What are the top 10 schools in the world to get a Masters Degree in
Linguistics?  I've done some cursory looking around, and discovered an
excellent but overly expensive program at NYU (www.nyu.edu).  I also
checked out the University of Geneva, switzerland (www.unige.ch), and
that also looked promising.  There are a number of good linguistics
websites (notable www.linguistlist.org), but I want a LIST of the top
10 schools according to some authority on the subject.

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Request for Question Clarification by hammer-ga on 04 Nov 2002 04:35 PST

I know a Professor of Linguistics for a large University. He does not
feel that he can effectively comment on programs worldwide, but he can
provide his opinion on the top ten programs in the United States.
Would this be acceptable as an answer?

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Clarification of Question by dsheetz-ga on 04 Nov 2002 09:59 PST

Yes, that would be helpful.  To be honest, though, I'm strongly
considering school in Europe, so any comments you could gather on
European schools would be very much welcome.

Below is the Professor's ranking of United States programs. It also
includes some general advice for selecting a program:

*** Begin Quote ***

Usually, linguistics departments are ranked either according to their
doctoral programs, or according to their undergraduate programs.  A
ranking according to master's programs would be quite unusual, and I'm
not sure anyone has ever undertaken the task of doing a serious,
well-researched ranking at this level.

There are good reasons for this:  Hardly anyone pursues a master's
degree in linguistics except as a stepping stone to a doctorate. 
Moreover, it is preferable to do one's entire graduate career in the
same department, rather than completing a master's degree at one
university and then transferring to a different university for the
doctorate.  (Most departments require all incoming graduate students
to take a full sequence of master's-level courses and exams as a
preliminary to the doctoral program -- even students who already have
a master's degree from a different university.  This means that
transfer students wind up doing the equivalent of a second master's
degree before they can begin their doctorate!)

In a few specialized cases, it might be reasonable to pursue a
master's degree without planning on going on for a doctorate: for
example, if you are a computer programmer who wants some extra
background in linguistics in order to work on natural language
applications, but who is not planning on a career as a linguist.  But
except in cases like this, my strong recommendation is to plan on
pursuing a doctorate, and choose a university based on its doctoral
program, not its master's program.

Therefore, the ranking below is of doctoral programs in linguistics,
not master's programs.
1. MIT
2. University of Massachusetts
3. Stanford

This is a fairly conventional assessment of the top three.  These
three will also probably be the most competitive programs to get into.

4. UCLA
5. Ohio State

There is less consensus about programs after the top three, but UCLA
and Ohio State would be near the top of anyone's list, I think.  These
are both large departments, in which one can receive a quality
education in almost any subfield of linguistics.

6. Rutgers
7. UC Santa Cruz

Rutgers and Santa Cruz are smaller, more focused departments, with an
emphasis on core areas of theoretical linguistics.

8. USC
9. University of Pennsylvania
10. Cornell University

At this level, there would be a lot of disagreement, but USC, Penn and
Cornell are all very good, well-regarded departments.

Some other departments that would also rank highly, and probably make
it into some linguists' assessment of the top ten (in no particular
order): UC San Diego, Maryland, NYU, Illinois, Arizona, Berkeley,
Georgetown.

*** End Quote ***

Good luck with your program selection!

- Hammer

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Clarification of Answer by hammer-ga on 04 Nov 2002 10:41 PST

Regarding European programs:

I am finding lists of European programs, but I am not finding rankings
or comments whose accuracy I trust. Most of what I am finding are the
marketing copy that a school writes for its own programs, which always
claims itself as "top-ranking". In this case, I would only post an
answer from a confirmed source. I only know one professional linguist
and, while this person spent much time abroad, they do not feel they
have enough current experience with European linguistics programs to
rank them.

- Hammer

Well researched answer.  I can't give it 5, though, since the real
hard part, the european part of the question, was not answered. 
Thanks much for your efforts.