curly_girl

I just got an interview with Flinders!!!! So excited and nervous. Do you have any advice? Also, how formally did you dress?

Hi! I have a skype interview with Flinders University in Adelaide, and I was hoping for advice on what to wear. Do I need a suit? Business casual? I am a woman in my 20s and don't have a full suit at the moment, but I do have a suit jacket. Thanks!

That's good to know, but annoying. I had emailed Flinders over the summer and asked if it is better to apply earlier rather than later and was told it doesn't matter.I waited to so that I would get my last semester's grades in. If I remember correctly, they only interview a small number of applicants. I am hoping that I am waiting on an invitation notification and not a rejection. Did you get an email? Or did you find out via the application portal? Congrats once again on your acceptances! I have heard great things of both Flinders and the University of Sydney (and never looked into Curtin). Maybe I will see you in Adelaide next year!

Congratulations! When did you hear from Flinders? I applied about a month ago and still haven't heard back.

You can raise your GPA by taking classes as a non-matriculated student. I don't know if all grad schools would accept that as being over a 3.0, but you can can call and ask. I would at least start by re-taking any CSD courses that you got bad grades in, or by taking the non-CSD courses required by ASHA if you have not done so yet. Check out this thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/49929-fall-2014-less-competitive-grad-programs-applicants-thread/

If you want to be an SLP, you should apply. You should really look at EdFind, it contains a wealth of information. About six months ago, I went through EVERY school on EdFind, and calculated the acceptance rates. I put every school with an acceptance rate over 20% on a spread sheet and wrote down stats, estimated tuition, application info, etc. Looking through that spreadsheet (which was made before people applying for Fall 2015 got in). Assuming I wrote down the stats correctly, and using your major GPA, your stats are in the range for the following schools (again, before the last round of acceptances): Case Western Reserve Illinois State Jackson State Kent State Loma Linda Marquette Marshall Marywood NY Medical College Seton Hall St. Ambrose Stephen F. Austin SUNY at Fredonia Texas Tech U of Cincinnatti U of Memphis U of Nebraska, Omaha U of Southern Mississippi U of Texas, El Paso U of Tulsa Washington State Honestly, your GRE scores are very low, and your stats are on the low end for most of these schools. Some of the schools do not require GREs, and those might be your best bet, depending on how you do on the writing section. I would focus on writing a great SOP, and having great letters of recommendation. Good luck!

I think you for sure want him. Some schools specifically say they want two professors, does your top choice? I would ask him about the school he is on the committee for, and call the other schools and ask. I found that every time I called a school and asked, they were very helpful.

I think in general as long as two of your recs are from professors (assuming you are a recent grad) your third rec doesn't need to be. I think your research supervisor would be a great choice, especially since he is on the admissions committee of your top choice. Even if the professor recuses himself when they are looking at your application, his recommendation would go a long way with his colleagues.

I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I would say hi! I'm finishing my prereqs in December and didn't want to wait a whole 9 months to start grad school. I started posting more because I am now finished with my applications and have a bunch of free time.Good luck to everyone and I hope you get good news soon!

I had a 10 point difference (maybe a little more) between my verbal and my quant. Both were lower than your scores, I have a lower post-bac GPA, and I was accepted into grad school. If you check out EdFind, you will find that your scores will be within or above the averages of most schools (unless it has changed drastically in the last 6 months). Unless your writing score ends up being really low, I don't think you need to take the test again.

Yes! I actually purposely did not send my scores when I took the test, because if I wanted to make sure they were good enough before I sent them to any schools. Once I got my official scores, I compared them to EdFind information, then decided whether I would retake the test or send the scores. Since my GPA is a little on the lower end, I did not want to send low scores to schools. Schools say they only look at the highest scores, but since I could afford to I thought better safe than sorry.

You're welcome!

While I liked information on how to write an SOP for any grad field, I looked for information specifically for SLP. I found this gradcafe thread helpful: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/41889-the-slp-sop/. I liked the following blog post even more, mostly because it is more detailed. Unfortunately, not all the links work anymore. https://slpecho.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/letterofintent_slpgradschool/

I agree that you have time to study the for the GRE. I gave myself about 3 weeks to study and am happy with my scores. I used Magoosh and Kaplan flashcards for vocab, and found the words much harder than the actual test! Only two of the words I had memorized were on the GRE, and I knew most of the vocab words from before I started studying. There were not very many I did not not know. Since you are worried about the vocab, I would memorize common prefixes, suffixes and word roots. I did that studying for the SAT/ACT, and it has helped me ever since. I would also suggest spending at least one day going over the math, even if you are good at math. Since I learned all the math in high school, I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. My math score was still competitive for the programs I applied to, but it was embarrassingly low. I think that the only way to improve your writing is to actually write. My undergrad was very big on writing, and that helped me more than any test prep could have. I would suggest writing everyday, or as often as possible. Even if you only spend 5 minutes writing, it is better than nothing. You can get lots of sample GRE writing prompts for free, I would suggest sitting in a quiet place, time yourself, and answer the prompts. Actually stop writing when the time is up. I would be shocked if this doesn't increase your speed. Honestly, I wouldn't even think about SOPs until after the GRE, unless you run out of GRE sample writing topics. I found SOPs to be very daunting, but not as hard as I thought they would be. And I HATE writing. If you spend two months working on your SOPs, I think you will be fine. I think that sometimes people overthink their SOPs (and writing in general) and spend too much time nitpicking. Of course, as I stated I hate writing, so that probably biases me. Sorry for the long winded response, I hope it helps!

