Unsure what to do about prerequisites and applying to grad school

[Mikx3]

Background: I have my bachelor in psychology and started becoming interested in SLP. After getting accepted into a program through university of colorado boulder to get prerequisites for SLP, I realized through researching a BUNCH of online Master SLP programs that they all require different prerequisites on top of ASHAs requirements (duh) to even apply. I don’t have physics or chemistry in my transcript but do have the others ASHA needs. I’m getting so discouraged thinking that trying this without a bachelors degree in communication science is going to be extremely difficult. I would need an Online masters program to get into because I am a mom and my husband already works grueling hours and I find being able to do most of it online would help me out a lot. I don’t even know if this is worth it anymore, I guess I’m just seeing if anyone else has been through this and has applied and got accepted with only certain prerequisites versus having exact 100% what the school needs. I am struggling. Thank you in advance!

[Angela Q.]

Hi! I come from a Linguistics background and I understand your struggle. However, I just got acceptances to my top programs!

If you are struggling with prerequisites, look at course equivalencies and see if anything can double-count or if you can apply and finish the prerequisite after you get accepted. You can also reach out to admissions officers and ask if the courses you're currently taking/have taken count as certain classes. For example, some programs require a Hearing Science course, but that is often covered in an Intro to Audiology course already.

I also recommend online programs with fewer or no prerequisites, such as Speech@NYU. I personally only took a few prerequisites (Intro to Audiology, Anat & Phys, Language Dev, Speech Science, Aural Rehab). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

Edited March 28, 2022 by Angela Ding

[Mikx3]

2 hours ago, Angela Ding said:

Hi! I come from a Linguistics background and I understand your struggle. However, I just got acceptances to my top programs!

If you are struggling with prerequisites, look at course equivalencies and see if anything can double-count or if you can apply and finish the prerequisite after you get accepted. You can also reach out to admissions officers and ask if the courses you're currently taking/have taken count as certain classes. For example, some programs require a Hearing Science course, but that is often covered in an Intro to Audiology course already.

I also recommend online programs with fewer or no prerequisites, such as Speech@NYU. I personally only took a few prerequisites (Intro to Audiology, Anat & Phys, Language Dev, Speech Science, Aural Rehab). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

Hi Angela! 
thanks for the reply! I actually did just that and got a couple emails back. I even got some great information about an online school (Wisconsin Eau-Claire) who provides a post-baccalaureate for courses you’ll need to apply to their grad program. They also stated that this could give them an idea of how committed you are as a student and give you somewhat of a position up on applying to their grad program. They also said if certain courses aren’t finished, they will give them to you during grad school. I think I may go this route? Looks like this may be the best fit since they only make you go to campus for one week at a time during each summer. Did Speech@NYU tell you that you could finish coursework during your graduate program? 

[Angela Q.]

23 minutes ago, Mikx3 said:

Hi Angela! 
thanks for the reply! I actually did just that and got a couple emails back. I even got some great information about an online school (Wisconsin Eau-Claire) who provides a post-baccalaureate for courses you’ll need to apply to their grad program. They also stated that this could give them an idea of how committed you are as a student and give you somewhat of a position up on applying to their grad program. They also said if certain courses aren’t finished, they will give them to you during grad school. I think I may go this route? Looks like this may be the best fit since they only make you go to campus for one week at a time during each summer. Did Speech@NYU tell you that you could finish coursework during your graduate program? 

Speech@nyu has no prerequisite requirements. https://speech.steinhardt.nyu.edu/admissions/application-requirements/ 

If you don't have a CSD background or a second bachelor's, then you'll need to take extra foundations courses as part of your plan of study. But you don't need anything to be admitted!  https://speech.steinhardt.nyu.edu/academics/course-descriptions/

[Mikx3]

2 hours ago, Angela Ding said:

Speech@nyu has no prerequisite requirements. https://speech.steinhardt.nyu.edu/admissions/application-requirements/ 

If you don't have a CSD background or a second bachelor's, then you'll need to take extra foundations courses as part of your plan of study. But you don't need anything to be admitted!  https://speech.steinhardt.nyu.edu/academics/course-descriptions/

That is great! I about puked when I saw the price of tuition, holy crap ???‍?

[meadymalarkey]

You don't need to take all of your leveling classes in the same place. I did mine at like 5 different schools (2 community colleges, CalState San Marcos, UCLA extension, and ENMU). ENMU was by far the least expensive leveling program I found for upper level pre-reqs. You might also look into community college classes in your state because they're usually the most cost-effective. Doing it this way allowed me to pace my pre-reqs out faster rather than being dependent on a single program. The benefit of doing the leveling at one program is if you want to go to grad school there, you'll already have an idea of what the program is like, develop some relationships with faculty, and know going in who you might want to work with. You may also be able to do it in person. However, if you don't know where you want to end up yet, saving money is important to you, and you don't mind being online, I would shop around.