info on grad programs in computational linguistics

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I just thought I would share my findings with anyone who may find this useful. Also, if anyone has any additional information I would appreciate it. I'm interested in enrolling in a MS/MA program in comp ling. I searched 155 schools in the US that offer any sort of linguistics and narrowed it down to programs with comp ling. Some only accept PhD applicants, some only award certificates, and only a small few (8 to be exact) offer an MS/MA. Here is what I found: 

 

MS programs: 

1. U of Washington (Seattle campus): very good looking program, only takes one year to complete, is a professional MS in comp ling degree, the most detailed website by far out of any school, it seems they may offer a one-third tuition scholarship, some computer programming knowledge required, easily my top choice. 

 

2. Syracuse: nice looking program, a few math/logic classes that I find interesting, two years to complete, I talked to a faculty member and was told there is no funding. 

 

3. Georgetown: looks like one of the best programs out, offers a PhD or MS, very good course listings, website says they do not fund MS students. 

 

4. Arizona (Tucson campus): MS in Human Language Technology, PhD in comp ling. 

 

MA programs: 

1. Stanford: I'm not positive if they accept MA students but it appears they do, they offer a PhD as well, very good looking program, still waiting on word about funding. 

 

2. CUNY Graduate School (Manhattan): looks like a pretty good program, they also offer a PhD it seems, no computer science background needed, I talked to a faculty member and was told they do not offer funding to MA students. 

 

3. Indiana (Bloomington campus): PhD and MA, it appears they accept MA applicants, I still don't know about funding, I just found out about them yesterday. 

 

4. Texas (Austin campus): PhD and MA, they accept MA students, not positive about funding but I remember seeing something on their website mentioning assistantships. 

 

5. Brandeis (about 10 years from Boston): looks like a really good program, I think the highest degree they offer in comp ling is an MA, their website says the average funding per student is 50%. 

 

Certificates only: 

1. San Jose State: Offer a comp ling grad certificate that can be paired with an MA in linguistics. 

 

2. San Diego State: Comp ling grad cert can be paired with linguistics MA, certificate is four 3-credit classes. 

 

3. Montclair State (Montclair, New Jersey): Comp ling certificate can be paired with linguistics MA, but the classes must be taken in addition to the required classes for the linguistics MA. 

 

4. Colorado (Boulder campus): Certificate in Human Language Technology can be paired with linguistics MA or other MS/MAs, such as computer science. 

 

5. Eastern Michigan (in Detroit): Certificate in Language Technology can be paired with linguistics MA. 

 

PhDs only: 

1. UCLA

2. UC San Diego

3. UC Santa Barbara

4. Delaware (also have MA in cognitive science) 

5. Maryland-College Park

6. Michigan-Ann Arbor 

7. Minnesota-Twin Cities (seems to have a number of comp ling classes) 

8. Cornell

9. NYU (a good amount of comp ling classes) 

10. Ohio State 

11. Penn 

 

Other schools have a few comp ling classes but not a significant enough amount for me to mention. Schools like Carnegie-Mellon and USC have a lot of computer science degrees related to human language but not specifically comp ling degrees. 

 

 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I have some more info on the 5 certificate programs I've listed above. Typically, as is the case with Montclair State, a certificate program is a one-year intensive program, consisting of usually 6 comp ling classes, with the purpose of getting students caught up with the computer science aspects of comp ling. If you were to pair the certificate with the MA, you could still complete them both in the traditional two years since 5 of the 6 classes that count toward the certificate count toward the 12 classes needed for the MA. Plus, you can shape your thesis around comp ling. 

[Snuffleupagus]

I have some info on SDSU, PM me if you have questions  

[hoviariel]

So.... Any updates on the funding options for the MAs?

