2009 LSA Summer Institute at UC Berkeley

[paigemont]

Anybody here planning to attend the summer institute this year in Berkeley? If so, what courses will you take? I'm just finishing up my undergraduate degree at Berkeley, so I'll just stay here an extra month or two for some classes before moving far away. Hopefully I'll meet some of you guys here .

http://lsa2009.berkeley.edu/

[psycholinguist]

I'd love to - just looking at the list of courses being offered and the people teaching them is making me salivate - but I don't know if I'd be able to afford it in terms of either money or time. But we'll see!

(In the meantime, do tell us what you're thinking of taking! * grins *)

[pangur-ban]

I'm applying for a scholarship, and in the unlikely chance that I get one, I'll go, and if not, I might go to one part. I'd be taking all the historical/I-E linguistics courses...

[paigemont]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the courses I would take. Semantics (Barker), syntax of argument structure (Van Valin Jr.), lexical semantics of verbs (Levin), deixis and indexicality (Hanks), usage effects in phonology and morphology (Hay), and the experimental semantics course (Matlock) all jump out at me. Not to mention about 75% of the rest of them. Shame we can only take four.

I wish someone would teach a course with a focus on Caucasian languages, though. Maybe that'll be me someday...

Also, it just occurred to me -- if I'm graduating, I will probably have to pay the non-UC student fees. Looks like I should start preparing application materials for a fellowship again. Argh.

And, congrats on UCSD psycholing. I'm jealous. I thought UCSD was my safety school, but it was the first and fiercest to reject me.

[nocturne]

Also, it just occurred to me -- if I'm graduating, I will probably have to pay the non-UC student fees. Looks like I should start preparing application materials for a fellowship again. Argh.

I was looking at the site, and it appears that people not in a degree program (affiliates) actually have it a little cheaper ($1200 for six weeks).

I so wish I could go to that, but I won't have the money, and will hopefully be moving this summer if I get in somewhere. Maybe next year.

The four courses that most appeal to me are:

Lexical semantics of verbs

Word classes

Morphological theory

Deixis and indexicality

[psycholinguist]

And, congrats on UCSD psycholing. I'm jealous. I thought UCSD was my safety school, but it was the first and fiercest to reject me.

Thanks! I'm really sorry for the jealousy - and for the unpleasant rejection!

I was in a similar situation for my undergrad applications; I thought getting into Extremely Exclusive College would be really unlikely, Very Exclusive College tricky but not impossible, and Pretty Exclusive Little College easy as 3.141519. And what happened? I got into the first two and not the third (ended up going with Very). Admissions always seems full of surprises, doesn't it?

[ConceptualMetaphor]

Hey guys, maybe you can help me out here. I'm trying to figure out if I should register as a student or an affiliate; I graduate from my undergrad in May and don't know yet where I'll be going for grad school in the fall, so technically I'm not a student this summer. There's a good chance I'll be going to a UC come August and the UC student prices actually cost more than for non-UC students. Weird. :? And the affiliate cost is much cheaper than student tuition! So does it really matter which I register as? I've never been to the LSA Institute before so I'm not sure how this all works...thanks!

[pangur-ban]

I think the main difference is that you won't get any credit for the courses if you're there as an affiliate, but your fees go to fund fellowships for other students. I don't think there'd be anything wrong with going as an affiliate.

I was wondering if anyone else knew for certain they were going and had any ideas about housing?

[barredell]

I am definitely going (they're announcing fellowships by email, by the by. Like everything else this year, I know the number of fellowships being offered is smaller than usual (around 30 out of 240 applicants?) because they just weren't getting enough affiliates paying full ticket price.

Still not sure about housing. I was thinking about trying the international student house because it sounds more interesting than the normal dorms but I like stability (so don't want to wait to craigslist something). The co-op housing option looks nice, too. Hopefully there are still rooms available - I had forgotten completely that I'll have to live somewhere while I'm there!

[ConceptualMetaphor]

Yeah, I'm not sure if any of the schools I'm deciding on would even let me use those 5 credits. I'll have to think about it.

As for housing, I'm probably going to get a summer sublet in one of the shared houses near Berkeley; one of my friends is also going so we're hoping to get something together. I think it'll be a bit nicer than staying in the dorms and a bit cheaper too. Only problem is people don't list their sublets on craigslist until a month or two in advance...