Majoring in Linguistics at a School with No Linguistics Major?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am fairly certain--but not positive--that I want to major in linguistics. I also really like some schools that don't have linguistics majors--namely Tufts, Vassar, Amherst, etc. Any thoughts from linguistics majors in schools where you had to create your own major? (Or anyone else who can give me input)</p>

2

<p>If you Google “Smith College crafting linguistics” you’ll find a link to a page with a suggested curriculum for a self-designed major in linguistics. Presumably you can create a similar curriculum at other schools that allow self-designed majors, though you likely need to be at a school in a consortium with other schools that offer linguistics courses to make a viable major.</p>

1 Like
3

<p>At Amherst College, you can take linguistics courses from the highly respected University of Massachusetts - Amherst linguistics department through the cross-registration agreement. But then you have to fit them around a major at Amherst College, or get them to approve a self-designed major incorporating those courses.</p>

<p>Here is the linguistics major at the latter school:
<a href=“http://www.umass.edu/linguist/programs/major.php”>http://www.umass.edu/linguist/programs/major.php&lt;/a&gt;
And courses:
<a href=“http://www.umass.edu/linguist/courses/index.php”>http://www.umass.edu/linguist/courses/index.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

1 Like
4

<p>if you want to major in linguistics, wouldn’t it make sense to consider UMass? </p>

1 Like
5

<p>Look for access to actual scholars with PhDs in linguistics. </p>

<p>When I looked into this some years ago, I found a lot of schools had no linguists at all! What a joke!. </p>

<p>The only LACs that had linguistics professors (note the plural) were Swarthmore and Pomona. Going to one of the 5 colleges, around UMASS, the almighty linguistics powerhouse that it is, might make sense. Amherst is walkable. . </p>

<p>Another option that is probably better is to attend a small to mid-size university that has serious linguistics. Some good options for linguistics include Brandeis, Brown, Chicago, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins (linguistics is within the cognitive science department but is very real), MIT, Rice, Rochester, Yale. </p>

<p>Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern and Penn are larger schools with solid linguistics</p>

<p>Princeton and Columbia don’t have linguistics departments. </p>

1 Like
6

<p>@geo1113‌ I will likely consider UMass as a safety school but if I can I’d rather go to a smaller, more selective school.</p>

<p>@ClassicRockerDad‌ Swarthmore, Brandeis, and Brown are certainly on the list. Perhaps some of the others too, but at the moment I’m trying to find a few more small/medium schools with good linguistics but selectivity around Brandeis or a little less, to be safe. Can you think of any?</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>Good or great departments can be housed in schools where the admission selectivity is not that high. If you have a strong interest in a subject, do not feel let down because the school overall is not that hard to get into, if the department in the subject you are interested in is strong. (However, if you are not that sure, check that the departments of other subjects that you might be interested in are strong, or at least acceptable.)</p>

1 Like
8

<p>esteri, I can understand wanting to go to a smaller, more selective school. However, out of the group you mention, UMass may not necessarily be a safety school for Linguistics. The real key though is where are you more likely to get what you need for where you plan to go in life.</p>

9

<p>Why don’t you do some research into strong schools with linguistics majors? In about two minutes I came up with Swarthmore, Reed, Mcalester, Georgetown, UChicago, Brandeis. I’m sure there are many more. </p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>Rochester for sure - that’s a very LAC like small university and it has a serious department. </p>

<p>Looking through happy1’s post, Reed and Macalester now each seem to have more than two real linguists. I don’t think that there are “many” more. </p>

<p>Going bigger but not crazy big in the lest selective range, you have Delaware, Pitt, NYU, McGill, UC Santa Cruz. </p>

1 Like