kumapanda

I've emailed some schools about this question before they most seem fine with it. Some schools are straight forward with their answers. Other schools will avoid answering the question and tell you that they're glad that you're interested in the program. I tell them my stats and experience and would ask stuff like "have you accepted students similar to me before"? Or you could ask "What can I do to make myself more competitive"?

I don't know about the post-bacc program, but I don't think you'll be able to complete your required courses by community college. A lot of the required courses for SLP programs seem to ask for upper division courses that wouldn't be available in a community college. The required classes for some programs also sound too specific to be offered as a course at a community college, at least at the ones in my area. I've heard of people taking online courses at Utah State for slp pre-req's. Maybe you can check it out and see if it meets your needs?

I feel like this is something you can only tell by talking to students who attended the programs themselves or those who applied to the programs. Some schools would tell you the application statistics I believe if you email them or if you get accepted/rejected. What schools are you looking at in particular? CSU - A lot of them favor their own undergrads, especially CSULB. Clarion - I've read a thread or two on here that they favor their own undergrads. SEMO - I emailed them and they told me nearly all of their students are in state. Private schools in general don't seem to care? That's my impression so far from the emails I've sent them. I guess it makes sense since both in state and out state tend to pay roughly the same amount in terms of tuition.

I think this varies by the person. For me, I did my GREs early when math is still fresh in my head, so I can send in my GRE scores as early as I like. However, I know that many people take their GRE in the early fall of the same semester they start applying for grad schools. If you already have your GRE scores you're satisfied with by the time application starts, I say send it in as soon as you can. The sooner you send them, the less you have to worry about forgetting to send in the scores. For transcripts, I think you should it to them as soon as you get your fall grades if you're still completing a degree. For me, my fall semester ends at mid December, so that's just in time a lot of application deadlines. The schools should be understanding about transcripts, but you can still send in earlier versions of the transcript if you're unsure about it. TL; DNR: Send things as early as you can if you already have all you need so that you won't accidentally forget them and waste money on an incomplete application.

Thank you for the answers!

What are the other schools that only accept their own undergrads? I'm also concern of which schools are more biased towards instate students. I want to apply to Northern CO, Radford, Kean, Towson, and Loyola, but I'm unsure of my chances since I'm from CA. Towson and Loyola have information sessions, but I can't make it to them because I'm at the other side of the country CSULB definitely only accepts their own students. I believe the number was 19/23 were CSULB undergrads. Something like that. It's because of that I think CSULB might be my best bet (but I rather go out of state).

Cal States (CSU) seem to favor their own students. I don't know about schools outside CA, but I know that some schools won't accept as many out of state students. Southeast Missouri State and Portland State told me that most of their acceptances were from in state. I think the forums have mentioned Clarion for accepting their own students, but I'm not sure how valid that is.

When sending in transcripts for grad schools, do we have to worry about transferring AP scores back from high school? Or are the scores already filed under the undergraduate transcript for the graduate schools to look at? I know ASHA requires taking a psychology class, but I already had an AP course for that.

When asking people to write letter of recommendations, how many are they willing to write? I know that asking people to write 15 letters of rec is ridiculous, but would a number like 7 be asking too much?

Here's a link referring to your question. Schools in CA are pretty competitive because so many people apply to it every year (in and out of state). If you want to avoid competitive schools, I would avoid popular states like CA and New York. I would also avoid applying to schools that are ranked high by http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/pathology-rankings The higher the ranking, the more well known the program will likely be, leading to more applicants.

I guess you can try to check on transportation for those schools too. Some cities like Long Beach will have a transportation system where you can take the bus anywhere in Long Beach city for free. Other campuses will be in cities that have sparse transportation, where having a car would be more convenient.

Do you think my GRE is decent enough? Both are over 50th percentile, so I thought I would have a decent chance if I can spice up my personal statement and resume.

Looking at the school's curriculum helps too. Some schools will have pages about the summer camps/programs they run for children or adults involving speech. It's just a lot of careful searching to see if the schools have what you're interested in. I personally have interest in schools that have on-campus clinics, so I often look for schools that have a clinic page with what they specialize in.

Do you know if Pittsburgh has any specialized track or what their clinic specializes in?

Ah, I just checked their website for Fall 2015 and it's the same thing. I wonder if it applies to other schools, especially CSDCAS schools.

