Speech Language Pathology

[katie_h17]

Hi everyone! I'm currently majoring in Spanish Education at a University in Ohio. I have a scholarship so I have my undergrad paid for , so I think I'll probably just stick with it. I really like teaching, but I think I would enjoy speech language pathology more because it's more one-on-one and it incorporates a lot of things that I really like: working with a wide range of people, psychology, neurology, linguistics, special education, etc.

However, my undergrad doesn't offer speech pathology. So I would have to apply to a 3.5 year MA program to make up for the course work I didn't take in undergrad.

My concern is that I've read a lot of posts on here about people applying to speech pathology and not getting in. So how can I bolster my CV to get accepted? Should I stay with Education or should I drop it to take more linguistics and psychology classes? Or will having an Education background make me more qualified to be accepted into a program?

My GPA so far is a 4.0 and I'm part of the scholar class.

This is a field that really interests me and I love the fact that it's so variable; I could work with adults or a wide range of children.

Thanks for your help!

[SLP31]

Hi Katie_h17, I didn't major in SLP and still got into a grad school. There are a lot of programs that offer prereqs for those entering the grad program without an undergrad major in SLP. For my program, I had to take a few prereqs before officially being enrolled. Thankfully, I was able to get a deferral for something else and used the remainder of the time to finish up the prereqs. As for changing majors, I don't know if that is really necessary, because many of the required classes for education majors also apply to SLP prereqs. I took education psychology, language development, and statistics in undergrad--and my friends in the education program were also required to take these courses for their major. These three courses are definite prereqs for any SLP grad program. The more specific courses, such as: intro to audiology, anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing, speech and hearing sciences will have to be taken on your spare time. And they are quite easily accessible through online programs. I am currently enrolled and finishing up on three of these online courses. It was really easy to get into and started right away.

And with these prereqs already finished, I only have to be in grad school for two years like everyone else who was an SLP undergrad major. Personally, I would take some summers during undergrad or even taken less units in school to enroll in online or community college courses that are more specific to SLP. This way, you are able to shave off anywhere from a quarter to two years of school on top of a two year grad program.

Not only will you be able to save time by taking SLP courses during undergrad, you can also be a more favorable applicant to the grad schools you'll be applying to. They'll see you already took the initiative to plan everything out and did not make a last minute decision to become an SLP.

Hope this helped a bit! Wish you all the best!

[SomedaySLP]

There is no need to switch majors if you're doing something you enjoy. My advice would be to continue acing your classes and if you have elective space, consider choosing courses that might fulfill some pre-reqs for grad school (lots of schools offer phonetics, language development, etc. in other departments like linguistics, psychology, child development. If you don't see any courses by those names you could inquire with the departmental advisors and see if they have a course that's just called something different but essentially the same thing). Honestly, I think your Spanish education major will be helpful, especially if you're fully bilingual. I would emphasize that on your applications: both being bilingual and having experience working with multi-lingual/-cultural populations. I've been told that's a huge plus and it was something I emphasized on my applications as well (one of my majors was in Spanish with an emphasis in hispanic linguistics, and I had experience teaching adult ESL classes), and I had decent luck this past applications season.

You could look into research positions at your university that might lend themselves to SLP. Your education department might have something relevant, or check in the psych/ling depts. Any research experience typically looks good to admissions committees and can help lead you to a strong LOR if you make a good connection with your advisor. Same goes for volunteer/relevant work experience.

I would look into applying to three year programs or take a year after you graduate and do the pre-reqs through a program like Utah State University's online SLP pre-req program, or something in your home state. Three year programs are nice since they get you into a program, but it can be more expensive since they usually charge graduate rates for the full three years, including your pre-req or "leveling" year.

Good luck! It's a grueling process but worth it once you get accepted! (Hopefully it will still feel worth it after I actually start the work for grad school ) Feel free to message if you need more advice along the way, I'm happy to help if I can.

[katie_h17]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I've never taken an online class before, and I'm not sure how I'd do. I go to office hours pretty frequently in my undergrad but I'm also a pretty good self-starter. Do grad schools look down on having taken online classes rather than taking that year/ year and a half of remedial classes at a University in person?

[katie_h17]

Also, Allie, did you do your pre-reqs through the University of Utah online?

[SomedaySLP]

I didn't, but I've heard of many of people who have and had good experiences. If you go to livejournal.com/speechpathology and look at the posts tagged USU/University of Utah you'll find lots of information and people who went through it (if you make a LJ account you can pose your own questions too, people are typically very helpful and knowledgeable on that forum). Many of them got into great programs and I've never heard of schools looking at anyone differently because they did online pre-reqs rather than brick and mortar courses. It seems most programs like having students with backgrounds outside of SLP as it adds some variety in perspectives and experiences to their cohorts, so if you get your pre-reqs, your Spanish background will be a huge plus on your application!

[katie_h17]

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking of switching my major to Spanish and minoring in psychology so that I can take more classes online through Utah State. (It's impossible to take classes when student teaching and observing! It's really intense!). The maximum credit hours that my college allows for my scholarship is 16, so taking an extra online class shouldn't be too bad. I'm thinking about taking 12/13 credit hours so that I can finish the SLP prerequisites faster, but I don't know how I feel about giving up a free class lol.