SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid

Does anyone know how funding selection works at most programs? I am guessing that at the interview stage and beyond they are done with the numbers game (GRE, GPA)...They've obviously narrowed it down to the cream of the crop at the interview stage. Do programs take the whole individual into consideration for funding (ie. their interview, their CV/resume, etc.) or is it based on GRE and/or GPA?

I too am interested in knowing how this works. I have an interview in a few weeks at my top choice program. I know I am up against some pretty amazing people and would like to know how they make the final decisions. I would assume at the interview stage and beyond that they are likely done with the numbers game.

That's my main issue! It isn't helping that I have nowhere to log in and look at the status of my application! Even thought the portals don't say much while apps are under review, I can't help but feel the need to compulsively check lol

If I get accepted, I am going to give my parents a "congratulations" card with a personable note inside that will let them know that they can sit more comfortable as a cosigner on all of my loans since I'll be able to get a decent paying job after graduate school! Yay for less of a chance of their child not being able to pay bills and them getting harassed by collection agencies! Just kidding. I will likely call them up in a hectic panic if I get in anywhere. They like to live vicariously through me so they would enjoy that. I called them when I got my first interview invitation and I think they may have even been more excited than me.

The one I am thinking of is University of South Dakota. It is generally less competitive than a lot of programs. Many programs in the midwest tend to be somewhat less competitive than other regions of the country. I found this process strange considering that they get a fair amount of applicants. Not only in SLP and Aud, but their whole graduate school application for any program is this way. What a mess of paperwork for the graduate office! lol I will say though, they were really on top of notifying me when they received things. They would email almost immediately when they had something on file which was nice!

Anyone else apply to any programs that are still in the stone age and didn't have an online application portal system? One of my programs literally needed all the materials snail mailed or emailed to them.

I will dry my tears with my FAFSA bills.

All I have to say to those who pay an arm and a leg to go to a big name school (who will be doing the same job as those who went to a cheaper institution): Enjoy paying back those student loans and their snowballing interest! I don't see the point in financially crippling oneself for years if you don't have to.

Thanks for all the responses, very helpful! I know that one of my programs I'm applying for interviews ~30 and shoots for a target class size of about half that. I've heard many programs interview about twice as many applicants as they're looking to accept. But yes, it really depends on specific programs. I have been asking around and I made a list of some questions that are likely to occur. Some are SLP related and some are not. I got some of the SLP related ones from current graduate students. Who knows if they will appear, but they're good practice. Here is my list of things that I've made so far (in no order): -Tell me a little about yourself. -Why did you choose this career? -What are your career goals, and how do you plan to achieve them? -What do you feel has prepared you to succeed in graduate study? -Why should we select you over other highly qualified applicants? -Name a time when you didn't get along with a coworker or someone else. How did you handle the situation? -Why would this program be a good fit for you? -What personality traits do you have that would help you excel in clinic? -What area or areas of speech-language pathology interest you most? -Where do you see yourself working after graduation? -How would you handle a difficult client who refused to do what you asked? -Describe a time when you had to be an advocate for yourself or someone else. -If you witnessed your superior do something that was ethically questionable, what would you do? -What are some of your strengths and weaknesses? -Describe your greatest accomplishment. -What experience do you have working with special populations? Children? Adults? -What are your questions for us about our program?

Facebook makes it incredibly easy to find anyone now days. All you need is a small piece of information such as hometown, college, employment, etc. You don't even need a last name if you have some of those. Better to be safe and set everything to private just so nothing is questionable in the rare occasion that anyone would look. For me, I don't have anything to hide on my Facebook but I would still be nervous if it were looked at. Mainly due to things my friends write on some things, not bad but maybe questionable lol.

I get: False encouragement: Yes mom and dad, I know you think I am some rare commodity but the truth is, there are many people with similar qualifications as me. So no, I am not guaranteed acceptance. From my friends who don't have any idea what graduate school is, other than it will take even more of my time than school already has been: "So are you going to be single forever and just do schooling? You need to find a husband!" From same friends when I was in the application process: "Come hang out! Fill out your application quick and then after we can go do something!" Me: "LOL" From my work: "Would you like to pick up 3948572345 more shifts even though you're busy with graduate school stuff?"

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone who has been to an interview day for Speech-Language Pathology programs could share a little about what to expect. I was just invited to an interview day (nearly had a heart attack) and I am curious about what it's like. The email said that there will be a tour of the facilities and interviews with faculty, graduate students, and the head of the department. There is also a written part of the interview process (?). Also, how does it work when you do group interviews with a few other students? It said that we will be doing interviews in groups too. Lastly, does anyone have any good resources for how best to practice for interviews in SLP? Are there any questions that they generally always ask at these types of interviews? I have a list of some questions I think could be asked but I'd like to hear if there's more that are likely to be asked. I am trying to get a little familiar with the types of things I may be asked so I wont be caught completely off guard. Any insight is welcome!

