Non-SLP Major, Already Graduated, Deciding about SLP Post-Bacc

[gigislp]

How did you decide whether or not you should do a post-bacc or just take courses separately? How did you know for sure that the courses you took were fulfilling prerequisites? If you did a post-bacc but then still had to do another requirement after post-bacc because each school has different requirements, how did you find out you were missing this requirement? What is the cheapest post-bacc available? Anyone in the same boat as me where as a linguist and cogsci minor (or as other majors/minors), you took a lot of similar courses to prerequisites but ones that don't fit the pre-requisites perfectly?

[bibliophile222]

You sound just like me, linguistics major and all! There is no nice and easy answer, unfortunately. I knew which schools I wanted when I started my post-bacc, so I was able to look up the prereqs on their program website and make sure they matched up. It wasn't a perfect match, and I did end up having to take a final prereq during the summer of my grad program. Looking back on it, I can't remember if I would have been okay at the other schools or if I would have had to take one or two extra there as well.

Your best bet is to pick a post-bacc with a decent selection of courses that are really common to all grad programs, then apply to schools that don't have a ridiculous number of prereqs. I did my post-bacc online through Pacific University. It had 8 courses: phonetics, A&P, audiology/hearing rehab, clinic methods, neuroanatomy, language development, intro to CSD, and speech science. These are all the basics that you'll need. Just note that California schools, for instance, tend to require a lot of courses that are typically only grad level, like speech sound disorders and fluency. I only applied to East Coast schools, so it worked out for me, but if you want to apply to California schools you should probably take a post-bacc through one of them as well.

As far as cheapest, I don't know the answer for sure. Pacific was pretty reasonable, but I've also heard people say that USU and ENMU are pretty cheap.

[Cece93]

I decided on a post bacc because I figured if I did one it would cover almost everything I needed. I wasn’t necessarily missing a class that was required but aural rehabilitation would’ve been nice for me to take. I found that out during interview day. It wasn’t a problem for my school or any I applied too. But you can always ask the programs you like if you’re missing something. Also I agree, have a list of schools you want to apply to and what they require. It'll be easier to make sure you have everything done. Worse comes to worse you could always take the courses the summer before you start if you are missing something. Or have it added to your grad courses if that’s an option. 

[gigislp]

@bibliophile222 Thank you so much for your answer! :) It's reassuring that schools take you even if you are missing one or two classes and it's good to know which classes you took as prereqs.

Did you get conditional acceptance and then the school you chose for grad school let you take the missing class with them? Also did you have to take phonetics again with Pacific University, assuming you took it for your linguistics major, or did they count phonetics from your undergrad? I am mostly applying to California schools because of in-state tuition, so thank you for the heads up. That actually explains a lot about the difference in prereqs I see between the different schools I've looked at.

[bibliophile222]

19 hours ago, gigislp said:

@bibliophile222 Thank you so much for your answer!  It's reassuring that schools take you even if you are missing one or two classes and it's good to know which classes you took as prereqs.

Did you get conditional acceptance and then the school you chose for grad school let you take the missing class with them? Also did you have to take phonetics again with Pacific University, assuming you took it for your linguistics major, or did they count phonetics from your undergrad? I am mostly applying to California schools because of in-state tuition, so thank you for the heads up. That actually explains a lot about the difference in prereqs I see between the different schools I've looked at.

I actually did not need conditional acceptance because my missing class was one that they didn't require for admission. If you have it, great, if not, you take it during the grad program. There were maybe 5 or 6 of us that took it in grad school.

I actually did take phonetics again because Pacific had a set bunch of courses you had to take to complete the program. It was okay, though, because my linguistics phonetics class was more about the linguistic theories and didn't have as much IPA and sound locations, so it was nice to take it through the lens of an SLP instead of a linguist.

I do want to warn that not all schools will take you if you're missing prereqs. They might have a conditional acceptance and you have to take them the summer before you begin school. I think that was the case for one school I applied to. For all I know, others might be super strict and want all of them complete before they even accept you. The best plan is to check carefully with each school and see what they require. 

[AmyE]

Me three! I also did my undergraduate degree in linguistics. I did my post-bacc classes at Portland State, and I based the classes I took on their graduate school admission requirements because they were my first pick.  I looked at my other top choices too and tried to make sure I fulfilled their requirements. At PSU as far as I recall there was no specific post-bacc program, I just enrolled as an unmatriculated, non-degree seeking student. 

I ended up going to Idaho State for my master's, which was my back-up so I didn't really focus on their requirements. I got a phone call from them letting me know that they wanted to accept me but I would have to agree to take a few undergraduate courses that they required. They gave me the option to defer enrollment and take the undergrad classes first, or to start grad school right away on an extended track. I chose to start right away. I took two of the undergrad classes through Idaho State and another through an affiliated university, but I also looked at community colleges (it was like, Physics 101 and Chem 101 I was missing) and I was told they would have accepted those credits. Like the other  person who responded said, some universities just won't accept you if you're missing pre-reqs,so I suggest choosing classes based on the requirements of your top picks.

I would hope that if you end up getting accepted to a graduate program and you don't meet all their pre-req requirements, they would be able to suggest ways for you to fulfill them,or if not, possibly other students who are in the same boat will have some suggestions.

[gigislp]

Thank you for your answer! It's good to know that at-least some schools accept and then let you full-fill missing prerequisites))

[gigislp]

On 8/4/2020 at 5:43 PM, AmyE said:

Me three! I also did my undergraduate degree in linguistics. I did my post-bacc classes at Portland State, and I based the classes I took on their graduate school admission requirements because they were my first pick.  I looked at my other top choices too and tried to make sure I fulfilled their requirements. At PSU as far as I recall there was no specific post-bacc program, I just enrolled as an unmatriculated, non-degree seeking student. 

I ended up going to Idaho State for my master's, which was my back-up so I didn't really focus on their requirements. I got a phone call from them letting me know that they wanted to accept me but I would have to agree to take a few undergraduate courses that they required. They gave me the option to defer enrollment and take the undergrad classes first, or to start grad school right away on an extended track. I chose to start right away. I took two of the undergrad classes through Idaho State and another through an affiliated university, but I also looked at community colleges (it was like, Physics 101 and Chem 101 I was missing) and I was told they would have accepted those credits. Like the other  person who responded said, some universities just won't accept you if you're missing pre-reqs,so I suggest choosing classes based on the requirements of your top picks.

I would hope that if you end up getting accepted to a graduate program and you don't meet all their pre-req requirements, they would be able to suggest ways for you to fulfill them,or if not, possibly other students who are in the same boat will have some suggestions.

Thank you for your answer! It's good to know that at-least some schools accept and then let you full-fill missing prerequisites))

[gigislp]

This is for anyone that ends up in the same boat as me and needs information. I went with the Utah State University's online 2nd Bachelor's Program. I received confirmation from Western Washington University that USU will fulfill their prerequisites except for the "Anatomy & Physiology of Speech and Hearing Mechanisms" prerequisite which I will take as a non-cohort student with the CSU San Marcos prerequisite online program. If you happen to be looking at CSU schools that have prerequisites like "Voice Disorders," USU does not have these as part of the post-bacc program, but they do teach these classes. My plan is to either take them as a non-cohort student or ask the advisor to add these classes as part of the post-bacc program course plan for me. Fyi I'm only applying to west coast schools but based on what other people have said, USU seems to fulfill a lot of east school requirements too.