calire89

Ooh, that's awesome! I live in Phoenix, so it might be worth looking into ASU's linguistics program and see if they provide any funding. I didn't consider that before, because their program isn't particularly prestigious, but I've realized that since I want to go into the private sector, prestige might not matter as much as I think it does. What do you think?

I'm here to update... I just got accepted to University of Colorado at Boulder's MA program! Unfortunately, the funding for Master's students just sucks, so no funding, but I may defer until next year so I can make some more money! I love their program, in any case.

Okay, my favorite (not): "But what are you going to DO with that?!" My mother [the MD] must have asked - in a sad, bewildered tone - at least 20 times so far.

Is it bad that I've never been irritated by this question? I totally love learning new languages, and I don't mind telling people about the ones I've made progress on... ? I realize that languages =/= linguistics, so maybe I should be lecturing them instead!

I would agree that Arabic would probably be more useful in terms of understanding warfare in countries around the world, which might help if you end up becoming more interested in another region or just want to make useful comparisons between regions. Because Islam was spread so aggressively throughout Africa, you'd be able to find quite a few countries in which Arabic has been/is still spoken.

It depends on your reasons for going into computer science in the first place, I guess. Do you like the idea/act of programming itself? If so, you might be interested in computational linguistics. I don't know much about it (just what I could learn from an introductory linguistics course - my field is sociolinguistics), but basically it involves the systematic understanding of a language through statistical and data analysis. I would definitely say that would be a great transition if you do like the programming side, since computational linguistics requires a lot of that. On the other hand, if you went into computer science because it's "practical," you might find anything about linguistics intriguing, depending on your personality. I suggest that you take an introductory linguistics course - Rio Salado has a good one online, with self-paced assignment dates and helpful teachers - to find out more about the field in general and see what pops out at you.

I'm not actually sure yet... it's really a very individual decision. Both Indiana and Florida have fantastic programs for my research interests.

Hi, everyone! My name is Claire. I wanted to join the topic because I've been going through the grad school application process and wanted to commiserate/celebrate with others! So far I've been accepted to Indiana University (MA), University of Florida (MA), and rejected from University of Chicago (PhD - though interestingly, my application was forwarded to the MAPSS program, and they accepted me) and New York University, the latter of which is okay because we weren't a great match. I am bummed about U of C, though - I was so excited about their program. I'm hoping I can re-apply after I get an MA, since I would love to work with several of the professors there.

I had the exact same situation - rejected from anthropoloy PhD, but accepted to MAPSS. Since I'm interested in linguistic anthropology, I'll have to discuss with them whether the program is a good choice, but I definitely think it is.