historicallinguist

So, I just submitted my application to Rutgers! This is my second time applying to Rutgers! Any current Rutgers linguistics Ph.D students hanging around in the forum?

I am also applying to UA. Normally I won't worry much about what will happen in the 5th year. In the last year of the Ph.D program, you will have quite a lot of opportunities to work as instructor for certain introductory courses, and you are basically finishing up your dissertation. So, there is little if any tuition fee you will have to pay in the last year of the Ph.D program. All you need to worry about is to get enough of maintenance fees, but teaching intro courses can get you enough money to get through the year. Another possibility would be that you may simply finish your Ph.D in 4 years. You simply graduated before the 5th year comes. So, in this case, you may work as a Research Fellow or Post-DOC Fellow, or instructor during the 5th year.

I am going to PM you now

Thanks, Fuzzy! The key must be whether the Prof. in question is trustworthy!

So, now, here comes a question: is it true that, if I do not waive my right to see LORs, Adcoms will take these LORs less seriously? Anyone has any idea about this?

I agree and I have been researching on finding better fitting Ph.D programs. For the UIUC MA, please allow me to say a little bit more. Sure, I will have an MA (or they call it MST here) by the end of this academic year. But UIUC requires the following for admission to the Ph.D program: "Students who complete the M.A. in Linguistics at the University of Illinois by passing the Qualifying Examination may apply to the Student Evaluation and Examination Committee to enter the Ph.D. program." So, their MA program is more like an MA en route to Ph.D. As for research interests, I am primarily interested in OT. I also researched on the websites of other schools. Umass is a good place for OT because John McCarthy is there and because in principle I am eligible to apply. But I am not sure whether it is a practical choice in terms of getting admission, as this place is just as competitive as MIT in terms of linguistics admission. I also looked at UCSC and emailed them about the funding possibility. It turned out that UCSC can rarely fund any of out-of-state student. This is because they have TAship that generally pays about 20k per year. But this TAship does not cover tuition and fees. So, the director of the program told me that they rarely admit those who will have to pay out-of-state tuition. Any other good suggestions besides Rutgers for OT?

Thank you for your response! In fact, I have couple more in mind, UIUC (funding available for MA), U of Alberta(for this one, I am still considering, for from what I have learnt from their website, they are quite experimental/empirical in terms of methodology, and I am not sure whether this is a good fit for me), George Mason (A relatively small program, but good funding). As for my current program, please allow me to say a little bit more. It is not a problem that there is SOME lectures/seminars/classes that are remotely relevant to my examinations. The real problem is that a predominant majority of them (probably more than 80 percent, I should say) are remotely relevant.(Please note that evaluation will not take place until the end of the academic year here, and evaluation does take place in a specific lecture/seminar/class. We got examinations (more like a general examiantion) as scheduled in the course (=degree program) handbook). Another problem is the overall organization of the teaching component of the program. Take the following case for example. I have a lecture A and lecture B. Lecture A assumes definitely no previous knowledge about linguistics at all, and is about basic concepts such as what are phoneme, morpheme, phonetics, phonology, etc. Lecture B assumes great deal of previous knowledge about theoretical linguistics, and presumably is designed for someone who has passed the general examination. What is problematic is that A and B are required to go at the same time. The prerequisite of understanding the content in lecture B is having known everything in lecture A. If this is the case, what would the point be to attend Lecture A? Conversely, if lecture A is a necessary component, the presupposition is that I have not yet known everything to will be presented in lecture A. If this is the case, then what is the point to attend lecture B given that I don't even satisfy the prerequisite to attend lecture B. Either way, this shows the problematic organization of teachings available. The second thing I should point out is that there is no core at the heart of the program. To put it in another way, the lectures/seminars/classes required to attend are either one of the followings, 1. UG classes designed speficially for UG 2. classes in a different faculty designed specifically for students in that faculty for their degree programs. To put it in a different way, this is to say no class is designed only for this course. Even worse, there is no office hour to ask questions. Also, opportunity to do submitted written work for comments is rare, and I have only 1 opportunity to get comments for the whole term. I attempted to request more, but it is to no avail and what I am told is that this is the way the course is set up (this reason is probably the panacea for all these defects of the program for them). So, overall, I am left alone to self-study whatever I wish (of course, I could also do this at home in the U.S. without paying academic fees). Finally, I should also point out that many of the books that could easily be checked out in most U.S. public library are NOT allowed to be checked out here. For most part, I have to read in a library during business hours (not open in the night and very limited hours in weekend). This, of course, is another afflicting experience, as I have spend quite a lot of time to walk back and forth between the dorm and the libraries which are located quite far away at different locations of the city.

Hi. Everyone! Greetings from the U.K. I am currently doing a one-year Master course in a U.K. university. (presumably a well-known school, but poorly funded for American students, yes! not a penny for master student!, and now I am kind of aware of why this program is poorly funded.). It is unfortunate that I gradually realize that my current program is not quite the right one for me. It is basically a structuralist linguistics program that focuses on the description of one specific language. I feel that I am more interested in linguistics theory on its own than the linguistics (discourse analysis, functionalist analysis, etc) of a specific language. Fortunately, it is a one-year program, and I cannot wait to finish it! Now, it is time for me to apply to PHD programs back in the U.S. I applied to Rutgers while I was an undergraduate last year (non-linguistics BA), and I was put on a waiting list, and eventually didn't get in. I am planning to reapply to Rutgers linguistics for Fall 2016 Admission this year again. Now, here comes the question of practical concerns. Is there any current Rutgers linguistics PHD students in the forum who can tell me a little bit more about supervision in Rutgers? Are profs. in the department willing to help students to prepare for QPs and diss. beyond the minimal supervision required by departmental regulations? I want to make sure that I am not going to a place where, whenever asking for help or suggestions or comments, students are told that it is the way the program is set up and turned down, and are left alone to self-study for the examinations with nominal and minimal supervision, or imposed teachings that are only remotely relevant to the preparation of QPs, diss., and my own research interest . Thanks!