Admission to the graduate program is limited by the program's capacity to provide supervised clinical experiences for all matriculated graduate students. Admission is selective and not all applicants who meet the minimum requirements for admission to the College of Graduate Studies can be accepted.

Applicants for admission are required to submit the results of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Miller Analogies Test (MAT). The GRE is preferred and recommended. Other application requirements include the applicant's personal written statement describing the applicant's qualifications, background, and career interests, as well as two letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with the applicant's previous performance in acdemics, employment, clinical service delivery, volunteer work, etc .

An undergraduate major in communication disorders is not required for admission to the graduate program. However, all applicants must complete six undergraduate courses before making application to the graduate program. Applicants interested in the graduate program who need to complete these prerequisites may enroll as post-bachelor's students at CSU. The courses are SPH 228— Phonetics, SPH 349—Speech and Language Development for Majors, SPH 231— Introduction to Communication Disorders, SPH 232—Introduction to Audiology, SPH 335—Clinical Methods in Communication Disorders, and SPH 351—Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanism. Equivalent courses taken at other universities are acceptable.

Two additional undergraduate courses or their equivalents are required for professional certification as a speech-language pathologist and must be completed by master’s candidates who have not previously taken these courses. These courses are SPH 485—Speech and Hearing Science and SPH 481—Aural Rehabilitation. These courses may be completed by post-bachelor's students before making application to the program.

The application deadline is February 1 annually. Submit the Application for Graduate Admission, the $30 application fee, and all admission materials (official transcripts, official test scores, personal statement, and letters of recommendation) to the Graduate Admissions Office.

To facilitate the admission process, it is strongly recommended that applicants use the online application system . The processing time for paper application forms is longer.