Top linguistics undergraduate programs

tk21769
Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:34:28 +0000

^^ That NRC ranking is about 20 years old.
In many fields, the universities that were strong then still would be strong today.
Of course, you cannot assume that a university that had a highly-ranked graduate program in 1993 will have a strong undergraduate program with the orientation you want today.

On the other hand, even if you already knew for sure that you wanted a future in computational linguistics, you’d first need a foundation in mathematics (statistics & probability theory), CS, and formal linguistic structures (phonetics/phonemics, morphology, and syntax). You may be better off looking for schools you like that can cover those fundamentals, and that you can afford, whether they are doing bleeding-edge research in comp/cog linguistics or not. Many research universities, and at least a handful of LACs (like the ones mentioned), could fit that bill.

A few years back, poster keilexandra was asking questions similar to yours. I think she wound up at Swarthmore majoring in one of these areas. You might want to look up her posts or try messaging her.