Any Programs for not traditional SLHS students?

[audprospective]

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Hi All,🙂

Does anyone know which programs are more easily accessible to non-traditional students?

I am looking for programs that are more easily accessible to students who did not study speech and hearing sciences during undergraduate. Most schools require about 1 year's worth of prerequisites courses in the speech, hearing and communications disorders before acceptance in the AuD program.


So far I have come up with University of Arizona and A.T Still.

Thanks

 

[AuD4Me]

Hi audprospective,

Welcome to the boards! I've heard great things about A.T. Still. Other programs to look into that do not require a communication disorders background are Salus University and Nova Southeastern University.

Another option, especially if your local college doesn't offer them, is to take some communication disorders classes online. I think Nova offers some as does Utah State University. I'm not sure about Nova, but USU is super inexpensive. I would highly recommend it.

Best of luck!

 

[audibob]

I talked to someone from The University of Illinois today. You do not need to take pre-req courses before applying, but can take them as non-grad hours, as a grad student.

 

[SoCalAud]

I talked to someone from The University of Illinois today. You do not need to take pre-req courses before applying, but can take them as non-grad hours, as a grad student.

Hi audibob,

I know for a fact that SDSU (San Diego State) accepts non-CD students. I actually know 2 people in the program right now who were originally Bio and music majors before they got accepted.

I'm not a current AuD student, so I can't say that you should go back to school as a post-bacc and take CD classes to help you out later in grad school, but it might help - if your time is not limited. Those 2 people that I know at SDSU are doing pretty well.

 

[BigAl]

Montclair State as far as I know doesn't require pre-reqs, you take them during your first and second years in the program.

 

[agapantha]

I went to the ASHA Website and basically found that there are a good number of schools that encourage applications from non CD Students. For a good number of these schools obviously, there would be about a 1 yr extension of your program. Most require prereqs, however, there are some that allow you to take the prereqs concurrently with your AuD program. The following schools may require very few pre-reqs in CSD (if any) that can all be done while in the graduate program. These typically do not involve an extension of the program for the non CD student:
Wash U in St. Louis
Texas Tech Univ HSC- encourages students with degrees in health sciences
University of Louisville
University of Memphis-
Louisiana Tech (Ruston)
Univ of Fl (Gainesville)
These all accept non CDs, without an extension of the program. The pre-reqs can be done while you are working on the AuD. Some schools require you to take about a year of pre-reqs before you even start the graduate work. There are some that will not even consider your application unless you have taken the pre-reqs. I hope this helps- trust me, it took me a long time to gather this!- I did it though because I am really interested in audiology and do not have a background in Comm Sciences. I also am a non-traditional applicant as I have been working for several years.

 

[cidanu]

I go to Gallaudet and about half my cohort includes nontraditional and non-speech background students.

Our program does have prereq's, but they are designed to meet ASHA certification requirements. You need one bio(-ish), one physical science, one math, and then phonetics, normal language development, hearing science/acoustics, intro to audiology, and anatomy of hearing.

I know some people didn't have their prereq's finished before starting the program and took them online or at community college during the first year.

Personally I don't think the audiology-specific prereq's are really necessary if you're a good student. You'll get the same info in more detail during the first year. But I think the purpose is really threefold: fulfill ASHA requirements for certification (ie cover your butt), make sure you actually like audiology before starting the program (80% retention rate is required to meet ASHA regulations for AuD programs), and make sure you're not clueless in your first year classes.

 

[AUDball2012]

My BA is in Chemistry, minor in Physics. I am attending the University of Arizona (3rd year) and I also was admitted to Northern Colorado University.

 

[AudioEngineer]

At ATSU, our program includes the ASHA required curriculum within the program. These courses are part of the normal coursework and do not require any extra work from non-traditional students. Every student leaves fully qualified to be ASHA certified. Only those who choose to decline the cert leave without it.

I love the program.