Papaya91

I think the GRE is about as good of an estimator of graduate success as the SAT and ACT are of undergraduate success. (They're not. They just changed the SAT, even, because they themselves recognized it was almost useless.) The way people study so much for those tests, just to forget it all as soon as they get a good score - I think standardized tests are an estimator of how well you can cram, at least for the math portion. I think GPA can be a good indicator of how you'll fare, at least on paper. My high school and undergrad GPAs were 0.09 apart, and I expect my grad school GPA will be close to that. But no number is going to tell you (or the adcoms) how well you're likely to do. You can have a high GPA and learn nothing, or a relatively low GPA but learn a lot. If you're willing to put in enough effort to learn everything well, you'll succeed in grad school.

Something you also have to consider is living expenses while you're in grad school. Most of the grad students I know have told me it's difficult if not impossible to hold a job while in this program... So the number you see for tuition alone isn't going to be your total cost of attendance. For example, my number one school costs $28,000/year in tuition, so $56,000 for the entire program. But with rent (in Seattle), textbooks, car insurance, food, and just miscellaneous expenses in general, I'm anticipating that I'll need about $20,000 a year extra. Mostly because rent in Seattle is so expensive. So if I get in to my dream school, I'm anticipating roughly $100,000 of debt in a worst-case scenario. Of course, I have a little bit of money saved up, I'm applying for scholarships, and I'm hoping for a TA position at some point. I just wanted to throw in my two cents - make sure you're looking at the total cost, not just the cost of tuition.

Inny - That's a good point about getting a visa, I didn't think about that! I'm glad to hear about that international agreement, though. It makes me happy that there are options out there. DeafAudi - Thanks for the link. Edit: I found that ASHA has a page on it, too: http://www.asha.org/Certification/MultilateralMRA/

Hello everyone, I just had a random thought pop into my head. Does anybody know if you can work in another country if you become an SLP in the US? I like living here, but someday I might want to live in another country (probably an English-speaking one). Does anybody know how that might work? I'm totally set on becoming an SLP here in the US, I just wonder if I'm making it more difficult for myself to someday move to another country by choosing a career that's specific to American English. Any thoughts? P.S. Good luck to everybody these next few days/weeks with getting accepted into their schools!

As long as you have documentation (signature and ASHA #) to show for them, I would think so? You'd have to ask the schools you're applying to, of course, to be sure, though. I hope they'll let you use them, though.

Dream - I want to get into the University of Washington's MedSLP program (and find a way to pay for it!). Hope - I hope to get into the UW MedSLP program (even if I have to take out billions in loans), or another school with complete funding. Guess - I'll probably get into at least one of my in-state schools (likely without funding), and one of my out of state schools (with some funding). March can't come fast enough!

I unfortunately graduated right before the requirements changed, so I still have to take either physics or chemistry before next year... but to answer your question - I contacted ASHA and asked them about it, and they said it depends on the school. All of the schools I asked said that it has to be chemistry or physics - my astronomy and geology classes didn't count. My #1 school told me that it only needs to be 1 credit, though, and it doesn't need to have a lab with it, so I'm going to try to find an easy class online. Best of luck.

Hello everyone! My name's Ben. I graduated from the CSD program at Western Washington in June 2012. I took some time off, but it's already that time of year again. I'd ideally like to go to the MedSLP program at UW, but we'll see how things turn out! GRE: 162 (V), 157 (Q), 5.0 (AW) GPA: overall 3.77, major 3.72, last 90 3.68 Schools I'm applying to (still a work in progress): UW - MedSLP, WWU, UC Boulder (maybe) I'm a little bit worried about my GPA, since it slowly went downhill over the course of my undergrad... I pushed myself to graduate in 3 years, though, rather than 4. During my senior year, when my GPA took the biggest hit, I was also working as an advisor in the dorms, I was on the swim team, and I was preparing for my harp recital, so I definitely wasn't slacking off. My other concern is that I don't have much relevant experience. Aside from NSSLHA, the clinical practicum, and observation hours as an undergrad, the only other experience I have is from shadowing. Other than that, I've just been working to save up money the past year, and I've continued to work on harp. I did a lot of volunteering with exchange students as an undergrad, though - hopefully that will count for something. Any suggestions for how to make my application stronger in the time that's left?