ballerina18

If you do have to take either physics or chemistry, I personally found chemistry to be less challenging than physics. I had to take 7 chemistry classes and 2 physics classes when I was an undergrad and I just found chemistry to be more tolerable than physics. lol Good luck! I definitely agree with Nala in that you should call your schools and see what they will accept.

@mheroux92, Oh, yes. I check my mail too many times to count. I've actually been able to keep my mind off of grad school lately. I'm doing a bit of spring cleaning and it is totally helping my grad school anxiety. I threw away a ton of old notes and school binders. I realized I had no idea why I was saving everything I've ever kept from college. It's not like I want to go back and look through my old chemistry and physics notes. Yuck! lol

Congratulations to everyone who is starting to hear good news from their universities. For those of us still waiting impatiently, here is something to distract you for two minutes. lol http://whatshouldwecallslp.tumblr.com/ (I can't wait until I understand every one of these jokes!)

I just wanted to wish you luck! I hope you get accepted.

Anyone getting snail mail heart attacks? I received a very thick envelope package today in the mail that simply said "First Class" and the return address was from one of the states where I've applied for admission. Yeah...it was just junk mail.

Formal affair

Up until last week I was sitting at about a 4 on the scale from 1-5. Now I am officially freaking out. I'm at the point where I am obsessed with checking my email, the program website, the results page here, results search page, back to checking my email, and then reading everything I can find on how to get accepted into graduate school (just short of begging). I can barely pull myself away from my laptop. Based on the results page from last year, I might find out all of my program decisions within the next three weeks. If I am going to do anything else to make an impact on their decisions (visit campus, meet professors, send out emails) then I need to do it now while ad-com deliberations are in progress. Oh yeah, I'm also totally overthinking things! lol

Did you make it a point to contact professors at the universities you applied to this year? If so, did you contact the professors before or during the application process? Did you contact professors after you were accepted into the program? What were your reasons for contacting the professors? Was it to ensure the program was a good fit? I'm just curious to see how others approached the application process for SLP this cycle. Thanks!

I know I am a little late to this discussion, but I thought I would add something about saving on food costs. I'm not in grad school yet, but one thing I do that really helps is meal plan and prep food in advance. I go grocery shopping every Saturday and then I do a big cook on Sundays so that I can put all my lunches in tupperware containers for the week. I started doing this about a month ago and my life has gotten so much easier. It is also easier to see how much money I am spending each week. Here is a link to a video that helped me get started: I hope this helps

***standing ovation*** Seriously, I laughed my butt off! =)

I'm also vegetarian over here (10 years). I make 2 whole, organic chickens a week for my family. I am getting more and more tempted to take bites every single time I cook! Not sure how much longer I can stay strong. lol

I'm not stress-eating, but I'm definitely having a few more alcoholic drinks than normal. lol I'm SOOOO nervous. I should hear from two of my schools within the next 2 weeks and I'm freaking out. A glass of wine is super helpful in calming my nerves and preventing me from calling all my schools and begging them to accept me. lol Seriously....begging has crossed my mind more than once (okay..like 20 times)!

I thought I'd jump in here to mention that I have some experience with the Montessori method and you can feel free to PM me with questions as well. My daughter has attended Montessori school for 3 years now and I have 2 years of volunteer experience working in a Montessori school. This is my daughter's last year in Montessori as our area only offers the program up to kindergarten.

When I was doing my post-bacc in speech language pathology I took a semester to seriously consider a career in Audiology. I have great respect for the field of Aud, and there are a lot of great things about the field that are similar to a career in SLP. For example, you can work with a variety of ages and in a variety of settings in both the Aud and SLP fields. Personally, I found the student doctor network online as a useful resource to help me with my decision. I highly suggest you browse through the Aud posts in there. Personally, I got a better understanding of Aud grad school and career life after talking with some Aud graduate students. It helped me realize SLP is a much better match for my interests. Two main cons for the field of Aud (for me) were the cut in salary compared to the average SLP salary and the increase in education required. However, for me it ultimately came down to what I really want to do when I am done with graduate school. I have great interest in dysphagia and, while I find Aud extremely fascinating, SLP just ended up being the better fit for my career goals and interests. Good luck!

Yeah, I realized that after I got off the phone. I just figured that maybe they have a weird sort of scoring system that goes above 100, but it is entirely possible I heard wrong. Lol

Hi twinguy, I thought you might be interested in some information I learned this afternoon about the ISU admissions process. I had called their office to request consideration for all three of their programs and Lexi informed me that they accept 18 students into each of the three campus programs. This year they are not saving any particular number of seats for Idaho state residents, but they do rank the top 54 applicants and fill spots according to campus preferences. They rank students based on the various aspects of their application with a 40% weight on gpa, 40% weight on gre scores and 20% weight on personal statement and 20% weight on recommendations.

