Missthang

My graduate program offers services for accent modification (all services provided by graduate clinicians for university employees/family members are reduced rate and even free if you're a student in the department!). I think if you know this is something that you could benefit from definitely try it out. The added bonus if you do seek services for reducing your accent is you have the added benefit of knowing what it's like to be the clinician AND what it feels like being the client as well. Hope this helps!

Those are very competitive schools in Texas. I would look into other options that are more "looking at the applicant overall rather than GPA/GRE" friendly if that is something you're wanting to consider. Look up University of Houston, Lamar University, SFASU and Texas State to name a few off the top of my head.

Yes, that would be extremely helpful too! I guess my only option is to poll professors and clinical supervisors on their opinions about this topic.

Hey everyone! I have a couple questions for those who are currently a grad student or a recent grad. I was looking into completing some kind of certification before graduating, just to have some additional credential besides my degree when looking for a CF position. I'm very interested in the adult medical population, and seeing as it's a difficult area to get into especially for a CFY, I was thinking some extra credential may make me more competitive after graduation. I'm definitely interested in becoming certified in LSVT Loud and have heard of a few brain injury certifications as well. Just not sure if now is the right time for these things or if I should wait until I'm employed (and possibly have my employer pay for certifications!). Has anyone done this/know someone who has? Thanks in advance!

I had around a 3.2 overall GPA but a 3.7-3.8 CSD GPA and got in to half of the schools I applied to in Texas. If you're in the midwest or north, your GPA will probably need to be quite a bit higher than this since southern schools aren't as competitive as schools in those areas.

As far as clinic, I would wait and see what type of clients you receive before downloading any apps or buying any materials unless you come across free/inexpensive things that you know could be good for anybody. For classes, same advice. Basically just get the essentials that you know you will need, like binders, paper, spirals, pens/pencils, dividers, laptop, printer, ink cartridges, etc. I definitely recommend a good recorder that has the ability to upload the recordings to your computer (wish I would've done this my first semester!) and also an awesome planner because that will be your lifesaver when you're trying to manage your time and stay organized. I wouldn't get too hung up on the idea that you need to go out and buy a bunch of stuff prior to starting (besides getting the basic essentials), because I did the same thing last year and got a ton of stuff that I still haven't used. Also, your school may even provide some things for you. For instance ours has free laminating, black & white printing, and basic office supplies on top of a giant materials closet for clinic. Hope this helps!

I did not attend either school, however I do know people who attended both. From what I've heard, I would choose Tech over Texas State but ultimately it is your decision based on where youbelieve will be the best fit and what each program has to offer.

I googled part time SLP graduate programs and a ton of schools came up. Not sure if you're wanting online or not or if you're looking for a specific area of the country, but quite a few came up.

My short version of a long story: I graduated high school with no idea of what I wanted to do in life. I enrolled at my local community college to get all of my basics done to transfer to a university at a later time. I found a job at a daycare center and found the field through working with the school aged kids in my class. Many of them received services at their school and I found it fascinating that one person was responsible for helping children with a range of disorders and disabilities. The principal and vice principal had their children enrolled at the center so one day I briefly discussed my interest in the field and asked how I could contact their SLP. I was put in contact with her and I also worked with adviser at the college to find my current university and applied for their undergrad program. The rest is history: graduated with associate's, continued working part time and attending my university, quit my job eventually, became more involved with NSSLHA/volunteering/etc., graduated with two B.S., and now I'm in grad school! Without my job, I don't think that I would've ever discovered this field on my own because it seems to be a hidden gem that not too many people are familiar with.

Don't hesitate to call/stop by/email! Being a little more direct by personally calling or stopping by their office may be better since emails may go unseen. I had a friend whose LOR writer didn't check her email often and she missed the deadline. Luckily the program was forgiving after she called them explaining what happened and they allowed her to submit the letter after the deadline. Contact them in a different way if what you've done to previously remind them hasn't seemed to work and don't forget to remain professional and show gratitude that they completed it(basically don't appear panicky even though you totally are... application season is the worst, but it's almost over!). Good luck with everything!

