I got in for Linguistic Cognitive Science, is there anyone in that program that could tell me about their experiences?

Feona (user feonateresa) is in that program if I remember correctly! *bump* in hopes that she sees this! >.<

Haha, yup! I am. It's been renamed to Cognitive Science of Language. The names might be interchangeable at this point, but not sure yet.

Oh, and congrats on getting into the program! :]

Well, I'm going into my third year and I've only just officially gotten into the program. I was shadowing it in my second year, which if you don't know, is where you take courses as if you are in the program and then transfer into it at a later time.

In my first year, I took both first year linguistics classes and they were fantastic! Especially if you get Dr. Moro for Linguistics 1A03, I highly recommend her. She's a great professor. I took the first year psychology courses this past year, and they were great as well. They were both taught by Dr. Kim, and it involves a lot of online learning (web lectures & quizzes). They were very interesting courses but you have to work pretty hard to get a good mark, his multiple choice tests are challenging but not impossible.

Now, as for the program itself, I love it. I love linguistics, and all the different subtopics within it. In your first year classes, you'll be introduced different areas such as Phonetics, Phonology, Syntax etc. There are upper year classes for each of these subjects which go further into them. You'll also be taking quite a few psychology courses, especially if you're thinking of going into speech and language pathology after you finish your undergrad. If this is the case, it might also be a good idea to take Kinesiology 1Y03/1YY3 as electives.

The workload is not terribly difficult for the courses. Psychology I found had the most work to be done, because in Psychology 1XX3 we had both web lectures and live lectures (where you're sitting in a lecture hall) to gather notes from, plus term long group projects. As for all the other linguistics courses that I've taken, and I've taken 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes, it can feel like a lot of work if you're not interested in the subject. For me personally, I love it all and I go to class everyday so it's easy to grasp most of the time.

A good thing about the program too is that it's pretty small compared to a lot of programs on campus, so you can get to know your professors and classmates. It's always a good idea to ask questions and forge relationships with your professors because it not only looks good on you, and for references, but also helps you in the class.

You can go here: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1450.html to see what sorts of courses you need to take in first year. If you didn't take grade 12 U biology, you'll need Biology 1P03. You'll need Psychology 1X03/1XX3 & Linguistics 1A03/1AA3. As I said before, I recommend taking Kin 1Y03/1YY3. You'll also need 12 language credits, so you can take french in 1st and 2nd year, or take two different languages, like Japanese for example. It's upto you. Other electives? You can see if there are any first year social science courses you're interested in, or other first year humanities classes.

If you have any questions about specific classes or professors or anything else, I'd be happy to help. :]

Wow thanks so much, that's awesome! Yes I am looking to take speech and language pathology afterwards, so thats really helpful! I do have grade 12 bio, and I've taken exercise science so Im really looking forward to the kin classes! Thanks a lot for the heads up on the psych classes, I was kind of worried about those... were you thinking of getting into speech pathology after as well? or are there other career paths your interested in?

Hey! I took Exercise Science too, loooved that class and I'm hoping Kin will be something similar -- I'm taking that in September, so maybe we'll be in the same class. :]

Yes, I do want to do a masters in speech pathology, and I'm really eager to get into UBC. It's too bad that McMaster doesn't offer it. If you can go about getting volunteer hours with a speech pathologist at some point before your 4th year, it'd be a good idea. (Bah, I still need to get mine!) You'll need that, along with good references from a professor for example. Dr. Yoon is another great prof in the program, but he teaches a lot of upper year courses.

Oh, and for speech path, most schools focus on a high GPA in your last two years of undergrad but it's a good idea to keep your marks up there in first and second year, it just looks better. :]

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Hey! I took Exercise Science too, loooved that class and I'm hoping Kin will be something similar -- I'm taking that in September, so maybe we'll be in the same class. :]

Yes, I do want to do a masters in speech pathology, and I'm really eager to get into UBC. It's too bad that McMaster doesn't offer it. If you can go about getting volunteer hours with a speech pathologist at some point before your 4th year, it'd be a good idea. (Bah, I still need to get mine!) You'll need that, along with good references from a professor for example. Dr. Yoon is another great prof in the program, but he teaches a lot of upper year courses.

Oh, and for speech path, most schools focus on a high GPA in your last two years of undergrad but it's a good idea to keep your marks up there in first and second year, it just looks better. :]

Sweet I was thinking of doing some volunteer work this summer at the Speech Pathology department at the hospital! lol
Im kind of worried about the Stats courses, and when I looked at the recommended classes there was another math class, I can't remember if it was calculus or what but im not sure... any pointers about the math portion :S lol

Yeah, I'm taking the stats courses next year. Basically you want to take Psych 2RA3 and Psych 2RB3 in your third year or later on, and you'll be set for SLP. I've heard it's not very difficult, and it should be easier if you take Linguistics 2D03 first.

Good luck with the volunteering! I think I might do that later on this summer, not sure yet. :]

Hello!

I'm planning on going into speech language pathology as well! Im currently taking the two introductory linguistics courses in summer school and then hopefully i'll be able to transfer into the cognitive science of language program by august!
I was just wondering what are the psych courses I need to take if I want to enter a graduate SLP program? I've already taken 1x03 1xx3 and 2e03 and 2h03....I think i may also need to take a psych course that has to do with child development? I'm not really sure.....also I remember seeing somewhere in the old undergraduate calender something about a gerontology course? Did anyone else see this?

Thanks!!

Hey! :] You'll need Psych 2AA3, this is the child development course. You'll also need some sort of neuroscience course, so that's either 2F03 or 2N03 - they usually list 2F03, but if you don't have Biology 1A03 you can't take it.

You'll also need Kin 1Y03/1YY3 for SLP. Everything else is covered by the cognitive science of language requirements.

Oh! Also, UBC has a neurolinguistics requirement - which Mac doesn't necessarily have. I just e-mailed two advisors in the linguistics department, and they said that 3N03 or 4F03 would be the closest thing to it. So if you think you might want to go to UBC, you may have to contact them and see if these classes are acceptable. I might do that myself at some point. :]