SLPgradstudent

That's too funny! Maybe you're my twin from across the pond!!! It's hard to have a restrictive diet. I'm lucky that my fiancé can eat pretty much whatever he wants, so at least we don't have to worry about that. But I hear you. Meals can get pretty boring after a while. We're always looking for new recipes that we can eat. When we find one we like, we save it in a document so we can make it again later! It is nice that restaurants are generally becoming more sensitive to food allergies and intolerances. I always feel bad when we go out, and I have to grill the waiter about all the ingredients in the food (or drinks). Sometimes they have to run back to the kitchen a couple of times to check on ingredients before I can even order!

Sorry about your rejection rosali. That sucks, but I agree that it's probably that your research interests don't fit with what anyone in the department is doing. But yay working out to conquer anxiety and depression! I just spent 20 minutes on the elliptical. I haven't heard back from anywhere yet and it's driving me kinda crazy!

My Mom has a severe peanut allergy. I still remember the picnic we went to when I was 7, where she accidentally ate some dip that was made with peanuts, and had to be taken away by ambulance (she refuses to carry an epi-pen to this day). Luckily I don't have any anaphylactic reactions, but my body does hate me if I accidentally eat something I shouldn't. Also, European chocolate (and food in general) is sooooo much better than American chocolate! I gained weight when I spent just three weeks in Europe, even though I was walking everywhere. So worth it though! Eating out was really hard for me at first, even though my food issues aren't technically allergies (no hives, just really bad GI symptoms). I can eat a lot more now than when I first got sick, but often when we go out for food stuff, I'm happy if I can find two things on the menu that I can eat. It doesn't help that I don't eat red meat. Luckily, I can have poultry and seafood. Most of my genuine allergies are just skin reactions and the like (grass pollen gives me hive and makes my eyes itch, adhesive tape turns me bright red and itchy, that sort of thing.) I'm somewhat allergic to cats too. We have two fluffballs, so I just suffer through with daily allergy meds!

Hi Nathan, and welcome! Not having your degree in speech pathology isn't really a big deal. I would definitely consider doing a post bacc program (or at least some prerequisite courses). I did it, and I really enjoyed it, but I also gained the certainty that I am definitely going into the right field for me. I'm finishing my 2nd bachelor's through Utah State University's distance learning program, which is pretty affordable. I'm also taking a neuroanatomy course through University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire's continuing ed (distance) program, since I need that class for one of the grad programs I applied to. There are a lot of distance programs out there now, so it's worth looking into. There are also three year graduate programs, although depending on the program, that can be more expensive because it's graduate tuition rates. Speech pathology has great job prospects, and pretty good pay. One of my professors said, "you won't get rich, but you'll never be poor." You will be able to get a job straight out of grad school (your first job is actually a CFY - Clinical Fellowship Year). And you will be able to get a job whatever part of the country you are in. The link BamaBelle posted is a great way to look at what kind of salary you could expect in this field. You can also look at http://www.asha.org/edfind/ to find programs in various areas and levels of study. To be a Speech-Language Pathologist, the entry level degree is a masters. But you can also get a PhD, MA/PhD, CScD, etc. if that's a better fit for you. If you want to work with people hands-on though (rather than research), then a MA will be as much as you need. Your GPA is good. If you do go the pre-requisite route, I will tell you now: get as close to a 4.0 as you possibly can! Grad schools are very competitive, and your GPA (especially in prereq classes) & GREs are a very important factor. I think your background in languages will be an excellent asset to you in this field too. Also be aware that ASHA requires some other core coursework, which you may or may not have completed already. These include a biological science, a physical science (Chem, Physics, etc), and a stat class. If you haven't, don't worry too much, you can usually do it along with pre-req classes. I hope this wasn't information overload. Good luck!

Hello celiac and GF friends! Just wanted to tell you all, I feel your pain. While I am no longer on a GF diet, I was for a while, so that they could rule that out as the source of my health problems. Turns out I'm fine with dairy and gluten (thank goodness), but I have a fructose intolerance. And intolerance to certain other carbohydrates with very long names. So I have my own set of yummy foods that I can't eat (including apples, pears, honey, HFCS). I've learned to live with it, but some days I still yearn to be able eat food like a normal person!

I wondered that myself. I think I've seen that post (or one like it) before. I'd like to think either it was rolling admission or maybe someone was trying to figure out how to use the survey and accidentally submitted.

Good to know! I noticed that EdFind listed it separately when I went back to look. Thanks for the info Jolie!

I didn't even think of that. (Which is funny, because I feel like "have you looked at ASHA's EdFind?" is the answer to half the questions on the SLP board!) Here's the link BFSLP2017: http://www.asha.org/edfind/results.aspx?area=SLP&degree=CPED&location=ALL

I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but the University of Maryland has a combined MA/PhD program. http://hesp.umd.edu/undergraduate/combined-maphd-program-speech-language-pathology

Thank you esopha! That means a lot to me. I really hope you get in to all of your schools too!!!

Yes, that's sound advice. Except an acceptance just showed up. And the last 3 years running, this school has sent out the first round of decisions on February 4th, so it seems reasonable that the decisions are starting to come out now. Thanks for the reassurance though. It's really hard to keep my head from exploding right now!

I have a couple of friends who met in grad school, both studying engineering. They had to live and work in separate states for a few years before finally finding positions at the same university in the Midwest. They're married and expecting their first child now!

Seriously feeling anxious today. Someone just posted a "waitlist" response from one of my schools, which is the first I've seen in terms any of decisions. I am literally logging into my applications every five minutes looking for an update right now. Which is not helping me getting my reading done for Aural Rehab... Time to go for a walk. Or meditate. Or both. (Not at the same time though!)

