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

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.

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.

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.)

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...

Good luck,
Matt.