[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I love my boyfriend, but he SO doesn't understand how nerve wracking this process is.

Same here. My boyfriend just graduated with his masters in history and he tries to tell me that grad school is not as competitive as I think it is. I try to explain to him that there is a difference between applying for a masters in slp and a masters in history but he just thinks I am crazy. Well I am crazy most of the time, but I think I know what I am talking about this time   

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

Bcjami, I am an out of field candidate too as I am graduating with a degree in Psychology this May. If you don't get into a school this year I would suggest to take a few pre-req courses at an online post-bac program. I think Utah State is very reasonable with their price and I have heard great things on this board and elsewhere about their program. You can either get a 2nd degree and get most pre-reqs done or you can be a non-degree student and only take a few classes. I took a few CDS courses in undergrad and it seems like I am more competitive than somebody who has no academic experience in the field, but then again it may just depend on the schools you apply to. I wouldn't worry much about your GRE because I think most programs do not put as much emphasis on it. Your GPA is good and your LOR, personal statement and experience with the field seem to be more important. If you don't get in maybe you can shadow a slp and get them to write a LOR for you, since most programs seem to look highly if an out-of field student has experience of some type with slp. Also, if you are a teacher many programs probably would look highly at that since you have first hand experience with children/teenagers. Other people on here have given you wonderful advice already, but I just thought I would throw my 2 cents in.

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I really hope my schools, if they haven't figured it out before their spring break, just push on through and do not take a week off. I know it's a bad situation for them to work on their vacation but I feel like many of their applicant's lives are being put on hold waiting for their decision. I've been driving myself crazy all this week because two of my schools were (supposedly) according to undergrads in the last stages of making their decisions and would start sending notifications in a few days. But I have seen nobody post results from them this week and both of their spring breaks have begun. Hopefully they don't just sit on the applications for another week, because if I were them I would just want to push through and get them done to get that off my mind.

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I don't know if everyone who applied to Western Carolina got the app checklist / supplemental form, but it was all information that was easily included in the application we had already submitted, nothing really new.  I keep telling myself that it indicates the people who made the so-called first cut, but that may not be the case at all.  Plus, via their email, they would be notifying acceptances beginning March 8th to March 15th .... and not a peep from them on the results board, as far as I can tell.  :-( 

Were you sure they were going to start on the 8th? I thought that was the date the supplemental app was due because that would be the day they would start the process. I think I read on the FAQ section that they would start notifying around the 15th, so I wouldn't freak out if nobody has heard anything.

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Child Star

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I think we all understand how stressful this is. We are all under a lot of pressure, and this forum is a place to vent and let it all out. Please don't ever apologize for expressing yourself- if you don't during this process, you'll go kuckoo!

Enjoy your break, you definitely deserve it. I will be thinking of you and hoping you get the good news you need.

Thank you, I will definitely be thinking of you too (as well as everyone else still in limbo). When is your spring break? I think you deserve a break as well!

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I just want to quickly apologize if I seemed a little ranty yesterday. It was a pretty stressful day since I heard all my friends getting acceptances from their grad programs (all in different fields from slp) and talking about how they planned to visit their schools and find a place to live during spring break, and I continue to have nothing. It doesn't help that people I talk to who don't know much about this process act like I have been out right rejected from everywhere since I have not heard anything from so many schools this late in the game (actually it's not really that late considering the national deadline is April 15th). But that's really not an excuse to go on full rant mode.

 

But it's a new day and I chose to have a new attitude and enjoy my spring break to the fullest and look forward to the 15th, when I may actually hear something. It's time to get out and enjoy this 40 degree weather we are expected to have all week!  lol

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Wild Child

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I JUST GOT INTO ECU!!!!!!!!

 

I actually have a seat in both campus and DE programs right now, so as soon as I decide which program I want, I will let them know.  I still want to wait to hear what USC says, but HOLY FREAKING COW!!!!!!!!!!

 

I AM GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!!! 

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS ON THESE FORUMS!!!!!!

 

Congrats I am so happy for you!

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

Well, it appears that UNCG is notifying. I haven't heard yet. One post on the results page said profs emailed them unofficially. Sounds exactly like what they did at UNC-CH. I can only hope I am wait listed so that I can get a spot once the cream of the crop decides to go somewhere else!!

Darn, I was hoping you were one of those accepted. I will be keeping you (and everyone else on these boards) in my thoughts the next few days.

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

i wasn't going to interject in this conversation, but I feel like I need to. I totally understand where you guys are coming from and I realize how frustrating it must be to be an in-fielder and have spots go to out-of-fielders. That being said, I don't think it's fair to say that out-of-fielders have less meaningful educational experiences or that education classes are easy per se. i'm an education minor and my education classes are harder than many of the core science classes at my school (i've taken both). i've also developed many skills through my education and psych departments that I think are really important skils to have in grad school and in my career--developing a grant proposal, critically analyzing research articles, etc. . i dont know that i wouldve developed some of these skills if i was a speech major (though i cant say for sure bc we dont offer speech classes)

 

myself and most out of fielders that I've talked to didn't major in speech because their schools don't offer it or they didn't realize until halfway through their undergrad experience that they wanted to take the SLP route. that doesn't mean that their undergrad experiences were any less meaningful.

 

also, i know that there are many schools that only allow in-field applicants to apply, so maybe that would be a less frustrating route?

