Onlyeva

Thank you all for your valuable advice! I'm going to NCSU! That really helped helped to ease my anxiety.

I just checked the weather and it's actually warmer that the city I'm from and much warmer than the city where my undergrad school is located

Thank you for this information and for being willing to help!!

I was an undergrad English major in a non-English-speaking country...Honestly I have a very limited knowledge of linguistics. I did my thesis in sociolinguistics though. It was interesting but it's not like I'm ready to devote my whole life to it...

Thank you the advice! But I feel it would be awkward to contact the professors when I have not decided to join them...

Thank you for your reply fuzzy! My goal is to figure out how suitable and committed I'm for doing research, and to get prepared for PhD (if I have interest and talent for research) or get prepared for a job (if I don't like research or can't excel at it). I've heard of snow in Syracuse. It seems to be inconvenient, but that will not be my major concern, if it is a concern at all. The stipend is similar. I guess they adjust it according to the local living expenses. I don't have the exact statistics for placement, but there are alumni from both schools getting into great graduate schools for PhD programs. I have not got in contact with professors. Actually I don't know who will be my advisers. It seems like students are supposed to choose advisers after a semester or something. If you have any other comments/advice, they will be highly valued. Thank you!

Thank you for your reply! You know both of the programs! Most of the faculty members at Syracuse are not Americans and they teach various foreign languages, which seems to be the focus of their department. Students at Syracuse need to choose a concentration after the first semester. I might choose the one close to sociolinguistics anyway but I'll get to have the four core courses during the first semester, like phonological analysis and semantic analysis. Will having these courses be an advantage? I'm also wondering does NCSU have a better reputation in the linguistics field? Thank you so much!

Thank you for this quick reply! Haha I've heard of snow in Syracuse, but really I care more about which program has better career prospects.

I'm admitted to MA linguistics programs at Syracuse University and North Carolina State University, both with sufficient funding. I'm having such a hard time deciding which program I should join. I've actually done a lot of work researching both schools--contacting alumni, looking at their courses, etc.-- but that just makes me more undetermined. I like them both. Any comments on these two programs? Any suggestions on how to make up my mind? Thanks in advance.