lexical_gap

Are students in session 180 days or is the entire school year for staff 180 days? There will likely be days (if not a full week) before students arrive where you are working full time doing things like: setting up your room, reading IEPs, consulting with teachers about those students, etc. Likewise at the end of the year, many districts have staff reporting for a few days after the students' last day to clean rooms, finish report cards/progress notes, etc. There will also be hours outside of your regular work hours, such as back-to-school night, parent-teacher conferences, etc. Once you get hired, the actual contract times might be more than 7 hours. At my school, staff are required to be at work for 8 hours (students are there for just under 7 hours). In that extra hour, I am conferencing with teachers, planning therapy, billing, analyzing assessment data, etc. Depending on your principal, he/she may allow you to schedule IEP meetings before or after school based on the needs of your students' families; which would extend your work day and add more hours. There may be days where you choose to stay late to finish writing that IEP that is due the next day. I wouldn't be too worried about not meeting 1260 hours in a school. There are built-in buffers within the school calendar to make up some of those hours if you are sick. One day here, one day there won't make a big difference.

Keep in mind the age of the clients and the kind of work you'll be doing with each. When I did my student rotation with adult clients, most of my clients were over the age of 40. As a man who looks very young despite being in my 30s, I decided to wear a shirt and tie for those sessions to "dress up" and be taken more seriously. Now that I'm employed in a school working with preschoolers through 8th graders, I go for comfort and function over "looking nice". That's not to say I dress like a slob, but a t-shirt with the school logo on it is not out of the question. I have since ditched the necktie as it is a choking hazard. 3 year olds on the spectrum can have very strong grip strength and like to grab at things hanging around the neck. I also often find myself on the floor playing with toys one session, going outside chasing kids as they try to escape the playground the next, followed by leading a whole-class push-in session for middle schoolers all in the span of 90 minutes. So, I swapped out the dress slacks for durable khaki-material pants that will stand up to multiple washings. (Be careful with sidewalk chalk and kids who like to give hugs! Those white pants will become rainbow-colored in a heartbeat!) My school has 4 floors and a policy that I must escort each student to and from therapy, regardless of age, so out went the dress shoes and in came the solid black sneakers. Currently, I am working summer school in a building without air-conditioning. Last week, temperatures were in the mid-90s for three straight days. By 10 am, I looked like I had ridden Splash Mountain a dozen times in a row. After the first day in that heat, I decided to put on a pair of nice, knee-length, khaki-material shorts. It may not be the most professional look, but I can't be effective at my job if I am on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion. As for make-up, I have a colleague who wears bold lipsticks. Not because of fashion choice, but because it makes her lips stand out when she models speech sounds. She has a few kiddos on her caseload with visual impairment who benefit from high contrast and the colors she chooses help provide that contrast. (Nothing too outrageous like lime green; but she's done a dark maroon or sometimes a brighter red.) She has the data to show that her kids make progress, so if administration ever came down on her, she can pull out her therapy notes and the kids' IEP that says, "Due to visual impairment, X needs high contrast visual input". Others, keep it natural or no make-up at all. This is my very long way of saying what's considered "professional dress" will vary depending on your facility, your clients (and their ages), the kind of work you do with them, the activities you use, and the weather. Take cues from the way others in your facilities dress (your classmates and your professors).

For one of my externship sites, my supervisor and I developed a strong bond. I gifted her with some (relatively) inexpensive but much needed therapy materials. Things like a penlight with batteries for oral mech exams and a favorite therapy game that had broken/many missing pieces. For me, I wanted to give something useful, meaningful, and SLP-related.

