What if my undergraduate degree is not in communication
disorders?
Thinking about a Ph.D.?
What different steps/components make up a
doctoral program?
A doctoral program includes many components that may overlap, but the
components will be presented as discrete experiences here. About 2 years of
course work is required (e.g., 9 credits for each of 4-5 semesters), with an
emphasis on course work in an individual's area of interest and course work in
research design and statistics. Supported research experiences co-occur with
this course work and can include required individual research projects, research
experiences on the advisor's funded research program, and rotations through the
labs of various faculty members.
When course work and required research experiences are completed, PhD
students typically complete some sort of examination experience, often referred
to as a qualifying examination. The format of this exam varies greatly across
universities, but the purpose remains the same-examination of the student's
knowledge and expertise in his or her chosen areas of interest. The examination
may be written as well as oral.
Once the qualifying examination is completed successfully, the student
advances to "doctoral candidate" status. The doctoral candidate then completes a
dissertation, which is an independent, original research study focused on a
critical question within the field. Satisfactory completion of the dissertation
includes an oral defense of the dissertation to a committee of typically five
faculty members.
I hear there is a doctoral shortage; are
doctoral programs making it easier for me to get a PhD?
Doctoral training programs are certainly aware of the shortage of people with
PhDs to assume faculty positions in CSD, and thus, these programs are taking
steps to address this shortage. Some examples of these steps include securing
grant funding to support PhD students, supporting student participation in
programs such as Preparing Future
Faculty, and examining their faculty and departmental capacity to educate
doctoral students.
Despite the shortage, however, faculty and doctoral programs remain focused
on the quality of students' educational experiences. They want to be sure that
the students who complete their doctoral programs have been prepared adequately
to be successful in careers in teaching (including clinical teaching) and
research. In this regard, it may not be prudent to make it "easier" to get a
PhD. In spite of the shortage, the field needs to and must prepare PhDs who can
be successful in research and academic careers at a variety of universities and
Schools.
When I apply, do I have to know exactly what
I want to study or what I want to do for my dissertation?
When you apply for a PhD program, you want to have identified an area of
interest so that you can find a doctoral program and mentor that will provide
you with excellent training in your area of interest. You will want to work with
a faculty member(s) who is an expert in your area of interest. However, you do
not need to know exactly what you want to study or do for your dissertation.
The early years of your doctoral program will provide you with a rich set of
experiences from coursework, research experiences, and interactions with faculty
and other doctoral students. These experiences will serve to narrow and refine
your original areas of interest. And don't be surprised if you become interested
in new areas. Some people find themselves doing a dissertation they never could
have anticipated at the beginning of their doctoral program. So, identify an
area of interest and then look to refine and refocus your interests in your
doctoral program.
What if I did not do a master's thesis?
Few master's student in CSD complete a thesis, primarily because clinical
training programs are so time-consuming. Although the completion of a thesis
provides an excellent opportunity for the master's student to learn first hand
whether research is exciting, motivating, and interesting to him or her, there
are other ways to accomplish this. Many universities have summer research
programs for undergraduate students. As an undergraduate or graduate student,
you may be able to assist a faculty member with research.
Most doctoral programs have a well-delineated set of research experiences
that prepare the doctoral student for the dissertation phase of their program.
Thus, there is little assumption that students enter a doctoral program with
research proficiency. If you have the opportunity to complete a thesis in your
clinical master's or AuD program, it will be good preparation. But if you
completed your master's degree or AuD without a thesis, you should not allow the
lack of a thesis to deter you from considering a PhD program.
I think I might like a career in teaching,
but I don't know that much about doing research. How can I get more experience
in research?
If you are an undergraduate student, talk with your professors about working
on a research project with them. Many universities support summer undergraduate
research programs in which students are mentored in research. Many of these
programs are open to students from other universities. Some universities offer
undergraduates the opportunity to complete a formal research experience in the
form of a senior honors thesis.
