Continuing into the PhD program at UW from the CLMA program

If you are a CLMA student and interested in pursuing a PhD degree in the Ling Dept at UW, here is some information about what needs to be done before and after getting your CLMA MA degree.

The requirements for receiving a PhD in the CompLing track

The requirements for getting a PhD in the CompLing track from the UW Linguistics Department are specified in http://depts.washington.edu/lingweb/Documents/PhD-CL-Requirement.pdf.

There are 9 required courses for receiving a PhD degree, five of them are required for the CLMA MA degree (550, 566, three of 570-573), so you would need to take only 4 more courses before getting the PhD in order to meet this requirement. Of course, there are other department and school requirements you need to meet before getting the PhD degree, such as two general papers, 6 courses in your major field, 4 courses in your minor field, 27 dissertation credits and 33 other credits. More detail can be found at Linguistics website (http://depts.washington.edu/lingweb/Grad.php).

The CLMA-to-PhD conversion process

The CLMA => PhD transition is done in two steps:

• Step 1: The students can apply for the regular PHD program right after they receive their MA degree. The admission decision is made by the CL faculty. After the admission, the students will pay the regular tuition, not the CLMA tuition, to take additional courses.
• Step 2: After the students have completed three out of the six required courses for the regular MA degree under the condition that at least two of the three courses are taught by two distinct non-CL faculty, they can apply for the enrollment in the Ph.D. program. The admission decision is made by the whole linguistics faculty.
• The six required courses for regular MA ling degree (not the CLMA MA degree) are as follows:
  • 2 courses in syntax: 566, 507, 508, 509
  • 2 courses in phonetics/phonology: 550, 551, 552, 553
  • 1 course in semantics: 542, 579
  • 1 course in sociolinguistics: 532, 533, 534, 535
• If a CLMA student has satisfied the requirement for Step 2 upon his/her graduation from the CLMA program, hs/e can apply for Step 1 and 2 at the same time. For instance, if a CLMA student has taken 566, 550, and selected one linguistic elective from 507, 542, or 532, s/he can apply for Step 1 and 2 right after receiving the MA degree. If a CLMA student waives 550 or 566, s/he should replace it with another required linguistic course in order to meet the requirement for Step 2.

What do you need to do in order to speed up the conversion process?

• When you choose your ling elective, you should choose one from the six required courses for the regular MA (e.g., semantics, sociolinguistics, or the 2nd course on syntax or phonetics/phonology), and ensure that you take the 500-level version of the course (e.g., 551, not 451).
• If you waive 550 or 566, make sure that you replace it with another required course for the regular MA degree.
• Choose the thesis option (not the internship option) for your CLMA degree.
• Let your thesis adviser know about your plan early so (s)he can help you with course plan.
• Do well in your course and thesis work so your petition to the PhD program will receive support from the faculty.
• You might also want to apply for external funding such as NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support your PhD study.