Hi all!
Just registered here, so I"ll introduce myself. My name is Molly and I'm hoping to apply for general linguistics PhD programs this coming fall, 2017.
I graduated from Williams in 2014 and did a sort of "create-your-own" major within the liberal arts curriculum. Williams lost its linguistics department right before I matriculated, so I ended up combining classes in cogsci, computer science, English lit, philosophy, German and Arabic to approximate a linguistics major. It was somewhat of a survey of theories of language across disciplines. I was able to take one introductory ling class at Williams (and actually became the TA for it) and then took a few masters-level ling classes when I studied abroad in Dublin. My GPA hovers around a 3.5, but is higher in junior/senior year and within my major.
Now I'm hoping to study theoretical/generative linguistics, syntax, psycholinguistics and rhetoric. I've been aware for a while that I'll probably have to be ready to defend my readiness for a PhD given this self-designed major. This I plan to accomplish by preparing a killer statement of purpose and writing sample. My main concern is the writing sample. Coming from a liberal arts background, especially with no linguistics department, I had very little opportunity to do any serious research. My best papers from undergrad are theoretical explorations from English/philosophy, and don't have solid research underpinnings. I have a few linguistics papers from my time abroad, but they're nowhere near the quality of my papers done at my home school. I feel overwhelmed at the prospect of attempting a linguistics research paper on my own. Given my background, do you think it will be important for me to demonstrate my ability to do research by writing a new paper, or do you think it would be OK to rework a more theoretical paper I did in undergrad?
Thanks so much!