kumapanda

Ha ha, I had this username for a few years since maybe high school. I like to use it for other websites as a default username because I'm born in April (when it rains, not that it really rains much in California) and sonata because of my music background. The name just stuck to me because it had a nice sound to it, pun not intended. My urge to play the piano tends to come and go, usually when I'm left alone and my mind starts to ponder off somewhere. I want to look at some certified grad programs for speech pathology that focuses on autism, school age children/adolescence development, and maybe AAC. Does anyone know any good programs that may concentrate on any of those topics? I haven't taken a course in AAC yet, but my autistic brother uses an electronic device that helps him communicate, so AAC fascinates me. I want to either work in a school setting or at a private clinic, I'm not sure which at the moment. I want to work with school age children around the age of eight/nine years old or above. I'm not sure why, but I like to talk to kids of that age. Maybe it's because it's the time when they're old enough to start thinking on their own and question things. I tell people I think middle schoolers are annoying, yet I always end up talking to them and helping them out in academics. Maybe it's because of their attitude that makes things interesting, lol. I can't say much about high schoolers because they're too close to me in age for me to really see a big difference.

Oh wow, there are so many interesting people in this forum! @Ayelet - What a pretty name! I never heard of it before! It's cool meeting people with unique names like that. What does the name mean? I'm jealous you have such passion for music. I used to take piano lessons as a child, but I stopped playing a few years ago due to college and lost of interest. I can still play pieces, but I don't have the creativity to compose music and I never received ear training. I don't feel too comfortable revealing personal information, so you can call me Ollie as a nickname. I feel so young compared to most of you guys as I will turn 21 in two weeks! I'm a second generation Vietnamese-American and I would like to try food from different cultures. I still love Asian food though <3 I like to draw, write stories, and play video games. I don't own a lot of video games, but I have completed the ones I have and appreciate the story telling from them. I have only traveled to a few states (Nevada, Hawaii, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona) and to a couple of provinces in Canada (Ontario and Quebec), but I would love to be able to travel to other parts of the world one day when I have a career. If I could do anything before grad school, I would like to go on a road trip through the USA and enjoy awesome food and scenic places. I started out as a biology major at CSULB (Cal State Long Beach) for the pre-pharmacy route, but I soon found out that chemistry isn't my forte and it gave me personal problems too . I have a low functioning autistic brother who receives therapy of many kinds (speech, occupational, physical, etc.). Most of my childhood was spent studying and looking after my brother when my parents are busy. My mom tried to introduce me to speech therapy in the summer before my undergrad program started, but I had no interest at the time because it was a hot summer day and I thought pharmacy was for me at the time. I gave the career option another chance when I came to one of my brother's speech therapy later that year. I soon found myself coming back to watch my brother's therapy sessions and found that I enjoyed the idea of helping children improve their speech, similar to a teacher. I talked to his speech pathologist to find out more about the career and later went home to research into it. I switched my major from biology to communicative disorders and I don't regret it I plan to graduate from CSULB for spring 2015 and I'm hoping that I will be accepted for any grad program in the United States. I want to go out of state so I can experience life outside of California and meet new people along the way. I spent 3 years volunteering at a local hospital for the pediatrics section by running errands for the nurses and playing with the children. I also volunteer at a private clinic with a speech pathologist and I was an active Red Cross member for about 2 years. I still look after my autistic brother and I'm interested in learning more about autism from my major.

Can I post a question here even though I won't be applying until Fall 2014?

Did anyone get acceptance letters from Loma Linda or University of Redlands yet? How many people usually apply for their program and how many do they accept? I checked their websites, but can someone tell me if they have any emphasis or concentrations in the programs?

Thanks for your answers! So there's no such thing as a safety school. I'm working hard to pull up my GPA this semester and hopefully I'll do fine on the GRE. I checked out the forums on this website and I keep seeing warnings about applying for Cal States because they tend to favor their undergrad/post bac students. How many Cal States should I think about when applying then? I'm naturally apply for CSULB because I'm going there right now, so I think I have a chance. Long Beach apparently is known to very much favor their students? I'm also thinking of San Francisco and San Jose and maybe San Diego. I'm also looking at University of Colorado Boulder and Eastern Washington State because of the WICHE program. I had thoughts of applying east coast but it's hard to decide which place to look at first. Portland State is on my list for its proximity to CA and I'm also considering Redlands and maybe Loma Linda. Is anyone knowledgeable about Loma Linda's program? Do they have any special program/concentration worth mentioning? I tried going on their website but it was hard to navigate through it.

Bump? I'm wondering if I should apply for out of state options like Eastern Washington State University and University of Colorado Boulder. It seems that there aren't a lot of options for the SLP program.

Hi, I'm new to this community. I'm a 3rd year at a four year college in Southern California majoring in Communicative Disorders. My total GPA is roughly a 3.7 and my major GPA is a 3.5, but I'm hoping to raise it a little further after this spring semester is complete. I volunteer at a hospital near my house, a private clinic with a speech pathologist, and I'm an active member of my school's NSSLHA. I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I'm currently studying for it and will be taking it at the end of May. I looked up a few old forums on this topic and the number of schools people apply for seem to range from 5-8. My parents think I should apply for more than 10 because of my GPA and they have little faith my resume. Should I be worried and apply for more schools? How should I decide which schools to look at? Older forums say to look at "safe schools", but what is a safe school exactly and how do you know it's a safe school? My parents want me to apply for all the schools in California because we live there, but I think it's ridiculous and very expensive (there are 16 of them!). They keep insisting that I apply for Chapman University, but Chapman University was only recently accredited in 2013. Is it worth applying for a school when there is so little known about their history? I personally want to look at the schools on the west coast for applications, but I wouldn't mind applying for schools from New England, Virginia, British Columbia, Ontario, or Quebec. I'm still considering if I should apply for a school out of country in Canada because I have relatives in Canada and my mother has Canadian citizenship. I know this doesn't sound reasonable, but I like to look at schools based off their geographic location and climate. I do not want to apply to hot/humid states like Arizona or Texas. Is it wise to apply to more schools in state or should I spread out my list and apply for more out of state schools? I'm interested in applying for a program that puts emphasis on the public school setting. I'm also interested in looking into programs that focus on autism and AAC. This is my incomplete list of schools I'm looking into: CSU Long Beach CSU East Bay CSU San Francisco San Jose State University San Diego State University University of Red Lands Portland State University Western Washington State University Queens College