Is this program for you?

If you can answer “yes” to the following questions, you could be a candidate for the accelerated program:

• Are you (or will you be) an undergraduate major in Communicative Disorders at URI?
• Do you have an early commitment to this major and profession?
• Do you have the capacity and motivation to generate a very high grade point average?
• Do you have the emotional maturity to manage high demands and stress?
• Do you have an ability and interest to learn using synthetic and problem solving approaches?
• Are you willing to forego using elective credits outside the major area?

Application Process

1. Contact your advisor as early as possible (ideally in your first year) to determine your suitability for the program. Standards for admission are high, so this is an important first step.
2. If you are an appropriate candidate, you’ll construct a program of study with your advisor, to complete all general education requirements and courses within the major by the end of your junior year.
3. During the second semester of your junior year, you will apply to the graduate program for admission in the following semester.
4. Prior to entering the graduate program (in your senior year), you should have no fewer than 24 credits remaining to receive a B.S. in Communicative Disorders. You should have no more than 30 credits remaining.
5. Your application to the accelerated program will be reviewed for admission along with all other graduate program applicants—there is no separate applicant pool for the accelerated program.

Admission Requirements

GRE or MAT scores will no longer be required of URI students with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and a GPA of 3.5 or higher in their major. URI sixth-semester standing in communicative disorders with all major requirements completed and 24 elective credits remaining. This is a competitive program and admission is not guaranteed. A minimum (but higher to be competitive) cumulative grade point of average of 3.00 overall and 3.20 in the major is required for consideration. Two letters of recommendation from URI communicative disorders faculty are also needed. Students should indicate their intent to apply to the accelerated program in the graduate application materials.

This accelerated program is not available to non-URI undergraduates or part-time graduate students. Students accepted to these programs follow a specified sequence of graduate-level course work and clinical practicum during their senior year, and complete the master’s degree with an additional one year and one summer of full-time study in speech-language pathology.

URI undergraduate communicative disorders majors who have met requirements for early acceptance in the graduate program in speech-language pathology, which includes successful application to the program, may follow a special sequence of graduate-level course work and clinical practicum during their senior year (see Communicative Disorders in the undergraduate section of this catalog for more information). If eligible, following the award of the Bachelor of Science degree in communicative disorders, students may complete a 30-credit master’s degree (rather than the usual 54-credit master’s degree) in speech-language pathology in one year plus a summer of full-time graduate study.

Program Requirements

Speech-language pathology students must take 24 specified graduate credits (at the 400 or 500 level) of communicative disorders course work in the senior year to complete the bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders; 30 credits of course work in the fifth year (postbaccalaureate) at the 400 or 500 level. Specific course requirements are as stated in the regular two-year master’s program

Sample Plan for the 5-Year BS-MS program