I would also look at your personal essays and really think about why you want to be an SLP. What is it that you are hoping to gain by joining the profession? What qualities and skills do you have to offer the profession? Why do you want to attend that specific school for grad school? Faculty members on these admission committees read 50-100+ essays. Make sure yours stands out. Additionally, review the essay prompts. Did you answer the questions asked (and all parts of the questions)? One of the schools where I applied asked specifically for experience with diverse learners from a variety of cultures, languages, socio-economic statuses, and disabilities. I made sure I devoted a paragraph to each of those demographics. Did you follow guidelines for margins, fonts, font size, word count, and number of pages? The admissions committees want to hear your story of becoming an SLP and how they fit into that story. So tell a story. Make sure your story is more than, "I want to be an SLP so I can help people." Teachers help people. Nurses and doctors help people. OTs and PTs help people. Hairdressers help people. Massage therapists help people. Firefighters and police officers help people. What is it that you can get out of being an SLP that you can get in any other profession? Why is this career path the right one for you? How will attending school X help you reach that goal (other than the fact that they'll be the one granting your degree)? Maybe you respond positively to their philosophy behind therapy. Maybe they have an amazing professor whose research interests align with yours. Maybe they have a specialty or certification that is only available at that school. If you are able to give solid answers to all of these questions, you should be able to write a fantastic essay. Finally, after you've written it, proofread it. Have others proofread it. Then proofread it again. Nothing gets you in the reject pile faster than misspelling your own name, the school's name (or using the wrong school name), and/or a ton of typos. Make sure your essays are neat in presentation and look professional. One professor I met told a story of a prospective student who had hand-written his/her essay in pencil on looseleaf paper that also had food stains on it. I am pretty sure that student was not admitted.

I was a substitute teacher as well. When I wrote my statement, I high lighted specific students with complex communication needs and what I did as a substitute teacher to help them.

I'm a speech-language pathologist working in the schools. Out in the field, a base knowledge of statistics (bell curve, percentile ranks, standard scores, standard deviations) has helped me interpret and understand test results. Being able to interpret and explain the test findings in parent- and teacher-friendly language is something I do every week. It has also made me critical of other assessments in other fields and the scores they report. For example, one of the academic tests my district uses reports that students testing in the 70th percentile are "below target" for certain academic skills.

In my state, your initial teacher license is valid only for 5 years. After that five years, you have to have met certain requirements for a professional teacher license or, in some cases, apply for an extension of an additional 5 years. Other cases, if you haven't met the requirements for a professional teacher license within your first five years, that's it. This might be what this co-worker meant by "revoked" after 5 years.

Keep in mind, that a lot of the local students would likely be doing their externships at those same facilities. Here in southeastern Wisconsin, we have two SLP grad programs in the city itself. There is another university about about an hour from the city that also has an SLP grad program. So, effectively, we have three universities looking to place students 50+ students each year for medical externships. True, we have several large hospital facilities in the area, but not all of them take students for externships. In the greater Chicago area, with just a quick internet search, I counted at least 4 SLP grad programs with over 150 students needing placements.

I took 13 credits my first semester. Other than research methods, most follow this schedule for their first semester. Each credit corresponds roughly to 1-1.5 hours: Voice (2 cr) Adult Neurogenic DIsorders (3 cr) Clinical Processes (1 cr) Research Methods (3 cr) [Some students choose to take this over the summer. I wrote a thesis and opted to take it my 1st semester for that reason.] School Age Language (2 cr) [some of my classmates took a class in Birth-3 instead.] On-Campus Clinic (2 cr) You can expect 2-3 hours per week of therapy time (actual time with the client). The rest of the time is spent reviewing videos, reviewing past reports, therapy planning, analyzing data, writing reports, working on assignments, doing observations, etc. Your actual timeslots for clinic varies based on your supervisor's schedule, your schedule, your client's schedule, availability of therapy rooms, etc. I had some clients that had sessions at 8:00 am. I also had clients that couldn't make it until 3 pm. Some of my classmates also took classes for DPI certification in conjunction with these courses. Others also had courses that weren't offered in their undergrad that they needed to patch into their graduate coursework. In the 2nd year, some students also choose an independent study or an extra clinical experience in an area of interest that they couldn't fit in earlier. The department does their best to try and customize your schedule to your interests and future career goals as much as possible.

Jabba, the out of state tuition numbers that you have are the same ones posted on the Bursar's office page from UWM's website tuition. In-state tuition is significantly less than the out-of-state cost. If I remember correctly, I averaged about $7,500-$8,000 (fees included) per semester in the fall/spring, and about $4,000-$5,000 for summer.

