CO (soon to be) SLP

The overall tone of your email can convey warmth, familiarity, distance, frustration, or any thing you want Hello Dr. Smith, Thank you so much for your time today after class, I think I have a much better handle on XYZ. Take care, and watch out for those freed morphemes! vs Dr. Smith. After reviewing the material you assigned after class I have no further questions. I feel the title you use is really just a way to hurt yourself if you choose the informal... and get it wrong.

I pretty much agree with katieliz, I still have professors at Pitt who I talk to frequently, have been on road trips with, etc that are still Dr. Jordan or Dr. Davis. Maybe it's just me. I have met a couple professors who insist on a first name and then I think it's okay. It's possible to get into a whole discussion of credentialism and how some structures stifle creativity by this system, but at the end of the day it comes down to the worst you can do by being a little extra formal is be seen as perhaps a little "stiff", the converse is being seen as rude.

I went through Eastern New Mexico online, and liked it quite a bit. Most of my classes were hybrid courses with part of the class being on-campus and the ability to watch the lecture live and ask questions or watch it later. Like many programs, it is what you put into it, and if you want to just skate by... it's possible. One last note, they do have a few more courses than some, and I actually did a second BS there because it required only 3 more courses and doing that let me use a little financial aid and moreso allowed me to get in-state tuition with a waiver (they do that for some states). Hope this helps and good luck!

I'm not entirely convinced that is true, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten in the door. But it sounds like through the process you may have found a path that better suits your interests if you are getting interviews at programs you like. I'm wishing you every bit of luck!

HI, I agree with Midnight, don't loose hope! Especially since you have so many to hear back from. I would avoid second guessing too much at this point, down that road madness lies!!! I too have a low GPA, and got into a pretty decent program. At the same time I got wait listed on ones that were ranked "lower". Maybe a little better GRE might have helped, or applying to fewer programs with stronger apps, but have heart and wait it out. I think it's often about adcomms trying to balance out programs for those of us who may be on the cusp and your experience will certainly help. As for what to do next should it go the other way... if you like where you work, that experience will build on itself and if this is really where you want to be, then it might be worth another year of making your apps stronger. If you are really looking for something else, you might look at an MSW. There is a HUGE need for language/disability -aware councilors, caseworkers, organizaton-family liaisons etc. A lot of people only think Child Protective Services when they think of social workers... boohoo! I have a friend that volunteers at a camp in New Mexico that is going this route to be able to tie various therapeutic services together for children living with a variety of issues; it's a pretty fascinating path, I wish I could do her justice in talking about it. Take care, the waiting is oh so hard, I know. -Chris

Wow, I can't believe it's all really finished! I walked over to the CU SLHS building and handed my letter of intent to the program administrator this morning. This should free up a space on the Northern Colorado and Wyoming waitlists. For everyone who is still waiting to hear back from schools, or trying to decide what the best option is, I release all the luck I have to you and will keep fingers crossed and good wishes coming!! To everyone here, thank you SO MUCH for all the support. You made this last leg of the waiting game infinitely easier. -Chris

If that's the case, I'm hoping you hear something on the 30th!

I'm sorry, Columbia was my dream undergrad school, but I had almost the same thing happen; near fill ride at Pitt, or loans out the wazoo. If it helps any, I could not have been happier at Pitt and remain convinced it was a much better fit well beyond just finances. So maybe the school that offered you funding really is a better fit? still bummed you're bummed

I don't think it's bad at all to change... that's just part of why we go to school, to learn and explore. From my point of view, having an area of initial interest is great, but not required. It actually might be more unethical to start in a focus area you know you don't want to be in just because you felt bad that you discovered something new and fun. I don't think SOPs in an SLP program should be viewed in any way as binding unless there are extenuating circumstances. In a PhD or other science masters, it very well may be somewhat more difficult as a specific advisor may be assigned, but as long as your SOP wasn't intended to be misleading (e.g. "I'll write about wanting to work with population x because so few people want to be in that area and it'll help me get in") recognizing changing interests early is good.

I think you should register for classes under that name

That was sort of my realization Most of it I don't mind really, and anyone who really tried can make a connection. But I would like to make it slightly harder for a google search to link so directly to me and the application crazies.

Indeed I did, trying to make it just slightly harder for the CIA to spy on me via the interblags.

Looks like Wyoming just sent out decisions. I was wait listed but will be taking another offer, so I hope that helps someone else. Congrats to all who made the cut there!!!

to be filed under first-world problems: My dad called me up to congratulate me on an acceptance, boast about how he was right that I would get in anywhere, and launch into a lecture on how programs are not really that selective, but it's an age old trick to make you think so, that way you'll gladly attend regardless of the cost.