Hello everyone, I didn't know where to post this, but I am curious... How many of you applied to programs that will force you to live in a different city/state than your spouse/significant other? If so, what are your plans for figuring out housing and visiting arrangements? How far away would you be from your spouse? It is possible I might have to live away from my SO and our 6 year old daughter for me to attend grad school. I'm just wondering if this type of situation is common. Thanks =)

Q: "Will I get accepted to at least one graduate program?" A: "Definitely, YES!" Q: "Will I get accepted to at least one graduate program this year?" A: "Signs point to yes" Phew! Yay! lol. I actually do feel better. haha

I applied to the distance program last year as well. I was waitlisted and ultimately not accepted, obviously..lol I am actually considering the possibility of contacting ISU to see if they might be able to put down Meridian as my #2 option. I live almost 6 hours away from Meridian, so attending that branch would mean I would have to leave my home and family (SO & 6 yr old daughter) behind while I attend school, but it might be possible. We are thinking about perhaps driving up to Meridian to check things out. The more I think about it the more I think it might work. I would try to just see my family as often as possible on weekends and breaks. The sacrifice might be worth having a stable career after two years (opposed to re-applying to grad schools if I don't get in anywhere). **shrug** I will have to do some more thinking on that. Good luck! =)

Let's talk about the different options out there for SLPs2B seeking additional education before graduate school. Is there anything out there besides the National Student Speech Hearing Association that we can benefit from? I would like more information about the various association memberships, conferences, and certifications that can benefit us all in terms of continuing education prior to graduate school. I've been looking into NDTA: Neuro-Development Treatment Association and that is right up my alley! Does anyone here have any information about NDTA or other associations? Thank you!

Does anyone else know of other programs that are accepting applications for a winter start date? I've read about Grand Valley State. Are there any others? Thanks!

Yes, I'm not sure if they save seats for residents in their meridian or pocatello programs. Which program did you apply to?

Hi Twinguy, I should have clarified in my comment that this was something I read last year when I was applying to ISU. When I was looking for admissions data I read that ISU saves roughly half of their available seats for in-state residents. The rest of the seats are made available to out of state students. Before their 2013 class size information came out I read they were planning to offer 16 seats for their distance program, but according to the link below they had a class size of 20 for 2013. http://www.isu.edu/csed/speech/accreditation.shtml I will try to find the site where I read that ISU saves seats for in-state residents.

My Hope: I get accepted to somewhere, anywhere! I've only applied to three graduate programs. I would LOVE to go to ANY one of the programs to which I've applied. I know the three programs I applied to will make me an amazing SLP! My hope is really....that I will just get at least one acceptance. This is my second year applying and I am so ready to start grad school. Not only do I not want to have to apply for a third time, but more than that I want to get started on my dream career! My Dream: To become an SLP. Seriously. I care MUCH MORE about actually becoming an SLP and making a difference in this wonderful field than being super selective regarding the different programs. My Guess: I think if I were accepted to all three programs I would have a VERY hard time deciding between all three programs. Each school has something unique to offer and to be honest I haven't given them a 1-3 ranking in my mind. ISU is closest to me so that could play a factor. Also, I did my post-bacc program at ISU so I know I respect the professors and class structure. WKU is farthest away from where I live, but WKU has some amazing faculty. UNC's program is perhaps the most ideal in the way it is set up and I have family in CO. I don't know. However, my guess would be that, based on my application stats, acceptance stats from previous years at each program, and the individual school rankings I would have a better chance at getting into ISU and WKU than UNC. However, ISU only has about 8 seats to offer out of state students, UNC offers about 20 seats, and while WKU offers 30-40 seats to their program they receive the most applicants out of all the schools. The way I see it, SLP is an INCREDIBLY competitive field and I would be honored to be accepted into any program. If I am not accepted then I will keep applying, year after year, until I do get in. I know I was meant to work in this field and I wont stop trying! Thinking about back-up plans is awful. I don't want to pursue a different field when I KNOW I was meant to become an SLP. =)

I don't have as much volunteer experience as I would like. However, I spent 10 hours a week for a semester volunteering with a therapy department in my local hospital. During that time I volunteered with a speech therapist who specialized in voice therapy. I was fortunate to observe therapy sessions including patients of all ages. My time there really helped me to recognize the importance of this field. This experience was particularly beneficial to me because I always thought I would only want to work with children, but after seeing patients who suffered from strokes I realized that adults need speech therapy just as much as the little ones do! After that I volunteered with a different speech therapist. Together we started a feeding group for children who had various aversions to food and difficulty swallowing. I spent a semester working one on one with children who struggled with textures and dealing with feeding tubes. I cherish that time SO MUCH! It's what REALLY started my desire to pursue a grad program that focuses on dysphagia. My only other volunteer experience was in a daycare, an elementary school, and a montessori school. Right now I am not volunteering at all. I hope to start volunteering with a school therapist soon, but for now I am just working as a bartender. Bleh! lol Good luck to everyone this application cycle!