I was wondering what I could major in during my undergrad, besides communication sciences and disorders, to get into speech pathologist grad school. I was thinking linguistics, but I hear it is boring and a bit mathematical and I’m not that good at math. I saw that psychology is a good major, but would it really prepare me?
CSD is probably the only major that will give you direct preparation for speech pathology and allow you to skip grad school prereqs (which can be a full semester or year of coursework at some schools) That said, you can really major in anything and then pursue your master’s. Linguistics, psych, bio, education, neuroscience etc are all related, but you could really pick anything. However I do suggest that you look into certain CSD classes regardless of your major so that you can skip pre-reqs (like how a pre-med student can major in anything but still needs to take certain pre-med classes.) Without those classes, you will still be eligible for most grad programs; it’ll just take you a bit longer to get that degree.
My D is currently in a Master’s in Speech pathology program. Here are some things I can tell you…
– My D went in without an undergraduate degree in the field. She got into one of the very few programs we found that take students without a background in the field and admission is pretty competitive. The small number of programs that take students with different majors will run an extra two semesters typically as students take a number of foundation classes in the field during the first year. Students in my D’s program who came in without a background in the field were from a number of different places. As an undergrad, my D was a psychology major, theater minor, and took a lot of science courses. In her grad school group, psychology was a popular major as was linguistics. Some people in her program came to speech pathology as a second career and previously worked in business, education etc. So bottom line is I think a number of majors would be fine. Pick something that interests you and that you can do well in (a strong GPA is important for grad school admissions).
– From what we saw, most programs only accept students who have a background in the field. You can get this background by: 1) majoring in speech pathology as an undergraduate or 2) taking a number of prerequisite courses (requirements seem to vary a bit program-to-program but are often around 6-8 classes). Some student do a post-bac program to get this done.
My D finds her grad program to be intense, but very rewarding. She feels speech pathology is a great fit for her interests and aptitudes. If you have any questions I can help you with feel free to PM me. I
If you know now that you want to become a speech pathologist, I’d suggest that going that route as an undergrad would be your best and most direct pathway into the field.
Good luck
My mom is a speech pathologist and majored in communication sciences and disorders and thoroughly believes it was the best decision for her career. She uses what she learned all the time. She also has a masters in communication and in business.
i would advise you to major in and take classes in things that interest you most. Psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, foreign languages (especially if you can become bilingual in a language commonly used in your area, e.g., Spanish or Mandarin), anatomy and physiology, neuroscience, etc. will prove useful. Classes in child language acquisition and the aging brain would be particularly useful.
Linguistic programs vary in their approach and in their focus – some are theoretical, some are applied, some take a formalistic approach, some take a functionalist approach. You’re on the right track to look into linguistics and psych as providing a good foundation. Either or both would serve you well.
And both @soontobecolleger and @happy1 have given good advice.