If you are a graduate student, explore the possibilities of completing a
thesis. Or talk with a faculty member about working on a research project with
him or her. Perhaps you can assist on a project without taking on as much
responsibility as a thesis would demand. Express an interest to your faculty
about finding out more about research.
If you are a practicing clinician, you may be able to partner with university
faculty to learn more about research. For example, school clinicians might work
with a faculty member in the summer. You might find a faculty member willing to
partner with you to collaborate on a research project. Volunteering to help
locate research participants may be an initial way to make contacts with
university faculty in your geographic area.
In addition, consider attending a conference that is totally focused on
research. There are many other conferences that are devoted exclusively to
research in a particular area of CSD. For example, the
Symposium for Research in Child Language Disorders (SRCLD), organized by
the doctoral students, is held every June at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Conferences such as SRCLD provide better opportunities to
interact with researchers in a much smaller setting (e.g., 200 or fewer
attendees). Ask a current or former professor for suggestions about research
conferences in your area of interest.
How do I find an academic program and mentor that fit my interests?
You will want to begin by looking at research in your areas of interest. When
you identify some researchers, do a literature search with PsychINFO or Medline,
for example, to further explore those researchers' contributions in a particular
area of study. You can find out more about the doctoral program at that
researcher's institution by consulting Web sites, including Web pages of other
faculty at that institution who are engaged in research in your area.
A department that offers the PhD typically provides strong doctoral
preparation in one or a few areas but not all areas of communication sciences
and disorders. You will want to narrow your search of possible mentors/programs
and then contact faculty members who are possible mentors.
When should I start contacting possible
mentors and what is an appropriate way to make the initial contact?
Most PhD programs admit students only in the fall semester, and applications
often must be made to the program by early in the spring semester. If you intend
to enter a program in the fall, you will want to begin making contacts the
preceding fall, or even earlier.
A Convention is a good time to make contacts with faculty; particularly
because it may be possible to talk with several members of the faculty from the
programs you are interested in and to current doctoral students as well. Initial
contacts may be made by mail, telephone, or e-mail. Introduce yourself by
providing some background information. Don't be afraid to say that you are in
the initial stages of gathering information about doctoral programs so that you
can make a decision about whether a PhD is for you. Before you contact a faculty
member, make sure you have done some preliminary work by visiting the program's
Web site and the faculty member's Web site, and by exploring the person's
research through databases such as PsycINFO.
You can plan to visit potential programs in the fall semester before you
apply or in the spring semester, once you know if you have been accepted. It's
important to have some contact with the faculty, particularly with the faculty
member with whom you wish to study, before you apply to the program.
How does one finance a PhD program?
The majority of doctoral students finance their doctoral education through
funding they receive from the university that they attend. Students may receive
fellowships from the university, or they may be employed as research assistants
or teaching assistants. The university may have a training grant funded by the
National Institutes of Health or the U. S. Department of Education.
Tuition is typically provided as a benefit from fellowships or
assistantships. Additional funding can be sought from private foundations (e.g.,
American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation) and from grant funding from the
National Institutes of Health. Be sure to ask about the particulars of funding
as you talk with doctoral programs and with former and current doctoral
students.
What research experiences are important in a
doctoral program?
First, you want research experiences in which you receive adequate support
from your mentor or advisor and gradually are allowed to become more independent
on the project.
Second, you want research experiences that expose you to programmatic
research (i.e., a line of research that unfolds over several projects).
Participation on funded research projects (e.g., funded through NIH or the U.S.
Department of Education) allows you to experience the particulars of working
with grant funding. In addition to learning to do research yourself, you may
want experience managing others as they work on research projects. For example,
if your advisor has undergraduate or master's students working in the lab, you
may have an opportunity to supervise their work. These experiences will be
beneficial later as you manage your own research projects and research lab.
Third, you may want to participate on research projects that use varying
research methodologies-for example, a project that relies on qualitative
research methods and another that uses quantitative research methods.
I am in an undergraduate program; can I be accepted into a PhD
program with just a bachelor's degree?
