A major in special education prepares you to be a professional who works with students with mild-to-moderate disabilities in grades pre-K through 12. Our program focuses on research-validated instructional and assessment practices. You'll have field-based experiences from your first classes through your senior year. Field experiences will provide you with opportunities to work with children and adolescents who have learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, and autism and developmental disabilities. These experiences occur across various placement settings, including both elementary and middle/high school levels, which allow you to apply your knowledge and skills in real-life situations. In the last year of the program, the practical experiences culminate in a two-semester sequence of field-based training under the mentorship of school and University supervisors.

The Special Education at Clemson University is a Bachelor program designed for students who want to build the knowledge and skills required for careers in this field. Delivered on campus at the university's main campus in Clemson , United States of America, the program is taught in English and takes 4 years to complete. Students study in a Full Time environment while preparing for future professional opportunities. The next intake starts on August 24, 2027.
About Bachelor of Special Education
You'll learn about formal and informal assessment strategies, IEP planning and implementation, and principles of effective lesson design and delivery across content areas. During the third year of the program, your courses will focus on characteristics/procedures for learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disabilities, intellectual disabilities and autism, as well as early intervention and educational assessment. You'll also take general education methods courses in teaching reading, science and social studies.
During the final year of the program, your special education courses will focus on teaching reading and mathematics to students with disabilities, managing behavior and addressing the needs of students at the secondary level. Our program emphasizes carefully sequenced and supervised field experiences, which address students with disabilities at different ages and abilities and within numerous public school educational settings.
You'll spend 10 hours in the field in early intervention as a sophomore and approximately 30 hours in conjunction with courses offered during the third year of the program. More than 160 hours are associated with the senior-year field experience. The spring semester of the final year in the program includes a full-time, 12-week student teaching placement in a public school. You'll also present an electronic portfolio highlighting major performance assessments across the program and your accomplishments in clinical teaching during the field experiences and student teaching.
Requirements and Admission Criteria for Bachelor of Special Education at Clemson University
Entry Requirements
For the 2022 admissions cycle, Clemson has adopted a test-optional policy. Applicants are not required to submit a standardized test score to be considered for admission to Clemson for the 2022-2023 academic year.
If you choose that test scores should be used, your scores must be submitted electronically by the respective testing agency. Clemson’s institutional code for SAT is 5111, and the code for ACT is 3842. Clemson super-scores both the SAT and the ACT. For the SAT, this means that the overall total SAT score will then be derived by taking the highest of the evidence-based reading and writing/math scores.
According to The ACT, superscoring at Clemson means that we “consider a student’s highest ACT section (or subtest) scores regardless of test date. The super composite ACT score is calculated as the average of the best ACT English, Reading, Math, and Science subject scores and is used as one of multiple factors in admission and financial aid.”
English Requirements
- IELTSMin 6.5
- TOEFLMin 80
English Program Requirements
Tuition and Fee Information for Bachelor of Special Education at Clemson University
How to Apply for Bachelor of Special Education at Clemson University
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Review important dates and deadlines.
The Clemson application opens August 1. Students must submit their application and all required credentials by May 1 for Fall entry or October 1 for Spring entry.
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Complete the application.
Submit your application through the Clemson Application, Coalition Application or the Common Application No preference is given to any application in the admission review process.
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Pay the application fee.
There is a $70 application fee. Clemson accepts all major credit cards.
Submit your academic credentials.
- If you are a transfer student, submit translated course descriptions for any coursework to be evaluated for Clemson academic credit.
Clemson University requires first-year applicants to self-report their high school transcripts. Students who are admitted to Clemson will be required to send official transcripts prior to enrollment. After submitting your application, a link to the SRAR system will be available in your Applicant Portal.
Learn more about how to complete your Self-Reported Academic Record (SRAR)

United States of America, Clemson