Admission Status Classifications
- Full Graduate Standing - The Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Governance Committee has determined that the student's application materials are satisfactory to offer admission, and no admission deficiencies exist.
- Provisional Graduate Standing - A student may occasionally be admitted provisionally because he/she lacks prerequisite courses or does not meet GPA expectations. A student admitted provisionally can attain full graduate standing by satisfying the specific conditions of the provisional admission. In such cases, the SLP Governance Committee stipulates what the student must do to achieve full graduate standing.
- Non-degree, Post Baccalaureate - This registration status is for students who satisfy minimum Graduate Studies admission standards but are not working toward an advanced degree. Non-degree graduate students who wish to be considered for admission to the Master of Science program in Speech-Language Pathology must formally apply through the Graduate Studies Office and be recommended by the SLP Governance Committee. Credits obtained as a non-degree graduate student may be considered for the Master's Degree program when appropriate. However, usually no more than 6 hours of graduate coursework during the period when the student has non-degree status will be accepted toward fulfilling graduate program requirements. Non-degree graduate students are not eligible for enrollment in Clinical Practicum classes.
Procedures
All students must apply through the Office of Graduate Studies application portal, CollegeNet Admit system. Required application materials include unofficial transcripts for all institutions attended or taken coursework from, contact information for three letters of recommendation authors, a personal statement, and résumé. The GRE is no longer required for admission as of May 2022. Applications are reviewed once each year with all materials received and the application submitted by the January 15 deadline.
Lateral Entry Speech-Language Pathology Students
A student wishing to pursue graduate study in Speech-Language Pathology who has an undergraduate degree in an area other than Speech-Language Pathology is classified as a “lateral entry student.”
Lateral entry students must complete undergraduate coursework related to the Speech-Language Pathology profession before they are eligible to apply to the graduate program. They can enroll at UNL as post-baccalaureate, non-degree-seeking students (http://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/prospective/steps) to fulfill the undergraduate requirements, or they can take comparable courses at another institution. A lateral entry student will not be admitted to the master's degree program while completing prerequisite courses. Other admission requirements include a passing score on the Praxis CORE Exam obtained within the past 10 years.
Prerequisite courses for lateral entry students seeking admission to UNL’s graduate program fall into three categories: (a) courses required by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) for teacher certification, (b) general education courses required by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and (c) courses specific to the Speech-Language Pathology profession. Lateral entry students must have completed 15 of the 20 prerequisite courses with a grade of C or better by the end of the semester prior to beginning the graduate program; having the majority of the remaining prerequisite courses completed is highly recommended. Of these 15, the following UNL courses marked with an asterisk (*), or equivalent courses from other institutions, must be completed:
a. Courses required by NDE:
–Foundations of Education (TEAC 331, 430, 434, 437)
–Developmental Psychology (EDPS 250, 251, 450, 451; CYAF 160)
–Learning/Cognition in the Classroom (EDPS 362, 457, 854; PSYC 263, 268)
–Multicultural/Human Relations (SLPA 488/888; TEAC 330/861)
b. General education courses required by ASHA:
–Biological Sciences (e.g., biology, human anatomy & physiology, neuroanatomy & neurophysiology, human genetics, veterinary science) *
–Physical Sciences (e.g., physics [PHYS 141 or higher], or inorganic/organic chemistry [CHEM 105 or higher, but not CHEM131])
–Social/Behavioral Sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, public health)
–Statistics *
c. Courses specific to the speech-language pathology preparation will include:
–SLPA 250 Phonetics *
–SLPA 251 Speech & Language Development (4 credits) *
–SLPA 271 Audiology I (4 credits) *
–SLPA 421 Professional Issues for the Communication Disorders Specialist (4 credits)
–SLPA 441 Clinical Methods
–SLPA 453 Introduction to Communication Neuroscience
–SLPA 454/854 Research Methods
–SLPA 455 Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanism *
–SLPA 456 Speech and Hearing Science
–SLPA 461/861 Language Disorders
–SLPA 464 Phonological Disorders
–SLPA 472 Aural Rehabilitation
Prospective lateral entry students also must have completed 25 hours of supervised and documented observation of speech-language pathology evaluation or treatment sessions prior to starting the master's program.
Policy on the Application Process for Students Transferring to UNL
- Graduate students enrolled in an ASHA-accredited graduate education program at an institution other than UNL will be considered for admission as a transfer student to the UNL program if the following conditions are met:
- The student must petition the SLP Graduate Governance Committee to request consideration for admission as a transfer student. In the petition letter, the student must specify why he/she is requesting a transfer to the UNL program. The student should also provide a summary of coursework and clinical experiences acquired at his/her present program.
- The student must submit the standard application materials required of all students applying to the graduate program via the Office of Graduate Studies and MyRed.
- If admitted, a transfer student must complete at least one fall, spring, or summer clinical practicum assignment in the Barkley Speech Language and Hearing Clinic prior to any off-campus practicum placement.
II. Graduate Governance Committee Procedures
- Applications from transfer students will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will only be considered when: (a) openings exist in the program at the time the student petitions for admission as a transfer student and (b) the coursework completed by the student closely matches the sequence of courses in the UNL Speech-Language Pathology graduate program.
- Criteria for admission will be based on the previous year's admission data. That is, the student petitioning for admission must show comparable performance to the most recently admitted cohort of students admitted to the program in good standing.
- The SLP Graduate Governance Committee will make the final deicison about acceptance or denial of the student's petition for admission as a transfer student.
- If admitted, usually no more than 12 hours of graduate coursework from another institution will be accepted as transfer credits.