Linguistics is a cross-disciplinary program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences designed to meet the needs of students interested in various aspects of language - its structure, history, varieties, meanings, and uses. The program includes courses in anthropology, communication disorders, computer science, English, psychology, and speech communication and world languages and cultures, thus providing a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of human language.
Courses in linguistics serve as background for students interested in any career that involves working with language, such as teaching English both as a first and as a second language, second language studies, psycholinguistics, cross-cultural communication, linguistic anthropology, computational linguistics, speech-language pathology, and audiology.
In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, courses in linguistics can be applied as electives or as part of the group requirements. They may also be used in a minor or in a major. Majors in linguistics complete a minimum of 36 hours in linguistics with a grade of C or better in each linguistics course.
August 2025
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
202 Catt Hall,
2224 Osborn Dr,
AMES,
Iowa,
50011, United States
Equivalent of a minimum 3.0 high school GPA on 4.0 scale. In addition to the requirement, students must meet the following minimum high school course requirements: 4 years of English or your native language; 3 years of science (including at least two years of laboratory science courses which emphasize elements of biology, chemistry, or physics); 3 years of math (including algebra and geometry); 2 years of social studies.
English Language Requirements:
TOEFL - Internet-Based TOEFL (IBT) score of 71 with a minimum score of 17 in both the Writing and Speaking sections and Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT) score of 530
IELTS - Overall band score of 6.0 with no sub score below 5.5
PTE - Score of 48
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
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