Speech Pathology

Many Canadians wish to fulfill their career goals after getting married, having kids, or both! We’ve had plenty of students who have taken their partner and/or children with them.

If you want to take your partner or family with you, you’ll need to add them as a secondary applicant or dependents to your student visa application. Even if you don’t plan on taking them with you, we suggest you add them to your application anyway because it can be complex, expensive, and time-consuming to add them afterwards. You’ll then need to provide additional documentation to support your claims of a relationship or your children’s dependency status.

In addition to looking after the visa, you’ll also need to ensure they’re included on your Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), you have appropriate accommodation, and if you’re bringing children, you’ll need to enroll them in school.

Visit our Health Insurance page for more information.

We recommend you begin your OzTREKK application about a year before your program would start. Most programs in Australia start between January and March, so that means you would start your OzTREKK application between January and March the year prior.

Here’s how the typical “cycle” works if your program starts January – March:

March – May: You gather all required documents like passport photo page, transcripts, résumé, personal statement, and send them to our office. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you exactly what we need!

June – August: Interviews (if your program requires one)

September – December: Offer time! If you get an offer, we’ll walk you through the acceptance (or decline) process and give you all the help you need to get ready to go.

January – March: Time to head Down Under!

Scholarship options in Australia are usually limited for international students as they tend to be reserved for those undertaking postgraduate research degrees; however, we can advise you where to look and whether specific programs have a history of offering scholarships.

Occasionally, scholarships are granted to high achievers—those with very high marks. In previous years, we have seen $5000- to $10,000-scholarships given to OzTREKK students.

Check out OzTREKK’s Financing page to learn more about scholarships and paying for your degree.

Before sending us outlines, check to see if we’ve already got them. We can save you a lot of time and ensure we’re submitting good outlines on your behalf. Outlines must be within 2 years of the time you took the course (as listed on your transcript).

To meet the prerequisite subjects, you need to have been granted the credit (passed); the grade isn’t considered in the prerequisite assessment.

Rolling admissions means the university assesses applications as they are received, or on a “first come, first served” basis. As soon as they’ve met the quota and the program is filled, they close the applications. So, for a program that has rolling admissions, the earlier you apply the better!

The majority of Canadians applying to full-degree programs in Australia (i.e., not study abroad courses, which usually only last a semester or two) apply through OzTREKK. They’re studying medicine, dentistry, law, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc.

Since they’re using OzTREKK’s services, this gives us a good idea of the starting point of a competitive application each year, allowing us to help you determine which universities/programs are most likely to present you with a letter of offer!

You can get started on determining your chances by reviewing the admissions requirements on each program page. Then, visit our GPA Conversions and Eligibility pages for details and suggestions to help you get into the program of your dreams. Of course, OzTREKK is always here to help if you have questions.

Unlike in Canada, GPAs in Australia are simple. They are standardized, so they mean the same thing to everyone.

In Australia, a 5.0 / 7.0 would roughly translate to a 2.7 / 4.0 or approximately 70% – 72%, but keep in mind all universities assess slightly differently.

Learn more on our GPA Conversions page where we list the most common Canadian GPA scales to their corresponding Australian GPA grade.

Prerequisite courses vary by university and by program. We’ve listed university- and program-specific requirements on each program’s page under “Admissions Requirements.”

Calculations differ by university, but most use cumulative (all units within a program) or weighted GPA (typically last 2 or 3 years of study). See GPA Calculations for more information.

For a transcript to be considered “official,” it must be sent directly from your high school, college, and/or university (either via snail mail or by email). It can even come from you—as long as it arrives in the original, sealed envelope.

To assess your application, universities must see your official transcripts certified by OzTREKK—a requirement of Australian and New Zealand universities and a part of our agreement with them.

By email (preferred method): Your high school, college and/or university can email them to transcripts@oztrekk.com or they can use an official transcript service, like Parchment or MyCreds. When submitting a request for a digital transcript and a password is required, please use OZTREKK1 (all capitals, no spaces). If you have a character limit or need to set an access pin, please use 1234.

By mail (only if unable to send via email): Please order your transcripts to be sent directly to our office from all institutions where you have studied since high school, including any college studies, exchanges, transfer credits, and/or advanced placement (or IB) studies. Please note, some programs also require high school transcripts; if this is the case, your student advisor will let you know.

