LING Bachelor's - Accelerated Master's Program

The BAM requires a total of 138 credit hours. Twelve credit hours are shared between the two degrees.

Linguistics Bachelor’s Accelerated Master’s

The Linguistics Department offers aBachelor's – Accelerated Master's degreeprogram for students with strong abilities and motivations.

A student in this program begins graduate coursework as part of the BA and continues after receiving the BA to complete the MA in one additional year. A total of 138 credit hours are required.

Preparing to Apply

Students should consult with both their undergraduate advisor and the Linguistics graduate advisor when considering applying to this BAM program.

  • Application to the BAM should take place in either the fall or spring term of the junior year
    Application Deadlines:
    Fall applications - October 15
    Spring applications - March 15
  • Students applying to the BAM must have completed and done well in the following courses:
    • LING 2000(with a grade of B+ or higher)
    • LING 3100 (Phonetics), 3430 (Semantics), or 4420 (Morphology and Syntax)
    • An upper-division LING elective(See for list of courses)

In the semester of the junior year in which the BAM application is submitted, the student must have completed by or be enrolled in a 5000-level qualifying course, as follows:

  • For Fall Applicants:
    • LING 5420Morphology & Syntax (if LING 4420 has not already been taken)
    • LING 5030 Linguistic Phonetics
  • For Spring Applicants:
    • LING 5430 Semantics & Pragmatics
    • LING 5410 Phonology (if LING 3100 has already been taken)

Admission to the BAM program will not be decided until midterm grades for the qualifying course have been made available to the admissions committee.The department may consider requests to use a different LING MA course as the qualifying course.

NOTE: Undergraduates cannot register themselves for graduate courses. Students already in the BAM program and those planning to apply should contact the Graduate Program Administrator, who will help register them for graduate courses.

How to Apply

Step 1. At least two weeks before the Spring or Fallapplication deadline, applicants should complete the BAM “intent application” on the Graduate School website.

Step 2. At least two weeks before the deadline, applicants should requesttwo recommendations, which should be from:

  • the instructor of the LING qualifying course; and
  • the instructor of an upper-division course linguistics course.

Students should talk to the two instructors in advance to ask if they agree to be recommenders.

Applicants must fill in and sign theLinguistics BAM waiver form, which will ask for the instructors' names and email addresses. The Waiver form will be routed to the department, who will contact the instructors to request theirrecommendations.

The Waiver form should be completed at least two weeks before theapplication deadline to allow time for CLASIC to contact the instructors and receive their recommendations.

Step 3. Applicants should send a 1-pagestatement of purpose to linguist@colorado.edu explaining their suitability and preparedness for the BAM program and addressing how it will help them advance academic and/or career goals.

If the application to the BAM program is not approved or if the student decide to withdraw from the program, any graduate courses completed satisfactorily will count towards the undergraduate degree as upper division electives or as replacements for the corresponding required courses (5420 for 4420, 5430 for 3430, 5030 + 5410 for 3100). Consult the Graduate Advisor for full information and advice.

Completing the BAM program

Students accepted into the BAM must meet the requirements for the BA and the requirements for the MS.

Advising - BAM students should continue working with their undergraduate advisor in Linguistics to plan the courses needed to fulfill all the BA requirements and also consult with the Graduate Advisor before registering for courses. The undergraduate and graduate advisors can also help strategize the best use of the overlap allowed between the two degrees.

Prior to receiving the BA, the student will complete:

  • 15 undergraduatecourse credits from elective or required courses within the major.
  • 5 hours of upper-division language, as required for the BA (or one additional LING elective, if your non-English language proficiency is already above the third-year college level).
  • 12 graduate course credits. These include credits from the qualifying course plus three required or elective courses for the MA. These credits count as upper-division Linguistics electives for the BA.
Important note!
  • Only 12 graduate credits (4 courses) taken before receiving the BA can be counted toward the MS; and
  • Only 12 credits (4 courses) can be double counted for both degrees.

In the semester they complete the BA requirements, BAM students apply to graduate with their BA degree and submit a master’s continuation form to move from undergraduate to graduate student status.

Continuing at the graduate level, students take the remaining required and elective courses needed for the MA, completing 30 graduate credits. See thefor the MA degree.

  • Students choosing the thesis plan will take 4-6 thesis credit hours, write, a defend a thesis.
  • Students choosing the non-thesis plan will take the MA comprehensive examination.