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Jenste, Thanks for the info! It's good to know there is some flexibility. I will look into the one's that have a later application date. Do you happen to know if any of them programs offer a distance MSW?

I have been following this forum and I have learned so much for you guys! I have an undergraduate Honours degree in Child & Youth Study and I am considering going the Bachelor to Masters route at Dalhousie. I am wondering if most people applying for Social work have a BSW? Does anyone know what the competition is like for the Bachelor of Social work at Dal or in general? With Dal, I understand that if you already have an undergrad, that you can do the BSW in two years and then apply to the Masters after getting some work experience. I wish I could go straight into the Master's program, but it seems like that might not be a possibility in Canada. I am also wondering what different types of jobs are available for a bachelor vs. master's degree? I have experience working with young adults and youth on the Autism Spectrum as a job coach. I have also conducted research on families of children with special needs transitioning to school and how that affects their access to support services. I want to continue to work with families and youth possibly in a counseling / advocacy capacity. I would love to receive any insight into the types of jobs people have had through both BSW and MSW. Good luck to everyone who applied! I am cheering you on.

I would write a main template and make changes as needed. Just be careful to answer all the questions they are asking / address all topcs they inculde in the writing promt. For my school we are supposted to write about our most valuable leanrign and experience and it doens't say anything about including why we want to persue SLP studies. However I am going to try and include both of those things in my letter. Every school can have different expectations, so you could ask for input form current students who have een admitted to the schools you are interested in. Google "Composing a Personal Statement: An Invitation to Frustration by Kyle Mox" Someone on another forum shared this article about personal statements and I found it very helpful!

Okay, so I have been having a transcript nightmare! I just got my final marks in from the Fall semester at the beginning of this week as one prof was late in submitting the mark. I calculated my GPA and I got a different number than what was calculated by their computer. I was livid, because I had a family crisis last fall and did terrible on some of my courses. I re-took 3 classes this semester as they were dragging my GPA down. I got A's in all 3 this time around, however the transcript counted both marks for each course and not just the finals. So after calling and trying to explain this to the administrative team at my university all week, they finally fixed my GPA. However I've just discovered that my official transcrpt will not indicate which courses were re-taken. So I am worried that the admissions people for SLP will end up doing the same thing with the last 20 credits and include both marks for each course and all that work and money will have been for nothing. Does anyone know how SLP programs approach calculating the GPA when students re-take couses? I have taked to many people who have upgraded and so I am sure it is common. I am wondering if it is standard for transcripts to indicate when a course was re-taken or if my school is just crazy?? Do they bother to look at course titles?

Have you heard of Athabasca Univeristy? It is an online/distance university in Alberta (Canada). They have a ton of classes. I am taking a Physiology course right now. I don`t know if they offer all of the pre-reqs for McGill, but it`s woth looking into. Check out the forum mentioned above for Canadian SLP programs. A lot of the people who post are also applying to McGill and may be able to help you out.

Good luck with U of T! Dal and U of Victoria have distance/online social work programs. These are the only 2 I have researched since I am considering them. However, you may have to go in person for some seminars. Are you planning on doing a bachelor of SW or Masters? The deadlines are the end of January for these 2. It seems like with most bachelor programs for SW, you only need to do the last 2 years if you already have an undergrad and then you can do a short masters program, often while wokring at the same time as there are evening courses. But there are others, like U of Vic, where you can go straight into the Masters as long as you take the 2 pre-req courses.

Good luck to you too!

Hi Trejsi and Asemoooooo & CDA to SLP, Sounds like many of us are in the same boat. I am applying to SLP, OT & Social Work. I turn 29 this year and I just want to be done with this school thing! But it will be be all worth it in the end. SLP is definatly my first choice, but I would be happy with any of these careers. I just wrote the GRE for the second time and my verbal and quant marks are both one point below the maks I got last year! So discourging since I spent about 3 months studying. I am still waiting on the essay mark, but I feel like I did much better than last time. My GPA was 3.36 the lat time I applied and I have brought it up to 3.67 since taking courses this past Summer and Fall. The programs I am applying to are all at Dalhousie, but they all have seperate departments for where to send the reference forms and transcripts. I also have the same 3 referees for all of my prgrams. I am hoping that the programs don't know that I'm applying to other programs haha. I am not sure how that works though, as the general applications all go to the main Dal office. I am having trouble trying to figure out how to cram all of my information into my SOP. Since I am older than the average appy, I have had some great volunteer, work and travel expereinces which I want to write about - which I am thankful for, but I am not sure which ones to focus on as you can only write so much. Hoping to get my letter done tomorrow. Any advice on SOPs? For Dal, you are supposted to write about your most valuable learning experience. Did you also include info about your other expereinces and reasons for wanting to persue SLP, or did you provide most of that info on your resume?

