midnight

I'm not a student in Boston, but I visit yearly, and my sister-in-law lives in Cambridge and attended BU Law. I've never felt worried about my safety while in Boston or Cambridge, and I've walked through the MIT campus in the wee hours of the morning. As others have said, Boston is generally a safe city. Everything that's been happening this week is a total anomaly, and it has been handled with the utmost care and professionalism by the police and people of Boston and surrounding towns. Don't let it scare you or ruin your grad school plans.

It wouldn't hurt to apply to Chapman just to see what happens. Definitely, definitely, definitely play up your great experience in your SOP and CV! Also, there are lots of other post-bacc options if it doesn't work out; you may want to consider applying to more programs including those that are online. Good luck!

If you post in the California admissions thread, you might get more info. A lot of people attended or applied to the schools on your list.

Yeah, I agree with everything you wrote. It seems kind of rude! Also, I feel like it would be less of a headache for the schools to go ahead and tell people where they stand from the start: the programs would probably receive far fewer status inquiries as well as clearer communication from students who've decided to attend elsewhere, etc.

Though this is utterly moot for me since I was notified at the end of February and have since chosen to attend another school, I'm really surprised that UVA hasn't finished notifying people yet (I saw some recent comments on the results board). I don't understand programs without formal waitlists. It seems like a bad idea to leave applicants in the dark.

Congrats, AMarie! Chapel Hill is awesome.

If you can visit without completely breaking the bank, I say go for it! I wasn't even able to make it out to UVA (even though the campus is only 70 miles from my home ) and had an incredibly hard time envisioning myself there because of that disconnect; although I'm thrilled to attend Boulder in the fall, I do regret not checking out UVA in person!

You can also camp out in a Barnes and Noble and do tests from a book there for free (I love Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests)--kind of iffy, I know, but I used to work at a BN and no one cares what you do there.

Rankings are probably a bit specious and debatable, but if there's a chance that you'll ever pursue a Ph.D., they may matter a bit. Austin is ranked #10 while UO is ranked #45. That said, I don't think you can go wrong either way. It's a good idea to check out the program websites as well as the Austin thread here (though you've probably already done those things!). It might help to weigh the pros and cons of cost, funding, location, clinical opportunities, populations and settings you're specifically interested in, etc. Congrats and good luck!

Congrats on your decision, mystique! matrixgrl, I'm pulling for you.

I'm not sure about reciprocity between WV and PA; the PA site seems to have a form that you send in with your transcript to judge if your education and training are adequate for practice in PA: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/state_board_of_speech-language_and_hearing_examiners/12525/licensure_information/572114#forms And I believe that you can complete your CFY anywhere, even internationally, as long as whoever is supervising you has her C's.

Yup, I have to get my house ready to put on the market, move 2000 miles away to Boulder, find housing, bring my pets with me, and then dive into 18 credits of coursework. I try not to think about it too much because I will get these things done, and it's so much to process if I view it in one big lump! Kcald, I know you're passionate about SLP. Your teaching and music/voice experience will help you more than you know. Also, I think you will enjoy and gain a lot from in-person classroom experiences. Everything will be great!

You certainly have a unique perspective. I hope it benefits you during next year's application season.

I don't have any great advice, but given your level of introspection and desire to correct or change whatever is bothering you, you're clearly NOT dumb! Good luck finding your groove.

I think so. You'll make connections and begin to build the foundation of your career during your internships. You might be better off when it comes to your CF, too, if a school has better off-site opportunities, even if programs don't "place" students per se.

I'm not offended at all; in fact, I'm opting to take one of my SLP pre-reqs through the linguistics department rather than through the speech department for some of the reasons you mentioned. Linguistics is fascinating and absolutely relevant in the context of SLP. Speech and hearing sciences/comm dis is such an interesting path largely because it has the potential to be interdisciplinary and extremely dynamic, but it seems that many programs don't necessarily view it that way (and I'm sure many departments have to be somewhat proprietary for valid reasons like funding and overall support).

I know that the programs in Arizona are very competitive, but if you apply to six or so programs that aren't as inundated with applications, you'll probably be okay! People here are great at suggesting schools if you're not quite sure where you want to apply. I think you'll be fine if you do really well during your fall semester; perhaps you can take a course or two this summer to boost your GPA as well? Volunteering or gaining SLP-related experience throughout 2013 might be a good idea, too. And don't forget that schools will consider your GRE scores, SOP, CV, and LORs, not just your GPA. Good luck!

I don't think pursuing a linguistics M.A. would necessarily hinder or help when it comes to SLP admissions. SLP programs are primarily concerned with your speech coursework, experience, and career goals. Is there another reason you want to pursue a degree in linguistics? Having a linguistics background certainly wouldn't hurt an SLP, but it won't make your application stronger per se. Maybe you can integrate some linguistics courses or minor in ling while you're still in undergrad if you just have the desire to study the subject more.

1. Good, otherwise the people of Sherwood have some explaining to do. 2. No one does that. It makes no sense. PS Nah, I'm cool.

I can't answer the question of whether or not special ed is right for you, but some schools are really generous with funding and tuition assistance for those pursuing special ed. Also, if you were to complete a master's in SPED and get some work experience under your belt, it would possibly be beneficial for you if you decided to apply to SLP programs again in the future. And I think you may have already discussed this elsewhere, but if there's any way for you to boost your GRE, I think that would help your app quite a lot and you'd have a much better chance of getting into an SLP program next year. Best of luck!

Did you do formal prep before sitting for the GRE the first time? Also, why do you upvote your own comments? Just curious.

If your offer to UIUC were just so-so (e.g., not fully funded, not a great fit), it would make sense to reapply next year with a stronger app. However, given the information you've provided, I think you should go to UIUC. Good luck!

For those applying to healthcare-based graduate programs, I found several medical school essay books to be helpful, especially Barron's Essays That Will Get You into Medical School.

Thanks. I don't know if anyone aside from the adcomms themselves can say just how much the GRE does or doesn't matter in admissions, but the fact is that most programs require it and likely use it to eliminate certain candidates. I think it's wise for you to study and retake; I scored the equivalent of 143 Q my first time and raised my score to 150 (not great, but something) the second time. It might be a good idea to see if the program sites offer any guidance about GRE scores; it's also helpful to check the results page here, though of course it's not necessarily the most accurate representation of accepted applicants. Best of luck to you and semperfi!

sociologia, where do you think the disconnect is between your academic abilities and your performance on the GRE (and other standardized tests)? Is it a matter of test anxiety?