Send your documents via FedEx or Purolator, especially when you need your documents to arrive at our office ASAP. If you use Canada Post’s courier Xpresspost, please don’t request a signature, as this can add delays.

OzTREKK
301–1 Sherbrooke Street East
Perth, ON K7H 1A1 Canada

As soon as your transcript arrives, we’ll let you know!

Most Australian graduate-entry speech pathology programs require a student to have completed specific undergraduate subjects.

1. Apply to programs that don’t have prerequisites
Griffith University or Flinders University don’t require prerequisite courses. Alternatively, the University of Sydney Master of Speech Language Pathology program doesn’t have prerequisites; however, you’ll be asked to complete online modules to bring your knowledge up to requirement before the start of the program. Sydney will issue the student a conditional offer with these modules as part of the conditions.

2. Enroll in the missing prerequisite(s) 
Most Australian universities will let you take non-award courses during the application season to make up the prerequisites you’re missing. This means you can submit your application with your interim transcript and proof of enrollment into the prerequisite course. Before enrolling in any prerequisite course, we advise checking with either your admissions officer or with the university to make sure the course will satisfy the prerequisite.

If you haven’t completed the prerequisite course(s) by the time offers are issued, then universities may issue a conditional offer. Please note that not all universities will issue conditional offers and it may vary for each program. It’s always best to check with OzTREKK to see if your program of interest will give conditional offers.

Alberta – Alberta College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (ACSLPA)

British Columbia – College of Speech and Hearing Health Professionals of British Columbia (CSHHPBC)

Manitoba – College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Manitoba (CASLPM)

New Brunswick – New Brunswick Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (NBASLPA)

Newfoundland & Labrador – Newfoundland and Labrador Council of Health Professionals

Northwest Territories – Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority

Nova Scotia – Nova Scotia College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

Ontario – College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO)

Prince Edward Island – College of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Prince Edward Island

Quebec – Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec

Saskatchewan – College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists of Saskatchewan (CSASK)

Yukon – Yukon Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Association

Learn more at Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC). P.S., if a link is broken, please email julie@oztrekk.com!

A course outline includes all the necessary information about a university course. It will include the course title, the year, the learning goals, the professor’s contact information, reading materials and most important, a weekly learning schedule. This will help the universities to see what you studied on a week-to-week basis and assess if you have covered the material they expect you to know.

• Year and semester date
• Faculty contact information
• Course description
• Hours of study
• Textbook information
• Detailed list of topics that are covered in the course; usually found in a detailed lecture schedule or list of chapter readings

Please note, one-paragraph course descriptions will not suffice. The university would like to see course outlines like those handed out at the beginning of the semester, which outline all topics covered within the course. If you do not have copies of these on hand, contact the faculty from which you undertook these courses, as they usually have copies on file.

These course outlines must be attached to the email in PDF (do not send PDF links) and labelled in the following manner:

CAPS 391 Human Anatomy I UBC F2015 (COURSE CODE)(Name of Course)(University)(Semester & Year)

When you do this, it helps us be more efficient and move your application(s) at lightning speed.

If your documents are not in English, you must provide full translation of each document, either prepared by your university or by a registered translator. You must not translate the documents yourself.

Please note OzTREKK must receive the official translation directly from the university or translator in order to certify the document. Please read How Do I Send My Transcripts for more information.

You should first contact the regulatory body of the Canadian province in which you plan to work upon graduation. It will be your responsibility throughout your studies to ensure you complete the proper requirements to practice in Canada.

You must be aware of the required speech pathology (major) and audiology (minor) clinical hours to practice in your province. Most programs OzTREKK represents with do not meet Canadian certification requirements “as is.” This means you will be required to arrange and undertake additional clinical and course hours as required to meet Canadian standards.

Visit Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC) to familiarize yourself with their requirements for practice in Canada.

Unfortunately, if you do not have the required prerequisites, you are not eligible to apply. If you are missing a course or two, you can enroll in those courses before applying and we will submit your interim transcript with your application. Otherwise, you are welcome to send in a course outline you feel covers the required content. If you’re unsure, please contact OzTREKK for details.

Anything above a 75% cGPA is considered competitive for our speech pathology programs. If you have a cGPA of 70% or lower, we don’t recommend applying.