Professional Planning

Entering the Workforce

Exploring Career Options

If you are not planning to continue on to graduate school after earning an undergraduate degree with a major of Communication Sciences and Disorders, you may have questions about entering the workforce after graduation. Navigating the best career path for you starts with understanding the different paths before you.

Each School or College at UW Madison (i.e. the School of Human Ecology, the College of Letters and Science) has its own career services resource center on campus. At each career services office you can receive career advising, participate in workshops, career fairs, practice for interviews and more. You can locate your career services office, schedule an appointment, and discover campus events here: https://careers.wisc.edu/students/.

Speech-language Pathology and Audiology Support Roles

The American Speech Hearing Association defines assistants as audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel. People may enter an assistant role through a variety of channels and the requirements to serve in this capacity vary in each state. (See the ASHA State-by-State information under the Advocacy tab on the ASHA website. Select the “Support Personnel” subheading after choosing the individual state.) Additionally, job duties and responsibilities may vary. Assistants may be required to be licensed, certified, or registered in order to work in various states, and they may also be required to obtain continuing education units (CEUs) or professional development hours (PDHs) to maintain their licensure, certification, or registration in the individual states.

For more information, please see: https://www.asha.org/associates/Career-Pathway-for-Assistants/

Gap Year

Taking a gap semester or year between your undergraduate and graduate career in Communication Sciences and Disorders can serve as a valuable experience.

Here is the perspective from a student that made the most of a gap year experience:

https://leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.SSAY.19062014.32

Graduate School

To become an ASHA-certified audiologist, the minimum degree requirement is a clinical doctorate (e.g., AuD). The entry-level degree to become an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist is a master’s degree (e.g., MA, MS).

Laying the groundwork early will help you prepare for success. Identify program(s) to which you are interested in applying, familiarize yourself with the specifics of each application process, map your application timeline, and take advantage of campus resources meant to support you engage in the application process.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation from faculty members are an important part of your graduate school application.

To help faculty members write a strong letter of recommendation, you will need to provide a packet of materials to each prospective letter writer. Materials typically will include those listed below, but as individual faculty members may require different types of information, be sure to check with each faculty member about what they need from you. Unless otherwise specified, materials should be in paper form. All materials – paper or electronic – should be clearly marked with your name.

You should begin planning letters of recommendation several weeks in advance of the application deadline. Check with each individual faculty member about when they will need materials from you. Please provide all materials to the faculty member three weeks prior to your first deadline. Students are strongly discouraged from adding schools after they submit their initial request and asking for additional letters.