[hoviariel]

This helped me if anyone's interested: http://www.linguisticsociety.org/programs

[nalva]

Hi, I just came across your post about Comp Lin and I found it very helpful. I'm planning on applying next year to UW, since you mentioned that it only takes 1 year to complete and I can do it online (although I don't know how am I going to afford it). Yes, it is by far the most detailed website that I've found, and trust me, I've done my research. I have a BA in English from Florida International University (FIU) and I'm very interested on pursuing some sort of a Master Degree in Linguistics (which I love) and I think that computational Linguistics sounds very rewarding. Any other suggestions for me? Any other school/program that you know of ? Did do complete the program online as well? To many questions, I know...

Thank you so much in advance for any info that you can provide me with...

Best regards

nalva

Edited June 6, 2014 by nalva

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Hey nalva,

I lived in Miami for the past 6 years so I know FIU well. I'm starting UW this upcoming fall. I'll be doing the program in Seattle. I have the GI Bill so it's free for me. But it can be pretty expensive. The good news is since it's only a year you're paying less in total than a two year program.

Speaking of that, it only takes one year to complete because it assumes a lot of incoming knowledge, much more than any other comp ling program I've seen. I don't know how much math or computer science knowledge you already have but you can't come into the program without any. I only got a minor in computer science but a lot of people go into the program with a bachelor's in computer science. I had to teach myself a lot of stuff that the minor didn't cover.

Here's how the program works:

After getting accepted you have to take a placement test. It's actually a few months after getting accepted so you'll have time to study. But this isn't stuff that you can't just teach to yourself in a week. There are four parts to the placement test. Each part is a 90 minute test and you can take each test at different times.

Part 1 covers formal language theory. This contains regular/context-free/recursive languages, expressions, grammars, automata, complexity theory, etc.

Part 2 covers probability and statistics for computer science. This is calculus- based probability so it's upper-division level math that you'd take after differential and integral calculus. Some should would call this stochastic models. It also requires knowledge of discrete math such as combinatorial questions.

Part 3 covers miscellaneous questions in Unix, linguistics, and data structures. Unix is the commands you would need to know to sort through files in directories and perform operations. Linguistics is focused mainly on the syntax side and drawing parser trees. Data structures is probably advanced data structures questions and run time.

Part 4 covers programming. This is to see how well you can code. Any language of your choice. It gives you various problems and you write the code in their compiler.

After you take each test it'll tell you your results. If you pass all four parts you'll be able to complete the program in a year. If you do okay on the tests but not great you'll have to take a refresher course over the summer. But if you do poorly you'll have to take prerequisites before beginning the program and the program will take you more than a year to finish.

If you have little or no math or programming experience you'd be better off taking the prerequisites at FIU. It'll be much cheaper. I came in with no experience and spent the last year and a half taking the pre reqs at my undergrad university.

[cotterw]

I don't know a great deal about the HLT program at AZ or specifically the PhD in comp ling there, but I'm an incoming Anth/Linguistics phd student there and the department as a whole, I have to say seems really great. I specifically remember meeting the faculty member who is in charge of the HLT program during my campus visit and he's a great guy, the rest of the faculty I met with were all top notch. I'm not sure that they fund the HLT masters, they probably don't or you'd be low on the funding list. Their PhD funding is a little confusing but it's pretty decent for Tucson, which has a low cost of living. Every one of the prospective students that came to the visit weekend that I was in contact with said they were incredibly impressed with the Linguistics dept there, even if they ended up deciding to go somewhere. It's a really solid/welcoming dept. 

[Yuanyuan]

Hi, 

 

I have been reading this page since I started my application.

 

I have now been admitted to Syracuse, Brandeis and Georgetown. Cannot really decide which one to go.

 

Can you give me some advise?

[lingua_ex_machina]

On June 7, 2014 at 6:03 AM, Guest Gnome Chomsky said:

Hey nalva,

 

I lived in Miami for the past 6 years so I know FIU well. I'm starting UW this upcoming fall. I'll be doing the program in Seattle. I have the GI Bill so it's free for me. But it can be pretty expensive. The good news is since it's only a year you're paying less in total than a two year program.