Are the personal statements posted online by schools the same every year? Do school websites tell you when the application is first made available? How do you get access to CSULB's personal statement prompt? Do you have to log into CSU Mentor's account to see it? Does anyone know Loyola's prompt? Thank you.

Is there anything you have interested in the field of slp? Medical? School based? Cleft palates? AAC? Autism? I'm just curious. I'm looking for schools that put emphasis on school school age children and it's hard for me since a lot of schools are early intervention based. If you're interested in California, there are 15-16 programs to choose from.

OP is Canadian, so I'm not sure how familiar they are on which schools are considered safer. I've been told that Cal States in general are competitive due to their limited graduate class size. I'm not too sure myself. What is considered a safer school? Schools that are lower ranked so that there are less applicants likely to apply to the program?

Wow, that's a lot of questions! Ok, so if the university is called University of [state], it's usually public. So Nevada and Hawaii are public. If the school has the name CUNY or SUNY, it's also public because it's part of a group of public universities in New York state, so Brooklyn CUNY and Hunter CUNY are public schools. If the school is called [state] State of [city], such as California State of San Diego State, it's public. California State San Diego is public. Schools in Texas that are called University of Texas at [city] are public. So the schools you're looking at for Austin and Dallas are both public. Schools that have the name St. in front of them are usually private schools, so St. John's and St. Rose are private. Some private schools are religious, so keep that in mind when doing your research. The rest of the programs on your list are private. SLP grad programs are competitive to get into like most other graduate programs. You'll get varied answers from people on what competitive is. It really depends on your gpa, extracurricular, and your interests in the program. San Diego State is probably the hardest to get in from your list. It's competitive because it's in California, so naturally a lot of people apply to it (both in state and out of state). I believe San Diego is also popular because it has a good research program. The warm weather probably helps too. Vanderbilt is probably hard to get in too because it's ranked high, so it probably gets a lot of applicants. I don't know what your interests are, so I can't tell you which programs wouldn't be as great for you. Each program has its pros and cons. For me, pros and cons includes location, living costs, the students, the program itself, and the faculty. If you're fine with warm to hot weather, then Nevada and Hawaii shouldn't be a problem. Nevada gets cold dry weather in the winter. Hawaii gets humid a lot and living price can get expensive. It would take a long time to list out all the pros and cons of each school, so that is something you will need to research on your own. I suggest you type in [school name, slp clinic] on google if you're interested to see what the school specializes in. Nevada has some medical based clinics for aphasia, autism, and cleft palates: http://medicine.nevada.edu/reno/spa/clinics. Brooklyn and Hunter will both give you certificates that allow you to teach in New York state I believe and are expensive to live in since both are in New York City area. SDSU (San Diego State) has a good research program I believe and has a bilingual track. San Diego is close to the beach, but I guess it can be expensive to find housing if it's close to the beach (but amazing weather). UT Dallas has a nice autism program (http://www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter/evaluation-and-treatment/autism/) and Texas state has cheaper housing than say...California. For cons, Dallas can get hot. Dallas also can have tornado and floods. MGH is good for medical school because of its numerous tracks you can take, but it's very expensive (tuition) and Boston is an expensive city to live in. Nazareth seems to like having its SLPs work closely with other health professions and they have many resources you should take advantage of. However, Nazareth is located in Rochester, which seems to have a higher crime rate than nationally and by its state (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Working as a SLPA is always a plus in my opinion. I think that should impress the schools and it will give you a chance to have someone from the clinic write a recommendation letter for you. As for GREs, if you're not confident in your test taking skills, then taking a course might help. I took Kaplan for the GRE, which gave me books and online access to practice tests and tips on how to overcome the test. I've seen people on the forums recommend Magoosh. Kaplan is great because they have a math remedial class if your math skills concern you. Of course, it means paying extra, but Kaplan lets you retake the courses if you're not satisfied with your GRE scores the first time you take it. If you have questions on grad schools, you can message me and I'll see what I can do? I did a lot of crazy research too because I'm choosey on location and programs.

Which program are you attending?

Signed up for it! Have you done the program before? How was it?

Cal State San Marcos is new. Chapman University was recently accredited.

Spring seems to have less people applying, maybe because most people apply for fall semester. But a lot of schools also seem to have less space for spring semester than for fall semester.

How much does McGill and Western look into GRE? Do you think my current GRE score is good enough? Is there a difference on writing personal statements for American and Canadian schools?

Are personal statement prompts the same every year for schools? If applying for a CSDCAS program, do all the CSDCAS schools have the same prompt?