Pre-requisites - time to complete

[ashny]

Some universities require pre-requisites if the don't need a CSD degree and am not sure whether to take these as I am a career change with limited time. For example the schedule below needs 18 credits altogether. Does anyone have any idea how long it would take to complete a schedule this this - weeks, months, a year maybe ? Thanks.

 

Introduction to Communication Disorders (3 credits)

Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanisms (3 credits)

Phonetics (3 credits)

Neuroanatomy (3 credits) [typical neuroanatomy and physiology]

Normal Speech and Language Development (3 credits)

Audiology and Aural Rehabilitation (3 credits) or Audiology (3 credits) AND Aural Rehabilitation (3 credits)

[speechfan222]

I'm assuming you don't have a BS degree in Speech Pathology? It depends on the program and how many credits you take per semester. Some programs only offer these courses either in the Spring or Fall and sometimes there are credit requirements, especially if you have financial aid.

It looks like you need a total of 21 credits. If you take 9 credits (3 courses) per semester, you would be finished in 3 semesters. You would be able to complete all of your prereqs in a year and a half. How many credits do you want to take in a semester?

[ashny]

1 hour ago, speechfan222 said:

I'm assuming you don't have a BS degree in Speech Pathology? It depends on the program and how many credits you take per semester. Some programs only offer these courses either in the Spring or Fall and sometimes there are credit requirements, especially if you have financial aid.

It looks like you need a total of 21 credits. If you take 9 credits (3 courses) per semester, you would be finished in 3 semesters. You would be able to complete all of your prereqs in a year and a half. How many credits do you want to take in a semester?

Thank you - I assume you mean one and a half years full time study.

You are right. I don't have a BS degree in Speech Pathology. It would also be risky for me to spend a year and a half taking pre-requisites with no guarantee of getting in anywhere. I probably would if I were younger but as a career changer, that would take too long.

[lexical_gap]

My post-bacc took 4 semesters of part-time school based on the way the local university sequenced their courses.

[speechfan222]

1 hour ago, ashny said:

Thank you - I assume you mean one and a half years full time study.

You are right. I don't have a BS degree in Speech Pathology. It would also be risky for me to spend a year and a half taking pre-requisites with no guarantee of getting in anywhere. I probably would if I were younger but as a career changer, that would take too long.

 

Yes, full time study. That makes sense. Unfortunately, prereqs are required for those without a BS in Speech Pathology. What do you have a BS in? You can still consider taking the prereqs if you're that interested in the field!

[Crimson Wife]

If you were to take them through Utah State, you'd take:

1st semester: 2500 (Language Development), 3100 (A&P of Speech), 3500 (Phonetics)

2nd semester: 3400 (A&P of Hearing), 4450 (Intro to Communicative Disorders)

3rd semester: 3700 (Audiology), 5330 (Aural Rehab)

I would recommend taking 5900 (Observation) since many grad schools want the 25 required ASHA hours completed prior to matriculation. And really, if you're taking 8 of the courses for the 2nd bachelor's, you might as well go ahead and take the remaining 4 since you'd have to take them in grad school regardless. It's not like you get out of taking them completely if you don't do them at the undergrad level.

[dcslp]

19 hours ago, lexical_gap said:

My post-bacc took 4 semesters of part-time school based on the way the local university sequenced their courses.

Where did you go to school? 

[speechfan222]

2 minutes ago, ashny said:

I have a bachelors in psychology and sociology and a masters in human resource management. I am trying to transition from an 15 year HR career into speech pathology. 

 

I think you should take the prereqs and apply to programs if you're really interested in the field.

It's ironic....we are doing the exact same opposite. I have a BS in Speech Pathology and am going to start an MS program in Sociology. I have to take two prereqs first since I don't have a background in the field, but I'm going to take those starting next week and then apply to programs for Fall 2017.

Since you have a BS degree in Sociology, is there anything specific or important I should know (or that you want to share) before starting an MS program? I find Sociology very interesting, but don't have any background in it or know much about it.

Thanks!

[ashny]

18 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

If you were to take them through Utah State, you'd take:

1st semester: 2500 (Language Development), 3100 (A&P of Speech), 3500 (Phonetics)

2nd semester: 3400 (A&P of Hearing), 4450 (Intro to Communicative Disorders)

3rd semester: 3700 (Audiology), 5330 (Aural Rehab)

I would recommend taking 5900 (Observation) since many grad schools want the 25 required ASHA hours completed prior to matriculation. And really, if you're taking 8 of the courses for the 2nd bachelor's, you might as well go ahead and take the remaining 4 since you'd have to take them in grad school regardless. It's not like you get out of taking them completely if you don't do them at the undergrad level.

Thanks for all your advice. That is a lot of work for people who don't have any guarantee if they would be admitted or not into the Masters program (though in your case with your scores I am certain you will get in somewhere). It would make sense for those who could pursue alternative career paths with the second bachelors like special education or  an SLPA but I wonder what those people who do a second bachelors like that offered at Utah State would do if they did not get into a Masters program.

In my case, spending years studying for the GRE's  and a post bachelors etc would absolutely be worth it if I got in somewhere, but the tradeoff is that if I spend that time doing that, I leave a gaping hole in my resume which is frowned upon employers if I try to get into my former career  (HR) again.  I've already had difficulty finding a decent job in HR and it would only become worse if I took any more time to reach these goals which I am not even sure are attainable. If I were not an immigrant, I think I would probably have an easier time with the GRE but the Maths part looks like Greek to me and I don't know how to compete with young American students who are familiar with the Maths AND score well enough to get into such a competitive program.