 

Speaking of that, it only takes one year to complete because it assumes a lot of incoming knowledge, much more than any other comp ling program I've seen. I don't know how much math or computer science knowledge you already have but you can't come into the program without any. I only got a minor in computer science but a lot of people go into the program with a bachelor's in computer science. I had to teach myself a lot of stuff that the minor didn't cover.

 

Here's how the program works:

 

After getting accepted you have to take a placement test. It's actually a few months after getting accepted so you'll have time to study. But this isn't stuff that you can't just teach to yourself in a week. There are four parts to the placement test. Each part is a 90 minute test and you can take each test at different times.

 

Part 1 covers formal language theory. This contains regular/context-free/recursive languages, expressions, grammars, automata, complexity theory, etc.

 

Part 2 covers probability and statistics for computer science. This is calculus- based probability so it's upper-division level math that you'd take after differential and integral calculus. Some should would call this stochastic models. It also requires knowledge of discrete math such as combinatorial questions.

 

Part 3 covers miscellaneous questions in Unix, linguistics, and data structures. Unix is the commands you would need to know to sort through files in directories and perform operations. Linguistics is focused mainly on the syntax side and drawing parser trees. Data structures is probably advanced data structures questions and run time.

 

Part 4 covers programming. This is to see how well you can code. Any language of your choice. It gives you various problems and you write the code in their compiler.

 

After you take each test it'll tell you your results. If you pass all four parts you'll be able to complete the program in a year. If you do okay on the tests but not great you'll have to take a refresher course over the summer. But if you do poorly you'll have to take prerequisites before beginning the program and the program will take you more than a year to finish.

 

If you have little or no math or programming experience you'd be better off taking the prerequisites at FIU. It'll be much cheaper. I came in with no experience and spent the last year and a half taking the pre reqs at my undergrad university.

Any updates? Either way, this was really useful to me, as it made me understand that if you're not necessarily ready from the technical side of things, that they will simply place you accordingly to catch you up.

[PhDregret]

Thanks for this great info! I am really interested in doing a certificate in computational linguistics (and maybe even an MS), but I can't find any that are completely online. I know the UW Master's can be done online, but I have no math background and only recently started learning to program in Python so I would need to take several courses before I would even be considered. I'm actually most interested in corpus linguistics and its applications to teaching foreign languages and materials design, but I can't find any programs specifically for that - though I am only looking in the US for now.

 

[nickcsd]

I'm a current undergrad student hoping to do a master's in computational linguistics/NLP. The more I read about it, the more I'm drawn to the University of Washington's MS program, but I'm rather worried because my GPA isn't great... around 3.3 at McGill University in a cognitive science program (though McGill has no cognitive science courses, so a majority of the courses I've taken for the 54-credit program have been in linguistics and computer science). However, that also includes six semesters of Arabic courses, in which I did quite well; if you drop those and look only at the linguistics and computer science courses, the average is closer to 3.0.

Am I crazy even to be thinking of applying to this program? How about the other programs (either MS/MA)? It's very difficult to find information on what sorts of applicants get accepted... Also, in the case that this isn't really a possibility for me right out of undergrad, what sorts of steps might I be looking at taking in order to strengthen my application with an eye to getting accepted the following year? Or, for that matter, what steps should I consider taking now in order to make the most of this upcoming year, my last of undergrad, in order to improve my chances the first time around?

[historicallinguist]

On May 20, 2016 at 2:05 AM, nickcsd said:

I'm a current undergrad student hoping to do a master's in computational linguistics/NLP. The more I read about it, the more I'm drawn to the University of Washington's MS program, but I'm rather worried because my GPA isn't great... around 3.3 at McGill University in a cognitive science program (though McGill has no cognitive science courses, so a majority of the courses I've taken for the 54-credit program have been in linguistics and computer science). However, that also includes six semesters of Arabic courses, in which I did quite well; if you drop those and look only at the linguistics and computer science courses, the average is closer to 3.0.

