jpiccolo

The praxis changes regularly so don't get caught up in studying one topic profusely and not another. My version was different than many of my classmates who took it a month before I did. I reviewed material from all my classmates generally and passed fine. It's big on case study applications in addition to straightforward facts. One version might have more questions on a certain topic while another has one or none on that but a bunch on a different topic. If I had to recommend something I'd say be prepared for both eval and treatment questions, and even review undergrad stuff like hearing/speech science. Some people will study a lot and others will just go take it. Depends on your test taking ability. Definitely take a practice test if nothing else. 

I had a grad prof who stuttered. And I met one at an open house for another school. Being able to demonstrate techniques is important so you’re fine if you can do that for your clients/students 

GRE is worth a shot. I used magoosh and raised my verbal quite a bit. 

Not curved in my grad program

I’m not sure where you’re getting the short term part of SLP. Unless you’re working in acute care or rehab or a traveling SLP. In schools or private therapy you spend a lot of time with clients. 

I’m not sure where you’re getting the short term part of SLP. Unless you’re working in acute care or rehab or a traveling SLP. In schools or private therapy you spend a lot of time with clients. 

For ones that had a decline button I just used that. The only one I sent an additional email to was to a professor I’d been in contact with about the program and had been nice enough to give me a tour. I don’t think it’s necessary to send an email unless that’s how they want your decision. 

Apply for fafsa. Try to work part time. Many of my cohort had assistantships or part time jobs. Your class and client schedule will be priority so the job has to be flexible or in the evening

Interesting. I never heard of a letter limit for essays. No guarantees what they'll do. If they are checking that you followed the limit maybe they won't read it. But maybe they weren't counting spaces either? For now try to think positive and if things don't work out, you'll be more careful next time. 

Focus on why you're best for them and what specific about that school is best for you. I'd avoid saying it's your top pick because it adds no reason why to accept you. They have more than enough candidates 

Not crazy! I applied to a few of those a few years back (I'm graduated now). I remember the wait when I got them all done and it's not fun. Don't reread anything at this point. It's too late - I noticed a typo my first go around too which drove me nuts. Now just focus on other things. Distract yourself and do not check the results page all the time. If at all. It won't help to compare scores or anything. Focus on work/school and any hobbies or friends. Anything but the applications or email. 

Totally get it! What a long time to wait. I had applications due later so my wait was shorter. My only other suggestions is to get off grad-cafe haha. I had two application cycles and it sure helped the second time to not check the site. But I get it easier said than done! Good luck!

It's not impossible but not easy. Recommendations are usually ten hours weekly. Don't expect school to work around your job. There's not much control for when clients are scheduled which is mostly day time. Plus look into when classes are. Sometimes I had a mix of morning and night. Time management is more than half the battle of grad school and you've got to be able to study, do homework assignments, plus plan weekly sessions which takes awhile when it's new. 

Excluding my brief summer clinic, my first full semester was about 47 hours. It went up a lot after that. 

Just my 2 cents about rankings. Unless you're planning on a PhD (and even then I'm skeptical) it's not necessary to go to a top 25 school. Rankings can be pretty arbitrary based on how they were created anyway. You can have a solid education even at a lower ranked school, especially in our field. Mine wasn't in the top 25 yet the slp coordinator who hired me raved about my program over all schools in state and in neighboring states. 

We got our client schedules like the Thursday of week one of the semester. Then we had a week or two to meet with our assigned clinical faculty for each client, prep, and then start. It was nerve wracking but you'll probably have a written plan for the session so you'll know what to do. Heck my first client crawled under the table to hang out for half the session. I wasn't having luck with testing him but my supervisor came in and supported me. It's hard each first session for new clients when you don't know what to expect. I was nervous about the field simply for the reason I wouldn't know what to do! But you can do it and then you'll be a CF! Good luck 

