Puffer Fish

I really want to be excited for you guys that got into UMD, but it's also my first choice and I haven't heard yet. My hopes have been slightly dented. I really wish I'll hear back from somebody soon. All my apps were finished barely on time, though, thanks to LOR writers being ultra slow!

Oh, that's definitely different than what I'm used to experiencing! I hope those go well for you. For me, my classes this year are online, so I basically can take them anytime until the deadline, and the one I finished was a "take-home" exam (a word document that we filled in) so I could take as much time as I needed. My last one is a more traditional, timed, multiple-choice exam that I am not looking forward to.

I'm officially 100% submitted on my end! Just waiting for CSDCAS to receive my transcripts in the mail and one of my professors to figure out how to submit her letter of rec. She's horrible with technology so I'm not at all surprised that she's the last one to finish. Classic her, lol.

As of five minutes ago I'm officially 100% submitted! Just waiting on CSDCAS (my field's universal application system) to receive my last two transcripts, and my one last professor to submit her freaking letter of recommendation. If I finish my second final exam tomorrow, then I'll be free from school and school-stress for a whole month!

I've submitted all my apps except for Penn State! All I need now is to start sending GRE scores and transcripts, (and wait for profs to enter LORs) but technology is failing me so I'll have to work on my tasks more tonight after dad and I fix the printer.

I received an email today from one of my two out-of-field recommenders informing me that she had no idea what CSDCAS was! I can't believe I forgot to explain that to her. Whoops. Luckily it's all fixed. Now to just...be satisfied with my personal statements, and then I can submit all my apps. Aaaaah.

No worries about hijacking! I only know about the requirements for my program, communication sciences & disorders, so I dunno about yours. But realistically, being at 550 instead of 500 is a lot less of an issue than being at 1,009 instead of 500 like I am. lol

As it says under my icon space, it's for speech-language pathology. Awesome! PM will be sent shortly. Sorry I couldn't do it sooner, I was at work.

I have what I and one of my readers think is a really strong base draft of my SOP, but it's 1,000 words. Everything I've read online says that, for my program, if a school doesn't specify how long it should be, it should be around 500 words. Would anybody be willing to help me figure out how to cut this almost in half? I'll PM you the text if you respond here. Thanks in advance!

I've finished one application and half of another, the rest are all just waiting on my personal statements and letters of rec. The personal statements are killing me right now! Eveywhere online says "if they don't specify, try to stay to one-page or 500 words", but my best draft is 1,000 words and covers everything I need it to succinctly. I have no idea if I'm just doing it wrong or what...I don't know how to cut it down to 500 or less without losing a lot of content I think is important. I wish I could go back and edit the app I turned in, because I know more about a couple professors at that school now than I did then. Ugh.

I'm trying to get all of mine done before Halloween; I've submitted one so far and am doing another this weekend. The only thing stopping me from having them done tomorrow afternoon is my SOP drafts not being perfect yet. After this weekend's open house visit I think I'll be able to mix and match and copy paste around enough to submit quickly and be stress free...ish...for a few months.

The "right" number of schools is the number that you feel is enough to have a chance at admission, but not so many that your writing resources nor your fit for the program are spread thin. For me, that number is 6. For others in this forum, that was 2. For even others, that number is more than 12. Considering the preliminary stats you've posted, I think you have a shot as long as you get good LORs and your SOP is solid.

I think the stats are reported by the schools, or auto-pulled from the school's websites. Not sure which, and I could be wrong. All I know is that some of the schools I'm applying to had incorrect stats on ASHA because they were either missing or corrupted (Pittsburgh lists their numbers in reverse! So, their GPA range is 4.0-3.4 or something like that. It's clearly broken somehow.)

Aw man, I'm starting to psych myself out! As a completely average applicant (on paper), I'm starting to feel a deep existential dread about my statement(s) of purpose...at least there's still a week left before the submission frenzy starts...but on the other hand it's only a week omg panic time guys. I'm also applying to UMD! Best of luck to you. What school's your top choice?

i am not applying for any online master's programs. My leveling courses are online and I already know it's not my ideal learning environment. I'm also only applying to east coast schools, so...