Hi! I am applying to Dalhousie's OT program for Sept 2014. I have also been having a hard time finding a forum for this profession. I have seen similar threads for Physio and OT on "premed 101". From what I can tell, it seems that OT is a bit less competive than Physio. I have been taking Physiology and Anatomy and I am wondering if they will be looking at my overall GPA from the last 2 years, or if they also place a high emphesis on these courses.

I am interested in this too. I will pm both of you when mine is ready

Hy Deaf Audi, hope your finals went well! I juts finsihed my last one. How's the GRE studying going? I write on Monday next week! I feel like I have a better handle on the math this time and I know more vocab, but there are just so many words to try and remember. Guh. I am most worried about the writing section as I hate time constrainst, but someone reccomend that I write a couple practice essays and time myslef to see what I am spending the most time. I think I willtry to work on that for therest of this week. Thanks to VirginiaRunning Girl and those who are up for SOP swaping. I am hoping to finishing working on mine over Christmas and I will pm you. Feel free to send me a message if anyone else wants to swap. It's so nice to have this forum to help each other out! Hey, is anyone applying to Dalhousie? It seems like most people are applying to Central and Western Schools.

Wow, so it's Decemeber already! How is everyone doing with preparations? I have been gathering up my reference letters and I am taking the GRE (for the second time) in about 3 weeks. Ugh, I am not looking forward to it. I hope to finish up my letter of intent before Christmas and then send everything off except for my transcript from this semester, which will be ready after the break. I am excited but soooo nervous! Would anyone like to discuss letter of intent topics? I would definatly be interested in swapping letters of intent with others to give each other advice as some of you were talking about in previous posts!

Wow, I am blown away by the replies! Thanks Takeruk, I like the idea of keeping the overview brief and concise. It can be so overwhelmening trying to figure this all out, but now I feel a lot better about approaching my referees. You guys are my heros!

Wow, I didn't relaize that others applied to so many institutions. I guess it makes sense since grad school is getting more and more competitive. Thanks for the advice on sending an overview document. I hadn't thought of that! It makes perfect sense though and I'm sure it makes it easier for profs to know what to write about and this stratagy could prevent letters that don't address specific info that the instition needs to know. Thanks lilgreycells

Thanks Physwimic, That is very helpful advice! I like the idea of just asking the prof for a new letter and asking to reuse the old one after seeing what she decides.

I need some advice! I applied to a Grad school program and was not accepted. This year I am re-applying to that program and I am also appling to two other great programs so that I have options if I do not get into my first choice. The problem is, the programs are all very competitive and closly related. So I have some great potential referees (2-3 profs, a work supervisor and a volunteer supervisor), but I would like to ask each of them to write letters for all of the programs I am applying to and I am woried that it would be too much to ask for someone to write three LORs and that I might be missing the oppertunity the get great letters for each program if I don't ask. Thoughts? I am also wondering if I should ask my old refereer to re-write their references for the program I am re-applying to or if I should just re-use their previous letters (the program allows this). I have raised my GPA and have gained some work expereince since their last letters - would it be rude to ask them for new letters? Thanks so much for any input!

Also, I feel like one of my referees who was also my thesis supervisor, knows me a lot better now than she did last year. I have raised my GPA from 3.36 to 3.5 and I am expecting it to be 3.6 or 3.7 (GPA on 4.3 scale) by the end of the term. I have also had an amazing job experience this summer working with young adults who have autism. I think my plan would be to tell her about what I have done since last term and then ask her to consider writing a new letter. But then I also have a new potential referee from a course I have been taking this semester who I am very confident would write me a great letter. But he has only known me for about 2 months. I have continued to volunteer at the SLP clinic and I have got to know two other SLPS a bit better. I was considering aksign them for letters of reccomendations as well, but I have only observed with them a few times and helped them with paper work. If I asked them for letters, I would also keep my previous letter from my main SLP. But then, can I have too many letters? As you can see, I have been analyzing this for too long and I need some help!! Thoughts?

I am in need of some advice! Any SLP students out there who were admitted after applying a second time? Well, I am applying for SLP for the second time around and I am trying to decided what to do about references. Last year, I got reference letters from two of my profs who know me pretty well, as well as an SLP I volunteered with. For some Canadian programs, you can request that they keep the letters of recommendation from the previous year's and consider them with the rest of your new application as well as any new letters you might have. I have a great professional relationship with both of my past academic referees, but my issue is that I have no idea if the letters are amazing or just okay... or even bad! I am wondering what the ediquette is in regards to my academic referees. Is it inappropriate to ask them about their reference letters and / or ask for new ones?

