humidz

Linguistics is a small field where people actually take the time to read your sample writing. So if you feel yours is strong, you are certain about your LORs, and you can make a convincing point in your SOP, the other things don't matter much. Many people in linguistics don't have a CV that clearly focused on the field from the start and that's fine. We need different research perspectives. Can't help you much regarding SLA, as that is a field that is occasionally closer to Psych than Ling, but in general, I'd recommend working on your sample writing. The rest will fall into place. Lots of people apply in the last MA year, that's quite normal. Good luck!

It depends on the place, most do it by subfield with some time difference, and things can be spread out over at least a week easily. They also might have an internal wait-list etc. Don't lose hope yet. Rejection letters are sent out pretty late by most places, however.

You already have an offer in hand, for a PhD position. That probably means nobody will ever care about a grade you got during your MA again. I have a D in my MA transcript, it didn't stop me from getting into all the grad schools I applied to. People in linguistics (rightfully) don't care as much about grades as they do in other fields, they care about sample writings & letters of recommendation, so focus on those, and just silently say "fuck it" to teachers who might treat you unfairly. Don't let them be more important than they have to be, and pick only those fights worth picking.

If you don't need funding: Consider coming to Europe. Tuitiion is often free or close to free, & applications to MA programs are often only competitive in principle, i.e. they let most people in that do qualify as per their field. Of course it varies and would require you to do a fair amount of research on the individual programs.

Your sample writing should provide evidence not of your general knowledge (that's what the transcript & the CV are for), but of your ability to do research. It sounds like you have a lengthy list of problems for machine translations. If you feel like you already have some ability to do so, my advice would be to look for whatever seems to be the most interesting one, to describe that problem in detail and to try developing a solution. Generally, "languages that I know" does not make for a well justified sample, so unless there is sth specific to the language comparison that is interesting in itself, I'd recommend focusing on one language.

That's why he said "defer". A lot of places are okay with extending your offer to next year. Asking about that possibility definitely can't hurt, it can only make you see your actual options more clearly.

Did you ask Georgetown about the funding situation then? It surely can't hurt to tell them you have another offer, either. In fact, some of the programs that have accepted me asked if I received other offers and said they might try to match them.

I'd say it is very unlikely to have positive impact. I doubt people are actually that cynical, but from the objective perspective of the department, they should be happy to not give you any money if you are willing to go there without any. It surely can't hurt to politely ask them about the funding situation though. I would generally advise against going to any program without funding. It's probably not going to be a great thing on your CV - it might look like you went to a program not based so much on your merits, but on your financial abilities to pay for yourself. You'll definitely look like a second class student.

If the only thing you like better about Oxford is its reputation, go to Leiden. Oxford may have a great reputation in general, but in small fields like linguistics, the relevant reputation is that of the department & individuals, not that of the university as a whole - and personally I don't think Oxford stands out in that regard.

The program's in English though. I mean.. if you want to start this year, it's too late anyway. They do start in April though, so you could in principle apply for spring 2017. Let me know if you have any questions. https://igra.philol.uni-leipzig.de/en/homepage/

If you want to do OT Syntax, you might want to consider Leipzig in Germany; they have a pretty good grad school, and Gereon Müller & Fabian Heck both have lots of love for OT Syntax.

I wouldn't make too much out of GRE scores. I got 162/157, but only 3.5 in my analytical writing, and I got into 3 out of 4 programs I applied to; not so much because of grades, but because my research/research interests (sample writing, SOP etc) aligned well with the three departments that I got into. You're able to make a convincing point about your interests, that's important. Linguistics is a small field, try finding opportunities to get in touch with people you might want to work with: Summer Schools, Conferences, or sending people emails with questions about their research (if they're interesting questions, most people will appreciate them). What strikes me as problematic, at first sight, is the fact that you "want to be able to work in linguistics", as opposed to already being able to do so. You do, however, have an alternative skill set - if you do apply, you need to stress how that is useful for what you plan to do and how it relates to what the people you want to work with are doing. Don't stick to only the big-picture questions.