I say go for it now! You'll never know if you don't try; there's always people who have more experience than you, and there's always people with less experience than you, and sometimes you find that all three of you got into the same grad school program(s). It really comes down to what you can and will do in the future at that school, among other factors. Your GPA is phenomenal, you have some experience, and you have a lot of activities that show your ability to commit to hard things plus lead others. I'd say you have a shot at least somewhere. I have an out of field degree too and chose to wait to apply until I had most of the classes done. I wish I hadn't; I found out too late that one of my few in-state schools offers a out-of-field specific track of their program to fill in the gaps. If I had applied last year I might be there right now, not worrying about applications and the future...but I didn't. Don't let yourself regret that you didn't at least try this year.

As someone from out of field, all of my LOR writers are out of field: English/poetry Ph.D, linguistics/child language development Ph.D, and a Spanish professor. They are the three professors I worked the most with and the best with, so I trust them to write accurate letters of my abilities. If I don't get in this time, I don't know if I would feel comfortable asking them a second time though.

The home page of CDSCAS says "THE 2015-2016 APPLICATION CYCLE WILL OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2015. Applicants wishing to apply for the 2016 cycle may not create an account or send documents or tests scores to CSDCAS prior to this date. Documents received by CSDCAS prior to this date will not be accepted." So, I'm pretty sure we can't really do anything before the 17th.

Sorry, speechie, I'm only looking at schools within a reasonable driving distance (less than six hours) from where my family lives. That being said, I never actually posted the entire list of schools I'm applying to since I forgot that they removed the ability to have signatures. Sigh...anyway. Here they are in order of preference! Penn StateUniversity of Pittsburgh/University of MarylandUniversity of Virginia/James Madison UniversityWest Virginia University (I will literally only go here if I don't get in anywhere else. It's a good school and I like Morgantown but I just don't really want to live in WVA unless I have to.)Of course, if I get in to more than one school at all it'll be a hard choice...but I'm really kind of leaning to either UVA or PSU right now. UVA because it's somehow the least expensive school on my list while still being a good program (even though it's a M.Ed.), and PSU because it has a really good research lab on AACs. My preferences will probably change again next week, which is why I'm glad it's not April yet!

I've read elsewhere that having an M.Ed doesn't make a difference on what kinds of jobs you can get post-graduation. Someone can correct me here if I'm wrong, but I think it doesn't matter much what kind of M you have as long as it's an M in CSD/SLP/etc. That being said, I'm also a little wary about going there too because of the label of the degree, even though UVA is the least expensive school I'm applying to and I would gladly attend there.

I know for a fact that the University of Virginia specifically offers a track for out-of-fielders, because I almost applied for that branch of their program last year. It's totally realistic for you to being applying, but be sure to look specifically for "prerequisite track" programs or whatever they call them. Worst comes to worst, you can email them and ask if they do deferrals! I can't speak for East Carolina, but I have contacted several other schools about this in the past. West Virginia University said they make out-of-fielders take the undergrad classes at the same time as their graduate classes, while Edinboro University in Pennsylvania told me they would defer admission until I got prereqs done if I chose to apply. Meanwhile, Gallaudet University in Washington DC told me they never do deferrals due to the popularity of their program and tiny cohort size. I would recommend taking the prereqs either as a non-degree-seeking undergrad, or online. The University of Maryland allows for grad students to enroll in prereqs on campus, but they make you pay graduate student fees instead of undergrad fees so you're paying more money than you would otherwise. Considering your background and stats, I think you'll have a shot at least somewhere that allows for a prerequisite track. I hope this helps!

I would love to move and work abroad someday! Maybe working with expats or with kids on military bases. Even though kids aren't my best focus, I absolutely believe that military kids sometimes get the short end of the stick with services when they have to move around so much. As an added bonus, my boyfriend's projected career path would allow him to travel and live abroad as well, so provided everything goes well for him we could move to a variety of places. I'd really like to go to Germany at some point because I'm half-heartedly studying German and would love to occasionally have a use for it.

I think it depends on the school. I asked several schools if deferral was possible for the purpose of taking a year to take prerequisites. Only one school insisted that deferral was not possible, and that was Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Their reason was that they have over 300 applicants for 15 seats a year and it is not fair to do deferrals. The real way to know is to email and ask! The worst they can say is no.

I know there's been plenty of info about apartments up to now, but does anyone have any recommendations in particular for pet-friendly apartment complexes?

I hate to be 'that' girl and bring back dead threads, but... Do you know if having an M. Ed affects your ability to get medical placement positions later on? Because my favorite of my two safety schools is an M. Ed, and if I end up going there I don't want to potentially lose out on my dream position in a hospital because of the title of my degree.