Am I crazy even to be thinking of applying to this program? How about the other programs (either MS/MA)? It's very difficult to find information on what sorts of applicants get accepted... Also, in the case that this isn't really a possibility for me right out of undergrad, what sorts of steps might I be looking at taking in order to strengthen my application with an eye to getting accepted the following year? Or, for that matter, what steps should I consider taking now in order to make the most of this upcoming year, my last of undergrad, in order to improve my chances the first time around?

You said the average is closer to 3.0, if looking at only linguistics and computer science courses. Do you mean that if including everything on the transcript, the cumulative GPA is below 3.0? If that is the case, I would suggest that you try everything you can to make sure that your cumulative GPA above 3.0, because 3.0 is like a threshold, and it is VERY IMPORTANT that you have a GPA higher than that.(it is a necessary but not sufficient condition though. If higher than that, no guarantee for admission. If lower than that, unlikely to get admission unless you have something else that makes you an exceptional candidate, e.g. some journal articles published in Language. 

That said, because McGill's linguistics program is one of the best in the world, if you could get some letters of recommendation from some people from the linguistics department at McGill, and if the letters from these people are positive, it may be possible that your low GPA will be substantially boasted by the letters from these well-known people, and therefore you may still be admitted with a below-threshold GPA. As far as I know, most of the profs. at McGill's linguistics department are exceptionally wonderful people both in terms of their qualification and the quality of the papers they published. I would suggest you to take full advantage of this precious human (and academic) resources available to you.

You said you a in a cognitive science program but there is no cognitive science courses for your program at McGill. I am a bit confused by this. What do you mean? How could there be a program without courses within the program?

The Arabic courses you mentioned were not particularly relevant in this case. When you do write your statement, the emphasis should be placed on theoretical linguistics and computer sciences, not specific languages. After all, the pedagogical grammars of Arabic you studied in the past have very little, if anything, to do with the generative grammar, and formal theory of language (and programming language) you will be concentrating on when you are in the MS program at UW in the future. 

 

[gulabjamun]

Buffalo and Rochester offer MS degrees too. Colorado-Boulder has recently approved one so I'm guessing they'll start it next year. 
I'm a recent mechanical engineering graduate in India currently working in data science, and I'm very interested in MS computational linguistics programmes. I'm considering most of the universities mentioned here. I don't really have much experience in linguistics, apart from self-study and a couple of MOOCs. Apart from English, I know three Indian languages and three foreign languages, two at intermediate and one at elementary level. I have studied some programming and am learning to do it well for my job. I have good GRE scores (all above the 90th percentile) and a decent GPA (>8/10) in my degree, if that counts. If there is anyone here from a non-CS, non-ling background who is applying to/has applied to/is studying in computational linguistics programmes, or anyone who knows about it, please do tell us about your experience! I'd like to know if I stand a chance here.

Edited June 30, 2016 by gulabjamun

[historicallinguist]

On June 30, 2016 at 10:53 AM, gulabjamun said:

Buffalo and Rochester offer MS degrees too. Colorado-Boulder has recently approved one so I'm guessing they'll start it next year. 
I'm a recent mechanical engineering graduate in India currently working in data science, and I'm very interested in MS computational linguistics programmes. I'm considering most of the universities mentioned here. I don't really have much experience in linguistics, apart from self-study and a couple of MOOCs. Apart from English, I know three Indian languages and three foreign languages, two at intermediate and one at elementary level. I have studied some programming and am learning to do it well for my job. I have good GRE scores (all above the 90th percentile) and a decent GPA (>8/10) in my degree, if that counts. If there is anyone here from a non-CS, non-ling background who is applying to/has applied to/is studying in computational linguistics programmes, or anyone who knows about it, please do tell us about your experience! I'd like to know if I stand a chance here.

