CUNY Macaulay Honors College (New York, York: public schools, universities, professionals)

[Castro Viejo]

Originally Posted by Mary543

Is this entirely true? I realize that Rutgers does have a Linguistics Major, but most graduate schools seem to require a major of the equivalent of Speech Pathology (ex. Communication Disorders). Linguistics is not exactly the equivalent.

Yes, of course it's entirely true. There were Speech-Language Pathologists long before it was ever a college "major." You've got to understand that the diversification of fields in which one can earn a Bachelors degree in today's world of college and the university is a reflection of how students choose their schools. You are a perfect example. While a degree in Linguistics would render you qualified for a position as a Speech-Language Pathologist within a major healthcare organization, you have developed the notion that the only way to accomplish this goal is by majoring in it. So the colleges develop a "Speech-Language Pathology" program that probably mimics very closely the curriculum of a Linguistics program, with a few add-ons just to make it "specific" to SLP. The fact is not everyone who works on Wall Street as a trader majored in "business." Some of them are English majors or Political Science majors (see above).

Originally Posted by Mary543

I have thought about not majoring in Speech Pathology or Communication Disorders, but it makes it a lot more difficult to get your masters. To get into most master programs for Speech Pathology you need to major in one of those 2 majors, OR take a number of different courses. Here is an example of the courses that I would be required to take for admission into one graduate program if I do not already have the major:

I have also heard that it is harder to get into a masters program if you haven't already majored in Speech. It only makes sense that the schools would prefer someone that has a convienent major to someone that just took courses in it. So if at all possible I want to major in Speech Pathology/Communication Disorders. It just makes more sense.

The link below is to a Masters program in SLP in your own backyard at Seton Hall. It mentions nothing about having to have a degree in SLP. I'm sure there are a ton of other programs out there just like it.

School of Graduate Medical Education - Seton Hall University

[scatman]

I truly believe that the Macaulay Program will go a long way on a resume!

[MattSiggs]

Castro, I should have made myself more clear- I meant for what is written on the diploma.

Now that you mention it, I don't have many business friends, but the business majors I do know have no graduate plans, so you're right in that respect. I'm willing to bet that business majors are told a different story.

And you're right, I never connected the statistic of people with Masters to the need for one. Light bulb turned on in my head.

I guess they push grad school for everyone because it looks good statistically(Whatever% of people in the program went onto higher education) and because they think it'll be an edge in the market.

[Mary543]

Originally Posted by Castro Viejo

The link below is to a Masters program in SLP in your own backyard at Seton Hall. It mentions nothing about having to have a degree in SLP. I'm sure there are a ton of other programs out there just like it.

School of Graduate Medical Education - Seton Hall University

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't #4 on that site basically say that there are required courses that you must have taken. They just didn't specify which courses:

4. For applicants with an undergraduate major other than in speech-language pathology (communication sciences and disorders), completion of at least 12 pre-professional credits with a grade of "B" or better.

I may be wrong about that, but that is the impression that I got.

I never said that you could not get a graduate degree in Speech Language Pathology if you did not major in it in college. All I said that it is easier to major in it from the beginning (especially since I already know that is what I want to do). Doesn't it make more sense to major in Speech Language Pathology if it's going to make it easier to get my graduate degree?

[MattSiggs]

Mary- Major in whatever you want. If you know you want Speech Pathology, go for that. Don't take a different major you have no interest in for the sake of widening your prospects.

I have a few friends that know what they want and they're going for it. I, on the other hand, don't have a clear path, so I picked a broad major.

[Castro Viejo]

Originally Posted by Mary543

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't #4 on that site basically say that there are required courses that you must have taken. They just didn't specify which courses:

Yes, you are correct. But they've listed the courses right there (the prerequisites for their Masters in SLP).

Originally Posted by Mary543

I never said that you could not get a graduate degree in Speech Language Pathology if you did not major in it in college. All I said that it is easier to major in it from the beginning (especially since I already know that is what I want to do). Doesn't it make more sense to major in Speech Language Pathology if it's going to make it easier to get my graduate degree?

To each his own. I believe that college is too precious a time in your life to relegate the entire experience to preparing yourself for one thing only, and to ignore an entire world of things to learn. What I do now with my life has very little to do with my Bachelors degree in Mathematics, and as a result, I think I'm a more well-rounded person for it.

Too many students enroll in college as a way to learn a job or obtain a certain skill set. College should be about learning something and expanding your knowledge base, giving you the ability to see things far beyond the narrow scope of your work. Majoring in SLP and then going to grad school in SLP then working in SLP for the foreseeable future won't give you the global perspective that college is meant to provide.

