We welcome your application to our department, and hope you can join our community of scholars! Our admissions process requires a general application to the program instead of specific faculty members recruiting a student. Applicants who are accepted and who enter the program are free to work with who they choose and may, in fact, change their interests after entering the program. This allows students flexibility in their graduate program.
Yet, it also means that we evaluate applicants more generally in terms of their aptitude and how their interests match those within our department. In other words, we tend not to evaluate students just in terms of how well their interests match those of one specific faculty member.
The Department of Linguistics recognizes that it operates on the territory of the Seneca Nation, a member of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Confederacy. Because of this, it places a special priority on supporting research on Haudenosaunee languages that is in line with its overall mission and, in particular, research led by members of the Haudenosaunee nations.
To be considered for admission to a graduate program, applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and have an academic record that suggests the applicant can successfully complete graduate work in linguistics. In determining qualifications for admission, attention is paid to academic achievements and grades, potential for research, transcripts of past academic work, letters of recommendation, and intellectual interest in linguistics and in our department as indicated by the statement of purpose.
All applications to graduate tracks must be made online. Buttons below will direct you to create an account and start an application.
Please note that there will be no PhD admission process in the Fall of 2025 (for enrollment in Fall 2026). Our inability to offer PhD positions for the coming year is a delayed consequence of funding issues that arose during the pandemic. It is unrelated to current circumstances, and we expect to resume our normal recruitment of PhD students in 2026 (for Fall 2027).
December 15: applications are due for all prospective PhD students wishing to be considered for funding.
Prospective PhD students wishing to be considered for funding are encouraged to consult the faculty listing to see which faculty have research interests that overlap with theirs and to contact them before applying to get feedback on their plans to pursue a PhD in the Department of Linguistics.
Please see here for information regarding funding for the current application cycle.
March 1: applications are due for all international MA/MS applicants and international PhD applicants with external funding.
Review of other graduate program applications will continue until processing in time for Fall admission becomes unfeasible.
April 1: all domestic MA applicants
After you submit your UB graduate application, you’ll be prompted to make your payment online by credit card or ACH through Nelnet.
U.S. citizens or current permanent residents may request a fee waiver through the application portal after completing the graduate application and uploading all required materials.
In addition to the above materials, all international applicants must also provide the following:
Accepted MA students who are interested in one of the departement's four areas of specialization have up to four years to complete their coursework and take the comprehensive exam. The majority of students complete the MA track within two years.
The PhD track consists of an MA phase and a PhD phase. Advancement to the PhD phase is conditional on satisfying the set MA requirements and performing adequately in the MA phase. Students who are admitted to the PhD phase but leave after satisfying the requirements of the MA phase will receive an MA degree. Students who decide to leave with the MA have the option of doing a set of comprehensive exams instead of the MA project/qualifying paper.
Linguistics MA degrees from other institutions are not equivalent to the MA at the University at Buffalo. However, applicants with graduate courses in linguistics from another institution can apply for transfer credit. All requirements of the MA phase at UB must be completed before advancing to the PhD phase. Students can obtain transfer credit of up to 36 credit hours, substantially reducing the amount of required course work.
With questions about the graduate application process, please contact the Director of Graduate Admissions.