Extended Graduate Program

Thank you for your interest in our graduate program in Speech-Language Pathology.  The application cycle for Fall 2025 is now open and all information regarding applying is posted on our How to Apply website. Please note that there is no admission for spring semester and this is an in person program. Below you will find additional information on applying with a degree in another field. 

Without a previous degree in speech pathology/communication disorders, you could apply to our Extended graduate program in conditionally classified status. The minimum requirement to apply is:

  • to have an undergraduate degree posted by the time the graduate program begins, and
  • that the overall GPA in the degree is 2.5. 

If you are admitted to our graduate program, you will be completing both undergraduate and graduate coursework in communication disorders.  It will take you a minimum of three years to complete the graduate program in this model. You can review a roadmap for the Fall 2024 cohort HERE. The undergraduate prerequisite courses are typically offered during the day, but not on Fridays or weekends.  Graduate courses are generally offered in the evening to allow students’ daytime placement in their clinical experiences, in which therapy is provided to clients under licensed SLP supervision. .  

We understand that you may want to start taking the undergraduate prerequisite courses in communication disorders at Cal State East Bay as a non-degree seeking student right away, but we are unable to offer this to you as an option.  In the meantime, you are welcome to work on completing non-communication disorders lower division coursework designed to meet ASHA and California CTC standards between now and the time you apply, though they are not required to apply. They include the equivalent to the following courses at Cal State East Bay:

  • BIOL 270, Human Physiology and Anatomy I
  • STAT 100, Elements of Statistics and Probability
  • PSYC 100, General Psychology
  • Any general Physics (preferred) or Chemistry course
    • Note:  the “extended” graduate program course sequence at Cal State East Bay includes an upper-division Physics course as prerequisite content, so you may wish to defer this requirement to take if admitted
  • Lifespan development
    • Note: the content should cover knowledge of developmental milestones pertaining to typical and atypical human development and behavior, birth through twenty-two.

You can use or this to research courses that would transfer in to Cal State East Bay that you may have already taken, or want to take, at a California college or university.  Note that if Human Anatomy and Physiology are offered as two separate courses elsewhere, you only need to take the Anatomy course.  

If you were interested in researching post-bacc. programs in communication disorders to eventually apply to our regular two-year program instead of our extended graduate program, minimum content (as opposed to specific course) requirements to apply to our program include: 

  • Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing
  • Phonetics/Phonological Disorders
  • Child Language Development/Disorders
  • Speech and Hearing Science
  • Neuroanatomy/Neurophysiology and Adult Neurocognitive Disorders
  • Audiology/Audiometry
  • Clinical Methods/Diagnostics 
  • Recommended but not required: Guided Clinical Observation (25 hours)

Note that we do not accept transfer students with partial coursework in communication disorders from other graduate programs. 

We unfortunately do not have staffing to do transfer/transcript evaluations, and do not provide this type of service for non-admitted students.  

We strongly encourage you to also read these additional links:

You are also encouraged to explore other sections of the department website.

Information on the cost of attending Cal State East Bay is available on the university's Financial Aid website. Please note that this page defaults to undergraduate costs; please select the words “Graduate Student” for graduate-level tuition.  We in particular want to note that for the extended graduate program, financial aid is available only at undergraduate levels for the first year in the program, when primarily undergraduate courses are being taken.

Information on Cal State East Bay application deadlines is available on the university's Important Dates page. 

If you find you have more questions after reviewing this webpage and provided links, please contact us at slhs@csueastbay.edu