Graduate Program Application Process

1. Complete the Graduate Application for Admission through Cal State Apply.
2. Pay applicable CSU application fee (payable online).
3. You do NOT have to upload your personal essay or send it to the department. This will be uploaded on CSDCAS (see below).
4. You may be asked if you are applying for a credential program. You can mark no.

1. Complete the CSDCAS application.
2. Instructions and FAQs are available for your reference: CSDCAS Applicant Help Center
3. There is a one-time processing fee for CSDCAS to release information for the first program to which you apply. Any additional programs you choose to apply to will cost an additional, lower fee. You can start your CSDCAS profile without cost to you. The cost is incurred at the time of submission.
4. The prerequisites portion of the application is very important. Please include classes you have taken and plan to take. There is very limited room in the master’s program to take additional coursework. If you have more than 1 deficient area (i.e., no pre-requisite), you may not be considered for the program.
5. Three Letters of Recommendation are to be provided on CSDCAS. At least 2 of your letters must be from professors/instructors who are familiar with the quality of your academic work.
6. Personal Essay: There is no word limit; however, please keep it to two pages, single-spaced at most. Consider expressing why you have chosen to study in this field, plans you have to use your education and training, the needs and/or challenges you perceive as important in your field of study, and/or any personality qualities, characteristics, and skills you believe will enable you to be successful.

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is NOT required.

1. Official Transcripts must be sent to CSDCAS.
2. Unofficial transcripts will be uploaded to the Cal State Apply online application.

CDSCAS Transcript Notes

i. ALL students (including CSU Chico students) must send their official transcripts to CSDCAS).

ii. Instructions and FAQs are provided at the CSDCAS Applicant Help Center.

iii. Follow the instructions provided by CSDCAS for transcripts sent to the processing center; use the CSDCAS Transcript Request Form whenever possible.

iv. CSDCAS Transcript Processing Center
    P.O. Box 9113
    Watertown, MA  02471

v. CSDCAS will not accept transcripts issued to students.

Grades

You will find that fall grades will be important in the calculation of your GPA for last 30 and 60 units.

i. Depending on your university, transcripts including your fall grades may NOT be available before the January 15 deadline. You will most likely need to send your transcripts before fall grades are available.

ii. Fall grades will likely be available to you BEFORE the January 15 deadline on your university portal. Make sure to input your fall grades into your CSDCAS application to make sure those grades will be considered.

iii. You may be able to update your grades AFTER your CSDCAS application is submitted using the Academic Update feature. Information is provided at the CSDCAS Applicant Help Center.

iv. If you do not get fall grades onto CSDCAS, you can send an unofficial copy to the graduate coordinator at ssteffani@csuchico.edu

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Program admits applicants to the M.S. program only in the fall semester. The deadline for application is January 15. We are not currently accepting applications from students who do not have an undergraduate degree in speech-language pathology/communication sciences and disorder; however, students who have taken the equivalent of the CSU Chico undergraduate required courses as pre-requisites at another university (as a post-baccalaureate) may apply. Here is the link to the BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders in the University Catalog.

The program follows the CSU Chico Graduate Admissions Requirement.

• Applicants to a master's degree program must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 in the last 30 semester (45 quarter) units attempted and at least 2.75 in the last 60 semester (90 quarter) units attempted. It should be noted that applicants accepted into the CMSD program have a much higher GPA on average than those just listed.
• Approval by the Program and the Office of Graduate Studies.

Specific program requirements include successful completion of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) required undergraduate courses:

1. Human-focused biological science course
2. Chemistry or physics course
3. Statistics course

Due to large undergraduate class sizes, the program is not currently accepting students through Open University.

The program follows the CSU Chico Graduate Admissions Requirements for Classified status.  This requires that students meet the requirements listed above.  Requirements are further outlined in the catalog for Graduate and Postbaccalaureate Admission Requirements.  Additionally, to pursue a graduate degree, applicants are required to fulfill all of the professional, personal, scholastic, and other standards, including qualifying examinations, prescribed by the campus.

The program follows the CSU Chico Graduate Admissions Requirements for Conditionally Classified status in the catalog for Graduate and Postbaccalaureate Admission Requirements. In addition to the conditionally classified status requirements and admission requirements listed above, you may be admitted to the program as Conditionally Classified if the program determines that you can remedy deficiencies by additional preparation.