Help

[Nima86]

Hi I am a recent graduate with a degree in Sociology, but have basically taken all pre-req for dental school. More and more i randomly came across the field of audiology when my ears started ringing after a night out and since then became more and more interested in the subject. The problem i have is i'm lost. Having jsut graduated do i just take GRE, shadow and apply to different programs or do i need more classes to take and what not. Your help is much appreciated thanks

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[rEliseMe]

Hi I am a recent graduate with a degree in Sociology, but have basically taken all pre-req for dental school. More and more i randomly came across the field of audiology when my ears started ringing after a night out and since then became more and more interested in the subject. The problem i have is i'm lost. Having jsut graduated do i just take GRE, shadow and apply to different programs or do i need more classes to take and what not. Your help is much appreciated thanks

Well, you have to take the GRE no matter what. As we mentioned in a previous thread (you'd probably benefit from reading through the threads on the first page), the field of audiology welcomes people from other initial career paths but you may have to take some courses at your prospective graduate program before you begin since your original degree was Sociology as opposed to a physical/biological sciences degree. Don't fret, may programs offer them at the same time is graduate work.

My advice is to check out programs using the ASHA search tool ( http://asha.org/students/academic/EdFind/ ) and look at their curriculae. See if the classes would interest you. While you're there, you'll be able to see what types of 'remedial' classes are offered for people who aren't from Communication Sciences backgrounds.

Good luck!

 

[cidanu]

You could contact an audiologist and ask to observe them for an hour or a half-day or something. If your alma mater has a clinic that would be a good place to ask.

I think in audiology there are a lot of people who come from other backgrounds. It can be difficult to know if you would like working as an audiologist though before you learn about what they do on a day to day basis.

There are probably prerequisites for Audiology that you haven't completed. Each school has slightly different requirements, although they are very similar. Certain prerequisite coursework is required to become certified. Definitely contact the schools you are interested in or check out their websites. Often an advisor in the department will be able to make suggestions to you on how to best market yourself for acceptance and prepare for the program.

 

[saythewordlaud]

you may also want to take an intro to audiology class to see if you like audiology. you mentioned that it is tinnitus (ringing) that got you interested in the field, but there are also a lot of other aspects of audiology that you may not be interested in.

most programs require life sciences, physical sciences, behavioral sciences, and college math as general pre-reqs. communication disorders programs in the undergrad studies really do not focus on audiology, so you're really not too far behind from those with a bachelors in comm.d. you may have to take a phonetics course and/or child language development later on in the program along with your aud coursework if you don't have those yet.