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[FearfulJesuit]

Those of you who hang around the lower boards a lot probably know that I'm one of the board's resident linguists (the only other person I know of in that category is probably RedKing.) I am about to begin my second of what will probably be five years of undergrad at the University of Oklahoma, and I'm starting to rethink how I'm doing things.

Firstly, I'm currently a Classical Languages [that's Latin and Greek]/Russian/Linguistics triple-major. If that sounds like a workload, well, it is- I love all three subjects, and it sure makes arrogant STEMlords shut up when they tell me my workload is something anyone could do. (I've still been part of a conversation in which it was debated whether or not Classics is a real major. Sigh).

However, recently I've been brooding on kicking Linguistics out of the equation. This sounds odd, because it's my passion, and I'm already looking at grad schools. However, there are some good reasons not to major in it:

-I already know a lot of the material. Like, a lot of the material. I don't mean to sound overly arrogant, but linguistics is my thing, and I've already suffered through two semesters of intro courses on which I took revenge by citing Marshallese or Pirahă in projects and arguments. I'll probably end up taking courses anyways to learn what I don't already know (theoretical syntax, pragmatics), but I could probably take the final on a number of courses right now.

-There are a lot of linguists who never majored in linguistics in undergraduate, but rather did something related, like classics or a language major. Getting a BA in the subject is by no means a requirement for graduate school.

-I might not end up going into academia as a linguist anyways. The job market for newly-minted humanities PhDs will likely be better 10 years down the road as the current crop of profs retire and the STEM bubble caves in on itself, but it will still be competitive.

-Getting rid of linguistics puts me in a prime position to grab another major. That'll likely be history (family profession- my father is a historian- and I'm quite good at it) or Farsi (beautiful language, was bummed I wouldn't be able to take it this year.)

Advice?

[Vector]

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[FearfulJesuit]

Don't waste your time with linguistics if you know the material. If I were you, I'd wait until my junior year and then start enrolling in senior-level seminars (this is what I did for my comparative literature/rhetoric background, though my only official major was mathematics). What you really need is letters of recommendations saying that you know how to ling when it comes into entering grad school, and evidence that you can succeed in top-level coursework.

And: Go with the history, not the Farsi. Classics + Linguistics + History is an extremely powerful combination, and will set you up far better than intimate knowledge of yet another language.

Can I at least minor in Farsi, if I can push it in?

[Vector]

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[JonathanCR]

The job market for newly-minted humanities PhDs will likely be better 10 years down the road as the current crop of profs retire and the STEM bubble caves in on itself, but it will still be competitive.

It won't be better. People were saying for years that the academic job market would improve once the baby boomers started retiring. Now they're retiring, and not being replaced. Departments are expected to teach more students with fewer staff. This is the case, generally, across the world, though I know mainly the UK situation and, to a lesser extent, the American one. It's only going to get harder to get academic positions in the humanities.

[Glloyd]

As a history/classics dual major, I recommend going for history

However, if linguistics is your passion, then I say stick with it. If you're forcing yourself to go to school to learn something that you dislike, then something is wrong. Life is short, so do what you enjoy as much as you can.

I've felt the same way as you about my degree multiple times, but the fact that I actively enjoy doing research for history papers makes me want to stick with it all the way through. If you actively enjoy linguistics stick with it. I say go with what Vector said and go for the Classics/History/Linguistics. I know for Classics especially, linguistics is a huge leg up, and even for history depending on the obscure era you plan on specializing in. 

[FearfulJesuit]

Yeah. I've come to the realization, too, that I'd never use Farsi the way most Farsi majors would use Farsi. I have no desire to go to Iran, at least under the current régime. I will probably never end up working for the State Department. I really just want to learn to read the language...the thing is, though, that's something I can learn to do at home. Indeed, this summer I'm taking another, and hopefully final, crack at getting to reading proficiency in Sanskrit.

I get these bizarre "Ooh, I should major in this!" flights of fancy every so often, and this time around it's Farsi. I do need to reconsider Linguistics, but I don't think I'm going to do more than a couple semesters in Farsi, if that.

[Glloyd]

I get that as well. I briefly entertained the notion of doing a Poli Sci third major, and later a Philosophy third major.

[GlyphGryph]

Seconding what's been said and then adding my own two cents:
Don't bother majoring in something you already know and have a chance of going to grad school for, it's a waste of time. Instead, start taking graduate level courses and meeting grad-level requirements early!

Don't try to major or minor in something you simply want to *learn*. It's a total waste of time. Only major in things where the "BA of Blah" will actually benefit you professionally. This isn't to imply you should only take professional classes, but learning != majoring.

Honestly, if Academics is your goal, you'd probably be better off cutting the liguistics completely and NOT replacing it, and trying to graduate a year sooner instead - the sooner you graduate, the less your debt, the sooner you get into grad school. Well, I mean, let's be honest - you're already signing yourself up for a life of slavery with that game plan, but it will be nice for the yoke to be as light as possible if you have a choice, considering an academic's income is unlikely to throw it off anytime soon, if at all (and the lighter it is, the more possible that becomes).

Even if you had a full five-year-full-ride, officially starting on stuff that's actually important in the field you love a year sooner is a benefit in its own right, since you seem like the type to be doing plenty of learning on the side for the rest of your life.