In my experience, I think it is best etiquette to ask for a letter of recommendation in person. Professors have told me that they appreciated that I came in person to ask. One of my professors said that she thinks it is unprofessional when people ask her via email for letters. She also said that it is surprising how many impersonal emails she gets from students asking for letters. She is also a fairly young professor too. But yes, it does depend on your relationship with the professor too, I suppose. I have asked a total of five professors for letters of recommendations at some point and I did all in person. It also shows some initiative that you take the time out of your day to ask them and don't just shoot an email over something so important. I also liked that I could get a candid reaction from them when I asked. Likewise, it made it easy for me to then mention I would be dropping off my folder of application materials to help them with their letters in the near future. As far as PhDs go, I don't think it's a huge game changer. Like mentioned above, you will want someone who can say you are likely to be a great clinician, can handle the academics, are professional, etc. One of my letter writers has a master's and I don't think her letter will be valued any less, from what I've heard.

I found out/am finding out how intimidating the email sound on an iPhone can be. Especially when it's just a junk email. You know, nothing pertaining to my future in the slightest. I also found out that annoying grad offices pays off. So much gets lost and misplaced, so if you're annoying and bug them enough things seem to get done.

I'm not familiar with those programs, but have you looked into doing a post-baccalaureate year at all since your undergrad major was in history? Many programs don't accept out-of-fielders unless they complete a post-bacc year of Communication Disorder classes. I don't know if those programs accept students without a background, so correct me if I'm wrong. I am currently a post-bacc student this year for that reason. I'm doing a post-bacc year of CSD courses since my undergrad is out-of-field and a vast majority of master's programs require some background in SLP classes before considering students. But if those two programs accept out-of-field applicants right off the bat, more power to you! As for the other things, the numbers (GPA, GRE) aren't everything but they do carry considerable weight. Your GPA doesn't sound bad, and the fact you have teaching experience is a great thing as well. Many programs look at applicants holistically, so related experiences can often make up for a lackluster GPA or GRE. Also, the verbal and writing are usual the most important part of the GRE for people going into SLP, so the higher the better.

Now I know that there are oodles of topics out there about the GRE and how important it is for graduate admissions. There is no denying that getting a decent score is integral to graduate admissions, even if some programs claim they only use it as a small part of admission or "all things considered". Should this be used at all for admission? GRE itself has made statements about how it SHOULD NOT be used as a cutoff for admission of applicants, although it is a common practice to be used as such. There is widespread disagreement about the degree of GRE score and graduate success, so why is this test being used as such a heavy weight in graduate admissions for a majority of programs? I know that predictive validity of the test correlates and improves (somewhat) depending on the discipline of a person taking the test, but even then the GRE has weak support. Another interesting thing is that those who were admitted to graduate programs with a high GRE were more likely to fail than those admitted with a lower GRE. In simple terms, the GRE predicts your ability to take the GRE..So woop-dee-doo? Why is this so important, considering it is needed for admissions? I will start by saying that I am against the GRE and think it should be done away with. Not because I have a low score or am bitter etc., but because it seems that it really does not measure anything that should be taken into consideration when making deciding decisions on something that will affect someone's life couse ie. graduate school. I know so many people that would be wonderful in a profession who don't have a shot at pursuing their chosen career. Much of which is due to a bad GRE that puts them out of the running to even be considered. This seems so wrong and backward to me. Not to mention that there is a large disparity in scores not only for minorities but also for women. I understand that high-volume programs need ways to slim down applicants, but using a flawed test is really the best way??? Something this flawed does not seem okay to me. That's just my two cents though. What is everyone's take on this test? Do you think that the GRE is indicative to success or accurately measured your aptitude? I am honestly curious what everyone thinks of their scores and the use of this test.

All of the six programs I'm applying to historically send out decisions the second week of March. March is going to be one stressful month. I agree with the person above. If I can just get one acceptance (preferably right away so I can stop with the stress), I will be happy. Grad Cafe doesn't help with the stress either haha. I think the best thing to do if you get an acceptance is to definitely wait until you hear back from your other programs (Latest April 15). You wouldn't want to jump the gun and accept an offer at one place only to have another program accept you and find out that the latter would offer more funding or experiences than the first. I've heard of people backing out of programs they accepted offers at and it can cause all kinds of problems, even for the grad programs. The school I'm at for post bac this year had empty slots in the master's program last year because people backed out too late so they couldn't fill them. There's people who would give an arm and a leg for those spots so that wasn't a good deal.

