How important is undergrad research?

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I'm about to enter my senior year in undergrad. I'm a Linguistics major, and until recently thought I wanted to do SLP. I've since discovered audiology and I'm falling more and more in love with the field the more I learn about it.

Two things concern me about my potential application. My background is entirely language based - second language acquisition and errors, comparative grammars, phonetics and syntax, etc. I have the required biology (grades of As), but thats it. Will having a background like this prevent me from being accepted? I have 1 year left with 4 electives open. I'm planning on taking sign language for two of those four classes, but I still have two classes open if there is a class I absolutely should take. The biggest problem is that the communication disorders department at my school restricts classes to majors only, so I can't take any of those classes as electives.

The other thing tht I'm concerned about is my lack of research. I have no research experience to put on an application and no clue how to go about acquiring some before my application deadlines this winter. On top of that, I have no clue what I would be interested in researching in grad school...so I'm not sure how to address this.

Other than that, I have an average GPA (just below a 3.5 at the moment) and decent GREs (318/1340). Is there anything anyone would recommend I do in order to make myself more competitive, or even any tips on how to begin the process. Do I need to email potential advisors? When?

You have similar GPA/GRE as to what I had. I did have undergrad CSD major. Definitely apply, look at some of the programs you think you might be interested just to double check prerequisites so you can maybe use your upcoming electives for those. In my AuD program most students are CSD/SLP undergrad but there are several that have other background, so you are not the only student like that. Maybe try talking with the department chair to see about getting some of the lower level CSD classes as you're intending on entering the field in grad school.

These are the "Speech Requirements" for the audiology students at Memphis, where I attend:

Assumed Background Coursework (9 hours); may be taken at The University of Memphis: Basic Communication Processes: Normal Speech/Language development (3).
Speech-Language Pathology: Speech Disorders (3); Language Disorders (3)

And the general prerequisites:

Life Sciences (3 semester hours)

Human Anatomy and Physiology
Neuroanatomy
Biology
Genetics

♦ Mathematical Sciences (3 semester hours)

Non-remedial mathematics
College Algebra
Trigonometry
Calculus
Statistics
♦ Behavioral Sciences (6 semester hours)

Psychology
Sociology
Anthropology
♦ Physical Sciences (Transcript Credit; no specific credits)

Chemistry
Physics
Geology
Acoustics / Musical Acoustics

As you can see, you don't need all those classes, just a certain number of hours in each area.

Some students do take a year between undergrad/grad school and work on prereqs if they don't have them all through your undergrad degree. Talking to whomever is in charge of admissions at the University you wish to attend can be useful to learn how much you can do while at school, how much you need to do before hand.


As far as undergrad research, in my OPINION, it's not a huge deal. rEliseme did undergrad research and I think she really enjoyed it and it was beneficial for her. I was not involved in any undergrad research, and I'm ok with that. If you could help one of your linguistics professors in whatever research he/she is doing, it would be a good experience I imagine, but not absolutely essential for grad school. Doing the AuD we do some research, but it is by no means primary focus of the degree.

I'd say more important for you this upcoming year would be doing some observation of audiologists. This will also help you get an idea of whether you think this is something you're interested in doing forever as you can see what a work environment is like. Doesn't hurt to observe a couple different settings as private practice/ent/hospital can all be very different work environments.

Sorry this post got a little TL;DR, hope it's useful! Ask any other questions you've got!