Linguistics for grad school without a linguistics degree?

[biggspc]

Hi, I'm about to transfer to a new school as a junior undergrad. I've always wanted to take linguistics, but have never had the chance to because my old school didn't offer it. Fortunately my new school does!! If linguistics captures me the way I think it might, how many courses in it would I need to take in order to prepare myself for a masters program.

Btw, My major is a BS in rural sociology Sociology from an Ag school...

[Ergative Avenger]

I have known many non-linguistics undergrads in linguistics grad programs. A lot will depend on the focus you plan to take with linguistics, many subfields of which are interdisciplinary by nature. If you are thinking of getting into, say, sociolinguistics, then there will already be considerable overlap with the work you've done already in sociology, and you could probably get into a master's program with little additional coursework. On the other hand, if you're interested in studying formal syntax at MIT, you will probably want to bolster your credentials in structural linguistics significantly. Those are just two ends of a broad spectrum of possibilities, and you definitely will not hurt your chances by trying to get a broad exposure to the different fields of linguistics. Good luck.