jmk

Is it a professional reference, or a professor? First- check to see if (somehow) you have the wrong e-mail saved, or if this person has switched to a new e-mail. I would also try a phone call (if you have the number or extension). With the holiday/break, I doubt you could try an in-person visit. Also- is there anyone else you can ask for a reference? With only a handful of days to go, and the holidays, I personally would not bank on this first reference coming through- especially if they haven't answered e-mails. I would try and obtain a different reference ASAP. I am sorry you are having to go through this- especially right before the holidays, and deadline.

Did you or are you planning to also minor in something? Were you actively involved with your NSSLHA chapter? Did you serve as an officer? Do you feel as though minoring or an active involvement in NSSLHA really highlighted or improved your application? (My small CD program has a very strong culture and overall push for minoring in Special Education, and being active with NSSLHA. As a commuter student, I recently expressed that I would be cutting back on my NSSLHA involvement, and not pursuing a minor due to schedule conflicts. I was met by negativity by my minor advisor, faculty advisor, and peers I asked for advice. I feel as though I am disappointing my advisor if I do not go the path she is advising (which involves the minor and NSSLHA). Meanwhile, I also want to do what is best for me and the best use of my time. Feeling a bit conflicted.)

Allegro: the OP is asking if grad school is an option, not if she should state the infraction or not. Is it in the sentence below infers to graduate school. I would email programs you are interested in and ask. Since you have a good GPA and GRE, I would also still apply. I do think it may damage your application, but I also do not think it will completely hinder you- particularly since you didn't receive an automatic F in the course, or get expelled from the incident.

If you are looking to participate in studies, I would contact the Psych or kinesiology programs at your school. At my school (which is not a research oriented school, btw) some professors take on undergraduate research assistants if the professor is still actively performing research. The positions are usually not heavily advertised- I would look and see if any professors are doing research, then email them and set up an advising appointment to talk with them about their research. You may have to do other things such as submit a resume, schedule an additional interview with the professor after you have talked with them about their research, or complete a short course about research ethics through your university (Mine has a one time 2 hour online course requirement). Usually professors will ask what your research background is, what skills you bring as a researcher, and your future research goals. Personally, at this stage of the game, I would not make much of an effort to get involved unless it was for purely personal gain. Most students, at least in my program, go on to work with the professor for multiple semesters, and usually end up doing an independent project or undergrad thesis from their experience. I personally chose not to get involved with research after exploring the option and realizing that my interests were more clinical. If you are looking for a "quick" resume booster, why not volunteer in a pediatric clinic, or as a literacy tutor?

I would try and find a second academic letter writer, as wonderful as your personal writers may be. You are going to get mixed subjective reviews, mine included. No one knows the answer but the admissions committees. Thus: apply. Personally, I think you should broaden where you are applying, and yes, I do think that your GPA will limit your acceptances. Are you applying to schools as you do not want to leave your job/move? Why not apply to any others in the Carolinas or neighboring states? That way, you have your top choices close to home...but also are broadening your options.

Very interesting read! Thanks for digging that up.

What is your -Cumulative GPA -CSD (major) GPA Have you taken the GRE? What were your scores? Do you have any relevant experience?

No, public speaking or personal communication are not required. I do know that sometimes those classes are a university graduation requirement, but not for speech. I would schedule an appointment with an academic counselor at your university, as well as an appointment with an academic counselor for your department. They will be able to advise you best. Are you currently a Communicative Disorders or Speech Pathology major? The only things you should focus on are: 1. Classes in your major 2. Graduation requirements from your university to graduate 3. ASHA breadth pre-reqs, which may be covered in your general ed (Chemistry or physics, bio, stats, etc.)

Besides personal opinion, I haven't found an article or statement voicing one way or the other. My thoughts: For the initial cut of applicants, what about potential legal ramifications giving an applicant an edge up due to gender, race, or religion? (all which can sometimes be assumed from just one's name). What about personal bias/discrimination? Thus: I would not think that gender would be a complete pull factor to make up for mediocre GPA or GRE. The final cut? I could imagine, comparing two applicants with near equal statistics, that perhaps a program would choose a minority (for CSD): whether it be race or gender. Those are my personal speculations, haha.

