Accelerated Master’s Programs

1. Apply in the fall of your junior year. You will be notified of an admissions decision that spring. If accepted into the program, some of the Linguistics courses you take will count toward your Bachelor’s degree and some will count toward your Master’s degree. Upon completion of all the requirements for each degree, the respective degree will be rewarded. Accelerated Master’s students are not required to take the GRE.

2. The accelerated Master’s allows you to double-count two courses for both the AB and MS/MLC degrees, saving you six credits of graduate tuition. These courses must be graduate-level courses (numbered LING-350 or above), and must be taken in the junior or senior year. In most cases, “Tier III” courses required for the Linguistics major will meet these requirements and can be double-counted.

3. Up to two additional graduate-level Linguistics courses can be applied to the accelerated Master’s degree if such courses are above and beyond those required for the AB (both Departmental and College requirements, i.e., 38 courses/120 credits). In general, early graduate credit of this sort is needed to finish the Master’s in the fifth year.

4. Students in the accelerated program must meet all coursework and degree requirements for the Master’s program to which they have been admitted. Please consult the Graduate Student Handbook for particular program requirements. Credit for coursework can be earned through a combination of double-counted courses (6 credits), courses above and beyond those required for the AB degree (up to 6 credits), and courses taken after the AB degree has been completed.

5. Students pursuing an accelerated MLC or MS in Computational Linguistics may not choose the 24-credit option.

1. This is an honors program. Linguistics majors with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 both overall and in the major are eligible to apply for the program.

2. Discuss the program with your advisor and/or the Director of Undergraduate Studies and fill out the regular Graduate School application by the application deadline of your junior year (typically January 15).

3. The application consists of: the completed application form, your transcript, 3 letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample. You do not need to take the GRE.

4. The Linguistics Department will review your application and send its decision to the Graduate School. Accelerated Master’s applications are reviewed in the same pool as all graduate applications.

5. The Graduate School gives final approval and notifies the student of the decision in March. If accepted, you will need to work out a detailed plan of study with your advisor and/or the DUS, and both the College and Graduate School deans will have to be notified about which courses are being double-counted and/or withheld from the undergraduate transcript.