vonham

hey! so far those are looking like some really good stats. I would of course recommend that you check out u of arizona's joing ling and anth program as well :P. One thing I'd say is that you're looking at a really wide range of programs and potential subfields. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, as a lot of people start out their phd with varied interests, or completely changing their interests. As someone who started out being interested in codeswitching I can definitely attest to that lol. The important thing, however, as I'm sure you know, is to have quite a focused SOP. Since you're applying to some really different programs your SOP will need to change from application to application, but there should be a central thread that connects them all. Another thing I would recommend, given your varied interests, is looking at departments that have varied subfields represented. University of Arizona's ling dept, for example, is quite large, and there is enough faculty from many different subfields, such that you could have the room to explore what you want to ultimately focus on. I'm sure there are other departments like this as well, so you might want to take that into consideration.

Let me know if you have any questions about U of A! I'm a grad student there currently. And for everyone else: good luck on your applications!

Two of my programs required phone/skype interviews. None of my programs required in person interviews prior to being accepted, but the program I'm in now did have a recruitment weekend for accepted students, that I went to.

In what field does your research interests lie; linguistic anthropology or sociocultural anthropology? For the SOP it might be a good idea to write a linguistic anthropology paper; that way it's more anthro-y, but also within your comfort zone of linguistics.

It does seem a bit quiet in here, but maybe try posting in the already existing (albeit dead) 2017 thread to get more responses? Anyways I'm happy to help with any questions you might have (I applied last year).

Good to see this thread getting some life. I don't know too much about comp ling, but I can highly recommend U of Arizona's department as a whole. That's where I am now, and everyone here is fantastic; it's a really great place to study. What's good too is we have a lot of people that are into comp ling, not just people who are in the HLT master's program. I don't think there's anything in your background that would be a red flag; plenty of people take breaks between degrees. Obviously it depends on your GPA and GRE scores and such. One thing to keep in mind is that it is not a funded program.

I'm not sure if I follow the question. What do you mean by "right". If you mean using native knowledge to judge a sentence as grammatical, then yeah that's totally fine and theoretical linguists use native judgements all the time. If you mean using native knowledge of a language to argue that a particular structure/rule/POS/etc exists in a language, well then I'd say you need to go beyond that knowledge as "proof". Like you'd need to make an argument based on real data, and ideally other native speakers' judgements as well. If you can't find data to corroborate your argument then maybe your initial judgement is incorrect, or mediated by prescriptivism or some sort of language ideology. If linguistics were based solely on native judgements then it wouldn't be much of a discipline.

I'm sort of in the same situation. All the classes in my undergrad that required independent research (and surprisingly there were many) I got really good grades. Anything that had an exam at the end I didn't get the best grades, especially if I wasn't "into" the topic. Because of this I'm slightly disappointed in my undergrad GPA, and definitely want to get better grades in my PhD program. However, in my program they basically give most people As, with a B being "you've done a pretty bad job and need to improve greatly". Anyway one of the first things I brought up when talking to my advisers is when should I start on a research project. They told me that it's not expected at all in this first year. I still might start something next semester, and especially just develop papers that I'll be writing for some of my classes. Anyway, I would say listen to whatever your advisers have to say about this. They know the program best, and what's expected of the students.

I used to love g. love & special sauce!! I totally forgot about them, though; thanks for reminding me!

I mean, it is pretty exciting when a program doesn't require the GRE

I'm such a planner junky. Honestly, though, I have a hard time always updating them. I dunno, it's like I write down these detailed to do lists. Like let's say I have a paper due, right? So I'll write down exactly what progress I should be making on what day, down to how many hours I should spend on it. And the second I deviate from that (which happens every time since I'm the worst procrastinator) I abandon the planner. And then go back to it again when I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I just really like the aesthetics of a planner. I'm thinking of doing that bullet journal-ing or whatever it's called. Problem is I'm so disorganized that I'll have a hard time actually making it structured. At least with a planner it's already structured, and I can fake organize my life, even if I don't carry through with it.

I'm going to be a part of two departments, and one of them is very small. I'm the only one in my cohort this year in this particular program, and I think the only one in the smaller department. They can't have a class if there's less than a certain amount of people registered for it, so I really need to keep that in mind when choosing courses between the two departments (since the other one is larger and doesn't have that issue at all). Also students from different cohorts take the same classes (like fuzzy said) so that helps. And not all courses are offered every year. I did wonder about it in the beginning, but I'm sure they know what they're doing.

PRAAT can't open m4a files. here's a list of files it can open: http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/manual/Sound_files_3__Files_that_Praat_can_read.html Your best bet is using a free online converter to convert the file to wav

As usual, Fuzzylogician gives excellent advice. To put things in perspective, I was applying with somewhere around an 85 average (which is somewhere between 3.0-3.3) and was seriously worried that my GPA was not high enough. Thankfully I got into my dream program, though it's worth noting that I was rejected from most of the programs I applied to. Also worth noting that I had excellent recommendations, some research experience, did a lot of research on appropriate programs, spent a hefty amount of time and thought on SOPs, and wrote a good writing sample. Even then I was getting a lot of feedback from people that I was aiming a bit high. All this to say that in the grand scheme of things the GPA doesn't matter as much as any of these other components, but there is a minimum under which it's unlikely they'll consider your application as seriously. Even if everything else is stellar the committee might question if you're ready for a grad school program, if you consistently have bad grades. On the other hand, if they see that you've been consistently getting good grades after a certain point, they're more likely to understand that something changed and you're serious. That being said, you say you have 3.5 semesters to improve your grades? That's great! That's a lot of time, and I don't know how your program is structured, but you could probably improve to a 3.0 given 3.5 semesters, no? In addition, I'd start thinking seriously about what sub fields in linguistics interest you. You mentioned that you are looking at either an MA in linguistics or applied linguistics....those are two very different program, and often time where one is given, the other isn't (ie applied ling MAs aren't always given in the ling department), so it's a decision you'll need to make. Then again, you could always apply for some ling, some applied ling programs. A ling program I can think of off the top of my head with a very strong applied focus is CUNY. It's a great program, and they have a terminal MA! In addition to thinking about what exactly you want to pursue, become more involved in your current department: engage in conversations with your profs, email them research related questions that you have. Sniff out research opportunities in the department. The more "known" you are to the people around the department (the profs, the TAs, etc) the easier it will be for you to identify these crucial opportunities and be considered for them. In addition, start thinking about your writing sample. Try and see what classes you can take that will give you the opportunity to write such a paper (like a seminar, or senior thesis, or however it works where you are) that way you don't have to do it in addition to all your class work. Ideally the person advising you in this paper will also write your letter of recommendation. Anyways that's all I can think of for now! Best of luck!

Thanks! I actually currently live in a really hot place (although Arizona is definitely hotter at some points!) so it won't be too much of an adjustment. It's actually the dryness that will probably be the roughest on me; I haven't lived in a desert since the army, and I didn't like it then lol.