Unless you are only interested in one particular specialty of SLP that happens to have less demand (say you only wanted to work with Mandarin speaking adults with TBI in a South Florida hospital), the usual pediatric range/outpatient jobs are multiple pages of listings long for the cities I have looked at. Also, it is predicted that there will be a growing need for SLP's in the next decade. I would look up the profession and job outlook online, as well as job sites, school district sites, and hospitals to see the need for SLP's in your area. Hopefully, you will be happily surprised. At the same time, I have noticed that while jobs are plentiful, a majority of therapists are hired part time in both the school system here (CA), and private practices. The dozen therapists I have observed all piece together 2-3 jobs, such as one in the schools, and one in a private clinic some afternoons. Pay and benefits appear to be good, and they love the flexibility. I am not sure if this is a common practice among other locations or populations- these were all pediatric therapists. I would also advise you return to school. The small handful of friends I have that majored in English as an undergrad, or even continued onto a Masters program all went a different route from English. One even became an SLP! She went through Utah State University's three year program, and had no ComDis prereqs done before starting.

Unless your university has some really lenient retake rules, the grade (and units?) you receive this time around may not be factored into your GPA. I would check with an advisor at your university how this class will show up on your transcript. I am not applying this year, but recall from reading CSDCAS that they do have a repeat policy. I would read up on the FAQ for CSDCAS, and potentially email them. If you are very concerned, I would also email schools you are applying to and ask them how retakes are calculated into your GPA. Some may take the highest grade, others may combine the two grades, but since this is a retake for a class you passed before, they might not even factor in your second class or units. This is a unique situation since you did not fail the class the first time. I personally do not think it will look negatively on your transcript at all. Though not quite the same situation, people take electives like Ceramics or Yoga multiple times, I don't see how one elective course would be any different.

Thank you! I hadn't even thought of newborn hearing screening.

I looked it up once haha! It seems very research oriented (moreso towards almost neuroscience). It's the SHBT program. Just google SHBT Harvard.

Any insight or ideas for ways to volunteer, or schools with a medical focus? So far I have: Volunteering: Hospital setting: try to shadow rehab dept esp SLP's Schools: Rush MGH NY Medical College University of Washington MedSLP focus Uni of Ohio Uni of Pittsburgh? Case Western Akron?

I would ask more specific questions than your stats. Ex: What was your average GPA of accepted applicants past cycles? Do you have a GRE minimum or cut-off? What was your acceptance rate for the last cycle? Do you place more weight on cumulative or last 60 GPA? I have found programs to be pretty responsive to the above. Some programs give more generic answers, and some list the above on their website. Armed with GPA and GRE of the last cycle, you can more adequately assess if you match with the school's stats. Obviously each year the applicant pool is a bit different, but if a school states that their average GPA of accepted students was a 3.8, and I have a 3.55 GPA, I am not going to apply as personally, I feel that my chances would be pretty slim.

I live in the Bay Area, CA, as do my parents. For undergrad, I currently commute 50 minutes into the city by train, then have a 10 minute bus ride. I like the train over driving due to the fact that I can study, and the time passes quickly. Some days it is a pain, but the amount of $$ saved will be about 15k a year on housing. I have established friends, so socialization is not a problem. I plan my time wisely with my commute, and squeeze in plenty of observation, clubs, and volunteering with my schedule. Convenience factor? Not always. Early mornings? One day a week. Money saved? To me, it is worth it. I will have no loans from undergrad. For grad, I would be willing to commute up to 1.5 hours away by car or public transit to save on housing costs. I will be taking out loans for grad school, and want to keep the costs down as much as possible. I have also looked into programs with lower cost of living than the Bay Area, and good public transit systems (Portland, Seattle).

I also advise to take edfind stats with a grain of salt. Ex: UMass Amherst in Boston lists on Edfind that they had a pretty large GPA range. Meanwhile, on their website, it says their average was a 3.85 cumulative. I emailed the program and indeed, edFind was not up to date, and their actual accepted applicants had much higher GPA's. In addition, some programs put more stress on last 60 and CSD, versus cumulative and CSD, which can greatly increase or decrease an applicant's chance that has a lower cumulative but higher last 60. I would make a list of programs you are interested in based on cost and location as well as specialty, then email them directly to gain insight on GPA, GRE, and acceptance rate. I have found that programs not in a metropolitan area (ex: Southern Illinois) tend to appear to have lower GPA and GRE averages. In addition, smaller schools that are less well known, such as East Stroudsborg (that may be the wrong spelling) in Pennsylvania may also have a smaller pool of applicants.

