Audiology requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills in addition to a medical understanding of the auditory system. Undergraduate courses in the biological sciences, mathematics, speech and hearing, physical sciences and psychology are beneficial. School requirements will vary but may include consideration of your undergraduate GPA and your GRE scores. Some may recommend a personal interview as well, such as the University of Iowa's audiology graduate program.
Since the current entry-level degree for practicing audiology is a doctorate, most graduate programs offer the Au.D. degree instead of a master's. Programs are typically four years, with three of those full-time coursework in physiology, communication development and auditory systems and one year of clinical experience in an internship or practicum. Actual credit hours will vary; for example Arizona State University requires 95 credit hours, with 63 in coursework and 32 in clinical.
The clinical portion of an audiology degree gives the student hands-on supervised experience working in a clinic or practice. Internships and practicums can be performed both on and off campus. There may be opportunities to work in specialty facilities if one is interested in a particular age group or a specific setting. These may include pediatric audiology, industrial audiology, tinnitus management, work in public schools or in hospitals.
There are not always distance learning options for doctorate-level programs, but this does vary by school. These are usually on-campus residential programs that require the student to be physically present for classes and clinical hours. The University of Florida offers a distance learning program for working professional audiologists who want to continue practicing full-time but require continuing education in the field. The school offers its traditional on-campus program for those with bachelor's or master's degrees.