I am an undergraduate sophomore at a "Big Ten" state university. Unfortunately, my university doesn't have a linguistics program. When I first resolved to study linguistics about three years ago, my interests lay in historical linguistics and language documentation. This changed when I began to sink my teeth further into the more theoretical domains. For some time now this has been my chief area of interest. Is it possible for me to get into a top linguistics program with formal preparation in areas only tangentially related to theoretical linguistics proper? This is me in a nutshell:
Majors: German, Russian, Latin
Minors: Spanish, Mathematics
Current GPA: 3.95
University Honors Program
Dean's List every semester so far
Mathematics minor means that I have taken the full calculus sequence but no upper level math.
I will have completed two courses in formal logic.
This semester I began a systematic reading of the linguistics literature. This self education will not be manifest in my transcripts, naturally. Rather, I hope that my success in the endeavor is evident in my undergraduate thesis (see directly below).
I am in the University Honors Program, meaning that I will produce a thesis before graduation. I intend to use this as an opportunity to attempt original linguistics research (and hopefully not embarrass myself too much).
I will have studied classics for a semester at the Humboldt University of Berlin and possibly for an academic year in Russia.
I am also acquainted with Coptic and Ancient Greek.
As you can see, the track that I set out on my freshman year is perhaps more characteristic of a student preparing for graduate work with a historical linguistics specialization. It's only in an ad hoc manner that I've added the mathematics, logic, and (maybe) computer science courses that I feel demonstrate the critical thinking skills that such programs value. Please be honest with me and tell me what you really think about my chances at getting into a good program with a theoretical focus.
