daisynic

OMG thank you for sharing! I'm always in the market for a good planner. Last year I got my planner from maydesigns.com, and I loved the look to it (it's canvas and has lots of cute patterns) but I need something much bigger. 

It sounds like you will definitely get in this year! I still don't understand how the admissions committee for ANY of these schools decides who to accept and reject. You, along with so many others, sound like an amazingly qualified prospective student. I just don't get it!

Hi,
 
I will be finishing graduate school this August! I have been through it all: classes, practicum, clinical writing, etc., etc. If any of you have questions about graduate school, please feel free to ask me! I run a blog called Discovering SLP (http://discoveringslp.blogspot.com/) and would love to write a post about frequently asked grad school questions. I will answer questions here and choose some to include on the blog. Thanks!  
 
 

Slpgirl19, 
 
I've been reading a lot online about what to actually bring to grad school.  A lot of folks recommended a laminator, label maker, and tape recorder.  Are there any other heavy duty, 'machine-type' things you'd recommend (besides the obvious- notebooks, folders, etc.) besides thee ones I listed above?  Thanks for being a great resource!!

As we embark on our graduate studies, I thought I would ask some of my friends who just completed their masters degree in SLP for their nuggets of wisdom. What would you add to the list?
 
Here's what they said:

Do's
Use a planner Use a to-do list Stay on top of work Exercise Make time for yourself Eat healthy Manage your time wisely Ask for help when needed Ask for feedback Review graded assignments Make time for the things you love Don’t stress out Don’t procrastinate Dedicate at least one day a week for you time Focus on the learning process and not so much the grade Keep a binder and use it to keep all paperwork for ASHA in it (Original forms of your observation hours, all clinic hours, background checks etc.)

I'm about to start my second year MS SLP and I agree with all the above.
 
I would also add:
DO
Check available resources before creating your own therapy cards, games, and activities. Borrow ideas / materials from classmates and friends. Get to know your classmates.  They will laugh with (and at) you, cry with you, help you through those days when you feel like quitting, and celebrate your accomplishments. Start building your own library of resources. Mentor the undergrads through the grad application process. Get to know your professors. Advocate for yourself.  Grad school + deadlines + life + family can be intimidating and overwhelming.  Talk to your professors if you are having trouble balancing everything.  They have lives outside of school too and understand what you're going through.  Ultimately, they want you to succeed.
  DON'T
Beat yourself up if you fall behind or feel overwhelmed.
 

I found it on ProEd http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productview.aspx?id=3629 
 
with the Flash Drive

Thanks for sharing! I just checked, and the book is sold out right now on the ASHA website, but they accept backorders. I checked amazon, too, but a lot of people were complaining that the amazon listed book doesn't come with the flash drive with 4 practice tests that the ASHA site mentions (and it's mentioned in the beginning of the book). Just wanted to let you all know in case you were considering getting it from a site other than ASHA.
 
-- I really want to order it now so that I have the next 2 months to go over it, but I think I will just wait. if I'm going to spend the money on a book I need for the praxis, I want to make sure it has the practice tests!

I've been reading several SLP grad student blogs and one thing that seems to be a recurring theme is An Advanced Review of Speech-Language Pathology: Preperation for PRAXIS and Comprehensive Exam (it's purple and yellow). I put it on my wishlist for graduation and have been reading it ever since!
It contains basically everything we learned in undergrad with more detail as it is used to prepare for the PRAXIS.
Every grad blog mentions it and how they wish they had purchased it before starting grad school so they could have used it to reference and better understand material in their courses.
I love it so far! It is a great tool to refresh your memory on topics you may have forgotten or need practice with!
Plus, you'll likely purchase it down the road to help practice so might as well buy it now
 
Oh, and you are not the only nervous one!! This is all so exciting but the wait makes me nervous. I want to start already lol
GOOD LUCK!!!

I want to first say I am sorry about your cousins passing.  I am also glad you have fought through it and have found ways to cope.  
 