We got our client schedules like the Thursday of week one of the semester. Then we had a week or two to meet with our assigned clinical faculty for each client, prep, and then start. It was nerve wracking but you'll probably have a written plan for the session so you'll know what to do. Heck my first client crawled under the table to hang out for half the session. I wasn't having luck with testing him but my supervisor came in and supported me. It's hard each first session for new clients when you don't know what to expect. I was nervous about the field simply for the reason I wouldn't know what to do! But you can do it and then you'll be a CF! Good luck 

Logan is definitely bikeable. I can't say from personal experience but several of my cohort (I just finished at usu) would bike all the time even to campus. It gets hot and cold, there's lots of outdoorsy stuff which I'm not huge into but I did a few hikes. Supposedly there's one bar but I'm one of them Mormons so that didn't matter. The others would go down to salt lake if they wanted that. We all got along great, but for a couple it was a slight culture shock. 
Program wise I'm not sure how much funding there was. Several had assistantships and I was offered a small scholarship after the first summer. But if you qualify for that regional state agreement that helps so much. Many students came for that. 
For more specifics on usu feel free to pm me. 

I wouldn't spend the money. I used my 2009 MacBook and eventually my iPad which was faster. But if your mac is in good condition I don't see why to upgrade. 

I wouldn't spend the money. I used my 2009 MacBook and eventually my iPad which was faster. But if your mac is in good condition I don't see why to upgrade. 

1.  My clinic had plenty of materials already and charged a small fee with tuition to cover use. I think I bought a couple folders to send home as home program once but that's it. 
2. First year most classes for me were in the morning except Fridays and once a week a 2-3 hour class in the evening. Clients were then scheduled anywhere in between normal business hours either 1-2 times a week for 50 min. 
3. Clinic can be stressful mainly with planning, and figuring out test results and goals with reports. My externships I got a lot of support from supervisors and they eased me into everything. Take advantage of your cohort and supervisors for support and ideas - you don't have to reinvent the wheel. 
4. Time management is really the crux of grad school. We all agreed that grad school isnt hard per se, just time consuming. Best advice is to give yourself a break on part of the weekend (have a cohort movie night on Saturday) and again, don't try to reinvent the wheel. You don't need to spend hours cutting and laminating new materials. Kids aren't always that impressed with fancy things so don't spend excess time if materials are already available. Occasionally I made my own but it's too much to make a habit of. 
5. They expect you to participate and generally be on top of material. I knew my grad profs much better since we were fewer than undergrad. 
6. I started summer term so we had clients our second month. But most who start school in fall don't get clients til spring term I've heard. 
7. We were given the files and if it was a returning client the supervisor usually knew them already which helped. We could review past tests and reports. If it was a new client, we often had little to go on but usually age and maybe referral reason to help plan testing. It also depends on supervisors and how you click with them and their style of supervising. 
Do your best to ask questions and take initiative. Don't feel bad if you have a crappy session or even get emotional during a supervisor meeting. It's all new and can be tough but not impossible. And eventually you'll be surprised that you're about to start a CF and finally get paid for everything! 
Hope this helped! Good luck!

