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Re: A bit of advice re University and such is requested

From:Robert Hailman <robert@...>
Date:Friday, September 8, 2000, 22:30
J Matthew Pearson wrote:
> > Robert Hailman wrote: > > > So my main question is: What applications of a B.A. in Linguistics are > > there, career wise? My ultimate goal would probably be a professorship, > > however likely that may or may not be, but what can I do with a B.A. and > > a Masters degree in the Interim. I don't want to get a degree in > > Linguistics if I wouldn't enjoy any of the careers I can get with it, > > although in a land without consequences I'd take Linguistics in a > > second. > > Speaking as someone who's just finishing up his PhD in Linguistic Theory, I > should report that the job situation right now for linguistics > professorships is extremely bleak. We're talking a placement rate of > perhaps 5% (I'm just pulling numbers out of the air, but that's my > impression). Things could very well have changed by the time you finish > your PhD, but it's something to keep in mind. >
Oi, woah is me. But I like linguistics. How bout I get the PhD, and see how things go from there...
> That said, I definitely think you should take linguistics courses in college > if you have the opportunity. Not only is it inherently interesting, but the > concepts and methodologies you would learn have applications to a wide > variety of fields. People with BAs in linguistics have gone on to get good > jobs and advanced degrees in a wide variety of fields (software companies > and law schools especially seem to be very interested in people with a > linguistics background). One option you should seriously consider is > double-majoring in linguistics and some other related field that you love > (say, computer science): My impression is that, while there are very few > academic jobs out there for people who just do linguistics (like me), there > are lots of other jobs out there (both academic and private-sector) for > people who do linguistics-plus-something-else.
The Ling & Something else courses that interest me at UToronto are Ling & German, and Ling & Comp.Sci. However, and I've said it before, the Ling & Comp.Sci. combo doesn't interest me as much as it should, seeing as I'm interested in the two areas on their own.
> As for schools, I think that U Texas is an excellent place to get an > undergrad degree in linguistics. But if, later on, you choose to pursue an > academic career in linguistics, it's important that you get into one of the > very top schools in the country to even have a fighting chance at a job in > academia. I can recommend UCLA (my department), as well as UPenn, Stanford, > and MIT. MIT gets a bad rap from the anti-Chomskyans on this list, but the > fact is that it's a damn good school, with an outstanding faculty, good > financial support, a novel approach to teaching, and *by far* the highest > job-placement record of any theoretical linguistics program. (Of the 7 or 8 > tenure-track jobs in syntax that I've applied for over the last two years, > at least 6 went either to MIT grads or to people who had done postgraduate > work at MIT.) >
Again, I should clarify that I meant University of Toronto, not Texas. I should have been clearer about that in my original post. Would it matter if I got my B.A. in Canada to apply to a top school in the US for grad school? With all these good things I'm hearing about U of Texas, I might just have to look into it.
> Having given you all that hard-nosed advice, though, I should repeat what > other people have said, which is that you'll have plenty of time to decide > what you want to do, so don't worry about it too much at this stage. Just > worry about deciding what you really love to do. If you *do* decide to > pursue a career in linguistics, getting a BA from U Texas is a great way to > start--but who knows? You could decide to go in a completely different > direction in two years...
That's true, I'm not commiting to anything yet, but it can't heart to know as much as I can so I can make the right decision when it comes time. -- Robert