My university offers a course for a bachelor’s English with a concentration in linguistics. Would another university accept me into their linguistics program if I had that?
It depends on a lot of factors (any research you do, your grades in the linguistics courses, etc), but it’s not impossible. I had a professor in undergrad who had a BA in English, got an MA in linguistics, and then got her PhD in composition and rhetoric. She transitioned nicely between the three because the work she was doing for each was related to the others. I imagine some programs stipulate that you need to have taken x amount of credits in linguistics or a related field, and depending on what kind of English courses you take, they may look at your app and think you’re qualified. Or they could admit you conditionally and have you take undergrad courses in linguistics first (happened to a prof of mine in another field).
I think the bigger question to ask here, though, is if you want to go to graduate school for linguistics, why not major in it? You’re expected to have a strong grasp of your field once you enter graduate school. Grad school isn’t like undergrad. You don’t just learn “about” the content but also try to MASTER it and start contributing knowledge to the field. A concentration or minor can teach you a lot, but to really excel, it’s helpful to have studied the material as closely as you can before you even get to grad school.
The school doesn’t have a linguistics program. If it did, that would be my major.
How close is the concentration in linguistics to a linguistics major?
At some schools, there’s not a full major, but the concentration is pretty close and it’s just housed in a different department for logistical reasons. Pull up the course catalog and major requirements for a linguistics major at a different school that has one and compare it to the concentration requirements + other classes that are available at your target college.