Graduate FAQs

The department offers outstanding resources for Ph.D. study in three areas of focus: (i) theoretical linguistics (especially syntax, semantics and phonology); (ii) psycholinguistics (first language acquisition, language processing, neurolinguistics, cognitive and computational neuroscience, computational modeling); (iii) computational linguistics (natural language processing, machine translation, cognitive computational modeling, etc.). Successful applicants to the graduate program usually have strong interests in one or more of these areas. Prospective students are encouraged to consult faculty and student web pages to determine whether the department provides a good match to their research interests. If in doubt, contact Graduate Admissions Director Valentine Hacquard.
 

The School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Maryland now offers a strong Ph.D. program in SLA, and students with a primary interest in SLA should look to these programs rather than to linguistics. Nevertheless, the department of linguistics values its cooperation with the School of Languages and encourages students to consider SLA as a secondary area of research specialization.

Questions of this nature may be directed to individual faculty members. Find their contact information in our directory.

This depends very much on individual circumstances and on the availability of funding in the department. In a typical year the department receives around 150 applications and is able to make offers of admission to 10-15 students. In recent years slightly over half the students who have been admitted to the Ph.D. program have chosen to come to Maryland.

No. The department does not admit students who intend to pursue a terminal M.A. degree. An M.A. degree exists officially, but it is used only in cases where students leave the department before completing the Ph.D.

This is very rare, although the department has allowed this under special circumstances. The department does not offer financial aid for part-time students.

The Linguistics Department does not use GRE scores in the application process, even if an applicant includes them in their application. It is therefore unnecessary to include such scores.

The Linguistics Department and the university are committed to reducing barriers to applying to the doctoral program for Black and Indigenous Peoples, and People of Color, as well as those facing financial hardship. In order to request a fee waiver, please follow the instructions on the Graduate School website, https://gradschool.umd.edu/feewaiverinformation .

Students with interests in psycholinguistics or cognitive neuroscience may pursue either of these programs. Contact the graduate admissions director or a prospective advisor to discuss which program is more suitable to your individual needs. A number of students in the linguistics Ph.D. program now also pursue the new NACS certificate program, which provides official recognition for additional coursework in cognitive (neuro-)science.

In recent years over 80% of the department's graduates have secured jobs in teaching or research after graduation. This includes a number of appointments in psychology, computer science or cognitive (neuro-)science programs. Although prejudices persist in some quarters, the most vibrant departments are the least prejudiced. We believe that students are most successful when they are in an environment that motivates and excites them, regardless of the title of the department or the name of their degree. It is also worth noting that psycholinguistics and computational linguistics are important current growth areas in linguistics departments.

Very unlikely. The course credit requirements for our Ph.D. program are more flexible than most linguistics Ph.D. programs.

In this case first check whether an email from the University of Maryland was caught by your junk email filter. If this fails, contact Jeffrey Lidz, who can access a copy of the ASF invitation.

This does not necessarily mean that your documents have not been received. The application status is only marked as complete once the department of linguistics has manually confirmed that all materials have been processed in the department. This will not occur until at least a couple of weeks after the application deadline. Contact Valentine Hacquard via email if you are concerned about receipt of your application materials.

Yes! The department's financial aid offers are unaffected by a student's national origin.

The English language proficiency requirements are set by the Graduate School, not by the department. Information about the requirements can be found at https://gradschool.umd.edu/admissions/english-language-proficiency-requirements .

In many cases an applicant's research and work experience are clearly stated on their CV and are of direct relevance to the research that they plan to do for their PhD degree, and so are also referred to in the statement of purpose. But it can also be the case that an applicant's research and work experiences are substantially different from the research that they plan to do in the program, and it would weaken the statement of purpose to include them in that statement. To allow for both possibilities, we allow applicants to upload a separate statement of research and work experience. It is also fine to upload a document that simply says: "For my research and work experience, please see my CV and my statement of purpose."