I can't tell you if you will get in to Southern Connecticut State University, but I wanted to say that with your GPA, it is definitely possible to get into grad school. I still have to hear back from most of my schools, but I have gotten into one! My undergrad GPA is 3.1, and so far my postbac (at USU) GPA is currently a 3.6. I do have a very good resume though, and better GRE scores. According to EdFind, your GRE scores are within the range for Southern Connecticut. Their stated GRE range is 149-164(V), 138-157 (Q) and 3.5-5.5 (W). Obviously, if you had better scores it will only help you, but I think that your scores should be ok. I would consider emailing or calling Southern Connecticut to double check the EdFind information. You still have a long time before the application due. There are lots of ways to improve your application without retaking the GRE. You could beef up your resume, make sure you have good LORs, work on your SOP, etc. I would check out this thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/49929-fall-2014-less-competitive-grad-programs-applicants-thread/#comment-1058048639 I had to decide if I would rather get into grad school, or go to grad school in a location I wanted to be in. I would much rather be in grad school in the spring, than be at any specific grad school (or any particular region) at some non-specified date. It is generally easier to get into schools in the South and Midwest than on the coasts.

I looked into it, because I speak Spanish and it is almost like studying abroad, but with all conveniences of studying in the US. There are actuallyt hree accredited by ASHA: Carlos Albizu University Universidad del Turabo University of Puerto Rico, San Juan According to Edfind, all three require the GRE or EXADEP (like the GRE but in Spanish), so they won't work for the OP.

Puerto Rico is part of the US and has schools accredited by ASHA. Why do you need your parents need to cosign? Anyway, I would look into Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Ireland. If you want to go ASAP, you can still apply for spring admit at some Australia and New Zealand schools. I am applying to some schools in Australia. I found ISA degrees abroad helpful with applications, and if you apply through an agent many schools waive app fees. Good luck!

I realized that those 10 hours a week of wok I estimated do not include the readings. The readings can take a while to read, assuming you read them all. Even with the readings, you should be able to do the work while your kids are at school.

I am currently doing my prereqs online through USU. I have not applied to grad school yet, so I can't tell you about admissions. I like the USU program. I am doing it full time, and probably average about 10 hours a week. Some weeks I work a lot more (like finals week), and some weeks I work less. There are online pre-recorded lectures and lecture notes posted for every section. There are also active discussion forums and I have found the professors and TAs to be very responsive to questions on the forums and through email. I do find that I miss the classroom experience, and do not think I learn as well in an online environment, but I am still learning a lot and am not worried about being prepared for grad school. I think that if you are not working, you could probably do the work full time. I don't have kids, so I don't know how that will affect your work schedule, but if they are at school you should be able to get all your work done before you have to pick them. My only word of caution is that it is very easy to procrastinate with the online classes. I suggest you get a big desk calendar and write down all of your assignments on it at the beginning of the semester. I found it very helpful. Good luck!

I am applying for spring! I am finishing up my prereqs in the fall semester, and figured, why wait? Yesterday, I went through edfind and wrote down every school that has spring admissions, there are about 30 of them in total. It looks like Tennessee State offers the entire degree online, in addition to the programs above. Good luck!

First, I would not consider men a minority group, they are a minority on SLP, but not a minority group. I think they are less attracted to SLP for the same reason they don't become teachers or nurses. Speech pathology does not have the prestige of a doctor or lawyer, isn't as high paying as many other jobs, and is a 'nurturing' career (if that makes sense) which is in the US at least is still seen as more as women's work. I also think that some men are subconsciously weary of working in a field dominated by women. For hispanics and black americans, I don't think it is SLP per say, but more that they are more likely to be poor and less likely to complete college, let alone graduate school. It is unfortunate and part of a systematic problem. Obviously other fields that require a master degree (or higher) have fewer whites, so it is not the only reason, but I think it is part of it. Many of my friends (of different genders, races, ethnicities, and ages) had never heard of SLP before I told them about it. Perhaps that has something to do with the lack of diversity as well.

Hello GradCafe! Which programs are good for aphasia and have a bilingual focus or clinical practicums.Aphasia has always interested me and all the SLPs I have spoken to have told me that since I speak Spanish, I should try to have at least a practicum serving Spanish speakers. Thanks!

Congrats on your acceptances! I was just wondering what you wrote when you emailed all those programs? I am just starting the process (starting prereqs in the fall, still need to take the GRE) and am worried because my undergrad GPA wasn't steller (3.12). I'm already nervous and want to do whatever I can to increase my chances. Please and thanks!