though, I think you have a good chance of getting into some of the schools on your list. They’re reaches for everyone though, so you never know. I would definitely look into BU, maybe even BC (they’re about ten minutes outside Boston, so pretty close to an urban environment).</p>
<p>While on a tour of Pomona, they pointed to the map with the tacks in it of where their students come from. The Dakaotas were empty and the adcom pointed to it and said, “Anyone from North or South Dakota”? He made it sound like you’d be a shoe in! I think you would like the Claremont or Pomona schools.</p>
<p>Seriously consider the University of Chicago. Oldest Linguistics department in the country; oldest student-run Linguistics organization in the country (Chicago Linguistic Society); instruction in dozens of languages, including many less-commonly-taught languages.</p>
<p>A challenge in finding good match/target schools is that Linguistics is not a hugely popular, bread-and-butter major. I think a strong department with extensive course offerings is more likely to be found at either a mid-large sized, very selective private university, or at one of the top state flagships (such as Berkeley or Michigan), which will also be very selective for OOS students. Very few LACs will have strong departments; most mid-sized private universities in the USNWR 25-50 range probably do not, either. </p>
<p>Maybe someone can tell me I’m wrong. Look into the University of Pittsburg, Boston University, or NYU (which are less selective than Georgetown or Chicago, and which had more or less respectable rankings in the NRC-95 graduate department assessments.)</p>
<p>I do think, though, that you’d have a good shot at Chicago. I also think that if you are a nerdy kid who is delving into Linguistics textbooks for reading pleasure, you are likely to find the intellectual atmosphere more satisfying there than at Georgetown or some of the other schools mentioned. Truly, you are one odd duck if that’s your bedtime reading.</p>