A speech language pathology degree is a prerequisite to a master's program.

A speech-language pathologist's functions include diagnosing and treating individuals who suffer from speech, language or cognitive disorder. The most common undergraduate speech language pathology degree in the field is the bachelor's of science in Speech-Language Pathology. This is considered to be the first step since pathologists' are required to earn a master's degree before they can be approved for licensing and a paid position in this field.

Some universities offer four to five year speech-language pathology degree while others offer professional bachelor's degree programs that act as ways to acquire master's degree programs in the subject. Others also offer a combination of both bachelor's degree program and master's degree programs in speech-language pathology requiring the completion of clinical attachment/ internship which is ought to be highly supervised.

Students learn how to diagnose communication and oral function disorders and provide the appropriate treatment to speech therapy and more. A bachelors speech language pathology degree entails two years of general educational courses, two years of detailed professional speech-language pathology related courses and one year of clinical internship which is a major requirement in this field.

The main pre-requisite to gaining admittance into a speech language pathology degree program is a high school diploma. Some students get the liberty to transfer into such programs if they already hold associate's or recognized bachelor's degrees in other fields. Some institutions demand that undergraduates have to take prerequisites in addition to the general educational courses offered before they embark on a speech and language pathology specialization.

The bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology focuses on some principle areas of communication disorders as well as practical clinical experience; American Sign Language, communication processes and disorders, human communication, descriptive phonetics, normal human language development, audiology and clinical assisting, research methodologies and language disorders.

This field creates a great deal on job opportunities. This is distinguishable from research done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States in 2008 where Speech-language pathologists held about 119,300 positions in the job market. A smaller percentage of people were employed in hospitals compared to those employed in the educational service. Average speech-language pathologists make an average annual wage of $63,000. This then expounds and illustrates that speech-language pathology degrees create a better environment for those venturing into this field since there exists many opportunities. The average speech-language pathologist made a median annual wage of $62,930 in 2008.

A speech-language pathologist has to pursue a master's in speech language pathology as it is the protocol to prepare an individual for certification. The certification is a mandatory requirement for a speech-language pathologist to acquire a job.