in order to become a full-fledged SLP, you need a masters degree. depending on which college you go to, it can be as short as 5 1/2 years, or as long as 7 years (from being a freshman to actual graduate degree). i attended the university of the pacific in stockton california for my bachelors and masters, which took me 5 1/2 years. it is the fastest program out there, and was a really great experience. keep in mind that the last half year of schooling is working full time at an internship.

since there is such a large demand for SLPs, many school districts are hooking up with graduate schools and offering SLP graduate programs at night with stipends (in other words, they pay YOU to go to school to become a SLP). they are desperate to find more people to go into the field and staff our schools. if you are interested, you should check around your area to see if a local school district is doing this since you would essentially get a master’s degree for free.

good luck!

There are also many sub fields of speech pathology. One of the areas that is growing and under developed is the field of augmentative communication.

Depending on what state you are in, you can work as a speech therapist assistant with a 4 year degree. But I highly recommend going for your masters. In this day and age, a masters is the new 4 year degree.

I practiced as a medical speech pathologist for 20 years and loved it. Every day was different, and rewarding, to boot.

I specialized in swallowing disorders, adult neurogenic disorders, craniofacial, and head/neck. If you have a weak stomach, working in the schools is the way to go, but it gets pretty boring.