Eudonte.Gnomie

Hello. Is there anyone else in the LGBTQ community moving to Greenville, NC and who might be looking for potential housemates? I assume the majority of my time will revolve around school, but sharing the rent in an affirming environment would make the funding stretch!

Thank you!

Hi. Does anyone have any information on ECU's waiting list beyond what has been sent in the emails?

I am still waiting!

Me neither but I'm glad for the company!

Anyone else still waiting?

I still don't have any updates on my student page. It seems like most people are hearing rejections so I hope that means the rest of us are still in the running!

I heard from a friend in the department. Do not expect news until the end of the month!

Remember that this field has become wicked competetive. I know several qualified applicants who did not get into school last year. The reality is that your chances will be better if you are well prepared and thoughtful about your approach! In the end, you have to prepare the best you can, take the GRE, and then submit your applications. Afterwards, you can do anything but twiddle your thumbs and grit your teeth, but at least you can say you did your best! That said, do pause to enjoy life especially if the stress is having a negative effect on you!

I am not a POC but this is an important conversation to our field. Being effective in this field often means understand the background of our clients. If SLPs are overly homogenous then we are at a disadvantage. If you are interested in specific demographic information, ASHA has a link at http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/2013-Member-Counts-Year-End-Highlights.pdf. SLP information is on page 9.

The advice I have been given by SLPs in the field is that all programs are accredited thus you will receive a good education no matter where you are. The rest you will learn in the field. In making my decision, I had to face the reality that I am financial limited but not geographically limited. So I took a statistical approach. First, since my GPA and references are pretty good, I limited myself to the top 108 SLP programs according to US News and World report. I think you have to be honest about where you stand academically. This is a ridiculously competitive field so shoot for schools where your personal GPA fits the schools average GPA. (This information can be found on ASHA's EdFinder.) If your GPA is middling, chose schools that are not so highly ranked in the full knowlege that this will not prevent you from becoming a kickass SLP. Second, I limited these schools to regions where the living wage for a single person was no greater than $9.50/hour. MIT has an easy to use living wage calculator that accounts for various household sizes. My motto is when the living wage is lower, the funding goes further! Having been a student who worked as many hours as possible to afford to be in school, I know that this divided focus really limits your educational opportunities and your academic success. Third, I limited the remaining schools by the acceptance rate. (I went to ASHA's ed finder and divided the number of acceptances by the number of applications). For example, California schools tend to have an acceptance rate of 5-15%. That's really low. Also, for those of you on the west coast, you should note that there are a larger number of SLP programs on the east coast so these schools tend to be less competitive. I personally kept a few schools with low acceptance rates but I had personal connections to these programs, but made sure the rest of my options had high acceptance rates (~30%). Dream big, but have a backup plan. Fourth, I narrowed the choice by personal preference and interest. Doest the school match my interests? (For me, this would be Aural Rehab and communication issues caused by TBI.) Would I feel comfortable living there? (As a gay woman, I don't want to live in Arkansas though I'm sure it is not a terrible place overall.) Could I afford to move to the location? (I allowed for one exception for a school where I already have a social network.) This left me with a list of about 10 schools. I put a limit on how many programs I could afford to apply to (4-5) and chose from this list. This was a lot of work, but I felt very secure in my choices. So far, I have only be accepted into one program but it is a really good program so I feel like I am in a very good place. If anyone is interested, I can let you know how this whole experiment ends once I hear back from all my schools.

I did my post-bac at ASU. Last year was the first year ASU stopped using the interview model. Now there is only the optional open house, but not attending this will not prevent you from being accepted. ASU purposely does not accept but a small number of former ASU students so there is hope! And if you want to impress Dr. Ingram, be sure that you can clearly define "phonotactics." It is his litmus test. You have been warned! ;o)