Students applying to the M.A. SLP program must have an undergraduate degree with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 from an accredited college or university (or its equivalent from a foreign institution) to be eligible for admission.

Students must also complete the following undergraduate prerequisite courses prior to, or concurrent with, the master’s degree program. IU course(s) that would satisfy the prerequisite requirements are listed below each requirement, and course descriptions are listed at the bottom of the page.

• Speech Anatomy and Physiology: IU relevant course: S201 – Speech Anatomy and Physiology
• Child Language Development: IU relevant course: S333 – Childhood Language
• Phonetics: this course must include transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) - IU relevant course: S111 – Introduction to Phonetics for Speech and Hearing Science
• Acoustics or Speech Science: IU relevant course: S350 – Speech Science 
• Audiology or Hearing Science: this course must include some content related to audiological testing and treatment: IU relevant courses: S429 – Topical Seminar in Hearing Science (Principles of Audiology)

Most, if not all, students who enter the master’s degree program with an undergraduate degree in speech and hearing sciences (or communication sciences and disorders) will have already completed these prerequisites.  

Students who have an undergraduate degree in an area other than speech and hearing sciences (i.e., non-majors), including but not limited to psychology, biology, physics, cognitive science, or education, may apply to the program without having completed the prerequisite requirement. If admitted into the program, however, non-majors must complete, at a minimum, three of the five prerequisite courses—namely, Speech Anatomy and Physiology, Child Language Development, and Phonetics—prior to beginning graduate study. If not taken prior to matriculation, the remaining two courses would have to be taken as an addition to the regular graduate coursework.

Non-majors who have been admitted into the program may complete some of the prerequisite courses in the summer prior to matriculating in the fall semester of a given year at Indiana University. Note that the number of courses offered each summer at IU varies from one year to the next.

You can also fulfill these requirements with coursework at another institution, including through online (distance) education. Study the IU relevant course descriptions below to determine if a course at another institution would be comparable to one of our prerequisite courses.

Institutions that offer distance education courses in SLHS include but are not limited to: Ohio State University, University of South Carolina, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Utah State University.

In addition to the prerequisite courses, students hoping to achieve the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology from ASHA must complete at least one course in each area the following basic science areas:

• Biological sciences: including biology, human anatomy and physiology, neuroanatomy and neuro-physiology, genetics
• Physical sciences: including physics or chemistry. The biological and physical science coursework must be taken from outside the field of speech and hearing sciences.
• Behavioral and/or social sciences: including psychology, sociology, anthropology.
• Statistics: This must be a stand-alone course covering general statistics principles and open to the general college or university population. A course specifically designed for communication sciences and disorders students is not acceptable.

ASHA has a list of examples of courses that meet these requirements here. A list of IU courses that our program deems acceptable for meeting the biological and physical science requirements can be found here, as well, although this is not an exhaustive list.  Similar courses taken at other universities/colleges will also satisfy these requirements.

Basic science coursework may be carried forward from the undergraduate degree or taken as continuing education for graduate students. Students who are missing one or more of the basic science courses are encouraged to complete them in the summer prior to matriculation in the fall.

You should visit the ASHA website to review the above as well as additional certification requirements. It is ultimately the responsibility of students to assure they have fulfilled all certification requirements.

Learn more about the MA Program