I am a Freshman at the University of Iowa who is interested in majoring in Speech and Hearing Science and afterwords applying to grad school to become an audiologist. Originally audiology looked like a cool mixture of biology/psychology/linguistics based on looking at the undergraduate plan for Speech and Hearing http://clas.uiowa.edu/comsci/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-four-year-plan.I’m also aware that audiologists have really good job prospects within the medical sector which I am interested in. However when I talked to my academic adviser she discouraged me from entering the field due to my low math placement score which put me into Algerbra to start off with. She notified me that the field was math/(physics) intensive and that If math wasn’t my strong suit it would be a difficult path for me to take. Can someone tell me how much truth there is in what my academic adviser told me and also give me a gist of what the audiology field is like? The more information you can give me the better, thanks for your time.
I would not worry about grad school yet. I got my degree in Speech & Hearing Science and by the time you are a junior you will know whether or not Audiology is right for you. No need to decide now… since you need the undergrad degree anyway. you will also have talked to plenty of other students and faculty who will give you great advice along the way. I started out wanting to be a speech pathologist and by the time I graduated I realized that Audiology was my true calling. Too bad I wasn’t 20 years younger when I found that out! Grad school was cost prohibitive here. Anyway… just get started with your undergrad and find out as much as you can about the math and science requirements for the AuD. You may find out it’s not as daunting as you thought. Or you may find it is… SLPs have excellent job prospects, their salaries are comparable to Audiologists and many are employed by hospitals, if that is your interest. (Interestingly, some of the highest paid AuDs work for hearing aid manufacturers! ) Audiology classes will be included in your undergrad work, and that will help you figure out which path you want to take. Good luck! I’d give my right arm to be in your shoes right now!
I am a speech-language pathologist. I would recommend that you take an audiology class as well as communicative disorders class to see what the fields are like. MAny of the prerequisite classs are the same. Be aware that it is VERY challenging to get into a graduate program in speech pathology. I would recommend beginning strong, maintaining an excellent GPA, and sneaking in job experience or volunteer work. I love the variety of choices in speech pathology, and I love that I get to do something that helps people in a tangible way every day. I wouldn’t want to comment on audiology, as my info is too old!
I am also a speechie, but one thing I would advise you to consider is pay. The pay is just ok. I couldn’t survive on my own pay in California. My daughter makes twice what I make as a recent STEM grad. I like my job but I don’t like the amount of time I spend on paperwork and prep for the pay I receive. Audiology, however, is different in a clinical setting.
One of my close friends is an SLP and she majored in communication disorders as an undergrad. I have never heard that audiology/speech-hearing science was a math or physics heavy field, and I was skeptical. I checked out the curricula of a few communication disorders undergraduate programs and the prerequisites for some audiology PhDs, and none of them had heavy math or physics requirements. For example, the University of Utah’s PhD in audiology requires one semester of statistics and one semester of a physical science (physics or chemistry). CU-Boulder’s AuD program requires a semester of statistics. UT-Austin’s AuD program requires one semester of statistics. Northwestern requires one semester of a physical science (physics or chemistry) and one semester of college math beyond algebra (calculus I counts but so does statistics taken in the psychology department).
Your university’s speech and hearing sciences major isn’t even particularly math or physics heavy. It requires one semester of statistics, one semester of another math class (you can choose straight calculus, Calculus for Biological Sciences - which is usually a lite version of calculus, or Math for Biological Sciences - which looks like pre-calculus based on the course description, and the only prerequisite is college algebra), and one semester of a physical science (physics or chemistry). It looks as if the SHS major at Iowa will prepare you for pretty much any MS or AuD program based on the prerequisites I’ve seen. I wouldn’t count 3 courses as being very math/physics heavy, especially when one of those math requirements can be satisfied with pre-calculus and when you can choose to take chemistry instead.
So I’m really quite baffled at your advisor’s advice. Is she a professor of audiology or communication sciences herself? Maybe there is something I am missing.
Also, even if you did have a low math placement score, that doesn’t mean that you are unable to handle the math required in audiology even if it were math-heavy. It just means you’re starting a bit further back than the average student.
Not that salary isn’t important, but it’s not the only consideration. Sometimes it’s worth it to get paid less to do what you love more. My close friend makes about half what I do in tech, but she loves what she does and she’s wanted to be an SLP since she found out what it was when she was 7 or 8. Job satisfaction goes a long way! (She also makes extra money by doing consultations in the evenings.)