UW at Seattle also has a very good MS program for computational linguistics. You can definitely take a look at this one. I was from a non-CS, non-linguistics background, and applied to/will be studying in a theoretical linguistics program this fall. I applied for two application seasons two years ago and last year. One very important experience I have to say is that do not emphasize your skills in pedagogical grammar of specific languages/however many languages you know/studied, because it looks like emphasizing these will do you little service, if not disservice at all, to get admission and funding. I did my first round of application by emphasizing my knowledge in multiple foreign languages, and I was literally get rejected by EVERY linguistics department that year. Then, I reapplied, and switched to focusing my SOP on my academic interest in specific sub-field of linguistics, rather than saying something general about my knowledge as a polyglot/about knowing however many languages. This time worked, and I got accepted with funding.. 

I think GPA and GRE are NOT the most important elements that will determine whether you can get admission and/or funding. They are like threshold. GRE and GPA will matter, not so much for the department (and the ADCOM), but more for university-wide competition that is beyond the purview of what the department can decide. According to your description of your GPA and GRE, they are already above the threshold. So, not so much to worry about these two. I think your focus now should be on SOP and writing sample, as these two things are going to substantially determine whether you get a deal from the admission committee or not.

Finally, instead of saying HOW you get your linguistics knowledge outside your undergraduate curriculum, a more fruitful approach to improving chances of getting offers would be concentrating on formulating some kind of specific questions in your SOP that interest you, and tell the admission committee why these questions are both interesting and important, how you would like to answer these questions in the future, what theoretical frameworks you would like to work in/on, what are some of the potential deficiencies of the theoretical frameworks you propose to work in/on, how to ameliorate the deficiencies, if any, of the current frameworks. Last but not least, do tell how the admission committee how their curriculum, and faculty members can contribute to your research agenda. After all, you want to find a place that not only offers you admission and funding, but also a place that is the most nurturing for your academic development. 

[gulabjamun]

4 hours ago, historicallinguist said:

UW at Seattle also has a very good MS program for computational linguistics. You can definitely take a look at this one. I was from a non-CS, non-linguistics background, and applied to/will be studying in a theoretical linguistics program this fall. I applied for two application seasons two years ago and last year. One very important experience I have to say is that do not emphasize your skills in pedagogical grammar of specific languages/however many languages you know/studied, because it looks like emphasizing these will do you little service, if not disservice at all, to get admission and funding. I did my first round of application by emphasizing my knowledge in multiple foreign languages, and I was literally get rejected by EVERY linguistics department that year. Then, I reapplied, and switched to focusing my SOP on my academic interest in specific sub-field of linguistics, rather than saying something general about my knowledge as a polyglot/about knowing however many languages. This time worked, and I got accepted with funding.. 

I think GPA and GRE are NOT the most important elements that will determine whether you can get admission and/or funding. They are like threshold. GRE and GPA will matter, not so much for the department (and the ADCOM), but more for university-wide competition that is beyond the purview of what the department can decide. According to your description of your GPA and GRE, they are already above the threshold. So, not so much to worry about these two. I think your focus now should be on SOP and writing sample, as these two things are going to substantially determine whether you get a deal from the admission committee or not.

Finally, instead of saying HOW you get your linguistics knowledge outside your undergraduate curriculum, a more fruitful approach to improving chances of getting offers would be concentrating on formulating some kind of specific questions in your SOP that interest you, and tell the admission committee why these questions are both interesting and important, how you would like to answer these questions in the future, what theoretical frameworks you would like to work in/on, what are some of the potential deficiencies of the theoretical frameworks you propose to work in/on, how to ameliorate the deficiencies, if any, of the current frameworks. Last but not least, do tell how the admission committee how their curriculum, and faculty members can contribute to your research agenda. After all, you want to find a place that not only offers you admission and funding, but also a place that is the most nurturing for your academic development. 

That is some great advice, thank you! I will think about my focus and keep that in mind when writing my SOP. Funding is out of the question though, because I'm looking at taught master's programmes that don't offer it.