In many fields, it is typical for students to enter PhD programs directly
from their undergraduate programs (e.g., chemistry, biology, or psychology).
However, in speech-language pathology and audiology it has been far more common
for students to complete an undergraduate degree and the entry level clinical
degree (master's degree or AuD) before applying to doctoral programs. Many
people return to a PhD program after a few years of clinical practice.
Some doctoral programs will accept students into a combined MA (AuD)/PhD
degree. These students complete the requirements for the entry level clinical
degree as well as the PhD. The Clinical Fellowship Year (CFY) may also be
completed during these years.
Some programs prefer not to accept students into a combined MA/PhD degree
track. It is certainly possible at many of these institutions to apply for the
PhD program while in the MA program and continue after the MA into the PhD
program.
Undergraduate students, and students with a background in another area, who
would like to go into a PhD program in communication sciences and disorders
(CSD) are encouraged to explore options within specific programs. It is
important to recognize that although many doctoral students became interested in
a research/academic career only after working clinically in the professions,
some undergraduate students are quite certain that they want to pursue an
academic and research career. For this latter group, combining an MA and a PhD
makes sense. Also note that it is quite possible to complete a PhD in a CSD
program and not seek clinical certification.
I am in a clinical graduate program. Should I work for a while before
getting my PhD?
There is no one answer to this question. You can find successful teachers and
researchers who went "straight through"â‚€they completed a PhD and clinical
graduate program (MA or AuD) without working for several years. There are others
who returned to school after several years of working as a clinician. Both paths
can lead to successful careers in teaching and research.
However, it is widely recognized that it can be difficult to return to school
after one has been working for several years. So, it may be "easier" for some
people to go straight through (and, if desired, complete the Clinical Fellowship
Year within the PhD program).
On the other side, clinical practice years can be invaluable-to focus areas
of interest, to understand the nature of the clinical populations, to provide a
clinical knowledge base for one's later teaching and research, and so on.
Further, if you plan to participate in clinical teaching (e.g., supervision) or
applied research, clinical practice experience prior to the PhD may be
important. It's important to note that a doctoral program candidate with
clinical experience is not viewed as a more credible applicant than a person
going straight through.
Do I need to have my CF completed before I
begin a PhD program?
No, you don't have to have your CF completed before beginning a PhD program.
For some people, it is easier to complete the CF before they begin doctoral
work. But the CFY can be completed during the years of a PhD.
If I transition out of a master's program
into a PhD program, should I think about obtaining clinical certification? Why
or why not?
Not everyone who is on faculty in departments of communication sciences
and disorders (CSD) is clinically certified. Certainly, many academic positions
require applicants to have clinical certification, particularly if clinical
supervision and clinical teaching are part of the job responsibilities. But
there are many faculty members in CSD who do not hold clinical certification.
The decision to seek clinical certification or not is clearly influenced by
the direction you intend for your career. Are your research interests in
clinical activities (e.g., treatment research)? Do you want to participate in
clinical teaching? Are your interests in basic communication science, which will
not require clinical certification? For some doctoral students, the time
necessary to meet clinical certification requirements is not justified given
their long-term career goals. Having said that, the majority of faculty do hold
clinical certification.
Do I have to get a PhD in communication
sciences and disorders (speech-language
pathology or audiology)? Can a get a PhD
in a related field such as linguistics, neuroscience, or psychology?
No, you don't have to get a PhD in CSD. In fact, in some instances there may
be good reason to pursue a research doctoral degree in a related field or to
pursue a degree within an interdisciplinary program. Ask your faculty members
what their PhD is inâ‚€you may be surprised by what you find.
What if my undergraduate degree is not in
communication sciences and disorders (CSD)?
There is no reason that someone with an undergraduate or even a graduate
degree in another discipline or field cannot pursue a doctoral degree in CSD.
Many people find that a background in education, psychology, linguistics,
pre-medicine, and so on, provides a great foundation for graduate study in CSD.
The PhD is quite individualized, so it is possible to tailor the program to a
variety of backgrounds.
Return to Top
