A student with a bachelor’s degree in an area other than Communication Sciences and Disorders must take deficiency courses in preparation for graduate work. We recommend that student apply to the undergraduate admissions office to pursue a post baccalaureate degree. This will allow you to take a full load of courses each semester. You would contact undergraduate admissions (www.admissions.niu.edu) to start the process. You may apply online or view and print the application from this website. On the application, check the box that indicates you are applying as a postgraduate student. If you have any difficulty, you may call 815-753-0446 for assistance. After being admitted, you should also contact the COMD office (Wirtz Hall 3rd floor 815-753-1484) to declare your major and have an advisor assigned to you. It is important to understand that you will not earn another undergraduate degree by completing the deficiency courses recommended below.
Two types of coursework are required for students completing our recommended deficiency coursework: basic sciences and normal human communication sciences. Some additional pre-professional coursework in counseling and communication disorders is recommended as part of our program at NIU, but may not be required for entry into other graduate programs.
National certification requirements in speech-language pathology require a student to have undergraduate coursework in the following areas:
Math/Statistics
Biological sciences
Physical sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, geology)
Social sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology)
Completion of several basic science courses are pre-requisite to many of the departmental courses in human communication sciences and disorders, and as such must be completed before beginning the year (approximately 3 semesters) of deficiency coursework.
These courses include approximately 35 hours of classes primarily from our undergraduate coursework in Communicative Disorders. These courses are listed on the following pages and a semester by semester plan of study is also provided.
The COMD graduate admissions committee would like a student to complete at least 15 hours of courses before applying to the program. [Other graduate programs may require completion of as many as 30 credit hours.] As a result, a full time load for the fall would include: COMD 221, 323 (fall only), 325 a&b (fall only), 403 and Eng 207 or STAT 208. You would then enroll for the spring semester following the recommended plan of study on the following pages and submit your application for the NIU graduate program for Fall admission by February 1. The graduate admissions committee would look at your undergraduate GPA, your GPA in the COMD deficiency classes, your GRE scores, your two letters of recommendation and your letter of intent.
Our courses offerings are not geared for the part time student. We typically offer courses throughout the day which makes it difficult for a student to work full time and attend class. If you have to work you could take a couple of courses each semester and when you've completed 14 or 15 hours apply to the graduate program. Of course, this will take you longer to complete and it remains imperative to complete the courses in the required sequence, not based on how well course offerings fit your schedule. Some students choose to take their deficiency courses at some other college or university and then apply to the NIU graduate program. The typical student admitted to our program has a 3.4 GPA and around 500 on each of the GRE exams. As this is an approximate average, there are students below and students above these values as well. We typically admit 25 students in the fall out of about 200 applications.
You letter of intent is important. You need to promote your accomplishments to the graduate admissions committee. You want the committee to know why you selected speech-language pathology, why you selected NIU and what makes you special. Your letters of recommendation should come from individuals who can speak to your ability to succeed as a graduate student. A letter that addresses your ability to be a successful manager at a fast food restaurant does not address your ability to progress in an academic environment. University professors who have had you in class are in the best position to address your academic classroom potential whereas supervisors/employers within the profession or related professions and/or professionals you have job shadowed may be in a good position to address your interpersonal characteristics.
We have many students enrolled in our undergraduate courses who are looking to change careers, so it will be easy to find a peer group here. Although this process may seem daunting, it will be well worth the time and effort. Many others have gone before you. The majority of our postgraduate students are admitted to graduate programs following this year of coursework. We look forward to seeing you in our classes.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Sue Ouellette
Chair, Department of Communicative Disorders
Northern Illinois University
815-753-1484