Haha, the post above just reminded me.... I was working on making a research poster last spring and compiling the stats, making figures, etc. I came across a problem and was stuck. My professor/research advisor would occasionally text me about research related things, check in on the study, and whatever else. I decided I would shoot him a brief text to see if he could tell me the best way to do what I was stuck on. Oh and it was about 6pm. The response I got back was "I am much too drunk. I cannot think right now." I about died. My professor was getting turned up on a weeknight at 6 pm and here I was doing homework and making a research poster. I also butt dialed an internship supervisor (yikes) when I was at a bar. I took my phone out of my pocket to see it too was at around a minute and I quickly hung it up, in a panic. She didn't call me back either. I'm sure that the loud music in the background on a Saturday night was self explanatory. She never said anything to me about it either. Awkward.

I did respond very briefly! I told her that it was between her and the professor at that point and I was not getting involved further. I didn't want to risk going back and forth with the student and having her start problems with me over what she did. I also told her to not contact me over Facebook given that she had my email for anything class related. Very strange experience haha.

Thought of another one...This is like World's Dumbest Criminals only World's Dumbest College Students. When I was a TA I had two girls hand in the exact same paper. Literally, word for word. The sad part was that it was a horrible paper that would've probably earned a D+ grade anyway. The only difference between the papers were the names. I talked to my advisor and he handled it. Turns out, he sent a pretty intimidating email to them about academic dishonesty, the consequences, etc and met with them in person afterward and scared them pretty good. One of the girls went out of her way to find me on facebook (unprofessional) and sent me a pretty angry private message (unprofessional x2) "yelling" at me for ratting her out...Like I was supposed to let a copied paper fly under the radar (lol)? I was in disbelief. I thought it was common sense not to copy and paste someone else's paper, but I must've been mistaken. At least if you're dumb enough to cheat, put a little more effort into it.

Oh boy. Being a teaching assistant has also given me plenty of laughs as well as cringes when reading papers. I was a teaching assistant for psychology classes for a year and a half. The professor I TA'd for had always complained and ranted about how horrific most students' writing was while I was in his classes before my days of teaching assistantships. I figured that he was overreacting and most were probably mediocre. You know, getting a degree in psychology KIND OF has a big emphasis on writing TONS of papers, APA Style, writing like a clinician, etc so people couldn't be that bad, right? Folks, let me tell you... I saw a lot of writing that would not even cut it for a high school english class. Oh, and let me add that it was in a senior level class in particular that I saw some of the worst writing. People couldn't even form a complete sentence or follow guidelines that were plain as day in describing what was expected. I even had one paper that I added 100 corrections to when I first started TAing before I figured out that someone who hands that in obviously didn't care to improve or see where they went wrong (oh, the patience I had back then!). My professor told me to unleash on the class and hold high standards so I did. I flunked around half of the class on the first paper due to an excessive amount of errors, failure to read the simple directions, not proofreading, etc. They got one chance to redo it so I think that set the stage for the rest of the semester for what was expected (lol). There was improvement since students knew the grading wasn't at all lax. I really do think that grading tough makes people actually learn when you know you will be held accountable if you want a good grade! I also couldn't help but laugh at this one that actually happened today. In my articulation disorders class we spent much of the time going through case studies and examining different features of clients and how to distinguish between different disorders. After spending A LOT of time on it, a girl raised her hand and asked the professor if we needed to know this.... I almost face palmed a hole in my skull. The student who always asks, "Is this going to be on the test?" and "Do we need to know this?" is a classic one for the face palm.

True. I've had to resend transcripts on three separate occasions already because they got lost in transit (most likely at the grad programs). One program even managed to "not receive" my GRE score until I annoyed them so much that they let me speak with a supervisor who then magically found it (funny that it just then appeared?) and updated my application to complete the day before it was due. This also happened with a letter of recommendation. Very frustrating. If I hadn't harassed programs about my materials/followed up, a majority of my apps would've remained incomplete due to mostly clerical issues at the grad programs. It also pays to be persistent. I was often told conflicting information on what grad programs still needed from me when I spoke with different people at the grad offices. I think 99% of graduate programs seem like they need to hire more workers to sift through the mountains of application materials. It would probably greatly reduce the number of mental breakdowns of grad applicants.