I graduated from UWM. The program starts in the fall and runs for two full calendar years. If you start in Fall 2017, you would expect to graduate August 2019, assuming you complete the program in 6 semesters.

I considered the following factors (in roughly this order): 1) Location and clinical opportunities (both on campus and off): Most of us go into this profession to become clinicians. Will you have the clinical opportunities that you are looking to have by going to that school? 2) Cost: Let's be honest, it's a factor for most of us. Even if accepted to Dream School A that is out of state, will you be able to afford the cost of attending? Will you get a comparable education for a fraction of the cost at school B? 3) Feel of the city: If I was going to live there for 2 years, I wanted to feel safe and "at home". I was accepted to a school that has a good reputation, but I couldn't picture myself living there for any length of time. I just didn't have a good feeling about the city. 3) Faculty Research / Reputation: I was interested in research, but had no idea what I wanted to research.

dcslp: I am in Wisconsin and did my post-bacc at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

My post-bacc took 4 semesters of part-time school based on the way the local university sequenced their courses.

In my program, there were 3-4 grad students in their 40s who were career changers. There were another 3-4 of us in our 30s who were career changers and another 7 who were in their mid-late 20s as career changers. I did a post-bacc to improve my overall GPA and familiarize with myself with the field before applying. I could've applied right away because I had elementary education and linguistics, but I would've had to make up all the pre-requisites anyway. Why pay graduate tuition to make up undergraduate level courses? Without a strong showing in the leveling coursework, the relationships I built with the professors there, and the knowledge I gained about the field, I highly doubt I would've gotten into graduate school. Even if I had, I would've been so overwhelmed and felt even more out of my league. As for math, if you take leveling courses (including statistics), could you fit in a math course into your schedule to help you? Or at the very least, audit a math course?

I would send score 1. You have a better chance of committees overlooking the lower Quant with the higher Verbal, Analytical Writing, and overall score.

Keep in mind, there's a third part to the GRE score too- the analytical writing. That could make a big difference in how your score is calculated by the admissions committees and how you are perceived. For example, an applicant with a 165 Verbal but a 3.5 AW score may not look too great on an application because there is such a large discrepancy between the two scores. On the flip side, an applicant with scores in the low 150s but a 5 on the AW could become a more attractive candidate. When I applied to grad school, I had a pretty average Verbal + Quant score, both were in the 150s. My score was in the "competitive range", but I didn't feel like I stood out. At the time, I asked a professor if I should retake the GRE to raise my V and Q scores. He hemmed and hawed, until I told him my AW score. His tune immediately changed to, "No! Don't retake it! You are more than fine with that AW score. It offsets the other stuff. I wouldn't touch the GRE again because you might mess up what you already have." Make sure you are considering your AW score as it may weigh more than we think. Also remember, the GRE is just one part of the application. The GRE doesn't tell the committee your skills as a clinician. It won't tell them how you plan or approach therapy. It won't tell them your experiences in and outside of the field. It won't tell them your research interests. It won't tell them why you are choosing to apply to those specific programs. It's easy to focus on all the details and stress yourself out. I've been there. As someone who got into grad school, completed my Master's program, went through my CFY, and now has my Cs... think big picture. You have the whole application to show yourself off and make them say, "I want this person at our school in our program!" Your GRE score alone isn't enough to do that.

isabel, I am in Wisconsin.

Look at the licensing requirements for the state and service setting in which you want to complete your CFY. In my state, to complete a CFY in a medical setting, you must have your (temporary) state license prior to starting. That said, in my state, you must also have a CF supervisor (aka, a job) before you can even apply for your temporary license as the supervisor has to sign part of the application form. Here, a teacher license is required prior to starting a CFY in a school, but a state license is not needed. I was required to prove that my application was in processing with the state teacher licensing board within 10 days of starting my CFY. If I couldn't, I would not have been able to complete my CFY with that employer (and would've been out of a job).

