Hello there! I am a 2nd year student on the BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy course here at City, University of London. I come all the way from Chennai, India and hope to you give you some information about the course if you’re already interested in pursuing it, or maybe even inspire you to look into it further!
This course is hands-on and prepares you to enter the working world as a qualified speech and language therapist. It has a really great, positive vibe to it. We are always working hard and supporting each other. Here is some information about what to expect from the degree!
A typical week
A typical week would be three days at university and one day at placement. We usually have an average of seven lectures a week, each two hours long. Some days can be as long as 9am until 6pm, whilst others are shorter with just one lecture. We also have a tutorial every other week or so. In tutorials (my favourite), we are in small groups where we get to chat about our placement experiences and problem-solve any issues. Our tutors sometimes bring in biscuits and chocolate!
Assessments
The course has a variety of assessment methods to incorporate everybody’s strengths. We have oral vivas, presentations, group work, class tests, essays, videos made in placement and of course, the exams. This not only keeps you on your toes at all times, it also equips you with a wide range of skills like team work, time management, clinical writing, etc. It can sometimes push you out of your comfort zone, but there’s always loads of help available.
Placements
The most exciting part of the course! There is a dedicated team at City who are responsible for finding and allocating all your clinical placements. Before each placement, you will fill in a form with your preferences – setting, client group, travelling time, etc. and the team try and find you a best fit. Being in the centre of London, there is a whole plethora of placements in every possible setting. My current placement is in a special school for children with moderate learning difficulties and I absolutely love it. I don’t only shadow the therapist there, but I actually run 1:1 therapy sessions, groups, assessments, the whole lot! It can be quite daunting in the beginning, but it’s important to remember you’re there to learn and it’s okay to make mistakes.
Modules
The course has a real mixture of modules. From easy to hard and interesting to…well, more interesting! You could be learning noun phrases in the morning and, next thing you know, you’re in a lecture about cerebral circulation! Anyways, as you progress through the course, everything starts to connect and link with each other. Some of my modules so far are: Articulatory Phonetics, Linguistics, Developmental Psychology, Biomedical Sciences, Acoustic Phonetics, Dysfluency and Dysphagia.
The course has been everything I expected and even more. We learn so much in and out of university and are supported throughout every step. More to come on my application process and decision to come to City!
