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<p>zomg, another CC’er interested in both linguistics and cognitive science.</p>
<p>Engineering First at Northwestern:
[-</a> Northwestern University: McCormick School of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/prospective/efirst/history.php]-”>http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/prospective/efirst/history.php)
[About</a> Engineering First® - Northwestern University: McCormick School of Engineering](<a href=“http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/prospective/efirst/about.php]About”>http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/prospective/efirst/about.php)
</p>
<p>^^ funny, a while ago, I’d said, “It’s always nice to see someone else with an interest in linguistics, since it’s such an unpopular major,” in one of your threads about linguistics. :p</p>
<p>kyledavid80: Oh that’s right. Now I remember you. :p</p>
<p>I’m kind of confused about how to proceed with course enrollment at this point, actually. How does one best begin a linguistics sequence, especially an interdisciplinary sequence involving linguistics, without being extremely bored at the introductory courses because one already has self-study background in it, nor committing academic suicide by enrolling in an upper-level course that may be possibly be too advanced?</p>
<p>Second round of course-enrollment opens for first-years at my school August 1st … lots of emails to send and advice to seek.</p>
<p>With linguistics, doing an intro class is always helpful. You might not be bored, unless you’ve already read the textbook that the class uses. You might even decide that linguistics study at the university–as opposed to on your own–just isn’t your thing.</p>
<p>Beyond that, I’d start taking courses in the different areas of linguistics that interest you, which will probably make up the core of the major. In my case, it’d go: intro linguistics >> intro syntax + morphology >> intro phonetics/phonology.</p>
<p>That’s an interesting discussion topic relevant to this thread: how does one proceed in course sequences for interdisciplinary majors? Take intro courses for the major? Or take intro courses in each of the areas concerned? Focus on seminars?</p>
<p>Part of my concern is that I took a French phonetics course while dual-enrolling at a local university (which was like 70% language acquisition, 30% linguistics as a science). While I had a fun time being the professor’s favourite (and youngest) student, I almost spent no effort in that class because I had already self-studied a lot of IPA, though I did learn a few interesting things (like the fact that English phoneme /u/ is really starts off as an unrounded [ɯ] that becomes labialised –> [ɯ^w]), analogous to the glide [ɛɪ] in English “pay” that was a diphthongisation of the historic /e/. And I learnt to make phonetic transcriptions at a lightning-fast rate with sheer confidence because the professor would give us HUGE HUGE amounts of transcription homework. But the homework was like doing multiplication tables…</p>
<p>Of course, this was more language acquisition than linguistics, but it was fairly technical enough in linguistics for the other students to struggle in it. While the experience wasn’t wasted, and while I’m now enrolled in a definitely more-rigourous school, I’d rather not have a less-than-optimally-productive semester again.</p>
<p>UCI has had this for decades: The School of Social Ecology is an interdisciplinary academic unit whose scholarly research and instruction is informed by and contributes to knowledge in the social, behavioral, legal, environmental, and health sciences. The School is comprised of four departments: Criminology, Law and Society; Environmental Health, Science and Policy; Psychology and Social Behavior; and Planning, Policy, and Design.</p>
<p>A few examples from Washington and Lee University-</p>
<p>Neuroscience [index[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Environmental studies: [url=<a href=“The College : Washington and Lee University”>The College : Washington and Lee University]Environmental</a> Studies Home](<a href=“Neuroscience Program : Washington and Lee University”>http://neuro.wlu.edu/)</p>
<p>Shepherd Poverty Program: [Shepherd</a> Program - Washington & Lee University](<a href=“The Shepherd Program”>The Shepherd Program)</p>
<p>What do you guys know about Harvard’s Mind, Brain, and Behavior programs? I’ve been doing some sleuthing about interdisciplinary majors in the areas of neuroscience and cognitive science (not completely sure what specific area I’m most interested in), and Harvard’s set of concentrations definitely piqued my interest.</p>
<p>any other program?</p>
<p>… not to revive an old topic but… any others?</p>
<p>Northwestern’s American Studies program is highly interdisciplinary. Students apply to the major either at the end of their sophomore or junior years. Here is the website: [American</a> Studies Program, Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.amstp.northwestern.edu/]American”>http://www.amstp.northwestern.edu/).</p>
