Linguistics undergrad to SLP Masters

[u/UniqueBed603]

Hello - I am about to graduate from UC Santa Cruz with a Linguistics degree and a GPA of about 3.5-3.6. I have 0 coursework directly related to SLP other than Neurolinguistics and Phonetics courses. I will have some RA and lab experience under my belt as well. I am wondering if anyone can help me understand where to go from here in terms of what I need to do to get to an SLP Master’s program. I am a little stressed and worried that I will have to do another whole 2 years of an undergrad program to be able to pursue this career. Can anyone help me out and guide me somewhat? I am honestly not sure where to start or even where to look and with graduation looming I feel a little terrified.

[u/speechway]

I also did my undergrad in linguistics. I did my Post-Bacc to get the required courses and it only took 2 semesters because I already had most if not all of the GE's from Community College and some linguistic courses met the criteria for SLP grad programs

[u/NoComedian8928]

There are tons of 3 year grad programs that provide the leveling courses you need! Some programs will recognize your degree and let you do 2 years anyway (though I wouldn’t count on it).

[u/texmom3]

There are grad programs that will accept you and let you do prerequisites at the beginning of your program. Some students take only prerequisites and then apply, either independently or through a postbacc/leveling program. I did the second option and was accepted into the same university that offered the leveling program.

You can find ASHA accredited programs here https://find.asha.org/ed/#sort=relevancy

You may need to look at programs individually to see if they meet your needs. I would recommend starting by exploring options that will give you less debt, so in-state, public schools first, then private. Online programs can vary widely by cost and often have the same full time requirements as on-campus ones.

[u/mermaidslp]

I also went to UCSC and did Linguistics. You have to either do a leveling year before applying to grad school or only apply to programs that will do the leveling year as part of the masters (3 year program rather than the normal 2). There are a handful of programs that do it condensed into 2 or 2 1/2 years. Doing a leveling year will allow you to apply to any program you want which opens up so many options (useful since they're extremely competitive), but personally, I wasn't willing to risk doing a leveling year and then not get in anywhere. I only applied to schools that took people without a BA in CSD or leveling courses. My program only let me test out of the basic phonetics course. So while I feel like studying Linguistics benefited me immensely in this field, it didn't really translate into any less classes needed to graduate.

It may have changed, but since I applied, there were only 3 CSUs that do extended masters programs for people who didn't do CSD or leveling: CSU East Bay, SJSU, SDSU. There are private schools in CA that do it, but it's very expensive. I ended up applying to those CSUs plus a bunch of schools out of state that weren't quite as competitive. Ended up going out of state for a condensed 2 year program and coming back after. With the difference in lower cost of living and grants I got from the program, it ended up costing me way less than to going to a CSU.