Maybe Queens in Charlotte or Elon?
Thank you – will look!
Thank you all for the suggestions! I’m keeping a running list, and we’ll look at everything – much appreciated!
If looking at LACS like Swarthmore and W&L, Williams should be on her list. Williams has a great theatre department as well. Also, although its great she has specific interests, this may change once she gets to college so it would be good to be at a larger LAC with depth and breadth. The great thing about the LACs is that their open and multidisciplinary approach allows for growth and flexibility.
Tagging @dfbdfb for the linguistics aspect.
Emory seems to be the best school for your daughter based on her preferences.
Northwestern University (lots of theater productions) & WashUStL & Rice are also target schools, but none are in her preferred geographic region.
I do not think that additional schools are needed as your list of schools is lengthy & thorough.
As an aside, I find it curious that she did not score higher on her two AP exams.
P.S. Emory does offer merit scholarships. Your daughter should be a strong contender for a major merit scholarship award at Emory. Check as to whether or not major scholarships are limited to ED applicants.
Echoing the Bryn Mawr/Haverford suggestion. Great programs and also sounding like a social fit for your D.
BMC is the easier admit, which I mention because you are looking for less reach-y schools.
Further from home than you are looking for.
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Yeah, she was pretty disappointed with those AP scores. But they were modified exams during the pandemic last spring – so instead of a 3-hour exam for APUSH with multiple choice and several document-based questions, it was only one 45-minute document-based question. Luck of the draw, really, as to what topic you got.
And then, the AP Seminar exam was canceled altogether, along with the presentations – the entire AP grade was based on two submitted papers done during the school year.
I think she would have fared better had it been normal exams.
Penn has an excellent linguistics dep’t. I forgot about that consortium, even though I took advantage of it! But without a car, it is a long train ride and a long walk. And parking is scarce near Penn.
Regarding the suggestion of Williams, it appears that Hamilton, Middlebury and Connecticut College represent the only NESCAC LACs with defined linguistics programs (an available minor in each case).
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Except your D wouldn’t have to get admitted there, strictly speaking. She could get into Wellesley Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences | Wellesley College and attend MIT to supplement their offering.
That was in my D’s plans before when was admitted ED to another great LAC.
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You mentioned speech-language pathology, so it’s probably worth broadening beyond linguistics—look for communication disorders (the usual major within which SLP falls) and cognitive science (as long as it’s one that includes the whole breadth of the field, including linguistics), in particular.
And, of course, any of these majors (lx, comm dis, and cog sci) may appear under a different name—f’rex, the major usually know as communication disorders is called hearing and speech sciences at the University of Maryland College Park.
Also, a metasuggestion: If the object is grad school (and you do usually need a professional masters for SLP, a professional doctorate for audiology), prestigiosity of the undergrad program isn’t really important—as long as the prerequisites are met, the “ranking” of the undergrad college isn’t a big deal for graduate admissions in these fields. Finances should be of primary concern, because professional graduate-level programs don’t usually offer much in the way of financial support but tend to be expensive.
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You bring up a really good point – and it’s been a dilemma, because D22 has an interest in speech-language pathology (lots of exposure via a younger sibling with a significant speech delay) – but isn’t 100% sure she’ll want to go that route.
Most undergrad communication disorders majors seem to be at large state schools, and not always the flagship state schools, either. (Although both University of Florida and University of Georgia offer it.) Northwestern does offer a good undergrad program in this – along with more traditional linguistics.
But even Vanderbilt, which has one of the best graduate SLP programs in the country, doesn’t offer an undergrad program that directly leads into it. Their info page says that students who have studied psychology or something similar are welcome to apply.
D22 is the kind of kid who might very well remain in academia for the long haul, but she’s not familiar enough with the various linguistics fields to know that for sure…so the trick is to go to a big enough school where she can make that decision after exploring a bunch of classes – and then change course if she wants.
Which, of course, is the opposite of the small LAC she thinks she wants. Ha!
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I feel your pain—I have a child just a bit younger than yours, and it’s exactly the same except for linguistics substitute economics.
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In terms of the pre-professional SLP vs. academic linguistics dilemma, Boston University could be worth a look. They offer both, and have a combined undergrad program specifically for students who are interested in both sides of the divide: Joint BS in Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and Linguistics | Sargent College | Boston University | College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College BU isn’t a small LAC, to be sure, but they do have a residential honors college ( About | Kilachand Honors College ) that provides a more intimate community. BU also has excellent performing arts, and it’s pretty good on the diversity front. Could be worth considering, as a place where she could get meaningful exposure to SLP clinical practice while also laying a solid foundation for graduate study in linguistics should she end up preferring that path.
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This is really helpful to know, thank you! I wish more schools offered exactly the same joint degree.
We really need to hit Boston to look at various schools, and to see if D22 is willing to embrace it!
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Northeastern has a combined major too, FWIW - and co-ops can be another way to really get one’s feet wet on the clinical side: Linguistics and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, BS < Northeastern University ( Northeastern’s President is a linguist, actually - his PhD is in linguistics, from MIT.)
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@SpreadsheetMom I am a speech language pathologist. If this is an interest of your daughter’s, she does not have to major or minor in linguistics. I would suggest you go to the American Speech Language Hearing Association website and go to the area for the public. There is a section there about this profession and good information.
Her undergrad major really can be almost anything but as noted, communication disorders is a common undergrad major for this field. She just needs to be sure to take the prerequisite courses for applying to speech pathology masters programs. A masters is the entry level degree for licensed speech pathologists.
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Seconding @thumper1 My D is a (pretty recently licensed) SLP and she got a BS in psychology with a minor in theater at a LAC as an undergrad. There were a number of linguistics majors in her program but by no means it that major necessary.
My D did not decide on becoming a SLP until late into her junior year. I will say that applying to a direct admit masters program without an undergrad background in communication disorders is challenging. These are the paths she found:
– Some programs require the prerequisite courses be taken before one can even apply. If she went that route she would have needed a year after undergrad to do the prerequisites before applying to grad school.
–She did find some programs that would too “non-majors” and then folded the prerequisites into the program for students with other majors - some of those schools students take the prerequisites the summer before the program started. These programs were competitive in terms of admission.
If your D was sure she wants to be a SLP I would suggest that she consider schools that have communications sciences and disorders as an undergrad major – although she will need a masters degree having the undergrad background is a more straightforward pathway into the profession and will likely save a semester or a year of taking prerequisites (which were different for each program). But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
If she goes the LAC route I’d encourage your D to find a way to distinguish herself as an undergrad. For example my D did a great deal of research with professors as an undergrad and had an article that was published in a peer reviewed journal. And while I have no definitive proof, I also think that the SLP programs liked that she had the theater minor and took public speaking, improv etc. classes. She also took a great deal of science coursework as an undergrad which I also believe grad schools looked favorably upon.
I have to say that my D absolutely loved her LAC undergrad experience as well as her grad experience – thankfully it all worked out well for her.
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