SLP - Admissions and Tuition

Prerequisites

The following academic preparation is minimally required to be eligible for competitive admission to the master’s degree in speech-language pathology:

• Bachelor's degree of at least 120 semester credit hours
• Major in speech and hearing sciences (may have another name, e.g., communication disorders) 
• Coursework in language development, phonetics, anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing, acoustics of speech and hearing, and neural bases of communication, audiology, and aural rehabilitation. Topics may be variably distributed across courses with varying course names, but in-depth instruction on each topic must be evident in course description or syllabi.
• Documentation of 25 guided observation hours obtained under a certified SLP with supervision qualifications.
• Foundational courses: one in each of statistics, physical science (physics or chemistry only), social science, and biological science. For more information on acceptable courses, see https://www.asha.org/certification/course-content-areas-for-slp-standards/

Students may be accepted with one to two missing courses to be completed during the graduate program. However, the additional workload significantly impacts likelihood of success in this demanding program. 

Minimum Admission Requirements

The items listed below are the minimum required to be considered for admission. Typically, applicants offered admission have strong scores and achievements across all application components. However, multiple sources of evidence are used to make the decisions. Students of diverse life experiences and backgrounds are encouraged to apply. A very limited number of need-based application fee waivers are available for each admission cycle. Contact Mason (mason.hayes@usu.edu) for more information.

• Academic transcripts. Academic transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended.
• GPA of 3.0 or better for last 60 credits of college coursework. See Graduate School Admission Policies for grade point average calculation. Our program also incorporates second bachelor and post-bacc credits into the 60-credit GPA calculation.
• Bachelor's degree in communication disorders. Students with a bachelor's degree in another area must either complete a second bachelor's degree in communication disorders or the equivalent coursework.
• Personal statement and resume. These documents should show the applicant’s academic, work, and personal competencies and achievements that will contribute to success in the graduate program and as a speech-language pathologist.
• Letters of recommendation. Email addresses for three individuals who have agreed to submit letters of recommendation by the due date.
• Outreach and LSL Emphasis applicants. Include in the personal statement the applicant's desire to be in the Outreach program or LSL Emphasis. For Outreach applicants, optionally submit a letter of support from the district in which they are or will be employed as SLTs. The letter should address district need for SLPs and commitment to the applicant's education (See Outreach Application below). 

Requirements before beginning the clinical portion of the graduate program (which starts in June):

• 25 hours of guided clinical observations. Submit documentation of 25 hours of guided observations signed by an ASHA-qualified clinical educator. If a student has not completed the 25 hours, they will enroll in COMD 2600 during the summer semester, which may delay initiation of the clinical experience and possibly delay graduation.  
• Criminal background check. Complete a background check through the Utah State Board of Education.
• Immunizations. Immunizations are no longer required for program admission but may be necessary for externships. Not having the required immunizations will significantly reduce choices of externship sites, and may delay or prevent graduation.

We offer a small Outreach program within our SLP graduate program. It is partially supported by a grant from the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) for the training of highly-qualified students to become speech-language pathologists in rural or under-served school districts. Outreach students must be employed during the program as speech-language technicians (SLTs) in a school district within the state of Utah with formal agreements in place from the employing school district or local educational agency.

Outreach graduate students are accepted based on the same criteria as campus-based applicants. In addition, district need and commitment factor into the decision. Applicants will be considered without the district letter, but preference will be given to similarly qualified applicants with strong letters of district support.

The letter of support should be from an employer-designated authority, such as the Director of Special Education, who can address:

• Rural and underserved district. How the district is a high need area, such as a rural area with low access to a university campus SLP program, or an area where demands are extremely high but the availability of SLPs is very low.
• Commitment to the applicant. The district’s commitment to the education of this SLT employee while in the Outreach SLP program. See the Outreach SLP Program tab for more information on t academic and clinical requirements of the program.

Complete Outreach applications must be submitted by January 15th, including the optional but recommended district letter of support.  

Note: The availability of Outreach funding from the State Office of Education, through federal flow through money, is not known until approximately April of each year. If State Office of Education funding is not available, or is significantly reduced, there may be no Outreach program. In that case, the newly accepted Outreach students would be offered an on-campus space in the graduate program instead.

Tuition

In addition to regular tuition, there will also be differential tuition for COMDDE courses. (Refer to the last page of the tuition table). Graduate students from participating states may qualify for a WGRP non-resident tuition waiver.

Steps to apply to Grad School Admission Application