1) I did not have a job, mainly because I wanted to have something pretty flexible and didn't find much. Some classmates had GAs, others were TAs, some had outside jobs off campus, and others did not work. If you don't have evening classes, you could probably work but keep it mind you'll need time to plan sessions in addition to hw/studying. But if you need to, you can if you have the right job and mindset for getting things done.
2) part-time jobs? the only ones I can think of that classmates had were at the local library, telemarketing surveys, or teaching yoga. Otherwise retail? restaurants? Probably nothing during the day since clinic is scheduled then and we had no say in our client schedule.
3) I went to football games my first fall, a few gymnastics meets, and a couple basketball games later. My main recommendation is that if they overlap with class, do not expect a prof to let you out early or rearrange class just to let you go. I've heard of someone trying that once and the prof did not take it well. We had some grad school socials and I went to a couple for the free food. If you want to be involved in a specific campus group, the schedule may be the toughest to work around, especially if it's a class that is scheduled during the day (like I used to do marching band but knew rehearsals would interfere with either class or clients). 
4) Time consuming and a big lesson in time management. You'll be juggling multiple clients/sessions per week, meetings with supervisors, and classwork. But academically no harder than undergrad. All my cohort felt this way. Some supervisors might be harder to click with. Depends on your personality and learn early to be prepared yet willing to learn and accept feedback. I had mostly positive supervisor experiences but I know others who didn't, with the same exact supervisors. 
5) Yes. But this will depend on the setting you want and where you live. My state is in constant, desperate need to fill jobs and no one in my cohort who is staying in-state has had difficulty with getting job offers. One classmate in Portland though is having a heck of a time in the schools getting an offer or interviews. Too much competition. 
6) This is all up to you. Take advantage of externships and try to get a variety. I had a pediatric outpatient clinic, a middle school, and inpatient rehab/acute hospital. Schools are way easier to get hired in but can be poorly paid and easy to burn out with paperwork. Hospital, depends on if you can handle medically fragile patients and can break into the medical setting (tough right out of grad school unless you had an externship there possibly). Not all my hospital pts were fragile but some of those were tougher with being sick, especially in the acute setting. Luckily, you're never tied into one setting. However, if you spend X years in schools and want to jump at some point to medical, it will be tough to break in because of the lack of experience. So get experience early or transition quickly if you start with peds and want to move to medical. 
7) wait to choose until near the end. Many of my classmates switched interests, some didn't and are totally set into schools or medical, and a few of us like me were interested in multiple settings and haven't chosen one permanently. I'll see once I get a real feel for the job in my CF. I know I don't love voice or dysarthria a ton, but both adults and peds can be interesting to work with. Variety is nice. 

1) I did not have a job, mainly because I wanted to have something pretty flexible and didn't find much. Some classmates had GAs, others were TAs, some had outside jobs off campus, and others did not work. If you don't have evening classes, you could probably work but keep it mind you'll need time to plan sessions in addition to hw/studying. But if you need to, you can if you have the right job and mindset for getting things done.
2) part-time jobs? the only ones I can think of that classmates had were at the local library, telemarketing surveys, or teaching yoga. Otherwise retail? restaurants? Probably nothing during the day since clinic is scheduled then and we had no say in our client schedule.
3) I went to football games my first fall, a few gymnastics meets, and a couple basketball games later. My main recommendation is that if they overlap with class, do not expect a prof to let you out early or rearrange class just to let you go. I've heard of someone trying that once and the prof did not take it well. We had some grad school socials and I went to a couple for the free food. If you want to be involved in a specific campus group, the schedule may be the toughest to work around, especially if it's a class that is scheduled during the day (like I used to do marching band but knew rehearsals would interfere with either class or clients). 
4) Time consuming and a big lesson in time management. You'll be juggling multiple clients/sessions per week, meetings with supervisors, and classwork. But academically no harder than undergrad. All my cohort felt this way. Some supervisors might be harder to click with. Depends on your personality and learn early to be prepared yet willing to learn and accept feedback. I had mostly positive supervisor experiences but I know others who didn't, with the same exact supervisors. 
5) Yes. But this will depend on the setting you want and where you live. My state is in constant, desperate need to fill jobs and no one in my cohort who is staying in-state has had difficulty with getting job offers. One classmate in Portland though is having a heck of a time in the schools getting an offer or interviews. Too much competition. 
6) This is all up to you. Take advantage of externships and try to get a variety. I had a pediatric outpatient clinic, a middle school, and inpatient rehab/acute hospital. Schools are way easier to get hired in but can be poorly paid and easy to burn out with paperwork. Hospital, depends on if you can handle medically fragile patients and can break into the medical setting (tough right out of grad school unless you had an externship there possibly). Not all my hospital pts were fragile but some of those were tougher with being sick, especially in the acute setting. Luckily, you're never tied into one setting. However, if you spend X years in schools and want to jump at some point to medical, it will be tough to break in because of the lack of experience. So get experience early or transition quickly if you start with peds and want to move to medical. 
7) wait to choose until near the end. Many of my classmates switched interests, some didn't and are totally set into schools or medical, and a few of us like me were interested in multiple settings and haven't chosen one permanently. I'll see once I get a real feel for the job in my CF. I know I don't love voice or dysarthria a ton, but both adults and peds can be interesting to work with. Variety is nice. 