[ashny]

13 minutes ago, speechfan222 said:

I think you should take the prereqs and apply to programs if you're really interested in the field.

It's ironic....we are doing the exact same opposite. I have a BS in Speech Pathology and am going to start an MS program in Sociology. I have to take two prereqs first since I don't have a background in the field, but I'm going to take those starting next week and then apply to programs for Fall 2017.

Since you have a BS degree in Sociology, is there anything specific or important I should know (or that you want to share) before starting an MS program? I find Sociology very interesting, but don't have any background in it or know much about it.

Thanks!

I did not do my Sociology degree here in USA as I'm an immigrant, now married to a US citizen. Hence I'm having to start over as I can't get my footing in my former field very easily (job market is saturated in HR where I live). I found sociology a very interesting subject ( I studied it over 20 years ago!) but more important I would ask what your career goals are. Would it lead to a specific kind of job? If so, I would go for it - I remember really enjoying the subject.

[speechfan222]

7 minutes ago, ashny said:

I did not do my Sociology degree here in USA as I'm an immigrant, now married to a US citizen. Hence I'm having to start over as I can't get my footing in my former field very easily (job market is saturated in HR where I live). I found sociology a very interesting subject ( I studied it over 20 years ago!) but more important I would ask what your career goals are. Would it lead to a specific kind of job? If so, I would go for it - I remember really enjoying the subject.

 

I'd like to do basically anything in the field. From teaching sociology at a university to doing research. All of it interests me.

Where are you from?

[ashny]

12 minutes ago, speechfan222 said:

I'd like to do basically anything in the field. From teaching sociology at a university to doing research. All of it interests me.

Where are you from?

Also, may I ask why you are not pursuing speech pathology with a CSD degree?

[Crimson Wife]

3 hours ago, ashny said:

 

In my case, spending years studying for the GRE's  and a post bachelors etc would absolutely be worth it if I got in somewhere, but the tradeoff is that if I spend that time doing that, I leave a gaping hole in my resume which is frowned upon employers if I try to get into my former career  (HR) again. 

Why would you have a hole in your resume? Utah State is fully online so you'd do your classes around your work schedule. Most people in the program are employed at least PT. I'm not but my special needs child has an intensive therapy schedule (5 days/week between speech, ABA, and social skills group) plus dealing with all the hassles of her IEP, fighting the various bureaucracies (private health insurance, Medicaid she has as secondary coverage, the Regional Center, etc.) and so on.

A 3 year extended master's would guarantee that the leveling classes would "count" but frankly you'd need a super-strong rest of your application to overcome the low 1st bachelor's GPA. It's certainly possible but you need to be realistic about how competitive those programs are. And if you're not doing the leveling classes as part of an extended master's, you run into the same issue about them possibly being a waste regardless of whether you do a 2nd bachelor's or just take them as a non-degree student.

[lexical_gap]

dcslp:  I am in Wisconsin and did my post-bacc at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

[ashny]

2 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

Why would you have a hole in your resume? Utah State is fully online so you'd do your classes around your work schedule. Most people in the program are employed at least PT. I'm not but my special needs child has an intensive therapy schedule (5 days/week between speech, ABA, and social skills group) plus dealing with all the hassles of her IEP, fighting the various bureaucracies (private health insurance, Medicaid she has as secondary coverage, the Regional Center, etc.) and so on.

A 3 year extended master's would guarantee that the leveling classes would "count" but frankly you'd need a super-strong rest of your application to overcome the low 1st bachelor's GPA. It's certainly possible but you need to be realistic about how competitive those programs are. And if you're not doing the leveling classes as part of an extended master's, you run into the same issue about them possibly being a waste regardless of whether you do a 2nd bachelor's or just take them as a non-degree student.

Interesting, i did not know that most people are working....I thought it would be a full time bachelors. I think I may have even asked someone on gradcafe and they said full time. So in my case, i would need to get a good GRE score AND the second bachelors. If anything, I think I should just take a mock GRE test or the real one just to see how I score on the verbal section. If my score is within range, I can attempt overcoming the math part and then consider the second bachelors. I say this as the GRE math is probably going to be the most challenging part for me, so if I can overcome the math, I think that the second bachelors will be less risky to think of doing...and you are right about the low first GPA. I wonder if I can only submit the second higher GPA - will check with the schools.Thanks for your advice.

Edited January 2, 2017 by ashny
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[Crimson Wife]

4 hours ago, ashny said:

Interesting, i did not know that most people are working....I thought it would be a full time bachelors. I think I may have even asked someone on gradcafe and they said full time. So in my case, i would need to get a good GRE score AND the second bachelors. If anything, I think I should just take a mock GRE test or the real one just to see how I score on the verbal section. If my score is within range, I can attempt overcoming the math part and then consider the second bachelors. I say this as the GRE math is probably going to be the most challenging part for me, so if I can overcome the math, I think that the second bachelors will be less risky to think of doing...and you are right about the low first GPA. I wonder if I can only submit the second higher GPA - will check with the schools.Thanks for your advice.

"Full Time" just refers to the number of classes taken, not whether someone is sitting in a classroom 4 days/week. Yes, there are 2nd bachelor's programs designed like that (Sacramento State has one, which I passed on due to logistics) but there are plenty of others where the lectures are pre-recorded and you watch them at your own convenience. I watch a lot of mine on my smartphone while sitting in waiting rooms during my daughter's various medical and therapy appointments.

Utah State is the online progam I'm most familiar with but there are others such as Eastern NM, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, ID State, Cal State Northridge, etc. I think there is a list somewhere on this forum if you do a search.