Like Daisynic said, Email program directors now and basically copy and paste what you just shared with us in this thread and ask for advice.  Be completely honest and ask the program if they would look favorably on an applicant with your circumstance, stats, etc.  The programs will be straight up with you and I'm sure you will find that even the "harder to get into" programs would look VERY favorable on your last 60-90 unit GPA and your GRE's are even better than average.  Your experience is another thing that seems favorable as well.  By emailing programs you can also eliminate programs who feel you wouldn't stand a chance in their applicant pool.  
 
I ended my B.A. in Communicative Disorders with an overall GPA of 2.77.  My last 60 GPA was 3.35.  My SLP GPA was 3.28.  I got into 2 schools and wait listed at 3.  
 
MY only question would be....  If you got many F's those first 2 years.....  wouldn't all of those F's been replaced by your A's that you got since returning to school in 2011?  A's and D's can be retaken and eliminated from a transcript/Overall GPA.  I had 2 or 3 in my CC days.  The C's and B's normally cannot be retaken for better grades(depends on the school).  
 
Either way, you will get into a school if you start emailing them now and show your passion and determination early on.  Good Luck!
 

I am so sorry to hear about your cousin and your difficult experience, but it looks like you are doing wonderful things now. I think I have read around that some people have done this - contact the schools you are interested in and explain everything you wrote on here to them. I think if you tell them that you wanted to take the time to explain your grades, they will give you an option to write in an extra letter (that doesn't take away from you SOP) or you will get the opportunity to tell someone on the phone or e-mail and they will put it in your record. I don't think it is possible for you to just gloss over this part of your life in your SOP; it was a huge part of your life and affected you in numerous ways. Also, the schools that take the time to listen to you and give you a chance to explain yourself are the ones you will want to work with anyway! Good luck to you!

The galaxy tab vs the galaxy note are different in that there is no stylus for the tab. The ipad apps (notability and iannotate) aren't available on the samsung devices but there are good android apps for note taking and annotation which you can download. For the ones I mentioned, I had the ipad specifically in mind because I actually had a really hard time making the ipad a productive device before I knew about those two apps.

For androids, Ezpdf is a good one for document annotation. So is adobe reader (free). Polaris office is good for Microsoft office compatibility and can be marked up too, so it's a good note taking option if you have a keyboard for your tablet. There are free options for those apps, but they're really just worth paying for to get all the features.

I also use google docs a lot to take notes and everything is searchable.

I'm not sure how necessary the stylus is for note taking because I managed on the ipad even without one, so even though the tab doesn't have one, you can still easily use it for note taking. I don't think it would be worth it to buy a new device, unless the display isn't sharp enough to your liking.

I really like the note 10.1 (with the stylus). But even without considering the stylus, I have fewer compatibility issues than I did with the ipad. It's such a huge change. Back when I was using the ipad, I always had to first save the power points onto google drive, or some other cloud service before I could access it on my ipad. The ipad always had issues accessing files directly from my school's website. To be honest, if my mom hadn't had the ipad lying around that she wasn't using, it wouldn't have been my first choice. Actually, I had an anatomy class with lots of pictures in the power points, and half the time I couldn't see the images on the ipad. But, the ipad does have way more SLP apps.

If you have a device, I don't think it's worth it to get another one yet. Play around with it and see if it'll suffice. I think productivity really depends on the kinds of apps you can find.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions!

Got accepted to Grand Valley State University today, yay

I bought one, too! I just got it last week, and it's great. It's so much better than my old one! The perfect size, with the right setup. Love it

I JUST GOT IN TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL MISSOURI!!  

There isn't much funding for professional degrees so most of us end up paying for at least part of our degree.

