Right now I am declared as a Pre-Kinesiology major and was planning on pursuing physical therapy. However, I am also now looking into Speech Language Pathology as an option since I have a year to decide during GE. Which pays more, harder, and longer? Also is their a difference between Speech Language Pathologist and Speech Therapist? (If there is a difference, which pays more, is longer, and harder?)
The thing to do is search online and look at reputable websites like http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Speech-language-pathologists.htm .
No, there’s no real difference between a speech therapist and a speech-language pathologist. In order to do any kind of speech therapy you have to attend an accredited SLP program and be certified/licensed as an SLP in your state of choice.
Majors don’t pay anything; the careers you choose are what determines your pay. A kinesiology major could, if he took the right classes, get a master’s in SLP and become a speech-language pathologist. A close friend of mine is an SLP and she double-majored in communication disorders and Black studies in college. A kinesiology major could go on to do a lot of other things, too - medical school, an allied health field like occupational or physical therapy, fitness and/or athletic training, graduate study and research in kinesiology, exercise physiology, etc. It all depends on what you plan to do with the major, not the major itself.
Physical therapy, as a career, requires 7 years - 4 years of undergrad + 3 years in a DPT program. Physical therapists average just shy of $80,000 a year. (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physical-therapists.htm). A related career is occupational therapy; occupational therapists average about $75,000 a year, but their work requires only a master’s degree and so the time is a bit shorter (6 years - 4 years of undergrad, 2 years of the master’s).
Speech-language pathologists average just under $70,000 a year. The career takes 6 years of training - 4 years undergrad, 2 years in a master’s. A related career is audiology. Audiologists average just under $80,000 a year, but you must obtain an Au.D, which takes 4 years beyond the bachelor’s degree. (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/audiologists.htm).
Which one is harder really depends on you, your strengths and weaknesses, and your interests. I remember helping my friend study for her SLP exams and it seemed difficult to me (a social scientist) - lots of memorization. But then people have said that what I do sounds difficult, and I don’t find it hard. So it really depends. I also chatted with a PT student in the lobby of a student health center once, and she told me that many of the people in her class at an elite PT school had spent a few years working as physical therapists’ assistants first because PT school is so competitive these days. That means that after her BA (in biology), she then did a two-year program to get certified as a PTA. My sister currently works as an aide in a physical therapist’s office because she is considering the career and needs the hours in order to get into a DPT program; she has a BA in exercise science, but is not licensed to practice anything.
Lengthiness of study and “hardness” of the curriculum has nothing to do with compensation. Compensation is set by supply and demand.