Hi Xanc, I sent a sort-of cover letter to a bunch of SLPs in my area who had their e-mails listed online. I basically asked for the oppertunity to shadow them or observe and help out with material prep or anything they needed. I also asked if, they did not need a volunteer, if I could meet with them for coffee to talk about how they became an SLP. I found a directory for SLPs in my city and heard back from a private SLP right away and spent some time observing her sessions. In Nova Scotia we have a provincical Hearing and Speech dept (NSHSC). They take volunteers regualrly, but it took time for me to get in. I sent my letter out in Feburary of last year and heard from them in August! So I guess it depends on if they already have a volunteer or f they are inerning SLP/ Audi students. For me, even thoguh I had to wait a while to get to volunteer at the NSHSC it worked out great. I have been volunteering there a year now. There is one main SLP I work with, but the clinc has about 10 SLPs and 5 Audis and I have had the chance to get to know many of them and observe their sessions. I'd reccomend getting into a clinic if you can. If you don't hear back from SLP/Audis myou have contacted then you should drop in and let them know you are interested in helping out. Good luck!

Hi Trejsi, Wow, what a coincidence! I thought I was the only one applying to all of those programs too. For me, the positions have a lot of similarities as they often collaborate when they have shared clients and they are often focused on working one on one with families and clients, acting as a support/coach while helping people meet their goals and break barriers! I am so passionate abou tworking with people and I really hope I get into one of these programs. I agree that the whole process can be so discourging! There seems to be so much focus on GPAs, which I think is silly since interpersonal intellignce such as personailty and people skills as well as expereince are so important in these professions! I have also tried to get in touch with OT departments and have been given the run-around. I am going to try and set up a meeting in the next few weeks though. I think you should just keep calling them until they give youa meeting lol! It will show that you are motivated and want to do whatever you can to prepare.I was successful inmeeting with Dal for Speech. They were really friendly and willing to meet.

Hi xjmi, From what i have heard most schools look mostly at your last 2 years, so I wouldn't worry too much about your cumulative. That is great that you are job shadowing with an Audi. I would try to get a reference from her/him. I think this semester I am going to try and get more refrences from the Clinicians too. Last time I just got the 2 acedemic and 1 volunteer and I regret not trying to get more.. I'm pretty sure thereis no limit for most schools. Good luck!

Hey Sweaterweather, That's good that you are applying to several schools. Which one are you hoping for the most? My GRE is schduled for the end of November, so I'm trying to set a regular study schedule, but it's so hard to get motivated for a test that basically just measures your ability to take the test rather than your actual knowledge! I found some good flash cards for vocab, so I'm trying to study those whenever I have free time.

Hey! Thanks! That's encourging. I'm pretty sure I am going to stick with just Dal, but I may consider some Ontario schools if the pre-reqs can work out. I think that your research experiences sound awesome! That will look good on your Dalhousie app - I have heard it is something they look for. As far as competetiveness, Dal received over 300 application last year and only 36 were admitted for SLP and Audi combined, and I think there are 8-10 Audi spots. I have heard that most people who get into Dal have applied at least once before or have been on the waitlist in the past so that fact that you are trying again is good A good friend of mine who is hearing impared was accepted into Dal Audi for September and her GPA was pretty average. The fact that you are a bilateral CI recipient as well makes you unique because you would have a much deeper understanding and empathy for your clients! I would love to hear more about your expereince with a CI. I think that your volunteer expereince will help too. Most programs look for people with diverse backgrounds, so I think if you have one more volunteering experience, it will definatly be enough! GRE - From what I have heard, it is good if you at score a least above the 50th percentile and anything higher is a bonus. I did terrible my first try! I just purchased the Magoosh software which looks like it will help a lot. I hope so! I don't think it is one of the main determining factors for Dal, but they definatly look at how your scores compare to other applicants. I think this time, I am going to study for all of it, but put more focus on the verbal and essay sections.

Hi Sweaterweather, Yes, I am only applying to Dalhousie - hoping for the best! I just scheduled a day to re-take the GRE. Yuck! Taking a few more course to boast my GPA too. What other schools are you applyng to? Good luck! By the way, I started a new forum for Canadain students here: This one is so long and does not seem to be as active anymore, so we can have our own for 2014!

Hey guys, Hello from the East Coast!I have been looking for a forum for Canadian students applying for next Fall. I am hoping to get into Dalhousie. Anyone out there in cyberland?