1) I did not have a job, mainly because I wanted to have something pretty flexible and didn't find much. Some classmates had GAs, others were TAs, some had outside jobs off campus, and others did not work. If you don't have evening classes, you could probably work but keep it mind you'll need time to plan sessions in addition to hw/studying. But if you need to, you can if you have the right job and mindset for getting things done.
2) part-time jobs? the only ones I can think of that classmates had were at the local library, telemarketing surveys, or teaching yoga. Otherwise retail? restaurants? Probably nothing during the day since clinic is scheduled then and we had no say in our client schedule.
3) I went to football games my first fall, a few gymnastics meets, and a couple basketball games later. My main recommendation is that if they overlap with class, do not expect a prof to let you out early or rearrange class just to let you go. I've heard of someone trying that once and the prof did not take it well. We had some grad school socials and I went to a couple for the free food. If you want to be involved in a specific campus group, the schedule may be the toughest to work around, especially if it's a class that is scheduled during the day (like I used to do marching band but knew rehearsals would interfere with either class or clients). 
4) Time consuming and a big lesson in time management. You'll be juggling multiple clients/sessions per week, meetings with supervisors, and classwork. But academically no harder than undergrad. All my cohort felt this way. Some supervisors might be harder to click with. Depends on your personality and learn early to be prepared yet willing to learn and accept feedback. I had mostly positive supervisor experiences but I know others who didn't, with the same exact supervisors. 
5) Yes. But this will depend on the setting you want and where you live. My state is in constant, desperate need to fill jobs and no one in my cohort who is staying in-state has had difficulty with getting job offers. One classmate in Portland though is having a heck of a time in the schools getting an offer or interviews. Too much competition. 
6) This is all up to you. Take advantage of externships and try to get a variety. I had a pediatric outpatient clinic, a middle school, and inpatient rehab/acute hospital. Schools are way easier to get hired in but can be poorly paid and easy to burn out with paperwork. Hospital, depends on if you can handle medically fragile patients and can break into the medical setting (tough right out of grad school unless you had an externship there possibly). Not all my hospital pts were fragile but some of those were tougher with being sick, especially in the acute setting. Luckily, you're never tied into one setting. However, if you spend X years in schools and want to jump at some point to medical, it will be tough to break in because of the lack of experience. So get experience early or transition quickly if you start with peds and want to move to medical. 
7) wait to choose until near the end. Many of my classmates switched interests, some didn't and are totally set into schools or medical, and a few of us like me were interested in multiple settings and haven't chosen one permanently. I'll see once I get a real feel for the job in my CF. I know I don't love voice or dysarthria a ton, but both adults and peds can be interesting to work with. Variety is nice. 

Having just finished school I can say the biggest thing (besides health, etc already mentioned) would be can you pause school when baby is born. If it's in the middle of a semester you may have to cancel sessions with clients. I don't know if you'd be able to return quickly (obviously depends on health) but worth looking into if you can take a semester off if necessary. Much of my cohort were parents of 18 mo twins all the way to college age kids but no one was pregnant. Our program was intense and having to miss sessions means you lose hours and your client doesn't get consistent therapy. Just be realistic that it may be an added challenge so plan ahead especially if your program even has a few weeks or month between semesters (no guarantee if baby came early of course). I know a ton of undergraduates who had babies midsemester but grad school is a different beast. (I hope I don't sound too discouraging; you know you and your program. I just know how hard it is without kids and if you are prepared and realistic hopefully it'll go well!)