already40

University of Tennessee (UTHSC Knoxville) There isn't a track, but Dr McCarthy does a lot with literacy. She oversees a nice grant for AAC & Literacy, and deaf/HOH & Literacy.

I took the GRE 2.5 years ago as a 39 yo. I could always hold my own in the maths in HS and college, but not gonna lie -- diving back in was tough. I studied for about a year as well. My math score was nothing special -- 147. I was accepted into the only program I applied to which has about a 20% acceptance rate. I think my educational experience, references and essay are what did it for me. One thing to consider is that ASHA requires you to have a Statistics course, so if you don't have that you might want to find a way to work on that. You'll be getting it out of the way plus brushing up on a lot of math skills. And try to look at all the math studying with a healthy attitude. Although most of the subject matter itself isn't used in the field, it is working on memorization and problem solving skills, which I am needing in my studies today. For example, A&P of Speech was a lot of memorization, and Acoustics of Sound is physics based. You will need an understanding of things like absolute value and standard deviations. I used the $100 Magoosh plan, and did lots of practice questions on my weak areas from the free GRE study materials and second hand GRE review books. I also had Algebra I & II Cliff Notes books that I relied on quite a bit in the beginning to get going and spent a lot of time at Kahn Academy. Good luck!

Good stuff! This reminded me to go get another glass of water I know I'm a better person when I exercise. I do wonder how in the world I'll fit it in on a full-time grad school / being a mom schedule though...

Thanks everybody. I pretty much follow most of what's being said here. Stick with mostly unprocessed foods, eat a protein breakfast (with coffee of course ) , have a B complex vitamin and D for the winter, and try to exercise at least 3x a week. I'm relatively healthy -- don't get sick a lot, no major health issues. But I've never been a high energy person either. For instance, I've always had to have at least 8 hours minimum of sleep. My life has had its share of difficult times, but I think that being a good mom and a good grad school student at the same time will be the hardest thing I've attempted yet. Thanks for reinforcing what I already know. If there's no magic "smart pill" out there, here's to coffee, avocados, and I suppose some more exercise.

Hi Everyone, This is my very first post here. I've been working towards grad school application for the past couple of years and am now waiting to hear... I fall into the older category. If all goes well, I'll be starting grad school this fall a few weeks after turning 40. I'm trying to do as much preemptive planning as possible and one of the issues I've got to pay attention to is obviously my mental strength and function. I'm pretty sure I lost a few IQ points with every pregnancy and I can't kid myself into thinking grad school will be as easy at 40 as undergrad was at 20. Sometimes the brainfog gets pretty thick. I should've already been on this while I was studying for the GRE, but oh well.... I know the right vitamins/supplements/super foods can be amazing helps and I'm wondering what is actually working for people that are constantly studying like I will be. I'm pretty sure I need to be working Omega 3s in more, but I get overwhelmed when I start to look into which ones are actually worthwhile vs "junk vitamins" etc. Or are green smoothies all you need? I know every body has a different chemistry and needs, but like I said, just want to hear what is actually helping people in similar situations. I don't mind spending a reasonable amount of money for stuff that will help, but I sure don't have money to throw away. TIA!