Could you also tell me about your experience with LORs? Obviously I can't get any from professors in CS or linguistics, and not from work either because that would jeopardise my job. I was thinking one from a mechanical engineering professor I worked closely with, one from a Sanskrit/classics professor with experience in natural language processing (I didn't work with him on anything, only took a classics class with him but I've spoken with him a lot about the field and about my writing sample), and one from a foreign language professor, but I'm kind of doubting that now. I don't know if I should get another one from an engineering professor instead, because I don't know if that would help.

[historicallinguist]

On July 2, 2016 at 9:31 AM, gulabjamun said:

That is some great advice, thank you! I will think about my focus and keep that in mind when writing my SOP. Funding is out of the question though, because I'm looking at taught master's programmes that don't offer it.

Could you also tell me about your experience with LORs? Obviously I can't get any from professors in CS or linguistics, and not from work either because that would jeopardise my job. I was thinking one from a mechanical engineering professor I worked closely with, one from a Sanskrit/classics professor with experience in natural language processing (I didn't work with him on anything, only took a classics class with him but I've spoken with him a lot about the field and about my writing sample), and one from a foreign language professor, but I'm kind of doubting that now. I don't know if I should get another one from an engineering professor instead, because I don't know if that would help.

Professional LORs from your bosses are rarely helpful for graduate admission to a nonprofessional advanced degree whose admission depends on pretty much your academic preparation and suitability rather than work experience (Professional advanced degrees are degrees such as MBA, JD, MD, etc.). I would recommend that you ask for an LOR from your mechanical engineering professor, because this person could say a lot about your mathematics background that is one of the important qualifications the admission committee of the MS program is likely to look for. For the Sanskrit/Classics Prof. you mentioned, it depends. First, I am not sure whether the Sanskrit/Classics Prof. is a philologist or a linguist. You said this Sanskrit/Classics Prof. also had some experience in NLP. What exactly did he do in the field of NLP, and how is his experience in NLP relevant to the coursework you had with him? If you can figure out some sort of connection between his experience in NLP and how his experience in NLP is relevant to your classics coursework, do ask him for an LOR. If not, I would say he is less ideal.(But of course, life is not perfect, and sometimes we have to take advantage of whatever is available even if it is not ideal).  

I do have one other question about the classics class you took with this person. I took classics class when I was an undergraduate. Based on what I know about classics, a classics class could mean quite a number of very different things. Is your classics class a translation class of classics texts, or a classics literature in translation class, or a comparative philology class, or something else? 

Finally, I would strongly recommend that you ask another from an engineering professor instead of your foreign language professor. Here is why. First, what can a foreign language professor say about you as a student? If he/she says something positive about you, he/ she may say something like the following, 

XXX is very good at XXXX language. XXX is a very hard working student dedicated to studying the XXXX language and XXXX culture. XXX is good at reading in XXXX language, having good conversational skills in XXXX language. etc.

So, here is the problem. Whatever the foreign language prof. has to say about you has very little to do with whether you will be successful in a computational linguistics program. Furthermore, in some cases, a foreign language prof., especially if this prof. is trained in education rather than linguistics,  could possibly miss the point of what grammar is in linguistics, and mistake pedagogical grammar as grammar in linguistic sense. I guess this could potentially do you a disservice. So, try to avoid it and ask another engineering Prof. instead. The emphasis of the LOR from engineering Profs, in my opinion, should focus on your problem solving skills, mathematical background, and your potential to do research in computational linguistics in the future. If possible, try to also ask your engineering Prof. to relate in the LOR your undergrad research experience in engineering to your academic goal as a computational linguist. (For instance, how your undergrad research experience prepared you to do computational linguistics, and how the undergrad experience inspired you to extend your horizon to another field, etc)

 

[Brian J]

Thanks for the information. 

Edited July 13, 2016 by Brian J

[charlemagne88]

I have some information about the PhD program at the University of Minnesota- Twin cities. I did my undergrad in linguistics there so I know a little bit about what the faculty there is currently doing. The departments main focus is syntax, however there is one course offered in computational linguistics which focuses on teaching python and one course in semantics which briefly touches lambda expressions. They do offer an MA in linguistics -but the department is extremely small. I'm pretty sure they only admitted one student last fall. And most of the grad students in the program are international students. 