Perhaps I'm being too preachy. Yes, I agree with you. Majoring in SLP will conceivably make it less complicated to getting into a graduate prorgam in SLP.

Keep us posted on where you end up going. Are decisions being mailed out anytime soon?

Good luck.

[Mary543]

Thank you for all of your advice. Well as I said I am only a sophomore in high school, so I'm not to the point of applying yet. But all of your advice is helping me choose the schools that I will apply to once I get to that point.

Castro Viejo, I do understand what you mean about a college experience where you can expand your horizons. But I do have to consider that it will be a good amount less complicated to get into a graduate program if I major in Speech Pathology.

I can not say I will count out majoring in something else (for instance if I were to go to Rutgers), but I am leaning towards majoring in Speech.

[Castro Viejo]

Originally Posted by Mary543

Castro Viejo, I do understand what you mean about a college experience where you can expand your horizons.

"Becoming a well-rounded person."

[Mary543]

Exactly.

But even when you major in one thing, you do still take general classes as well. It's not as if you ONLY take classes relating to your future career. Besides, you don't necessarily declare you major for a while, so in that case you are taking quite general classes. So I would be getting some sort of variety. Of course I do see what you mean though.

[hailmerry]

Castro Viejo, I recognize that you are trying to help but it is irresponsible to offer college/career advice when you are poorly informed. You could potentially hurt other people who are reading this site, and I'm sorry but you really don't know what you're talking about. You obviously have extensive knowledge of higher education in general, but I disagree with your advice as it relates to speech pathology.

We will leave the issue of whether or not you recoupe your investment from going to an IVY, I think that is highly dependent on the individual and their career path, and the OP already said that they don't want to go into debt. That is her value judgement and in my opinion an excellent one.

Mary, I am a SUNY student studying speech pathology and if you decide to major in this field I have to tell you it is a GREAT profession. I have loved every class and I am so excited to go to graduate school. I started at a big research school with a great rep, but they didn't have SLP, so when I transferred I went to a SUNY, which if it has any reputation at all it is a bad one. However, the speech pathology program is excellent, and we have clinical opportunities here that students at much more selective, larger private schools do not. That is one area I disagree with others on, even at a school which isn't widely recognized, you can find a department that is very strong in its subject matter. Conversely, you can have a strong university with weaknesses in certain departments. For example, there may be those who disagree but the general consensus among SLPs I've spoken to in NYC, Columbia's SLP program is not as highly regarded as CUNY Queens or CUNY brooklyn. In that case, all things being equal, if I was rich I was still choose Queens college despite my respect for Columbia as a whole. It was my top choice as an undergrad when I wanted to study something else. I will always choose substance over a brand name. The two often go hand in hand but not always. Fortunately in SLP, the PRESTIGE OF YOUR COLLEGE DOES NOT MATTER. I can say this unequivocally, because there is such a shortage of SLPs. Getting a great education matters of course, but $40,000 schools do not have that market cornered.

I definitely encourage you to major in speech pathology as an undergrad if you want to become an SLP. You will have to certain pre-req courses in order to get a masters (which is required for this field), and by not completing them as an undergrad you'll delay your admittance to grad school by 1-2 years. I really disagree with Castro Viejo on this. I understand his logic but it based on the false dichotomy between a professional degree and a liberal arts education. Schools today require you to take so many distribution requirements, in addition to the requirements an SLP degree has because the field itself is so broad. We have to take courses in biology, linguistics, psychology, foreign language, and medicine just to understand the basics of our field. Castro Viejo is flat out wrong about how you can substitute a linguistics degree for one in speech path. Speech pathology did not stem from linguistics, its not the way that SLPs used to be trained before it was a major. Instead, linguistics as a seperate field was utilized as a tool to examine speech disorders only within the past 30 years.

Speech pathology is a highly respected field among people who are familiar with it. There are many SLPs with PhDs who work in hospitals and also lecture med students. Medical speech pathology is highly specialized and in many cases our diagnosis can be a life or death matter, because issues of breathing, feeding, and swallowing are also implicated. For this reason I was offended when I read the comment "maybe she has higher ambitions than working in a hospital as a speech pathologist." Working with the brain and how it processes speech and language, especially in cases of brain injury, is infinitely more involved than working in administration, while that is also important.

I too hope I haven't been preachy but I think that you should look for advice from a community that is more familiar with speech pathology and doesn't have inflexible, preconceived notions about specialized programs. I reccomend going to asha.org, or the livejournal community under "speech pathology."