While I'm not a "mature" student, I have several people in my cohort who are. All of them were like you and could only apply to the same school that they did undergrad/post bacc at. We have about 8 or so who all except 3 are doing our program part time so that they can work as SLPAs, other jobs that they previously had (full and part time work), spend time with family and continue to raise their kids (who range from babies to current grads). I highly commend them for everything they have going on with school and outside of school. However, several of them wish they could've completed the program full time since it will end up costing them more money to stay an extra year in the program and our program didn't do the best job at working with their schedules outside of school (there were 2 who were required to be on campus everyday which I find ridiculous if you're a part timer!). If working, raising kids, or outside priorities are a must then I would choose part time (assuming that your programs are setup is similar to mine). But if you can bite the bullet and get it done full time, then I would do that so you can be done quicker and making $ sooner! Hope this helps!

If you want to discuss Texas schools, feel free to pm and I can give you a lot of info since that's all that I applied to. If you do some serious digging on this website (contro+F is your best bet with helping find things) you can find some topics from last year or even earlier where people listed schools that did not require GRE.

... or maybe I'm the lucky one who has had 2 awesome ones! haha Sorry about the bad luck with Dells! When I graduated high school my parents bought me a HP laptop which was great the first 2 years and then it just went nuts. Finally ditched it and ended up with my Dell and then recently purchased my smaller one during my 1st month of grad school. All is good so far (fingers crossed).

While I don't have too much advice as far as studying or taking the GRE, you may want to look at schools that don't require it or schools that look at the whole application rather than focusing on GPA and GRE scores. That's what I did when applying last yr since my GRE scores were average at best and my overall GPA wasn't very stellar. I ended up being accepted/waitlisted at 4 of the 7 schools I applied to. You can find these stats on programs' websites and through ASHA as well.

I struggled in one of my undergraduate SLP classes during my sophomore year. I knew that I was the only one who could make the adjustment, but I was also the person afraid of admitting my mistakes and saying that I was struggling. I set up office hours with the TA and professor almost weekly to review notes, discuss topics that were unclear and to review my quizzes and exams. On my first test in that course, I received a 78 but after all of the effort I put in to studying and showing my professor that I was determined to complete the course, I received a 99 on the final and passed with a B. It can be done with the right amount of effort and being proactive, so seek out those all of the available opportunities! I was amazed at what all was available for undergrads at my university and wished that I would've taken advantage of it sooner.

I have a larger Dell laptop that I keep at home and bought a smaller Dell to take with me to and from class. Not sure what all the fuss is about Dell but I've never had problems using mine. I do know a fellow grad student who strictly uses an iPad and that seems like the strangest decision to me, so as long as you find something that you know will work for you then I don't see why any would be a problem.

I absolutely agree with the person who replied above! This field seems to attract a certain demographic, but it's also a hidden gem that a lot of people from diverse populations may not be aware unless they had personal experience with a SLP. I don't think it's something to be afraid of if you happen to fall in a group that's not Caucasian female. In fact, I would think most schools would want a diverse cohort so it could be to your advantage if you did fall "outside the norm". Most schools that I've seen have aspired to having a more diverse cohort, so use it to your advantage instead of making it seem as something negative. My cohort has several African American, Asian and Hispanic students, a few guys, several bilingual (not just English-Spanish) students and out of state people as well.

From what I've heard, California is very competitive and I believe most schools really look at GPA and scores from what I've seen on here. If you can get a kick ass major GPA and last 60 hrs GPA that may help along with some amazing LORs and personal statement. That may help offshoot a low cumulative GPA. From applying in Texas, most schools said that applicants must have at least a 3.0 in cumulative GPA and 3.0 for major/CSD GPA, plus minimum of 150 and 3.0 on GRE. That was for majority of schools I applied to for them to even consider the application. If you think being a SLPA will help boost your resume (and possibly score you a LOR and things to highlight in personal statement), then I say go for it, but possibly consider doing something to boost GPA. Maybe retake some classes you did not so hot in if that's a possibility? Also, there are a few people on here who have discussed what schools look more at scores and which ones look more at the "overall picture" so check into that too!

