Cornell University Major for Speech Pathology

happy1
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:35:55 +0000

@brantley My D did what you suggested, mainly because she did not decide to be a SLP until junior year. She has zero regrets. But having gone that path the OP should be aware that there are potential pitfalls of that route if he/she is confident now that he/she wants to be a Speech Pathologist.

– Yes you need a MS for speech pathology but most MS in Speech programs only accept students who have either a BS in Speech Pathology (communication disorders or whatever different schools call it) OR who have completed an extensive list of prerequisites. Most MS programs require between 6-10 prerequisite courses and (to make it more fun) the required prerequisite courses are different from program to program. These prerequisite courses are very specific to speech pathology and would only be found at colleges that have a SLP program – and even then you would have to see if you could even take them if you are not in that major. If you could take them the prerequisites as an undergrad you would likely eat up all of your electives, thus your wouldn’t “broaden your horizons” nearly as much as expected. Additional you need a laundry list of other liberal arts coursework to be licensed (varies by state).

–There are a few programs that will accept students without a MS in speech pathology (my D did extensive research to seek them out) but they often require a two semester summer program (basically to take the prerequisites) or two additional semesters of grad work. Also the only such programs we found were very competitive in terms of admissions and were at private colleges (so if cost is a factor that should be considered).