Before You Apply to the Master's Program

Applicants must complete prerequisite courses that provide a basic understanding of speech, language, hearing, and swallowing, as well as courses in natural sciences, physical sciences, social sciences and statistics.

Science and Statistics Coursework

Prerequisite courses (or their equivalents) are required by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Science courses do not have to have a laboratory component. Science courses cannot apply both to math/science requirements and COMD requirements (e.g., human anatomy cannot count both for biological science and for head/neck anatomy for communication). Each of these is required.

• Biological Science (e.g., biology, human anatomy)
• Physical Science (MUST be physics or chemistry)
• Social Science (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology)
• Statistics

These courses must be completed before beginning the master’s program.

Communication Sciences and Disorders Coursework

COMD prerequisite courses are required for application to the master’s program.

• Anatomy & Physiology (e.g., A&P for speech and hearing; head and neck anatomy for SLPs)
• Phonetics
• Speech and Language Development
• Speech and/or Language Disorders (can be in children or adults)
• Audiology
• Aural Rehabilitation
• Speech Science
• Clinical Procedures (Coursework that specifically encompasses these areas of communication disorders: therapy implementation, diagnostic process, ethics, and professionalism)

All of the COMD prerequisite courses must be completed before August 15^th of the year students have been admitted or the admission will be automatically deferred to the next admission cycle.

Prospective students must have completed a minimum of 12 hours of the COMD prerequisite courses listed above by January 1^st of the year they are applying, or they will not be eligible to apply for that admissions cycle.

If applicants completed an undergraduate degree or leveling courses at a university other than the University of Houston, they may be asked to submit syllabi from select courses. These will be reviewed to ensure that all required competencies have been achieved.

Potential applicants with a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders that was granted more than 7 years before the anticipated date of admission to the program must re-take the following classes or their equivalents before applying to the master’s program:

• Speech and Language Development
• Speech and/or Language Disorders in Children
• Aural Rehabilitation
• Speech Science
• Clinical Procedures

These classes may be taken in the UH COMD Post-Baccalaureate Leveling (PB) Program or another comparable program. Students are required to apply to the PB program in the department prior to registering for any PB classes.

Potential applicants with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than communication disorders must complete a Post-Baccalaureate Leveling Program.