Did you base your decision off of funding at all, or fit/opportunity? Are you initially from Illinois? If so- any reason why you did not apply to additional schools such as Southern or Western Illinois, or Illinois State? What is something that you think your current program could improve upon (if any)? Not pertaining to Rush- but would you say Northern Illinois is moreso in the middle of nowhere, or still pretty urban? When searching Illinois schools (pretty nice out of state tuition rates) I am a bit deterred from schools that are a 2+ hour drive from Chicago or St. Louis.

I would also make a pro-con list after you've had a few nights rest past your initial frustrations you recently encountered. I had a friend last year that found herself in a similar situation of being unhappy with her program. She ended up sticking with the program due to being disappointed that many other universities would accept little or even none of her credits from her first year, so if she left she essentially would have "wasted" a year. Some questions to address would be do you have the money, and want to put the time, into essentially starting over? What about your program is not meeting your expectations and hopes? Is it impacting your mental health negatively? & as Jolie said, I would more concerned with the actual Praxis rate, not the practice.

As OverCaffeinated said- unless you can spin it a really positive way, I would not include that. If you have had great grades in your last 60 and major, that should speak for itself. Especially if you have good GRE scores, and some experience. I would only write about poor grades if you did great for two years, then failed for a year due to a reason, then did well again. At most, maybe a transition sentence such as, "Starting in my major classes really spurned my interest and passion in the subject, and a renewed focus in academics." Most reasons for poor grades the first two years I have heard are depression, death of a family member, lack of focus/direction/passion...which at least I think do not highlight your strengths in a short personal statement. Of course, if you were hospitalized/on leave, I would definitely bring that up.

BUT be careful! Eastern Washington only awards in-state tuition to two students that qualify for WRGP. I would email all of the schools, and ask if WRGP covers all admitted students, or just a certain number. I was very disappointed to find out not all students get covered. This varies school by school. From memory, Colorado awards the in-state rate to all admitted students. Meanwhile, again, I would check on that. I will be in the same boat as you next year when I apply. I am not sure if you are only applying to SoCal schools if you live down there and are planning to stay with family to save rent. I am actually looking at out of state schools with inexpensive tuition (Gallaudet, Radford) as though it runs a bit higher than in-state here, when you add on cost of living, you actually save more $$ than staying in CA and paying higher rent.

I would apply this year if your heart is really into it, but if I were in your shoes, I personally would take a year off and apply next year. That way you have your entire undergrad and CSD GPA, which easily could be closer to a 3.5 and 3.6 in two semesters. I would also find a different study method and retake the GRE next summer when you are done with school.

I am a junior who recently took the GRE and scored very poorly (141) on the quantitative portion. My math skills are at a pre-algebra level. I went up to Algebra II in high school, and took one statistics course in college. I plan to retake the GRE next summer, before I apply to graduate programs in Speech-Language Pathology. I want to get my Q score to a 150. My significant other (who has a math/physics backround) recommended that I take a semester-long math class in PreAlgebra or Algebra versus paying to take a Quantitative GRE Prep class due to my lack of foundational skills. For my first time taking the GRE, I prepped for 3 months using Magoosh. I scored very highly on the other two sections, so my concern is getting my math score to at least the 50th percentile. Any thoughts on taking a semester long class?

If I were in your shoes, I would be doing everything I could to retake the GRE. A 141 verbal, even with your stellar GPA, (in my subjective opinion) raises an eyebrow. Can you do private tutoring? An online program? Have you considered schools that don't require the GRE? How much did you study before?

Check to see if the CD minor meets the "usual" pre-reqs most universities are requiring. I think it would almost be easier to major in CD, and minor in Education. Teaching is my "back-up" as well, and I am minoring in Special Education. I will not have a credential coming out of undergrad, but the minor shows my interest, and even allows me to take a course to gain the school observation hours needed to apply to credential programs. That is awesome if you personally have an interest in ASL, or want to focus on Deaf studies, but I don't think a few semesters of ASL classes (without showing involvement in Deaf culture/volunteerism) will really swing your app.