What You’ll Learn
Vanderbilt’s M.S.-SLP program blends coursework with early and intensive clinical experience. You’ll gain skills to assess, diagnose, and treat people with communication and swallowing disorders across the lifespan.
- Program Format: Full-time, in-person
- Program Length: 5-6 consecutive academic semesters, depending on academic background
- Semester Start: A new SLP class begins each fall
- Clinical Hours: At least 375 supervised clinical hours
- Externship: Students request potential externship sites that are outside the VUMC enterprise and middle Tennessee. In preparation for their final semester, students work with our Director of Clinical Education for MS-SLP to secure an externship at a facility across the country that will complement the training they received during their time in Nashville/middle Tennessee.
- Certification: Program graduates will receive a Certificate of Clinical Competence in speech-language pathology (CCC-SLP) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
- Topics You’ll Study: Language, speech, and voice disorders; Swallowing and feeding; Augmentative and alternative communication; Cultural and linguistic diversity; Counseling and professional ethics; Research methods and evidence-based practice.
Clinical Education
For their clinical practica while taking classes on-campus, students should be prepared to travel up to 60 miles from the Vanderbilt University campus to reach off-site placements. Once students complete their on-site didactic and clinical training, they will typically leave middle Tennessee for their full-time off-site externship in their final semester.