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I did a masters in Germany and applied to US graduate programs afterwards. The central administration of the Germany university would not issue the transcript and send it in a sealed envelope to the US graduate programs, but I found another solution. I had the degree-granting department of the German university issue my transcript. This means that I downloaded the transcript from the web portal, printed it, and brought it to the appropriate department faculty member to sign. Both the Akademisches Auslandsamt and an administrative assistant of the degree-granting department agreed to send it to the US graduate program in a sealed envelope. I brought it to the administrative assistant and she sent it. I was pushing the deadline for two graduate programs (<2 weeks), and so for those I took the sealed envelopes and sent them myself with DHL expedited shipping. Basically, it may be up to you to figure out a way to get the transcript issued and sent in a sealed envelope from the German university to the US graduate program. Another thing to consider: many US universities need to know how much ECTS credit each course you took was worth, so you might make sure this information is discernible on the transcript.

I got the packet for the Study Scholarship in the US today.

I heard from the New York office that my Study Scholarship information packet will be sent out from Bonn tomorrow.

I haven't.

I received the study scholarship to do a master's in linguistics, but I'm still trying to decide where I am going to do it. Either in Potsdam or Dusseldorf, it's looking like. If do end up in Potsdam, I won't really have to look for an apartment, since I was in Berlin last year for a period, and I'd be able to rent the same apartment from a friend if I want to, so I guess I'm lucky in that regard. Shibboleth12, I bet you still need to submit an application. Even if the department in which you're studying would be fine with simply admitting you, I imagine that admission still is determined by the central administration of the university. That's how it is at every university I have looked into. So in order to get registered, I think you simply will have to apply to the university itself. I'd be interested to know how much you guys plan on spending for groceries, and where you will be located?

To those who are attending the institute, how are you choosing your courses? I've been to several summer schools in linguistics and related areas before, but they were of shorter duration, meaning that they seemed more like long presentations than classes, and so I would choose a broad palate of courses rather blithely and just sit, trying to absorb as much as I could, but not really worrying if a thing or two went over my head. The month-long duration of the LSA's institute, however, makes me wonder if I shouldn't change my approach. In particular, I am considering whether to take all my courses in one area, or to take courses in several subfields? I suppose for those who are more advanced in their studies and have already specialized quite narrowly, this is a no-brainer, but I have not specialized so narrowly yet. On the one hand, I am still trying to get exposure to a lot of ideas in disparate areas of linguistics, on the other hand, maybe it would be best to focus on an area I am uncomfortable with and learn it as well as I can for the month. Thoughts?

Shibboleth12, let me know if you find out the answers to any of your questions. I didn't apply to the Fulbright (didn't know I was graduating until November of last year), and I am enrolling in an MA/MSc program, but I do want to know whether we are obliged to attend one of the institutions indicated in the application (the Study Scholarship allows up to three to be indicated) and what the chances are for a second year for those enrolling in a two-year masters program. Also, does anyone know if there are restrictions on accepting a paid TA position at a German university as a secondary source of funding?

Just got an acceptance email. Good luck to the rest, and sorry to those who received other news today. Best of luck!

What are your interests? I have several acquaintances who have studied syntax at Edinburgh, Cambridge, and UCL. They recommended Edinburgh and UCL highly for syntax. Three is quite a small sample size, though, so do take that into account and seek out more opinions. Good luck.

Same here. Have you thought any about housing? I'll be keeping an eye peeled for sublet opportunities, since the $48 per day minimum for the university housing is pretty unappealing, particularly since I'll be coming from a college town where I pay $450 per month for my own one-room apartment.

Just got the results back and found that I got accepted. Does anyone know if the Bloch fellowship has been announced too? I applied for that in addition to the standard fellowship, but the email I received had nothing to say about it.

Hanuta, that's good to hear that last year's announcement was in the first week of March. Before I found this thread, I figured it would surely be in April that we got notice. Good luck to you all. I'll be sure to post back here once I receive word.

I am not the best person to ask, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I have had some interaction with graduate students and researchers in Europe. What follows are my impressions. There are a number of good universities in Germany. I studied for a semester at the Humboldt University of Berlin. In my experience, the faculty is willing to help and engage in discussion, even with students who aren't in their courses. The University of Potsdam has also been recommended to me. Though I have not had direct experience with the faculty there, I understand their focus to be rather experimental. If you are proficient in German, these may be places to consider. The Amsterdam area is also well-regarded. The University of Amsterdam is among the best institutions for the study of logic, and so for the more logically inclined student of semantics and pragmatics, this might be a good place. From my interaction with researchers and graduate students, I gather that the area has a very vibrant linguistics community. Leiden University might be a good place to look into. The University of Edinburgh has been recommended to me by graduate students of syntax from the UK. I don't know much about it, however. Hopefully this gives you some ideas.

Here are a few suggestions of things you might consider doing. 1. Study abroad - Figure out which institutions abroad your university has exchange programs with. Study there for a semester or two. Try to make connections while you are there and impress faculty members. Attend workshops and lectures. Many universities western Europe have good linguistics departments and active research communities. 2. Attend summer schools - The biannual LSA Summer Institute is in Michigan this summer, which is one month of instruction. (By the way: does anyone know if NASSLLI is happening this summer? From the utter lack of web presence I infer that the answer is possibly no.) 3. Look at faculty web pages - linguists at your institution might be hiding in other departments. Possibilities include the psychology, computer science, and philosophy departments. They might supervise an independent study, a thesis, etc., 4. Volunteer in a psychology/neuroscience lab - This of course requires you to have acquired enough background to be considered as an applicant, but even if the lab's research is not on language processing or acquisition, getting familiar with experimental techniques such as EEG and fMRI would potentially be useful, depending upon what research interests you develop. 5. Take useful courses - Your university may not have linguistics courses, but that doesn't mean the courses aren't valuable whatsoever. Computer science (and programming) has a range of applications in linguistics, not only in NLP. Classes on formal logic, abstract algebra, and proof theory would be useful for formal semantics. Knowledge of linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and computer science is useful for cognitive science in general, including theoretical linguistics. The psychology and biology departments likely have courses which bear on psycho- and neurolinguistics.

As regards an introduction to generative syntax proper, I'm not sure if there is a consensus as to which textbook is best. There are a lot of them. Maybe someone else here has an opinion and can recommend one of them. Alternatively, I can send you some introductory resources for syntax such as survey papers and slides, if you want. Just PM me. It would probably be best that you come to understand the basics of syntax (phrase-structure and transformations) before covering the specific topics covered in the books below. The following two books are able to be read without prior knowledge, but as both of these deal with topics that are somewhat semantic, they probably should be read after the reader already has an understanding of syntax more narrowly construed. Binding Theory by Daniel Buering Semantics in Generative Grammar by Heim & Kratzer Heim & Kratzer is probably the standard introduction to Montague-like semantics for natural language applied to generative grammar. Chierchia has one that is also well-regarded, but more situated in formal semantics and philosophy of language than this one, so the syntactician probably prefers this one. The following book is an introduction to minimalist syntax, but it demands some knowledge of government and binding theory. Understanding Minimalism by Hornstein et al.