Computational Linguistics (Certificate)
The Graduate Certificate in Computational Linguistics provides students with a basic education in the interdisciplinary field of computational linguistics. Computational linguists develop tools that support the interface of the person with the computer, in applications like blogs and diaries, citizen journalism and social interactions, web search and online booking systems, smart library catalogs, and the learning of foreign languages, spoken language interaction and knowledge discovery. They do this working for companies like Google, IBM, Yahoo!, MITRE, Microsoft and Amazon as well as for various governmental organizations both military and civilian.
The program enables students to understand core algorithms and data structures in CL, understand both symbolic and statistical methods and their appropriate use in applications. Applications include automatic text summarization, machine translation, named entity recognition (determining which items in a text map to proper names and what the type of each such name is –person, location, organization, etc.), natural language generation (converting information from computer databases into readable human language), natural language understanding (converting chunks of text into more formal representations that are easier for computer programs to manipulate), question answering (determining an answer, given a human language question), speech recognition, and text-to-speech synthesis, among many others.
The program is the only one of its kind in the state of New Jersey. It is unusual in that it places equal emphasis on basic computer science skills and on the techniques and methods of linguistics, giving students a solid background for the job market.
Please refer to our programs of study page for a comprehensive list of all of the graduate programs offered within the university.
The Office of Graduate Admissions requires the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree in order to be eligible to apply for a graduate program. Applicants with non-U.S. degrees, please visit the International Applicants page to review the U.S. degree equivalency information.
In order to make applying for graduate school as seamless as possible for you, we have
created an application checklist. This checklist can be a reference point for you during the
application process to ensure that you have a comprehensive understanding of the steps
needed to apply, as well as all of corresponding supplemental materials for your specific
program of interest.
- Application Deadline: Rolling Admission.
- Submit Online Application: Please create your online account and submit your application by following the general application instructions and pay (or waive) the non-refundable $60 application fee. Once this step has been completed, the online portal will allow you to upload your supplemental materials.
The following is a list of the supplemental materials that will accompany your application for the Computational Linguistics Certificate program:
- Transcript: One from each college attended.
- Essays/Personal Statement – Please write an integrated essay providing a response to each of the following questions:
- What are your goals for graduate study and your future career?
- In what ways do your academic background and your professional experiences provide evidence of your potential for success in the program you selected and in your eventual career? Please give specific examples of relevant coursework and/or experience.
- Is there any further information we should consider in assessing your candidacy?
- Letters of Recommendation: Two.
- Applicants with non-U.S. degrees, please visit the International Applicants page to review the US degree equivalency information.
This program is 18-21 credits. For more information, please visit the Computational Linguistics Certificate program listing in the University Catalog.
If you have any general questions regarding the application process and requirements, please email or call us:
Office of Graduate Admissions
Email: graduate@montclair.edu
Telephone: 973-655-5147
Fax: 973-655-7869
If you have specific inquiries regarding your program of interest, please contact the Computational Linguistics (Certificate) Program Coordinator:
*During the summer months, there will be a rotating department chair available to answer your inquiry. Find the updated summer chair for this program.*
Program Coordinator: Dr. Anna Feldman
Office: Conrad J. Schmitt Hall 240B
Email: feldmana@montclair.edu
Telephone: 973‑655‑7500