Something I did in preparation for my SLP grad school application was write out why I wanted to be an SLP. What was it about being an SLP, specifically, that made me want to do the job? A nonspecific reason such as, "I want to help people" wasn't good enough. I could help people as a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, a firefighter, a dog-walker, a barber, etc. What could I do as an SLP that I couldn't do in the other professions? Honing in on what you want to get out of SLP training and the target population with which you want to work will not only help you focus your essay for SLP grad school and clearly articulate why you want to be an SLP, but it will also open up options for "back-up plans". For example, if you want to work with the geriatric population, you could look into CNA programs. If you want to work with the Deaf / HH population, perhaps audiology or sign language interpretation could be options. If you want to help adults with disabilities gain independence and employment, working in a non-profit organization that does transitional work would allow you to do those tasks. Those are all possible options that 1) could be a back-up plan, and 2) allow you to gain experience with populations who are often associated with SLP services, thus giving you opportunities to learn how being an SLP can help your future clients achieve their goals. As for OT, it can be just as competitive as SLP. Keep in mind, that OT has their own set of pre-requisite courses for graduate programs. Some courses may overlap with SLP, some may not. Courses that OT programs seem to have in common a pre-reqs are Anatomy and Physiology, Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Sociology at an absolute bare minumum. All the OT programs I looked at require additional courses. These courses included physics, statistics, and/or research methods. As for admission rates, here is the admittance data for the OT Master's graduate class admitted to start Fall 2015 at my university: 440 applicants, class cohort size of 24 Avg. GPA: 3.57 (Range 3.1 - 3.95) GRE Quant: 152 (143-163) GRE Verbal: 154 (142-167) GRE Writing: 4 (3-6) Another OT Master's program in my state had the following stats: 347 applicants,class cohort size of 25 Avg. GPA 3.9 (last 60 credits) GRE scores in the 60-70th percentiles for Quant and Verbal (which is about the mid-150s). GRE scores in the 80th percentile for Writing (a 4.5 is the 82nd percentile.) Some OT programs require a certain number of tracked hours in volunteer work and/or shadowing just to be considered. The SLP grad school application process can be intimidating. Do your homework with regard to the schools for which you want to apply. Make sure that your stats are within the range of accepted stats to give yourself the best fighting chance. Read the professors' professional interests. Talk to current students and ask how they are being taught to do therapy. For example, I fell in love with a therapy approach my school taught, which is one big selling point on why I wanted to go there. I wanted to learn that specific approach. When I wrote my essay for grad school, I really focused on why I wanted to be an SLP, why I had to get my training at THAT school, and the skills/experiences I have that would help me be the best clinician I could be. I made appointments with professors to discuss my career aspirations, how I got interested in the field, and just who I am as a person outside of school. Thus, when it came time to write LORs, they had ample information about me as a student, aspiring professional, and person to write their letters of recommendation. Hope this helps!

I might be able to help answer some questions. I am a certified elementary education teacher, substitute taught for five years, went back to school, and just finished my first year as a school-based SLP. I did my leveling courses at a brick and mortar campus where I got to build relationships with the faculty. I ended up getting my Master's there as well. Though I'm not in Texas, I did appreciate meeting the professors face to face on a weekly basis so they could write strong letters for me. That said, I since you are in a school, I wouldn't count out your colleagues. The special ed staff, SLP, and administrators that you work with on a daily basis can testify how you are already working with kids who have special needs, how well you collaborate with colleagues, your lesson planning, working with students from various backgrounds, etc. Those are all skills that you already have that a 22-year-old fresh out of undergrad might not know. If you don't already know where your school SLP got his/her degree, it might not hurt to ask. A letter from a colleague who is a practicing clinician and an alumnus/alumna of the institution you want to attend may hold a little more weight than you might think, especially if the SLP hosts student teachers. If the university trusts that SLP to train and teach student teachers, that person has a higher status in the eyes of the university and department. I also strongly recommend that you write about your teaching experience in your personal statement. How did you manage your classroom, work with parents, work with students with disabilities, collaborate with colleagues, etc. While I can't say with any certainty, I'd like to think that my experience as a teacher helped my application stand out.