I think you'd have better luck getting in to the U of M if you're interested in doing any research in conversational analysis, anthro-ling, or syntax. 

Edited July 13, 2016 by charlemagne88

[advil]

On 7/13/2016 at 0:24 PM, charlemagne88 said:

I have some information about the PhD program at the University of Minnesota- Twin cities. I did my undergrad in linguistics there so I know a little bit about what the faculty there is currently doing. The departments main focus is syntax, however there is one course offered in computational linguistics which focuses on teaching python and one course in semantics which briefly touches lambda expressions.

FYI one of the people there who I'm guessing taught some of these courses is moving to UCLA this fall.

[sandipana]

Hi,

I need some help and advice.I am planning to apply for MS in Computational Linguistics but my toefl score is 80 only, and is going to appear in GRE this month,so I am bit confused about my chances of getting admission in any university.I did my masters in Linguistics and have been working in this field since last two years.Will that help me? 

[gdala]

7 hours ago, sandipana said:

Hi,

I need some help and advice.I am planning to apply for MS in Computational Linguistics but my toefl score is 80 only, and is going to appear in GRE this month,so I am bit confused about my chances of getting admission in any university.I did my masters in Linguistics and have been working in this field since last two years.Will that help me? 

What programs do you plan on applying to?  Some will tell you a minimum TOEFL required.  My husband is applying for an MBA and needs anywhere from 70-100 for the programs he's looking at.  If the programs don't specify, this website can be helpful in getting a general idea of what's expected. though it's not program specific or for grad school admissions.  If there isn't a minimum score required, it's less likely that a score of 80 alone will disqualify you from a program if you have a strong application altogether. 

[OldJoe]

Tulane University also has MA program of computational linguistics. 

But I don't know whether it is worth going. 

 

[ThatSillyLinguist]

On 6/7/2014 at 4:03 PM, Guest Gnome Chomsky said:

After you take each test it'll tell you your results. If you pass all four parts you'll be able to complete the program in a year. If you do okay on the tests but not great you'll have to take a refresher course over the summer. But if you do poorly you'll have to take prerequisites before beginning the program and the program will take you more than a year to finish.

If you have little or no math or programming experience you'd be better off taking the prerequisites at FIU. It'll be much cheaper. I came in with no experience and spent the last year and a half taking the pre reqs at my undergrad university.

I'm a current (BA) linguistics major and I'll be applying to grad school in December (For Fall 2018 admission) and am starting to look into programs. My top choice is currently University of Washington's MS in computational linguistics; the program looks phenomenal. That being said, I have no previous experience in any type of computer programming and can't remember the last time I took a math test. Are these subjects prerequisites that must be completed before applying? Or can you take them through the university afterwards? I noticed that they had a two year program which I wouldn't mind doing (instead of graduating in one year)... if I do that, do I still need to take other computer or math courses?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!  
 

[gdala]

2 hours ago, ThatSillyLinguist said:

I'm a current (BA) linguistics major and I'll be applying to grad school in December (For Fall 2018 admission) and am starting to look into programs. My top choice is currently University of Washington's MS in computational linguistics; the program looks phenomenal. That being said, I have no previous experience in any type of computer programming and can't remember the last time I took a math test. Are these subjects prerequisites that must be completed before applying? Or can you take them through the university afterwards? I noticed that they had a two year program which I wouldn't mind doing (instead of graduating in one year)... if I do that, do I still need to take other computer or math courses?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!  
 

They have a lot of information on their website about admissions and prerequisites. You do need to know how to program to apply for the one year program. The pathway for linguistics majors allows you to complete the prerequisites and complete the program in two years, but you still should know how to program.  You have a year, so take an intro to programming course and a statistics class if you haven't already.  Focus on learning either Java or C++ as well as you can in the next year, but you don't need to be an expert as it is expected for the 1 year applicants.