<p>The program is highly open to transnationality as well; for example, my American Studies senior thesis will be a comparative study of Korean cinema and American cinema in an attempt to understand how the Korean War is remembered.</p>
<p>U of Wisconsin - Madison has the Integrated Liberal Studies program, where students study literature, the arts, science, technology and philosophy in overlapping courses. Prof’s teach in the program because they love the teach. It’s a great way to meet breadth requirements in a structured manor or get a very good liberal arts education.</p>
<p>[Integrated</a> Liberal Studies - University of Wisconsin Madison](<a href=“http://ils.wisc.edu/]Integrated”>http://ils.wisc.edu/)</p>
<p>For those who are looking for help in identifying good interdisciplinary programs: the Association for Integrative Studies is a professional organization for interdisciplinary teaching and research programs. At its website [Association</a> for Integrative Studies |Home](<a href=“Association for Interdisciplinary Studies”>Association for Interdisciplinary Studies) you can find a directory to several programs, find connected institutions, find resources that discuss what a succesfull interdisciplinary program should look like. (e.g. <a href=“Association for Interdisciplinary Studies”>Association for Interdisciplinary Studies; ), and find syllabi of recognized succesfull courses.</p>
<p>Chicago has been offering interdisciplinary programs for generations. In fact, the original buildings on the oldest quads were interconnected to emphasize and foster collaboration among the major divisions of knowledge. There are, technically, no undergraduate “departments” per se. All undergraduate professors are appointed to “The College” as a whole.</p>
<p>The entire “Common Core” is an interdisciplinary foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. Many majors build on the Core to explore issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Programs include “Fundamentals: Issues and Texts”, “Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities”, “History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine”, “Comparative Human Development”, and “Big Problems”.</p>
<p>^ I agree with Chicago. Additionally, WUSTL is very flexible in regard to double majors and interdisciplinary study:</p>
<p>[Interdisciplinary</a> and University-wide Programs | Academics & Schools | Washington University in St. Louis](<a href=“http://wustl.edu/academics/interdisciplinary.html]Interdisciplinary”>Interdisciplinary Programs - Washington University in St. Louis)</p>
<p>U Rochester has a unique program which combines archaeology and engineering, “Archaeology, Technology, & Historic Structures”. [Archaeology</a>, Technology and Historical Structures : University of Rochester](<a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/college/ATHS/]Archaeology”>Archaeology, Technology, and Historical Structures : University of Rochester)</p>
<p>Information about the Program</p>
<p>“This innovative multidisciplinary program studies the establishment and evolution of technological, architectural, and engineering practices and their relationship to the ancient and pre-industrial societies and cultures, which technology and engineering helped create and sustain. Assuming a global perspective, the program integrates material from several disciplines in engineering and the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. Students learn to apply engineering, archaeological, architectural, and historical methodologies to explore the creation of artifacts, buildings, and infrastructural systems within and across societies and cultures from the first millennium B.C. to the eighteenth century. A prominent feature of the program is undergraduate research under the aegis of both the University of Rochester and prestigious foreign academic institutions to address issues of interpretation, conservation, and restoration of the worlds cultural heritage.”</p>
<p>The possibilities for this stuff at Brown are also quite good.
You can double major an AB without a lot of trouble because you don’t have requirements and also design your own major. Of the existing majors, some interdisciplinary ones are quite good</p>
<p>1) Applied Mathematics in Biology
2) Applied Mathematics in Economics
3) Applied Mathematics in Computer Science
4) Biophysics
5) Computational Biology
6) Computer Science - Economics
7) Geology - Biology
8) Geology - Chemistry
9) Geology - Physics - Mathematics
10) Physics - Philosophy
11) Science and Society (Not interdisciplinary but very interesting)
12) Commerce and Entrepreneurship
13) Neuroscience / Cognitive Neuroscience</p>
<p>Neuroscience and Applied Math departments are some of the best in the world, so it’s good that they’re not very limited. </p>
<p>More info: <a href=“http://brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/[/url]”>http://brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/</a></p>