Thanks for the input so far. It is interesting to see what others have done with a bachelors in psychology. Also, I did look into being a literacy tutor for the Reading Corps for a year before applying to be a speech path post-bacc student. That was my backup plan had I not been accepted into my post-bacc year (which I was accepted and am currently in my 2nd semester). I also did have a few large universities that showed interest in me working in research labs. I decided against pursuing those further since I was able to start my post-bacc plan of study this last fall as I had hoped. Those were the very few jobs that showed an interest out of the 60+ I applied for. Interestingly enough, one was a pretty prestigious position assisting with the NIH funded brain mapping project. The other was another brain mapping project being conducted on children with autism. Both would've been great opportunities that I would've likely pursued had I not been able to continue in my education last fall. I thought it was interesting that I was considered for jobs like those when many jobs requiring much less qualifications didn't show an interest in me! I have to say though, for the amount of work and dedication in my undergrad I find it disheartening how there are so few jobs I am qualified for. Not that I was blind sided by this at all though. I understood that jobs were limited for a bachelor's in psychology while I was completing it. I'm happy that I found my way to a related field (a lot of overlap!) with great job prospects when I'm finished. I just finished my graduate school apps and I'm trying to get a backup plan (job ideas) in motion in case grad school doesn't work out and I'm stuck with my loans from my psych degree for another year.

Hello, Sorry if this belongs in another thread. I wasn't sure where to post this. Here's a condensed version of this post: What are jobs one is qualified for with a bachelor's degree in psychology? I graduated with a BS in psychology and a biology minor last spring. I felt pressured to apply to graduate school last year and spent over $1,600 (OUCH) applying to PhD programs in neuroscience only to realize it didn't fit my career goals. I especially felt pressured by my professors to apply since they thought I would be successful in neuroscience. I couldn't see myself more than likely doing research and teaching the rest of my life after graduate school. I also wanted to work directly with individuals affected by neurologic/neurodegenerative disorders in person and not just behind the scenes. I figured this out after applying to graduate school, unfortunately. I sought out practical experiences that would (so I thought) make me marketable for jobs and/or graduate school. I completed a great internship assessing individuals with brain damage, have a biology minor, conducted psychopharmacological research for a year, have a pending publication, was a teaching assistant for a year and a half for different courses, was an officer for honor societies and clubs, volunteered in a rehab hospital, had a paid job editing papers, work with individuals in a group home, graduated with honors, scored in 92%ile on psychology standardized graduation exam, had strong letters of recommendation etc. Here's the depressing part. I knew I needed to have a backup plan in place in case I wouldn't be able to attend school in fall 2014, so I did job hunting and applied to a wide variety of jobs. I applied to approximately 60 different jobs that I was qualified for with a BS in psych and I received zero job offers. It was very discouraging after spending days writing out cover letters, filling out applications, following up on jobs, etc. However, I did get interviewed for two different research positions which went nowhere. No one else returned my inquiries or pursued me further. I was aware of how scarce jobs are with a bachelor's in psychology but I didn't realize it would be quite THAT hard. I was fortunate in that I was able to get into my post-bacc program for speech-language pathology so I did not need "a real job" while taking my post-bacc classes that are pretty rigorous and take up all my time. My diploma was one expensive piece of paper that vocationally qualified me for jobs that people with a high school diploma can do (maybe I'm being a little pessimistic). I can't even fathom what I will have to do for the next year to make ends meet if I don't get into grad school this year and get stuck with my bachelor's degree and massive student loans. I am currently a post-bacc student this year taking speech pathology courses and applying to graduate programs to become a speech pathologist that specializes in neurogenic disorders. I am cautiously optimistic that I might get in somewhere since I found my passion in this field, can write with no reservations why I'm pursuing this field, have related experiences, etc. Once again, I need to make plans for the possibility that I don't get accepted into graduate school this year. So again I ask: What will you do if you don't get in to graduate school? Do you know of people with a bachelor's in psych who have found decent paying jobs? What kind of jobs??? I would like to know so I can explore more options of what to do if I don't get into graduate school. Perhaps I'm missing out on some types of jobs that this degree prepared me for. I can't help but be pessimistic at this point.

As everyone said, don't beat yourself up about it! With as much is required just to apply to graduate school, it seems like a miracle when there aren't mistakes made! I almost found myself in a similar situation. I had taken ONE lower level math class at a community college a long time ago, and I thought I could get by without sending the transcript with the one class to all my programs. It was a class I did not put toward my degree or anything, I just wanted experience. I was hoping they wouldn't find this record so I could save money from sending another transcript with one course all over (bad idea). Well, they somehow found the credit and told me they needed the transcript and this was on Thursday last week. My due date for one of my programs is tomorrow so I had been having a panic attack waiting to see if it arrived on time. I literally was just informed of it arriving an hour ago. One day before the deadline. I think it's a miracle if everything with apps goes smoothly. I have had so many hiccups with my applications with letters of recc getting lost, transcripts never arriving, unorganized grad programs...