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I read the article by Stephanie Davidson regarding the summit focus on doctoral education in audiology . I am puzzled about something: If optometry, dentistry, chiropractic (and yes, sometimes even medicine) do not necessarily require a completed bachelor’s degree as a requirement for entry into their 4-year doctoral programs, then why does audiology?
By insisting on eight years to become an audiologist rather than six or seven, we price ourselves out of the market very early in the game. Some two to three years of appropriate undergrad courses should suffice for entry to our four-year clinical doctorate in audiology. I recently gave a lecture at a school for optometry and asked how many of the 75 first-year students had their bachelor’s degrees; only several put up their hands. Why are we being so myopic?
Ted Venema
Kitchener Ontario
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