Any recommended schools for a Linguistics major or personal experience with the programs at the following schools? Looking at Indiana University, Purdue, Pitt, UMDCP, UVM and UMass Amherst. Thanks!
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Hard to make any recommendations without knowing student stats, family budget, and any criteria for the student other than “linguistics major”.
The list you made above is public universities…which is your instate option?
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Why this list ? What is attractive about this specific set of schools ? Tough major to assess. Several rankings out there. This is one.
You might visit each school you can and in addition to a general tour, set up an appointment with the dept at each. Check for size(likely small), culture and outcomes for internship and post grad.
Im sure if you reach out to each dept. by phone or email they can put your student in touch with a current student as well for discussion on the program and school.
Good luck.
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OP here. Sorry, I should have put some more information in the original post. My dd was accepted to the schools in the list and we’re trying to help narrow down her choices. Aside from school visits, which we’re in the process of doing, I was looking to get some input on the linguistics departments themselves. My dd is interested in language acquisition but doesn’t have a particular career path in mind.
Our in-state option is Rutgers, but my dd did not apply there. She was accepted to TCNJ which has a small linguistics program. All of the listed schools are within our budget. Thanks for the link!
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My advice stands. If you can get to them, make an appt with the dept. and ask to connect with a student while there. if you can’t, reach out for a student ambassador in the department.
I’m sure you can also talk to an advisor at each and let them know your interest. Ultimately where will she feel happy campus wise.
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I can only note on my daughters college, UMass
Amherst. They are world class for languages and linguistics. FWIW ranked 2nd in world by QS for linguistics behind MIT. I’m not sure how that ranking translates to the u-grad experience but it’s probably quite good. Much more important than rankings I believe is the fit, academically, socially, financially etc. Some thrive at large schools on your list like my daughter has, but others get lost in it. Good luck!
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Interesting - they weren’t listed on other lists I saw (and of course, there’s many lists) - here’s the list you refer to so OP can view the entirety - I see UMD on there as well.
QS World University Rankings for Linguistics 2021 | Top Universities
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I don’t have any recent information on Indiana University’s linguistics program, but historically it’s been very strong in foreign languages and linguistics (and I know I’ve seen it on lists as remaining strong in foreign languages…just don’t know about linguistics). I know that staff in the linguistics department used to teach a number of uncommon languages (Haitian Creole, Hausa, Sioux and/or Dakota…about 30 or so languages were taught at IU), and of course there are language-specific departments that are pretty strong across the board (Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, plus the romance languages, etc). IU’s education department is also strong and also has people studying foreign language acquisition, which might be a complementary interest for your daughter.
But I suspect that most any of the choices of schools your daughter is considering would work for linguistics. What is she looking for from her college experience? What kind of extracurriculars? Where would she like to live after graduation?
In case you don’t make it to visit all of the schools (or are trying to narrow down which schools to look at) take a look at the course schedule from the past few semesters. How many classes are being offered? Do they sound interesting to your daughter? Or are the offerings pretty sparse?
Try mapping out a possible 8-semester course sequence to see whether the distribution requirements, major requirements, etc. make her lean toward or away from an institution. Are there many classes that fulfill requirements that she’s interested in, or only 1 or 2?
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If she didn’t do it already your D can look at the school’s websites to get an idea of what classes are offered, the requirements for the major, as well as how many professors there are (and their background) in the linguistics department.
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Thanks for all the great suggestions! My daughter will be contacting the individual departments to get more specific information. We have some visits coming up in March so that will give us a better feel for the schools.
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Make sure to get an appt with a prof or dept advisor at each school and ask for a meet with a student. Some will send the two kids to lunch. Good luck. forgetting rank hopefully sue finds the school that fits her well
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Sent you a message. Look for the green circle in your upper right hand screen.
Two snaps up for UMass Amherst. Seriously, their linguistics dep’t is fantastic, and quality of life there is excellent.
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