I am a male SLP who just finished my CFY. When I first got accepted into graduate school, there were some whispers of, "You only got in because ___". Full disclosure, I am also an ethnic minority and was an adult returning student. At first, it did bother me because I was being pinned to one specific attribute; whether it's me being male, a minority, or an out-of-field applicant. Might I have had a *slight* advantage? Maybe, maybe not. Then again, any other aspect of my application could have given me a different advantage. Maybe it was my GPA, my GRE, my essay, my LORs, my years of related work experience, etc. I was not in those candidate admission discussions, so I could only guess why they decided to say "yes" to my application. I could list 20 reasons why I was accepted and 20 reasons why I should've been rejected. Trying to figure out WHY I was accepted was futile. Granted, that's easier said than done when you have an acceptance letter in your hand. For me, I stumbled upon the profession after I got my bachelors in a different, but related field. I couldn't go back in time to change my first degree to make myself look "more deserving". I can't change my ethnicity nor am I going to change my gender. However, all of those factors make up who I was a person, student, applicant, and clinician then and now. The application process taught me how to package who I was, what I knew, and what I'd done into someone that the universities wanted to have on their respective campuses. That process is true for everyone, regardless of credentials. Once I started graduate classes, my cohort became my grad school family We worked together, played together, laughed together, and cried together. Every so often, I would get asked, "How does it feel being the only guy?" It honestly didn't bother me unless it was implied that I should feel left out because of it. When I received multiple group emails addressed to "Ladies" or when gender-specific events were planned, it sometimes felt like I was forgotten. But I knew it wasn't intentional because the very next email would be about Taco Night. If a group wanted to have a mani/pedi spa day, there was no rule that all 25 members of the cohort had to attend and enjoy it. I just skipped that event and went to Taco Night instead. Not a big deal. One of my classmates actually told me, "We sometimes actually forget you're a guy. You're just one of us, one of 'the girls'." I took that to mean they felt I belonged there. Sometimes, being a male had an advantage in clinic. There were times where my classmates would come to me, "I have a little boy client this semester. I don't know what kinds of toys 5 year old boys like or play with... help!" or "I have a teenage boy as a client. What are teenage boys into?" Of course, I turned the tide right around when it was my turn, "I have a little girl client who likes princesses. Can I borrow your princess activity" My university has a professor who researches transgendered voice and some students got to work with male-to-female transitioning clients. While I was jealous that some of my classmates got to have that clinical experience while others didn't, myself included; I understood it was a matter of scheduling and deciding what's best for the client. When there are only 3 transgendered clients and 25 clinicians wanting that experience, someone is going to be left out. Additionally, part of the therapeutic process was to provide a natural female voice model to the client. Physically, I am not able to provide a natural female voice model. I was not the best clinician for that client. Now, if we had a female-to-male transgendered client, it's quite possible that I could've been enlisted to take on that case. But, we'll never know. Gender may color my practice, but it doesn't dictate it. I am the kind of guy who will put on fairy wings and a tiara for a tea party to practice initial /t/. Not all men will do that. Then again, not all women will do that. What matters is I found a way to engage a client in a meaningful way that was comfortable for all of us. Ultimately, I took everything in stride, joked about being the only guy, and made 25 friends that helped me through grad school. I often joked that my class picture looks like the class photo of a sorority.... with a random guy in the first row. The more important thing is we developed our skills as clinicians. We pushed each other, supported each other, and learned from each other. Just be yourself and bring your own personality/skills to the work, maleness and all. Now that I've finished my CF, being a male SLP is a non-issue. My colleagues see the work I do and the relationships I build with the people with whom I work. What matters is the work and the progress I make with my clients. While male SLPs are not numerous in the field, we are appreciated and welcomed into the profession by our colleagues. We are just as skilled, qualified, and competent as our female counterparts. At the end of the day, good therapy is good therapy. We may all have different ideas as to what that looks like or how it's executed, but that's what makes the field diverse and exciting. When the parents thank me at meetings for the progress that their child has made, that's what matters to me. My job is to work with colleagues and clients, regardless of anyone's gender, to get the best therapeutic results possible. If the simple fact that I'm a guy just happens to help a client open up and make progress faster, even better.

