Apply

Applications are accepted after October 5, 2009.

The Fall 2010 deadline is January 15, 2010.

This pertains to applicants to the M.A. Program in Speech & Language Pathology who wish to be considered for departmental funding.  However, M.A. applicants may apply for admission without departmental funding as follows:  resident aliens residing abroad may apply as late as June, 2010 and U.S. citizens or permanent residents may apply as late as August, 2010, provided there are still spaces in the Program. 

Apply online

You must apply on-line through the Graduate School.

The following supplemental information must be submitted as well:

• Two official transcripts from each institution attended
• Two letters of recommendation. Letters may be submitted on-line or sent to the below address.
• Statement of Purpose submitted electronically as part of the on-line application
• GRE General Test scores sent directly to the Graduate School from ETS using INSTITUTION CODE 1565 (no program code is required). The analytical writing score is required in addition to the verbal and quantitative scores.

Applicants should send all materials to:

Cindy Coy
Graduate Admissions Coordinator, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Northwestern University
2240 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-3570
U.S.A.

The Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose should be limited to 500 words.  The below helpful hints regarding writing the statement of purpose are provided by Professor James Nairne, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University.

i. The persons reading your application for graduate school will want to know how you can contribute to their graduate program.  The focus, therefore, should be on how you’ve spent time as an undergraduate preparing for your graduate student experiences.

ii. Do not include too much personal information; again, you need to prepare a professional document, something that will convince the admissions committee that you are serious about doing graduate level work.  Anecdotes about how you got interested in the field, or on “how I’ve always wanted to help people” or “make a difference” should be minimized and if stated, be relevant and succinct.

iii. The document should be well-written, concise, and free of typos.  A sloppy document will send exactly the wrong kind of message, e.g., it might send a signal to the admissions committee that you’ll be just as sloppy about graduate work.

iv. If you can, be specific about how you fit into the program, in other words, tailor it to the school.  For example, talk about the work of specific professors, the curriculum offerings, etc.  This provides yet another way to demonstrate your professional maturity.

At the bottom of your statement of purpose, please list the following essay question and your answer to it. (Length should be approximately 1 page double spaced.)

“What are the two areas of communication sciences and disorders that interest you the most and why (please do not use anecdotes in your answer)?”

Application Status

Be sure to check the status of your admission decision via the on-line application. Once an admission decision regarding your application has been rendered, a link to "View Decision" will appear on the online application "Applicant Status" page. If no "View Decision" link is present, an admission decision has not yet been rendered on your application. Students denied admission will not receive a letter from the University. Students granted admission will receive an admission packet.

For questions regarding the status of my application, or other application matters, contact
Cindy Coy, Graduate Admissions Coordinator, Communication Sciences and Disorders at 847-491-5073 or ccoy@northwestern.edu.

Thank you for your interest in our Program!