To be admitted to the doctoral program, applicants must satisfy the Institute requirements for admission to the Graduate School, and must be formally accepted by the linguistics faculty of the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy as a candidate for the Ph.D. degree. The Department does not offer a Master's degree.
Applicants should demonstrate in their application materials some knowledge and understanding of the subject matter of linguistics. Nonetheless, in evaluating applications, the department gives less weight to technical preparation in linguistics than to overall scientific promise. Consequently, though most successful applicants have studied some linguistics (formally or informally) before coming to MIT, applicants are not required to have taken any particular set of courses or to have been trained in any particular discipline, but must demonstrate the ability to engage in serious study of complex subject matter.
The department discourages applications for admission to our graduate program from students with extensive experience in linguistics beyond the Masters level. Applicants who are far advanced in their post-graduate education or who already hold a PhD in linguistics would be better advised to apply as a Visiting Scholar.
Prospective students are very strongly urged to send a copy of a major research paper (a term paper, research report, or thesis). The paper need not be about linguistics, but it should demonstrate an applicant's ability to pursue serious scholarly inquiry.
Students are only admitted into the program in the fall. The application deadline is January 2nd for the following September. Decisions are communicated to applicants by early March.
GRE scores are not required for admission to the doctoral program.
MIT requires international applicants whose native language is not English to submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). However, the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy does grant TOEFL waivers.
In general, we grant waivers to students who have received a degree from an American or English-speaking university, or who show an extensive background in English. We ask that students who request a TOEFL waiver have their recommenders comment in depth on their English speaking, reading and writing skills as a part of the recommendation. We also strongly suggest that they submit a writing sample in English.
