Graduate

M.S. Program Description

Residential Track

This 6-semester program draws on the rich and diverse clinical opportunities in the Tampa Bay area. Students attend full time, with a clinical practicum and coursework each semester. SLP graduate students will gain clinical experiences in the University's Speech-Language-Hearing Center, as well as clinical sites on campus and outside of the University. Off-campus sites include Veterans Affairs hospitals, medical centers, children's hospitals, schools, 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 specialty 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 specialty courses 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 (personal essay). 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

This 9-semester program is specifically designed to educate bachelor's level professionals working full time as Speech-Language clinicians in a Suncoast Consortium school district. For a list of the public school districts within the Suncoast Consortium, please click here. Students must be employed full time in a participating Florida public school district as a Speech-Language clinician, and the school must provide mentorship and supervision throughout the student’s program of study. Suncoast students complete the same curriculum as Residential students via distance learning. Pediatric clinical experiences are obtained at students’ worksites, and adult-based practicum are completed in summer semesters. Students should be aware that there is an additional technology fee for distance courses. Once accepted into the program, students must maintain full-time employment as a bachelor’s level Speech-Language clinician in a collaborating school district.

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.