<p>I am looking to find out which schools are noted for their strong linguistics programs. A general search showed me some top private schools such as MIT etc, and OSU is a good public school for this. Many of the rankings are for the graduate program, but I am looking for well ranked undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>I am looking for a list of other colleges, including LAC's which are known for their linguistics programs. I realize that linguistics is a pretty broad field; my interests would be in speech science, cognitive linguistics and computational linguistics. I am not sure which area I will end up liking the most, so a good, comprehensive program at a school that is recognized for linguistics is what I am looking for. Thanks for your suggestions!</p>
<p>UCLA has a fantastic linguistics program. They might have the second best after MIT. You might easy to reconsider going to a LAC for linguistics. They won’t have the wealth of instructors like a big research university will. Other schools you can look into are USC (which has a lot of UCLA faculty) and Berkeley. Although I’d only recommend going to the UCs if you’re instate for them, or your family can afford them.)</p>
<p>Your best bet among LACs is the 5 College consortium (Amherst, Hampshire, MoHo, Smith). They offer cross-registration with U Mass-Amherst, which has a superb linguistics program.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is one of the relatively few LACs to offer linguistics. Bryn Mawr and Haverford would also work, and all three offer cross-registration with Penn, which has an extremely strong linguistics program. </p>
<p>Grinnell has recently beefed up its offerings, so it may be an option. Macalester, Reed, and the Claremonts also offer linguistics, but I’m not sure how good they are. Most other LACs do not offer it as a major.</p>
<p>College Navigator can be a good place to start compiling a list and then you can research to further narrow it down…
[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)
Also see if you can borrow a “Rugg’s Recommendations on the Colleges” guide - which gives a list of colleges that are considered good for each majors. I think he has a section on linguistics. Newer versions are only available by purchasing the PDF online, but even an older version is a good starting place.</p>
<p>^^ That NRC ranking is about 20 years old.
In many fields, the universities that were strong then still would be strong today.
Of course, you cannot assume that a university that had a highly-ranked graduate program in 1993 will have a strong undergraduate program with the orientation you want today. </p>
<p>On the other hand, even if you already knew for sure that you wanted a future in computational linguistics, you’d first need a foundation in mathematics (statistics & probability theory), CS, and formal linguistic structures (phonetics/phonemics, morphology, and syntax). You may be better off looking for schools you like that can cover those fundamentals, and that you can afford, whether they are doing bleeding-edge research in comp/cog linguistics or not. Many research universities, and at least a handful of LACs (like the ones mentioned), could fit that bill.</p>
<p>A few years back, poster keilexandra was asking questions similar to yours. I think she wound up at Swarthmore majoring in one of these areas. You might want to look up her posts or try messaging her.</p>