What a REALLY cool area!!! I could see how use of texteese might end up attenuating certain elements of english. I've actually read a couple of papers that deal with this as an emerging language. Though, since languages are defined as systems of arbitrary symbols and rules with "U R 2 kool" having the same functional role as its english analog, I wonder if having exponentially more opportunitis for communication experiences (remember the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) with IM/Text/Etc might actually accelerate language development? It's worth remembering that for a long time sign was thought to be a "lesser" form of communication.

No worries, and you won't be alone... Colorado has a lot of transplants. Winter in Boulder is NOT like winter on the east coast. It may snow 1 foot, but with the sun and warm periods (even in Dec/Jan/Feb), often most of it will be gone in days and you never have that permanent bed of ice/slush. They also clear the roads well. A set of snow tires might be a good investment, but I would feel that out once you get here (if you decide on Boulder, looks like you have a lot of great options). I almost feel I could do a post on "things you might should know before moving to Boulder" ... but I think a visit to the school would probably cover anything I could say.

lele, The intersection of literacy and language is such a cool area, one one I know so very little about!

Very cool. My grandmother had a stroke affecting association areas about 15-18 years ago, and at 92 SHE was the first person in my family to really connect what an SLP was. what kind of ESL experience do you have, and how do you want to integrate that into practice?

Wow.. thank you for this (again, late reply, just discovering this thread)! Lots of great ideas here!!

Sorry for the late reply. I can tell you that after living in Boulder for three years, a 4WD is almost entirely unnecessary, and an AWD is just about as much so. Even if you head up into the mountains often, unless you are going way off the beaten path it's more status than anything. Driving a lot for clinic hours on a grad school budget in a new big expensive to maintain/operate vehicle is not optimal. I made this mistake when I moved here from Houston on a corporate job three years ago, and as I've had to drive a lot for my caseload (not SLP, human services)I'm actually thinking of trading mine in for something more economical. But getting maintenance done is good. New tires will go a long way! Hope this helps.

It seems rude to start a post as such without sharing mine… I have a strong interest in studying both the etiological and treatment optimization features of language disorders in children with histories of trauma. I love working with teens and young adults (largely because I’ve seen them ignored more in this area than the younger kiddos) but I’m not set on any age demographic. I started off moving from a volunteer in the corporate world to beginning a full-time social work track. Along the way I had a couple great language intervention courses that really changed how I looked at things. As I got more involved in both the research side and the on-the-ground stuff it became pretty apparent that, despite a lot of the great neurochem/nuroanatomy work on the effects of early abuse and neglect, very little has been done from an SLP perspective. So few questions have been answered on how ED and SLI are related, how to develop complementary treatment modalities, and so forth so that's where I want to be. I could go on for… well... a very long time, but I’ll leave it here. I’m looking forward to hearing about what others are studying, It’s an exciting world, with a lot to learn!! Thanks for reading!

Midnight, Wow, those are two very different tracks I know it really depends on the faculty and department. How did you get interested in each?

Hi, It's starting to sink in now that I'm going to grad school (my fingers stay crossed and good luck vibes go out to all those still waiting). Now all of the things I've talked at length about with friends, and boiled down to concise phrases in SOPs are going to be my life for the next few years. So I thought I'd start a topic for those of us to discuss what specifically in the field we want to address, understand, or expand on. I'd love to hear what everyone's area of interest is or what population you want to work with and why. Also it's a great way to de-stress from the application process.

I know this has been said, but I don't think rapidly expanding programs will turn out well. It's not even just about hiring more staff, but also expanding on-campus clinics, partners, placements, and research programs. For densely populated areas this may not be as much of a problem, but for more remote or rural schools there are natural limits before everyone's overall experience suffers. It's also worth noting that in SLP, pharmacology, and other professional programs, a non-trivial amount of growth is purely a function of the current state of the economy. So putting serious money into expanding programs for what may be a temporary state could be a mistake. I was in Neurosci just as the giant NIH funding bubble hit around 2002, and my university had rapidly expanded and had nearly a whole building that they could not fill.

I had one school that used CSDCAS, and being in IT, I can totally get using it for transcripts/transcript verification and all of the other standard app stuff that would be the same for all schools. However, I didn't like that it separated me from the school and department for things like SOPs CVs and general communication. I could also see it being used to make MORE work for schools as students could just bombard programs. Maybe programs need to start having earlier deadline, or better yet use a tiered decision, notification, and requisite materials process? Either way, it's rough... and I can't imagine being on wait-lists and putting things off till April, or even May/June! Good luck to everyone out there still waiting, my heart goes out to you!