Graduate

M.S. Program Description

Residential Track

The residential track is a 6 semester program that draws on the rich and diverse clinical opportunities in the Tampa Bay area. SLP students will have opportunities to gain clinical experiences within the University's Speech-Language-Hearing Center, as well as clinical sites outside of the University. Off Campus sites include Veterans affair's hospitals, children's hospitals, private speech and hearing clinics, and rehabilitation clinics.

Students will complete four in-house practical courses prior to selecting 2 separate externship sites. These experiences are designed to provide the breadth and depth of clinical experiences necessary for clinical certification and state licensure.

Coursework is divided into two areas; core (required) courses and elective courses. The core courses are designed to help students meet the academic and clinical compliances listed by ASHA in their knowledge and skills acquisition (KASA) standards. Students will choose electives based on their clinical interest areas.

Pre-requisite courses are usually completed during the year before entry into the Master's program. Students typically will begin the pre-requisite coursework and apply for graduate school by the Jan. 15 application deadline. As long as the pre-requisite courses are completed prior to the start of the graduate program in August, a student will be eligible to apply to the Master's program. Please explain how you will complete the courses prior to entry in the Master's program in your letter of intent. Once admitted to the graduate program, these students will complete the necessary clinical observation hours during their first clinical practicum during the Fall semester.

Suncoast Consortium Track

The Suncoast Master's Consortium Track is specifically designed to assist bachelor's level professionals working full time as Speech-Language Pathologists in one of the Suncoast Consortium school districts to complete their Master's degree. The Suncoast Consortium track is a 9 semester program that uses a combination of distance and on-site teaching to offer the same curriculum as taught on the Tampa campus, and the requirements for entry are the same. Students should be aware that there is an additional technology fee for distance courses. Once accepted into the program of study, students are required to continue working full time in a collaborating school district while enrolled in the program.

This program requires students to have access to computers with high speed internet connections and peripheral hardware (e.g., combined microphone/headsets, video recording equipment etc). The students will complete practicum experiences in the collaborating school district in which they are employed. It also requires students to complete at least one clinical practicum at the University of South Florida's Speech Language Hearing Center in Tampa, Florida, and one externship experience during two of the summers of their three year program.

A limited number of students will be admitted each year, and these students will progress through the program as a cohort.