Like the others have said, research programs and find those programs that look at your last 60 units GPA and your CSD GPA only.  If you apply to those programs you should have a better shot.  I have one of the lowest GPA's, Last 60 GPA, CSD GPA's on this site that I know of and I was accepted to 2 schools and 3 wait lists.   You will do well as long as you put in the work to research programs and do well on LOR's and interviews, etc.  

I just got my Erin Condren planner yesterday and I absolutely LOVE it! Thanks for sharing, sayjo! 

Hey guys! This is my third year applying, and I finally got an acceptance and 2 wait lists. Don't lose hope! I promise your season will come. If this is your dream, keep pursuing it! Good luck to those of you who are still waiting!

ACCEPTED TO UW SEATTLE OFF THE WAITLIST!! I could not be happier or more excited!! This will open up a spot for someone at NYU! 
The long long wait until now all seems worth it!           

Vent: I have to apply a third time! (sobbing) this is so disappointing.
 
Ok done, now moving forward...
 
Positive note: Another year to gain ever more experience within the field. Opportunity to save more money for grad school. Opportunity to strengthen my application that could possibly appeal to even more schools: dream schools. When it finally does happen, it will be the best day, knowing how hard I had to fight for it. Once I am in,  you bet your a** I am not going to take the opportunity for granted. Once I am in, I have a feeling that It will be the place I was meant to be in all along.
 
Good luck to all of you and for all of you still waiting, no matter what happens don't lose your faith and believe that something better out there has also been waiting for you. XO My Slpeeps

Can you ask to defer acceptance for a year?  That way you can work and save up money...

Hey guys! So as April 15th approaches, I think a lot of us are having really difficult time deciding which school we should attend. We should all consider ourselves very, very fortunate that we are given options, but it's really hard to make a decision. It was so hard for me that there were times that I even wished I had been accepted to just one school. lol
 
I already made a decision for myself and am VERY happy about it, but after I made my own decision, I found a good way to learn more about the programs and what we might be getting out of each school. I know there are a lot of people here who are in the same situation so I figured I'd share it with you guys
Go to Indeed resume page for SLPs: http://www.indeed.com/resumes/speech-language-pathologist Right below the "Find Resumes" button, you'll see "advanced search" in small letters. Click on that. In "School name," type in the school that you're considering to attend. Make sure you select Master's degree right under it. Click "Find resume"!! This will (hopefully) pull out a bunch of online resumes of the people who graduated from the school you are considering. Most people list in their resumes where exactly they worked as a graduate clinician, as well as where they have been working after graduation. In the search section you might want to select 3-5 years or 6-10 years for years of experience, in order to narrow your search (each program changes over time so it's more helpful to find resumes of those who graduated more recently). Also, if there is a particular city in which you'd like to work after graduation, you can type in the city name in the original search field to find the alumni who work there, too.
 
Of course, this method won't help you learn much about the "feel" of the school/program, and personally I found it very helpful to visit each school and talk to the current students & faculty, so I think you should visit each school in order to learn more about them. But in most cases campus visits won't tell you exactly where their graduates end up, and the method above will tell you just that. I think this method might help those who are especially career-driven. You need to keep in mind that the resumes you'll find are a small sample of their graduates, but I think it's still better than what you can find out by just talking to 2-3 people at open houses. It's worth a try if you guys are having a really hard time gathering concrete information about each program.
 
Hope this helps you guys. Good luck!!
 

Woke up this morning to my 2nd Acceptance! Jackson State University, Crazy!  Never thought I'd even have one, but not 2 acceptances and 3 wait lists!  

Hey guys!  I've recently seen a lot of posts on both the SLP forum and the results search that look a lot like this:
 
"Has anyone started a Facebook group for ___ school?"
"Here's a link to ___ school's Facebook group!"
"Who else is going to __?  We should start a Facebook group!"
"I made a Facebook group for ___ university!"
 
I thought it would be nice to compile a master list of Facebook groups for easy reference.  I'm personally on the lookout for an SIUE Facebook group.
 
So, if you'd like, post your school and a link to your Facebook group below!