That's my best guess. Theoretically, the department can have a different cutoff than the university. For example, the university could say "Our minimum GRE score is 300," but depending on competitiveness or difficulty of the specific program (let's say... biomedical engineering), the department could say, "The university says 300, but we want 315." (Those stats are completely fictitious, btw.)

Since you mentioned Iowa, I looked at their admission website for the SLP program. The first application is to the general Graduate College at the university. The second application is the department specific one via CSDCAS. It's not uncommon to have two applications for a graduate program. The CSDCAS is only seen by the department that houses the SLP program. Many schools have a separate application for admission to the actual graduate school of the institution that is reviewed by a different panel. Typically, the department for which you apply accepts students and recommends those students for admission into the university. Assistantships open to all graduate students may be awarded through the general graduate school application, while the CSDCAS may help determine who receives department-specific ones. Ultimately, your ability to enroll into a graduate program is contingent on admission to the university. Theoretically, it's possible to get accepted by the university but not the department or vice versa. Some universities have you submit both applications right away. Others will have you submit the application to the graduate school only after being accepted into the department. I know of cases where international students were accepted into a department for graduate study but had admission status put on hold or were ultimately denied by the university due to issues obtaining visas and other required documents. Hope this clears up some of the confusion.

Let me offer a different perspective. I actually did get a degree in education and taught for a little while before deciding to pursue a career in SLP. Having the education background gave me a solid foundation for SLP work, especially since I am now a school SLP. I personally am grateful for the "scenic route" I took in becoming an SLP. It's what was right for me. As for ASL, that is a question you can answer once you start researching grad school and employment opportunities. I don't think it will make much of a difference as far as getting into a graduate program, unless you have a strong interest in working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing population or attending a specific school that emphasizes ASL. I did not have any sign language background and I made it through my program with no second thoughts. As fate would have it, I am now in a school with a strong ASL / English emphasis for my CFY. I could not have known that 4 years ago. When I started my journey into SLP, my interest was working with a different population and disorder type. ASL wouldn't have been appropriate for me to pursue at that time. Things have changed and now it is. This is my roundabout way of saying do what feels right for you. Each SLP, grad program, and employment setting is different. You will learn, grow, and adapt to whatever is thrown at you... or you may change your mind and pursue something else. Either option is ok. Learn ASL because you want to learn it or because you want to work that specific population, not because you think it checks off a box on an imaginary grad school requirement list. Major in what you think is right for you. If you want to teach, go into Education. If you want to become an SLP, go for Com Dis. If you aren't sure, take classes in both and see what interests you. Talk to both departments at the university and see what they have to offer. In the meantime, since you are leaning toward SLP right now, you could take some other courses that are required by ASHA: physics or chemistry, biology, and anatomy/physiology. Those courses would be required of you for Com Dis. If you later decide Com Dis isn't for you, you can apply them toward Gen Ed credits. I would also look at your intended university's graduation and degree requirements. Some schools will not let you earn majors or minors from more than one college within the university. At my own alma mater, I was enrolled in the School of Education and wanted to double major in a field which was in a different college. My university has a policy against dual degrees from multiple colleges within the university. In the end, I was allowed to double major but not earn a degree for both. So while I completed a double major, I can only say I have a degree in Education. From the forum posts, it's easy to get caught up in the discussion and think that you need a 4.0, a 320 GRE score, and 300 volunteer hours before the age of 12 to even stand a chance at grad school. The reality is, that's just not true. Very few people come close to meeting that fictionalized ideal set of numbers that we think we need to be, yet are still admitted into grad school and become fantastic clinicians and researchers. Even if you have excellent numbers, if you can't show the committee WHY they should choose you, you may be denied. Focus on being a person with a unique story instead of a set of numbers.