mr479

What inhibits these people from pursuing their dreams is the limited space at universities for clinical placements, not GRE scores. I agree more people should be able to study speech language pathology and enter the profession. What I believe needs to happen is for ASHA to allow people with an undergraduate degree and clinical year to become certified. Graduate school is just a repeat of everything you cover in undergraduate, in my opinion. Graduate school excludes potential SLPs for no reason other than prestige. This is wrong. Increase academic standards at the undergraduate level, allow college graduates to find an SLP willing to supervise them during a clinical year, and have them take a state/national exam. Problem solved. This is not unlike the situation in other countries, e.g., Germany. And honestly, this is how it worked for hundreds of years before institutions of learning took over as money making machines.

Where did you visit? Were there any that you liked?

But you shouldn't have to do a PhD to be challenged. I guarantee if I were doing this degree level elsewhere or even in another country the expectations would be greater and far more challenging. The only problem with studying in another country is postgraduate certification.

Why are you going to Australia?

Why are you hesitant?

I am happy you are having such a positive experience. It sounds like you are in a great place and should stay put if you can. When I did my observations, the clinicians I observed seemed to do everything but evidence based practice. And then when I heard that recent interview on NPR with a speech pathologist on upspeak and vocal fry, I just cringed. So you're right, currently my impression on the profession is not a very positive one. I would like to be that alternative voice to the horrors I have witnessed, but is it really worth it? Students in my program receive mixed messages. Everyone who did their undergrad here (which constitutes the majority of my cohort) believe that our program is the absolute best in the state of Oklahoma, that our students are in high demand, and that the rest of us should feel privileged to be in the program we are. Students from other undergraduate programs feel differently. One of my friend's supervisors told her at the end of her internship that she heard our school wasn't very good. Maybe this is an indirect way of saying, "I wasn't very impressed with your performance here," but either way, ouch. I don't think there is a protocol for reporting negative experiences to ASHA, although I would be more than happy to do so. I think I am one of the few who would, although I can confidently say that the majority of my cohort is as frustrated/discouraged as me. Amongst ourselves, we lament the incompetence of one of our instructors (who cancels class on a regular basis), and just yesterday I said to someone, "Well will you give them a bad review at the end of term then?" She replied, "Oh no, I would never do that." Unfortunately, I think this is how most people do things around here. I'm not used to that kind of passivity. This experience really is too bad to be true. I guess you'd have to experience it yourself to believe it. Hopefully, you won't have to.

Yes it is. Are you?

And thank you @jmk and @Jolie717. Your responses were great, insightful, and very helpful!

I don't think it was within the professor's rights at all to say what she said, and I wish there were consequences. But as students who work for free, we have very few rights of our own. I don't like the program because there are numerous such instances of which the examples above are just a few. In addition, the faculty use scare tactics on a daily basis. We walk around in constant fear with the threat of dismissal hovering over us, which doesn't make for a very pleasant environment. I personally have learned to ignore the faculty and spend as little time around them as possible. I think they are insane, mean-spirited, and incompetent. A few of our names were removed from the audiology sign up sheet because we signed in pen instead of pencil, and our punishment is that we cannot sign up for anymore until next semester. They seem to care more about teaching us our place, reminding us that were are just "students", and less about things of value and substance. They treat us like children, when in reality, the only ones acting like children are them. Personally, I am no longer excited about becoming a speech-language pathologist. I thought my grad experience would be challenging, stimulating, thought-provoking. It seems that speech-language pathology isn't a very difficult field and that speech-language pathologists are just glorified elementary school teachers. I look forward to having a Master's degree, but I don't think that will be something to be proud of knowing full well I do not possess Master's level knowledge. Perhaps all programs in the United States are this basic, and that's sad. In addition, my program does not offer the option of a thesis or research project. The only capstone is the practice praxis which nobody passed. Does anyone have experience transferring programs? Is it difficult to gain admission to another school? I imagine that it is. I know most programs only take up to 9 hours of transfer credit as well.

Anyone know why exactly UA-F is on probation and what this means for future graduates?

I am in the worst SLP program. 2nd years took a practice Praxis, and NO ONE passed. That's not all. The faculty are also extremely hateful. A colleague of mine just had a baby, and a professor literally told her to her face she would have waitlisted her if she had known she was pregnant. What to do? What should I do? Is switching programs impossible and/or a bad idea?

Yes, but as the linguist points out in this interview, there are languages that use creaky voice for phonemic contrasts, and none of those speakers have been rushed to the hospital for speaking! The claim that vocal fry is dangerous to the voice is unsubstantiated in the scientific literature.

I couldn't disagree more. Your education should not be on a permanent record. We are one of the few countries that keeps tabs on people the way we do in this domain. It's reminiscent of the East German Stasi. But, unfortunately, if caught, one would be removed, yes. In an unfair system like ours, sometimes being "dishonest" is the only option. I personally don't find this unethical because it is subversive of a system that needs changing.

Obviously, you should apply again with no mention of your attendance at un-said university. While for some people this is dishonest, I personally believe that your past is nobody's business but your own. I also see no other option for you. The only hurdle you may run into is getting financial aid. Universities claim that you must send ALL transcripts, but I found this to be not true. It may be a risk, but it's one worth taking if you have no other options. Good luck.

That's B.S.

Waste of time. Won't make you a more competitive applicant. Don't do it.

*vocal fry

Makes sense.

I'd say this is inaccurate advice that cannot be generalized. Your experience is the exception, unfortunately. Applicants who've worked as SLP assistants for years have been rejected bc they lack the digits. Surely they have passion and experience. But with a 3.5 and solid GRE scores, I'd say you stand a chance. My program at Northeastern State University is not the greatest, but they admit people with low GRE scores but an otherwise good application. And if they don't have a spot for you for the upcoming year, they oftentimes offer you one for the subsequent year which is nice. I don't know of many programs like that, so again, that is also an exception.

"Contrary to what some speech patholgists will tell you, cocal fry is not bad for your vocal folds." http://blog.dictionary.com/vocal-fry/

There are currently 3 Canadians in my program at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. 2 are from Saskatchewan and 1 from Manitoba. They have had many more in the past. Unfortunately the website for this program is very uninformative. They all came from Minot State University in North Dakota, which in my opinion is the better option because tuition is the same for resident, nonresident, and international students, set at approximately $8,000/year. But my school is also a more affordable option than most for international students.

For some, yes, for others, no. It depends on the school. I had a 161 V and 148 Q, and I was accepted to and/or had an interview with 5/8 schools. If I had taken the GRE again and scored a higher Q and a lower V than the first, say a 155 in each, I probably would have gone with the first set of scores. I imagine it's better to excel in one thing than be mediocre in everything, but that's me. I spoke with the head of the program at Western Washington, who said everything in my application was solid except for my GRE. So, again, it all depends.

Are you familiar with EdFind? EdFind has admissions statistics for all the SLP programs in the US. You can use this resource , to see how many applicants there are to a particular school, what portion of those applicants were offered admission, and what their credentials were. Koalalover, I'm getting a bit frustrated with you because I don't think you grasp how competitive this field is. Right now as you stand, you are not competitive for even a waitlist. I'm curious what your top 3 are. You might want to take a look at less competitive schools (there is thread somewhere out there). I'm not trying to be harsh, but I'd hate for you to waste a bunch of $$$$$$$$$$$$$ this application season knowing you have a long way to go.

How did you learn so many languages? I am 1/2 German, so that is easy, but I found Turkish quite difficult in college. Did you live there by chance?

Are you sure that you wouldn't be qualified to work in the US if you had studied in Germany?