Speech-Language Pathology Preparatory Coursework

Overview

The following courses provide foundational knowledge for Speech-Language Pathology and are available in many undergraduate university programs. If you have not taken the General Preparatory coursework and the Speech-Language Pathology Preparatory Coursework, you can complete our three-year plan instead of the standard two-year plan and finish the coursework in your first year. There is a section on our application where you can state which plan you want to do. We design academic plans for students who have completed some but not all of the courses on an individual basis.

You do not need a particular undergraduate major to apply or be accepted. We encourage interested applicants without Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences or Communication Disorders degrees to apply.

General Preparatory Course Content Areas

Preparatory Course	Example Classes and Subjects	Minimum credits
Statistics Must include both descriptive and inferential statistics. Research methods courses may be acceptable if there is significant statistics content	Introduction to Statistics	At least 3 credits
Social/Behavioral Sciences	Anthropology, Education, Psychology, etc.	At least 2 credits
Biological Sciences	General Biology, Physiology, Neuroscience, etc.	At least 2 credits
Physical Sciences This must be either Physics or Chemistry	General Chemistry, General Physics, Physics of Sound, etc.	At least 2 credits

Speech-Language Pathology Preparatory Course Content Areas

Required Course	University of Minnesota Equivalent	Notes
Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 3302: Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech & Hearing Mechanisms	Only speech and hearing focused coursework will be accepted. General Anatomy and Physiology, while valuable, will not count.
Language Acquisition - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 3303: Language Acquisition and Science
Phonetics - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 3304: Phonetics
Speech Science - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 3305W: Speech Science	Combined Speech and Hearing Science coursework is also acceptable
Neuroscience of Language - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 4301: Introduction to the Neuroscience of Human Communication	Only speech and hearing focused coursework will be accepted. General Neuroscience, while valuable, will not count.
Clinical Methods in Speech-Language Pathology - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 4402: Clinical Methods in Speech-Language Pathology	Equivalent coursework does not need to include any observation or supervised practice.
Hearing Assessment - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 4801: Clinical Methods in Assessing Auditory Function and Disorders
Aural Rehabilitation - 1 Full Semester Course Required	SLHS 4802: Clinical Methods for Treating Hearing Disorders

Course Substitutions

Courses with equivalent content taken at other institutions can be substituted for these courses. In some cases, the content of a course may have been distributed across two courses or more in the student’s undergraduate program. The determination of equivalence rests with the director of graduate studies in consultation with relevant faculty.

Any coursework taken prior to enrollment may be taken for a letter grade (A-F) or Pass/Fail. Grades of Pass, C-, or higher must be obtained in all preparatory courses. All courses must be taken at the undergraduate or graduate level at an accredited institution, and must appear on your undergraduate or graduate transcripts. Classes taken at the high school level are not eligible to meet this requirement, with the exception of advanced placement (AP) courses that appear for credit on your college/university transcript. Coursework from massive open online courses (MOOCs) are not accepted. Examples of MOOCs include, but are not limited to: Educause, MOOC.org, edX, Coursera, and Khan Academy.

If you are unsure if a course you have taken will count, please contact [email protected].

Additional Coursework

In addition to the above courses, our department offers SLHS 3401: Introduction to Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology every fall and spring semester. It is not required to complete the Speech-Language Pathology MA program, but it is a valuable experience for the students who take it. Beyond providing an overview of Speech-Language Pathology, the class also includes guest speaker Speech-Language Pathologists and in-class discussions about career paths within the profession. Both of those are very helpful if you are interested but are not sure if the field is right for you or if you want a better understanding of the different career options you'll have with a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology.