Department of Linguistics & TESOL | The University of Texas at Arlington

Prospective Students

If you're applying to the Linguistics Ph.D. program and wish to be considered for the new Ph.D. support (full tuition and assistantship with $15,300 stipend), your application should be submitted to the Graduate School on or before January 27, 2012.

After looking over the information on this page describing our different graduate programs, please take a minute to fill out this form, which will add you to the Office of Graduate Studies recruiting database so that we can contact you with program details. You may also contact our department directly at ling.advisor@uta.edu for more information about admissions.

The Degrees section of our site has information about the different requirements for the Ph.D., the two M.A. degrees, the graduate certificate, and the undergraduate major and minor available through the Department of Linguistics & TESOL at the University of Texas at Arlington. (Please note that while many of the degrees have rolling admission, starting in 2009, new Ph.D. Linguistics students will be admitted for the fall semester only — students will not be admitted into the Ph.D. program for the spring or summer terms.)

Here are two sources of information to read before you apply to any of the programs:

Our department's Admissions Requirements (PDF) for new students.
The Graduate School's Application Requirements. (Note that the linked page has U.S. Citizen Applicant requirements as well as International & U.S. Resident Alien Applicant requirements.)

When you are ready to apply, follow this checklist to make sure you have submitted all the necessary documents:

Linguistics and TESOL Application Checklist

Submit the online application.
(It's the same form for all degree plans--on the form you will check a box to specify whether you are applying to be an MA, PhD, Special Student, or Certificate Student.)
Pay the application fee.
Have official transcripts sent in from all your previous schools.
(Have these sent to the Office of Graduate Studies.)
If you are not a native speaker of English, you'll also need to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores.
(Test scores should also be delivered to the Office of Graduate Studies.)

That's all you need for Graduate Certificate and Special Student applications. For MA and PhD work, please send these additional required materials that should be sent directly to the Department of Linguistics and TESOL (mailing address here):

Three letters of recommendation by people who can attest to your ability to do graduate work.
(Recommenders for MA applicants may include this form. PhD applicants should instead have personalized letters written by academics in their previous degree program or research projects.)
Statement of academic and/or career plans explaining why you selected this program.
(If you did not fill this section out at the end of the online application, then send in a 250-300 word statement directly to the department.)
GRE scores.
(Send scores from the general test, which will include Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing sections. Test scores should also be delivered directly to the Office of Graduate Studies).

The final items are required only of PhD applicants:

An academic writing sample (e.g. a research paper), written in English, containing no more than 25 pages.
If you are not a native speaker of English (even if you have earned a BA or MA at an English-medium institution) you must submit scores for either the iTOEFL or IELTS.

If, along the way, you have any questions for our department, send an email to the graduate adviser (see our Contact page).

At the bottom of this page you'll find additional information about the application process: common problems with applications, how you'll be notified of your application's status, and the department's timeline for degree completion.

Financial Aid

If you're applying to the Linguistics Ph.D. program and wish to be considered for the new Ph.D. support (full tuition and assistantship with $15,300 stipend), your application should be submitted to the Graduate School on or before January 27, 2012.

Take a look at our Financial Aid page for more information about fellowships and appointments available to graduate students in the Department of Linguistics & TESOL.

Student Life

In addition to the student services information found at UT Arlington's Student Organizations page, check out the Lingua pages at this site. Lingua, UT Arlington's linguistics student group, hosts an annual student linguistics conference and regular social and academic gatherings of UT Arlington Linguistics and TESOL students.

About Linguistics & TESOL

If you'd like to read more about linguistics, see the Linguistics as a Discipline page. We also encourage you to go to the Linguistics Links page of Lingua, our student linguistics organization, and to look at the linked resources at the bottom of the undergrad page.

Additional Information about Applying

Reasons for Delays in Processing an Application

Before applying, you should check the Graduate School's Prospective Students page for information. The most frequent problems that will delay your application are:

Applying late. Check deadlines! If you submit your application after the published deadline, we can't guarantee that you'll be accepted in enough time to take classes.
No Application Fee. Even if you have submitted an application, it won't be processed until you have submitted the required application fee. (Many students are forgetting to do this, especially those who apply on-line.)
Unofficial transcripts. 1) US Transcripts: Official transcripts from US institutions are those mailed directly to the Graduate School by the Registrar of the institution at which the work was attempted or completed or upon Graduate School review an official original “issued to student” transcript with the official university seal and signature of the Registrar. Official original “issued to student” transcripts may be mailed or hand-carried to the Office of Graduate Studies. 2) Foreign Transcripts: Official foreign country transcripts or marksheets and diplomas are those bearing the original seal of the institution and the original signature of the Registrar or responsible head of the institution. Those not issued in English must be accompanied by an exact word for word original English translation bearing the original university or translation agency attestation. They may be mailed to the Office of Graduate Studies by the institution or applicant or delivered in person to the Office of Graduate Studies. Those delivered in person can be released back to the applicant or the applicant’s representative after verification and attestation by an Office of Graduate Studies representative.

Notification of Application Status

Once you have submitted the application, application fee, transcripts and departmental requirements (recommendation letters, GRE scores, statement of academic and career goals) it will take several weeks for the applicaton materials to be processed. After your application has been assessed, you will receive a letter and email from the Graduate School stating the admission decision.

Degree Timelines

If you're an MA student, you have six academic years from the time you begin. This time limit includes any time that you might have interrupted your studies. (For example, if you began in the fall semester of 1998, you have until May 2004 to finish your MA.)
If you're a PhD student, the Department completes annual doctoral evaluations to ensure that students make satisfactory progress toward completing the doctorate. There are a series of benchmarks that must be completed and passed, together with one's entering cohort of PhD students, in order to continue on each year in the program. Consult the Department's Graduate Handbook for more details.