Advice for post-BA career change?

[BrooklynUndergrad]

Hello!

I graduated from Brooklyn College with a BA in Television and Radio in 2018. After two years of unhappiness and soul-searching, I have decided to go back to school to become an SLP and I'm super excited! I have already submitted for readmission into Brooklyn College as it's an automatic process, but I am now seeking advice on exactly what track to go on. I am happy to complete a second bachelor's as my GPA the first time around wasn't amazing (3.25) and, from what I can work out, I am able to complete the additional degree in two years. I also just recently found out about the post-bacc option many schools (including BC) offer, which would be much less stress schedule-and-life-wise. However, I do not plan on attending Brooklyn College for my masters at this time. Considering I am unsure of what school I'd like to attend for a masters program, the full degree seems like a better option, as schools seem to have slightly different requirements for prereq work.

What would your opinion be on taking pre-requisite courses vs completing a Communication Sciences & Disorders degree?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

[MH13]

This heavily depends on the school you want to go for your master’s. My cohort is pretty split on bachelor’s in communication disorders and 1 year of leveling. I have my BS in comm disorders and I’ve also been a SLPA for almost 5 years now. I can say that the actual hands-on experience of being a SLPA has helped me more than the extra year of courses. 
 

If you’re worried about your GPA affecting your chances of getting an acceptance, you may want to go the extra year. It heavily depends on where you want to go. If the university is mainly concerned about the GPA of your last 60 hours, you need to get your most recent transcript, a copy of the course plan with amount of hours and count up 60 hours. If you hit the 60 hours with 1 course of a semester, you will need to count ALL courses for that semester and determine what the GPA would be at the highest and lowest with the year of leveling classes. If it’s not where you want it, add in that extra year and figure a possible GPA and see where you stand. I have been reading that CSDCAS does not compute for the last 60 hours. If your grad program utilizes that service for admissions, you may be better off doing the 2nd bachelors to raise the GPA. I’m not sure about that- someone please clarify on that. I didn’t apply through CSDCAS- my program doesn’t use that for the distance program, so I don’t know how that works. 
 

One more thing- check the prerequisites for where you may want to go and make sure that the leveling and your previous work has covered all of that. I had to take chemistry before starting my program. I took it after I was accepted and completed the class before my cohort started. When I completed my BS comm disorders, it wasn’t required- just a physical science. I took astronomy and the ASHA guidelines changed and specified physics or chemistry, which went into effect Jan 2020. I’ve been reading a lot of programs require aural rehab before applying. Check where you want to apply and see if that is required. If so and it’s not part of leveling, ask if you can take that with leveling so you can be ready to apply.