I don't see why it would be a problem as long as they can write you a strong letter & say why they believe you would be a great slp grad student. My program only had 1 audiology professor and she outright refused to write LORs unless you were applying for an AuD program. If they're happy to do it, then I say go for it

I applied to SFA and wish I hadn't. I had a negative experience with their application process (I had to resend several things for my application and I didn't even hear their decision until May I believe; needless to say I had already heard from all of the others and accepted my seat almost 2 months before finally hearing SFA's decision...). I was also told from someone in my cohort that all but 1 person that currently attends graduated from SFA. Just something to think about...

I think it'll almost be impossible to do just one or another bc of the type of settings. Some settings off the top of my head are hospital (A or C), public school ©, private school ©, university clinic (A or C), home health (A or C), private practice (A or C) and I'm sure there's a few others I'm missing... It will look better if you observe both adults and children because when you go to grad school, you will have to work with both even if you think you know that you absolutely want to work with one population and not the other. You must receive so many types of hours in the "Big Nine" areas and so many hours evaluating and treating adults AND children in all of these areas. By getting observation hours with both types of populations and in a variety of settings, you are experiencing a little bit of everything that SLPs can do since you'll have to experience it all in grad school (and also be tested on it all for the praxis).

Austin and Dallas are very competitive... I applied to all Texas schools and didn't even bother applying to either of them for this reason. I had a 3.3-3.4 cumulative GPA, major GPA of about 3.5 and last 60 hrs was about 3.8-3.9 (I may be a little off, but this is what I sort of remember from doing applications last year). Look at ASHA's EdFind or go to schools' websites and look up what the average GRE and GPA scores are for previously admitted cohort. You want to fall within their ranges to stand a fair chance of getting a second look instead of immediately being tossed if your scores and/or GPA don't stack up to what they're looking for.

I'm in my first semester of grad school. Our tuition is pretty reasonable (almost $6000 for 4 classes and clinical practicum). I just pay out of pocket because I don't want to have a ton of debt when I graduate, but the majority of my cohort does use loans and financial aid assistance. When we applied and accepted our spots, we were given some forms to fill out if we wanted to be considered for GA/TA positions (I'm a GA and can work up to 10 hrs/wk) and you could also apply for scholarships (I didn't apply bc I didn't like the requirements and stipulations on these scholarships; I can explain more if you're curious as to why). Hope this helps!

Everything should already be factored into your transcript. I've never heard of someone transferring a high school grade for college credit like psychology so you may want to check into that just to be safe. In my case, I tested out of English 1 so I only needed an English 2 college credit, but have never heard of this for psychology (maybe this is a more recent thing since I've been out of high school for a while now...). This shows up on my community college transcript (where I went directly after high school graduation). When applying to schools, I had to send official transcripts from both my community college and my undergrad university even though all of the credits I transferred from CC were on the uni. transcript. My applications (Texas) all said that any college or university attended had to have a transcript sent for them to review, no matter what classes or how many hours you took from each school.

Have you viewed these schools' websites to see their averages for the previously admitted cohort? You can also find some of these stats through ASHA EdFind. The smartest move you can make is seeing if you fall within the average for GRE and GPA for the schools before applying, because then you know you have a fair chance of getting in and hopefully your PS, LORs, resume, etc carry the rest of the weight for your application. I only applied to Texas schools and it seems for those (and I'm sure schools in all of the other states would be the same) that you must meet a minimum requirement for GRE score and GPA (some highly emphasize last 60 hrs and major; others look at last 60, major AND cumulative equally) or you're automatically tossed out. Many schools weigh GRE and GPA greater than other schools; other schools weigh all parts of the application equally. Don't be afraid of emailing or calling programs and asking specific questions that you can't get answered from their website.