That is really sad. Particularly since the poster seems to feel like being Chinese is what makes it dangerous for him/her.

This seems to be a very hard concept for many people to grasp. I blame President Washington for being so great that his name has to be in more than one state.

I'm not familiar with Michigan schools, but have you looked at ASHA's EdFind yet? Here's the search results for Michigan SLP programs: http://www.asha.org/edfind/results.aspx?area=SLP&degree=ALL&location=MI It looks like most of these schools have accepted students with GPA's at or below 3.4, at least for last year's admissions cycle. You can also see GRE score ranges, and see how you compare. Also, know that it is very early in terms of receiving decisions. A few schools have started sending them out, yes, but many haven't quite yet, and even the ones that have probably have only sent out the first round of offers. They can only send so many offers at a time, and have to wait to hear back from those students before sending out the next wave. It's really very early, and at this stage I would say no news is good news. Your acceptance letter may be on it's way any day now! Or it might come in two or three weeks. Less fun to have to wait, but you'll get through. In the meantime, you can also check out the survey for each of your schools, to see when decisions came out in past years, and which schools have started sending out offers this year. It looks like at least some of the Michigan programs don't start sending decisions until the end of February. http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=speech+michigan&t=a&o=&pp=250 Good luck!

I hear you. I finished my apps in December, but the deadlines were both in January, so I've already been waiting a while. Now we've reached February, and I'm expecting to hear back this month (maybe even this week) if it's good news. Of course, I'm worried I'll still be waiting to hear back at the end of the month, and feel like they must be rejecting me. And all of this is going on in my head before the real wait has even started! Can I join your internal screaming party?

It's so great reading all of these acceptance stories! I hope I have one of my own to share soon. Although my story will probably be, "I was sitting at my computer, avoiding doing my assignment and checking my email for the 1000th time that day when..." I'm feeling so nervous waiting, but your stories make me smile! Thanks everyone!!!

I actually had 3 academic and one clinical (SLP I volunteered under). One of my schools wanted 3 professors, and clinical recommendations were a bonus (but not a substitute.) I chose three CD professors whose classes I had done very well in (high As), and that I had shown more than just my ability to turn assignments in on time. For instance, I was a group leader for our group project for one professor's class. I only applied to 2 programs, and was considering a third, so I asked for 3 letters tops (not all schools wanted 3 or 4 recommendations, one only wanted 2). I had a letter from an SLP, who was the supervisor for my volunteer position, but I didn't have any other good options. I'd been out of school for about 4 years before start my prerequisites/2nd bachelor's, so the recent volunteer supervisor was my best choice for a clinical recommendation letter. I hope this helps!

Hey everybody, February is here! For many of us, we will probably be getting news about decisions THIS MONTH!!!!! I'm hoping it's more like this week, but we'll see! Good luck everyone!

Me too! So excited that it's February!!! Of course, I was waiting for February so that I could start waiting for decisions. The come any time between February and mid-April. Now the (real) wait begins!

Also, I meant to ask you if you have a top choice school. Do you know already where you'll go if you get in to all three programs?

Oh my goodness! I can't imagine living in LA. The traffic going anywhere must be horrendous, even with a reverse commute. I did a reverse commute for a year when we lived in Baltimore, and traffic was still nightmarish some days. I don't know that I ever would have applied to ten schools either. I know where I want to go, and I know what my second choice school is. I've visited both, plus a few others, and feel confident in my choice. I know that I will be very happy (if I get in), whichever school I end up attending. Although one is significantly more affordable than the other! Back when my fiancé was applying for jobs, after he finished his PhD, we talked about where the best areas would be for us to end up, in terms of giving me good options for grad school. We considered everywhere from D.C. to Boston, to North Carolina to California and more. He happened to land a great job in D.C., so our move from Baltimore was fairly short. It's nice because we're still within an hour of both of our parents. And we chose a place where he wouldn't have to drive into the city, he can take public transit all the way in, with a short walk on either side. Either grad school will also be accessible by public transit (or the school's shuttle) for me. Once I get through grad school, we can think about where we want to be more long-term. For now, we're in a great neighborhood that we love. DC is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance. Even though I've lived in Maryland my whole life, I still enjoy going into DC. Applying to twenty schools does seem insane. I understand that California schools are crazy competitive, but if your stats are good, doesn't it make more sense to submit 3 or 5 really strong applications than to submit 20 generic ones? I don't know. Even applying to six seemed like a lot to me. Thanks for your kind words! I really appreciate how supportive and knowledgeable people on GradCafe are!

Good to know esopha! I'll keep that in mind if I don't get the desired results from the schools I've already applied to.

Thanks for sharing Jolie! You're not wrong, I started with 3 schools too. I ended up not applying for my 3rd school because I didn't feel like the program was a great fit for me. It's a fantastic program, but not what I want. Also, I wanted to focus my energy on finishing my final courses. So many people here have applied to 6 or 12 or 20 schools, that I feel like the oddball having only applied to two. But my fiancé just got his job in April, and we would like to stay in the area, which limits my choice already. The schools that I am applying to are top ranked and awesome programs all around. My stats are their ranges, but my overall GPA isn't awesome. I have a 4.0 for the last 90+ credits though, so I feel like that makes up for it a little. I hope the schools agree! I am going to be very nervous until I hear back. Your reasons definitely make sense. I feel like it's easy for a kid straight out of college to apply across the country, to any every school, whereas for someone who's married or has kids (or both), or is otherwise tied down to one location, the options are more limited. I hope you and your family are very happy wherever you end up. West coast is beautiful, I would love to live out there someday. For now, I'm stuck on the East coast, not that I mind Maryland or the DC area. I've lived here my whole life, and for the most part I love it. I don't love the traffic, but I'm sure you can understand that, living near LA.