The Communication Disorders (ComD) major is a limited enrollment program and approximately 150 students are admitted to the major each year. Students interested in majoring in ComD should declare Pre-ComD as a major and will need to apply for admission to the ComD major after completing the prerequisite requirements.
Timeline
- COMD 133
- CELL 220 (Alternatively, you can take CELL 210.)
- PHSCS 167
- STAT 121
During the semester in which you are taking your final prerequisite course(s), you will need to fill out the application (found here) which includes an essay. The application needs to be submitted by midnight October 15th, or if you are applying during the Winter semester the application needs to be submitted by midnight April 30th.
Admission decisions are made early enough that students admitted to the major can register for ComD major classes the following semester (e.g. if you apply in the Fall and are accepted, you can take ComD major classes in the Winter).
We are now accepting AP Statistic scores of a 4-5 as counting toward the STAT 121 class requirement to apply to the ComD Major. For your application, your AP test will be counted as a P and not included in the average as we tally the GPA across the four pre-req classes. This will not help or hinder your average. You can choose to take the STAT 121 class to get a strong A (4.0) if you want to pull up the total average across your pre-req classes.
Please note, AP Statistics scores of 3 and below, do not qualify as meeting STAT 121. You must have earned a 4 or a 5 in the AP test.
Application Requirements
Prerequisite Courses
The grades you receive in the prerequisite courses are important, so make sure to do your best! Don’t stress too much if you don’t do as well as you’d like though, because the program accepts a variety of GPAs, and your essay can strengthen your application.
Essay
Your response should be approximately 2000 characters / 350 words. The essay character/word count is a guide, but it won’t be rejected if it is a bit over 2000 characters (not counting spaces). Bear in mind that the committee will be reading ALL of the essays, though, so don’t make yours too long either. Here is the prompt:
Please tell us your unique story. Make sure to include specific information about what has made you who you are today. How do you see the mission and values of the BYU ComD program contributing to your growth and your goals for the future?
Take the time to write out your response well in advance of the application deadline. Don’t procrastinate this — every word matters!
Please also remember that the work you submit must be your own. You may ask others to read and review your essays to ensure that you are answering the prompt clearly and effectively. You may not pay anyone to help you with your application, and you may not use generative AI tools as you compose your responses.
Advice
- It may sound cliché, but take advantage of your TAs! BYU has TA labs available for your use for the anatomy, physics, and statistics classes. These are great places to study and provide an excellent time to ask questions.
- A 2000-character essay is shorter than you might think. Get to the heart of what you want to write about as quickly as possible.
- Notice that the essay prompt references the mission and values of the BYU ComD department; consider referencing these yourself in your essay. So what might the mission and values be? Visit https://education.byu.edu/comd/mission-statement to find out!
- Ask one of your COMD 133 TAs to proofread your essay and give you feedback. Or, if you have a ComD peer mentor, ask them for their thoughts. We're all here to help you do your best!
Timing
When applying in October, decisions will not be announced until early in January. The department has to wait until grades are posted for Fall semester classes and then score the applications. If you are admitted into the ComD major, you will be able to register for Winter ComD classes in January, and they will have room for you. We recommend that you make a tentative Winter schedule that will let you add the first few ComD classes (211, 213 and 215) once you’re accepted into the program and able to add them. It is a tight turnaround, but that is the best we can do.
April applications do not have this same issue. We do still have to wait until grades are posted, but decisions are normally shared with applicants by late May/early June. This allows you to register for ComD classes in the Fall, as none of the first semester ComD classes are offered in spring or summer terms.
If you apply to the major and get accepted, and then are leaving for a mission, that is fine. We do not have a formal deferment process, just defer with BYU. It helps if you inform Beth Nisar (beth_nisar@byu.edu) that you’ll be leaving and email her before the semester you return so she can get you back on the email lists for the orientation meetings and announcements. If you’ve already been admitted to the ComD major, that will allow you to register for ComD classes when you return.
Admissions
Admission is based on both the grade point average for the four prerequisite courses (ComD 133, Stat 121, CELL 220 (preferred) or CELL 210), and Physics 167; and the short essay in the application. These are carefully read and considered by a committee of ComD Faculty. In recent admissions, the GPAs of those accepted into the major have ranged from 4.0 (A) to 2.6 (B-) for the four classes with the mean being approximately 3.60. During the last two admission cycles for the 2024-25 academic year, we have admitted 150 students with the following average statistics:
- Mean: 3.596
- Median: 3.70
- Min: 2.60
- Max: 4.00
What if a student is not admitted to the major?
Each of the four prerequisite classes may be repeated only once, and the student may re-apply. We advise a student who is turned down twice for admission to the ComD major to visit the University Advisement Center in the WSC or the McKay School's Education Advisement Center office to learn about other possible majors.
For more information, see the ComD Undergraduate Handbook.