 

i really dont mean to sound rude, but i have to say i was really offended at some of what i was reading. i know we're all stressed, but each of us on here is qualified to become an SLP. lets not put anyone else down (even if you're really just frustrated with the process and not with the applicants themselves). it's not going to help anyone!

 

Great post, I agree with everything you said. I think we all need to just take a few deep breaths and try to relax and think positive thoughts. We are all smart, hardworking and dedicated people and we will all be successful in life no matter what happens in the next few weeks

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

It just doesn't make sense to me that it is still required to have a certain degree to enter most grad programs in speech pathology when not all schools offer the degree. It would make more sense to make it more like occupational therapy where you can major in anything you want (within reason) and take the pre-reqs of Psychology, Biology and other social/hard sciences needed to enter the grad program. OT is basically three years and SLP is that too if you do not have any pre-reqs done. It just does not make any sense to me to have an entire major devoted to taking a bunch of classes that only will help you if you become a SLP and if you don't get into grad school or want to change career paths when it is too late to change majors, what can you do with the degree? Also what about a person who has a 4 year scholarship at a school or is stuck at a school where the CDS degree is not offered, they are in an unfair position. Not to mention the fact that Illinois has two schools that offer a CDS undergrad, but not a graduate program. As an Illinois resident that really ticks me off because it just floods the market and makes it even harder to get a grad spot in the state. I like the people in SLP but the school administration and profs. are ticking me off with the attitude that only a person with a 4.0 GPA and extremely high GRE scores can be speech paths. Nothing else seems to matter to them. At least that is the attitude most schools seem to have...

 

Or maybe it's just me...

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

Although I am an out of field leveler, I can completely understand the frustration some of you have with out of field students being admitted. The problem is that the CDS undergrad (at least at my school) is full of required courses that do not have any application to any other job or field besides speech pathology. Also, the CDS undergrad is basically useless because it is full of courses that have no use unless you want to be a speech pathologist, and not a lot of people outside the speech pathology field really knows what communication disorders are. Usually people assume that it is when the radio or television stops working. I'm not even joking. 

 

I had to switch to psychology because I was torn between occupational therapy, school psychology and speech pathology. Each had vastly different pre-req requirements to enter graduate school. A psychology degree would be flexible enough to allow me to fill the requirements for school psychology and occupational therapy and a CDS degree would not. I knew it could still be possible to enter speech pathology, but it may be more difficult and I could not be as flexible with the schools I applied to. I also didn't want to be stuck with a useless degree that nobody had any idea what it was. Through my research I thought that having a 3.8+ GPA would allow me to enter as a leveler without having to complete a post-bac and then try to apply to graduate school and figure out which pre-reqs were required for each school. It doesn't help that I live in Illinois, which seems to be the most complicated state to try and be certified in anything because each school seems to have completely different pre-reqs they need and you need every single freaking one completed before you can apply.

 

Anyway, I thought that I may luck out with my high GPA, but with the 3 wait lists and all the people posting 3.9+ GPA with extremely high GRE scores that are in-field students posting their acceptances I don't know. If I don't get accepted I may have to consider if this is even worth trying to complete a 2nd degree and going through this all again. Maybe I completely screwed up and should switch to school psychology next year because the field is less competitive, ignoring the fact that with the school system being messed up I may not have a job or get quickly laid off...

 

Okay my crazy rant is over. Sorry guys. I am going to clean my apartment to get my mind of this

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Back Rub

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I mean, my undergrad program let us know that grad school is extremely competitive and we needed to keep our grades up if we ever wanted to be accepted. But I kept my grades up, I scored fine on the GRE, I held a NSSLHA board position, a peer advising position, and was a member of an honors group. I also had a very related internship. But it seems that no matter how high my grades were, because I took such a rigorous course load (as a double major, no less), I can't compete with those who have 3.98s with a less competitive program and less course rigor.

 

I feel like I was misled by even the programs I applied to (aside from UNC-CH, since I knew that was competitive when I started). 

Don't give up! You have wonderful stats and experience that will get you into a program. You still have four schools to hear from so do not count yourself out yet. Many schools look on your transcript and see if you challenged yourself with harder course work and they do consider that when looking at your GPA. You will get through this and get an acceptance, I am sure of it.

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House Salad

[Waitlisted]

I have been wait listed at the only 3 programs I have heard from so far. I keep telling myself I have 4 more schools to hear from and the fact that I have not been fully rejected yet is a good sign. However, the thought of waiting until April to see if I am one of the few people picked off the wait list (if a spot even opens up!) is driving me crazy!!!

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Epic Failure

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I am too jmarti. If I get one more wait list after receiving three in a row (or worse a rejection) I am seriously going to have a break down. It makes me re-think my whole entire application and the schools I applied to. Why aren't I not bad enough to get a rejection, but what is holding me back that I can't get accepted? My spring break is next week and I am REALLY not looking forward to it because I know that it will be me constantly checking my emails every 5 seconds until March 15th if I do not get an acceptance by then.

 

We just have to tell ourselves that we will get through this somehow. It's not over until it's over.

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Smiley Face

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

I'm still so stressed about USF

 

Don't worry, I am sure you will be accepted. I have faith in you!

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Blue Ray

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Bunk Bed

[2013 SLP Admissions Thread!]

Congrats Toothbrush on the great week you have had!

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Pine Tree