itaal

I think NYU started interviews last year. At least everyone I know who were accepted or wait-listed were also interviewed. But that might change this year.

Besides Boberg, McGill has a few other phonologists/phoneticians: Goad (phonology, language acquisition), Wagner (phonology, esp. prosody, syntax/semantics-phonology interface), Clayards (phonetics) and also Piggott (phonology), who retired a couple years ago but is still involved in the department's research. It's true that currently McGill is stronger in syntax and semantics but the department's focus is not biased towards that. They're actually hiring one more phonologist. Also, since the department has strong interests in interface issues, both syntax-semantics and syntax-phonology interfaces, cross-field collaborations are very common. However, I wouldn't recommend someone apply to McGill if he focuses more on sociolinguistics and phonetics, unless his interests match with Boberg's very closely.

Where you're going makes a big difference. I do field work on an indigenous language of Taiwan, but it only takes me 2 hours to drive to my consultant's house from home. And even though the tribe's in a mountain, it's all very modern there. I only need to bring things you would have for a short trip. As for the tools, I'm sure there's a few things, e.g. archiving programs, that field workers in your field typically use (e.g. Toolbox and LexiquePro for linguists). These tools are very helpful. They can make the whole process more systematic and efficient, so you might want to consult more experienced researchers in your field about this. I also have a digital recorder and a microphone like this (http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-145037-ME-51S-Stereo-Microphone/dp/B000BTAH62) to enhance the recording quality. And I always bring an external hard drive so I can back up the recordings everyday.

I'm also having the same problem. I don't want to rent a place without visiting it in person but I'll have at most 3 weeks to find a place before Sep. 1st. Living in a dorm seems to be a much easier option except that I don't feel like staying on campus all day . One of the grad students in my department told me that if I want to live off-campus, the easiest way might be to ask if any other students in the department, especially the first-years are also looking for roommates or have a place for rent. As for how competitive it is to get MIT on-campus housing, the people I asked told me that they didn't know any first-years who applied and didn't get one. And the rent includes all utilities and internet, so although it's not cheaper than off-campus housing, it's not much expensive either. (The studios seem to be cheaper than the off-campus options.)

McGill does have a strong preference for admitting students directly into the PhD program. They actually lose money every time they take in an MA student. I'm not sure about recommending a socioling person apply to the program though. The program has a strong focus on theoretical linguistics with a few people specializing in (second) language acquisition and neurolinguistics. But even these people were trained in theoretical linguistics and their work is often based on formal linguistic theories. A student with little interest in formal linguistics might find the first year painful. And s/he probably won't have many peers working in the same area. I actually felt the socioling prof is a bit isolated from the rest of the faculty in the department. They all get along very well. It's just other people often work together on something, but he seems to be on his own most of the time. (That's just the impression I got. I've never taken a course with him.)

She's in 3464 Hutchison. It's a tiny furnished studio. There was a hole in her desk and she said there was some problem with the windows in the beginning. It's in the McGill ghetto and is about 5-7 min walk from the campus, but there's a lot of studios in this area. You can easily get one at $600-700 (utilities included) that is much better than this one. I don't know about other graduate housing options, but it's more common for McGill students, undergrads included (except for freshmen) to live off-campus because of the very affordable rent and the good public transportation.

I've been checking out MIT graduate housing options and off-campus housing in Cambridge, but still can't decide if I want to stay on or off campus. I find living on campus a bit constricting, but since I'm an international student, I can't arrive until early-mid August and will have at most 3 weeks to look for an apartment. There's also an issue of finding roommates. A few people told me that it's hard to get a place at a price lower than the dorms. From what I've gathered so far about living in Cambridge/Somerville, if I share a 2-3 bedroom with other people, $800-900/month seems doable. On the other hand, a studio in the dorms costs $1155/month and for a 2-bedroom and a 3-bedroom, it's around $1000 and $850 respectively. So the on-campus housing options don't seem to be much cheaper, even if I include all the utility fees. Is MIT graduate housing worth the money? Also, how hard is it to find a decent enough apartment within 3 weeks?

I did my undergraduate degree at McGill (with a major in Linguistics). McGill does not offer many on-campus housing options because it's located right in the downtown area with Mount Royal as its backyard. There isn't that much space left. However, housing in Montreal is very affordable, compared to many North American cities. I used to pay $600 (all utilities included) for a quite spacious studio only 10 min walk away from the campus. It's not hard to find a studio (or 1 1/2 in the local terms) like this around McGill. You can save more if you share a 2-3 bedroom with other people. McGill does have some graduate housing around the campus, but I don't recommend it at all. A friend of mine stayed at one of these places. It looked shabby and the rent was $700. Totally not worth it. As for the neighbourhoods, within 5-10 min walk from the campus, there's what students call "McGill ghetto" to the east, where a lot of undergraduates stay at. To the west, there's more of a mix of McGill and Concordia students. Many students choose to live a bit further away, e.g. the Plateau or Mile End. You get more of the local atmosphere in these areas. My friends who lived in 2-3 bedroom apartments in these places paid around $300-500 per month. Buses run on Ave. Parc regularly and frequently, so it's easy to commute between the campus and Plateau/ Mile End. Many of my friends who are from Montreal live in NDG or Westmount, both are anglophone areas (the latter is a wealthy residential area). Besides Kijiji, Craiglist Montreal and the McGill classified ads are good sources for apartment hunting, too. And one peculiar thing about Montreal is that most leases start on July 1st. It's the city's moving day (coincidentally also the Canada Day). McGill ghetto is an exception to this, but most places do follow this rule, so it's more expensive to rent a U-Haul van or something like that during that time.

I don't do SLA myself. I've only taken a course related to that at McGill. The department of linguistics at McGill would be a great place to go if you're interested in SLA. Lydia White specializes in L2 acquisition of syntax and Heather Goad also works on (L2) acquisition of phonology. Not to mention both of them are very nice. A few students work on related topics, e.g. L2 acquisition of stress. The department also collaborates frequently with the department of psychology and the school of communication sciences here. If you're also interested in neurolinguistics, there's Grodzinsky and a few neuropsychologists in the MNI (although some of them work more on aphasia). It's a very vibrant community.

One thing about UCSC is that they very rarely take international students. I heard the last time they admitted an international student was already 3 or 4 years ago. They just don't have money.

Last time a prof from McGill talked to me about this, they were already meeting to make decisions. That was mid-February, so I'd guess they've probably sent out all the admissions already. But maybe you're on the wait list?

Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a while and finally registered just now so I can post something. I applied to 4 schools and have been accepted to MIT, UMass-Amherst, UCLA and got wait-listed for NYU. I'm quite sure where I'll be heading, but just want to think more about it before I decide. (I can't visit any of the schools as I'm working full-time in Taiwan.) One thing I'm not sure about is whether I can live in Boston or LA just on the stipend. (Northampton/Amherst should be no problem, I guess.) MIT hasn't given me the specifics about funding but I'd guess it'll be in the same range as the other two (20-25K /year). I lived in Montreal, which even though being a big city, has very low rent, so my experience doesn't really help here. Any advice on this? Thanks!