Academic Honesty | Acceptance | Distance Courses | Second Bachelors Degree | Senior Clinic | Transfer Credit
Academic Honesty Policy
Students are responsible for complying with the University policies regarding academic honesty as stated in the Utah State University Honor System document. This document is available at the USU Bookstore and on the USU Web site.
Acceptance and Retention Policies
Any accepted student at Utah State University may major in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (COMD-DE) during the Freshman and/or Sophomore years. Juniors in the on-campus program will attend a meeting during the first part of each Fall semester where they will receive application forms for formal admission into COMDDE and the College of Education Teacher Education Program. Distance students need not complete this formal application. Each student will complete the College of Education Writing Examination to be accepted into the College of Education Teacher Education Program. (Distance students do not take the examination.) Each student will complete the application process and return the application forms to the academic advisor within the Department of Communicative Disorders by the deadline specified in the meeting. The COMDDE department will formally notify the student of acceptance no later than the beginning of the second semester of the junior year.
The student will be accepted if: cumulative GPA is 3.0 or higher, general education hours are within 15 credits of completion, the College of Education Writing Exam has been taken and passed*, and the College of Education Speech and Hearing Test has been taken and passed. Students in the online program will be accepted without being admitted into the College of Education Teacher Education Program but will have to be admitted into that program at the beginning of their graduate program if they attend graduate school at Utah State University. Distance students must only be accepted into the program and maintain a 3.0 GPA.
A student in the on-campus program who fails to meet any of the above criteria will not be allowed to continue in the major, and the student must declare another major or change to "Undeclared". If the student is not accepted into the COMDDE program, he/she must have alternative class plans for the second semester because he/she cannot continue in COMD classes.
*Students in the USU Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education who are identified through the College of Education speech and hearing screening program as having possible speech, language or hearing disorders or English competency issues due to English being a second language will need to be evaluated at the USU Speech-Language-Hearing Center. If speech, language or hearing treatment is recommended based on ASHA guidelines, service options will be presented to the student.
Once a student (on-campus or distance education) is admitted into the undergraduate program or the 2nd bachelors program, the student's cumulative grade point average must remain 3.0 or higher or he/she cannot continue in the major until the GPA is raised above 3.0. Students should work closely with the departmental advisor if they suspect their grade point average is in jeopardy.
Students who choose to repeat COMD classes to earn higher grades can only have a total of three repeats combined for COMD classes. For example, if a student repeats one COMD class twice and another COMD class once that equals three repeats.
Students will not be allowed to graduate from USU if their cumulative GPA is below 3.0.
Distance Education Courses
On-campus COMDDE students will not be allowed to register for COMD online courses. In very unusual situations the student may petition the department to request an exception to this policy by emailing the department representative (dee.child@usu.edu) with a detailed description of the conditions necessitating the petition. A departmental committee will evaluate the petition and a decision will be emailed back to the student.
Second Bachelor's Degree Policy
A student with a bachelor's degree in another field who desires to receive a master's degree in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (COMDDE) must obtain a 2nd bachelor's degree in COMDDE or have the equivalent junior and senior level COMD courses and extra-departmental courses before he/she will be considered for acceptance into the master's degree program.
In order to be accepted into the 2nd bachelor's degree program, the student must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited United States or Canadian university. The specific COMD course schedule is developed by the academic advisor and student prior to beginning the 2nd bachelor's degree program. Once the student is admitted, the departmental retention standards must be maintained (no COMD grade lower than B-, and GPA no lower than 3.0) in order for the student to continue in the undergraduate program.
Senior Clinic Registration
The total number of senior students participating in clinic each semester will be based upon availability of faculty supervision. Graduate student clinic assignments are given priority, and selected seniors will be assigned any remaining clinic openings. Senior clinicians will be selected for available clinic slots based on their GPA , academic compatibility, and client schedules.
Seniors should not register for senior clinic (COMD 4100) unless notified to do so at the beginning of a semester. Students will typically not be registered for more than one semester of clinic during their senior year.
Although the senior clinic experience is highly desirable for several reasons, not having clinic experience as a senior should not affect the student's ability to obtain letters of recommendation from our faculty or to be competitive when applying to other graduate schools. Most university undergraduate COMDDE programs do not provide undergraduate clinical training.
Transfer Credit Policy
Regarding non-COMD classes: Please see USU’s Transfer Credit Policy: http://www.usu.edu/policies/pdf/Transfer-Adm.pdf
Regarding COMD classes: Students may request a maximum of 5 credits of undergraduate COMD courses taken elsewhere to be accepted by COMD as equivalent courses to replace those same courses that are part of the COMDDE program. They must scan the syllabi of the courses completed and a transcript showing the grades received in those courses. The scanned documents must be attached to an email and sent to the appropriate advisor. The advisor will contact the student when a decision has been made about the status of the transfer credits.