Admissions to the Ph.D. Program in Hearing & Speech Sciences

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Admission to the graduate programs in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is on a very competitive basis. Successful applicants typically demonstrate excellence in coursework, along with strong GRE scores, well-written letters of intent with a focus on research interests, and strong letters of recommendation, particularly from prior research advisors. Most importantly, successful applicants to our doctoral program will demonstrate first-hand experience with research, ideally in areas related to their doctoral research interests.

Our Ph.D. Program is a mentorship program; this means that acceptance into the doctoral program requires that a faculty member be willing and able to serve as a mentor to you. The ideal mentor is someone whose areas of research interest overlaps with your own; this means that you should have some notion of what area(s) of research you are interested in pursuing. The faculty mentor is a mentor for all aspects of your scientific and professional education - this implies frequent, substantive interaction. We recommend that you contact your potential mentor in advance to see if he or she is accepting students in a particular year, and to ensure that your approaches to graduate education mesh. If you do not have a particular mentor in mind, you may still apply, and the Admissions Committee will contact faculty members with matching interests; however, we strongly recommend that your statement of purpose explain what your areas of interest are and who you feel might be appropriate mentors. You may have co-mentors, either within HESP or across departments, but you must have a primary mentor within the HESP department. The mentor can be changed at a later time, if desired, but this could potentially add to the time frame for successful completion of your degree.

Given the complexity and depth of this field, we recommend full-time study to successfully complete doctoral-level research. However, the primary consideration in admissions is to accept those students with the highest promise of success both in the HESP program and in their scientific careers. The Admissions committee evaluates all applications quite carefully, and does consider the applicant's whole application, rather than simple scores in any single domain. Additionally, members of the Hearing and Speech Sciences faculty are available to answer questions which applicants might have regarding their potential qualifications for entry into our graduate programs. Potential applicants should call the Department office for further information, at (301) 405-4214, or can contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Rochelle Newman, at (301) 405-4226.

Please note that graduate students are admitted to a specific degree program (i.e., M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology; Au.D. or Au.D./Ph.D. in Audiology, Ph.D. In Speech and Hearing Sciences). Please be sure to indicate the program to which you are applying. Students interested in clinical training in Audiology combined with a PhD should apply to the CAUD program; those interested in clinical training in Speech-Language Pathology combined with a PhD can either apply to the MA program first (Program Code: SPLA) or can choose to apply for a combined MA/PHD (Program Code: HESP). Students interested in a traditional research Ph.D., without any clinical practicum training, should apply directly for admission to the Ph.D. program in Hearing and Speech Sciences, Program Code: HESP. Admission to all programs is primarily confined to fall matriculation.

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