Confused COMD undergrad

[SLPinkityDrinkity]

Hello! 

I am currently an undergrad in communication sciences and disorders at my university. I have space in my schedule for either a second major or 2 minors because of AP credit and the dual college program from when I was in high school. I have been possibly thinking of doing chicano/a studies as that would help me to understand my future demographics of clients because of where I currently live. I have also been considering linguistics as a second major but have been reconsidering it because of the language requirement which I am scared to affect my GPA as I am good in beginning language courses but past that I struggle a little. I do know myself and know that when I want something I will push myself to get it if I do decide to take the language courses. I know I have heard of of some SLPs double majoring in linguistics but never in chicano/a studies so I'm not sure if it would be to out of the box ?. I was just wondering if anyone else has any advice or experience they can provide. Thanks!✨

[meadymalarkey]

Hi there! I'm a current grad student in a program that admitted several people with backgrounds in the social sciences. I got my BA in anthropology with a focus on sociolinguistics and it's come it very, very handy. Most programs appreciate students that are focused on being stellar clinicians, which is very evident for those of us that chose those fields as undergrads, so no - definitely not "too out of the box." Any program that doesn't see that impulse as an asset is probably worth avoiding, IMO. 

If you see yourself working with this population longterm and you don't share that background personally, it'll likely be helpful. I would also recommend taking other languages salient to the demographics of the area you intend to work in (spanish, tagalog, korean, ASL, etc), even if it's not through your current school. Majoring in a relevant 2nd language would also look good, although I get that the GPA fears are real. 

Linguistics is completely amazing, however the elements of it that will be useful to you as an SLP are likely already being covered in your communication sciences coursework. Unless you see yourself going into linguistics research or you're just extremely passionate about it, it may feel redundant. If your school offers applied linguistics or psycholinguistics courses, those may also be worth considering.