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Information for Transfer Students

Students who transfer from another institution to UCSD can usually complete a Linguistics major in two years if they plan carefully.
The Linguistics minor is flexible, allowing two lower-division courses, including language classes, to count towards your minor. Here are some useful tips:

1. Enroll in LIGN101 Introduction to the Study of Language in your first quarter. This course is offered in the fall and winter quarters, and occasionally in the spring quarter.

2. If you are a Language Studies major or minor, take LIGN143 The Structure of Spanish, LIGN148 Psycholinguistics of Sign Languages (which counts as Structure of ASL) or the LIGN141 Language Structures course as soon as they are offered. Other languages such as Arabic, French, or German are offered on an intermittent basis, and are listed as LIGN141. Contact the undergraduate student affairs officer or undergraduate adviser regarding substitutes if your language of choice is not offered.

3. If you are a General Linguistics, Cognition and Language, Speech and Language Sciences, or Language and Society major, take LIGN110 Phonetics as soon as possible, either in the quarter following LIGN101 or concurrently. This course is a prerequisite to LIGN111 Phonology and LIGN112 Speech Sounds and Speech Disorders.

4. Ensure that you complete the undergraduate language requirement. This can be satisfied by:
a) passing the reading proficiency exam and the oral interview administered by the Department of Linguistics. Contact the Linguistics Language Program Assistant to schedule the exam.
or
b) Successful completion of a course representing the 4th quarter of instruction at UCSD with a grade of C- or better
or
c) Scoring 4 or greater on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam.

Students with native language competence in a language other than English may petition to have English count as satisfying the proficiency requirement.

Need help?

Don’t hesitate to seek advising assistance from the Department of Linguistics undergraduate student affairs officer or the faculty undergraduate adviser regarding major requirements.

Your college advisers can help with university and general education requirements. For other aspects of the transfer process refer to the Transfer Student Services page

Connect with Triton Transfers, a student organization for transfer students.