.....I have been out of an academic setting for so long (four years) that I hardly know where to start.
Here's the thing. I did not want to go into Graduate School any less than 95% sure that I would be able to dedicate myself assidiously to the field in question. I got a B.A. in 2009, dual major in English and World Literature, and I did well in my majors, very well, in fact, but my general GPA was brought down to a 3.2 or so by difficulties in the general requirement classes for Math and the hard sciences. I did not want to go to Grad School for Literature, despite a continued interest in it, it seemed too easy, and too removed from the world outside of Academia.
Maybe Linguistics is similarly insular, but I feel as though it has the ablity to let one branch out a little more. I am also interested in Semiotics.
Anyhow, after 3 years of teaching at the Primary level in Montessori schools, I feel out of the loop, but also more confident about my organizational and communication skills, as well as my ability to withstand stress and perservere. I also feel pretty strongly, in direct contrast with my feelings following graduation, about this field in particular, and getting a PhD in it
The subset in Linguistics that I am most interested in is Historical Linguistics, especially Dialectology, but the truth is I am open.
I can get good reference letters and am going to take the GRE shortly. I do not have a B.A. in Linguistics, however, and while I understand that not alll programs require this, and indeed, it is not offered as a B.A. in all universities, I fear this could hurt me as a candidate. I have had a lot of work experience in a number of different fields, am very detail oriented, especally when it comes to language(s). I am a creative person who expresses herself beautifully. I am also multlingual, with my first language being Italian (also speak some French and Spanish.)
I am just looking for some advice on which schools I might consider appplying to, and how to groom myself, in a relatively short period of time, into a more attractive candidate for these programs. Northwestern, NYU, and University of Maryland are some of the programs I am looking into, but the bigger names intimidate me. I am more interested in being with the appropriate professors than prestige, so I will consider less known schools. I am also very interested in programs that offer assistantship. ANY advice will be taken to heart and deeply appreciated.
