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thespeechblog.com
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I think a thank you card is super sweet. Just be sincere and thank them for their time and energy. They do a lot of work for students that no one ever sees. If you really would like to do something else, maybe consider getting them a gift card to a coffee shop or some place they like. One thing I've done that people always appreciate is just bringing snacks (doughnuts, fruit tray, bagels, etc) into the office for everyone with a note expressing your gratitude.
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I don't know much about UTD's program, but I think your stats sound good and more importantly it sounds like you have some amazing experiences that will help you write a kick-butt personal statement. People underestimate how important that is!
Rejection is scary, but it isn't the end of the world! I have a friend from grad school who is a practicing SLP who applied 3 times to our program before she got in. I'm sure it hurt, but she showed real determination and now she is living her dream working as an SLP. I have nothing but admiration for her for sticking with it.
You're right, your chances of getting rejected are pretty darn low if you don't apply... but so are your chances of getting in!
You can do it! Be brave!
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Hi there!
First off, congratulations on making such a big, important decisions. I think parents who go back to school for more education set really awesome examples for their kids. I have several classmates in their 40's who have children. I know it is way harder for them, but I also really admire them.
As for your question: If you get into a program that is willing to work with you on a part-time basis, I think it would be great to work as an SLP-A while in school. Why? 1) The financial benefits are probably obvious. Some agencies pay their SLP-A's pretty well too! 2) The experience will be invaluable. When you're in class discussing teaching literacy to children with ASD or discussing how Prader Willi syndrom affects language, you will have real experiences to draw on that will enrich and deeply contextualize your education. 3) Connections: You'll be ahead of the curve in terms of networking, getting to know potential employers and settings 4) Reality. School is often pretty disconnected from clinical reality and learning to bridge that gap is hard. You'll be ahead of the game on taking theoretical concepts and applying them to the demands of real practice.
Some other things that might be useful to think about: 1) Scheduling is hard. As an SLP student, you'll have a clinical case load and oftentimes they won't be able to work around your work schedule 2) When I started working as an SLPA during my program, my mentor-profess gave me this advice: because you're a student and just learning, you'll be making a lot of mistakes along the way. At best, you get to learn from your own mistakes even if you're hard on yourself. At worst, you can earn a (potentially unfair) reputation as someone who doesn't know what they're doing which may make it harder to get a job later. Personally, I think this really depends on how honest you are and the expectations your employer sets. Try to get someone who is used to working with in-experience SLP-A's and someone who understands and supports your education.
Other ideas:
- Is there anyway you can save enough to live on during grad school? I know that sounds crazy, but if you think creatively and are willing to make some big sacrifices maybe it could work?
- Can your spouse get a PT or FT job now or while you're in the program to help ease your finances? If not, what about waiting until your kids are in school FT?
- Assistantships are amazing, but also super hard to get. Look at the schools you're applying to and find out about opportunities. Sometimes you can get one in a different department. I have SLP classmates who teach for the Spanish department, work for the scholarship office, etc, etc
- Student loans (yea, I know this option sucks)
- Go to the most affordable school you can
Well, I hope this helps! Good luck and let us know how it works out!
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On 7/26/2017 at 11:33 AM, dkolton said:
HIII everyone! So a bit of me.... I graduated a year ago and got rejected from 8 schools, so I decided to get my SLP-A license and I've been working for a year in Texas. I have a overall GPA of 3.1, CSD 3.2, upper CSD 3.46, last 60 3.4 and upper division gen is 3.5. MY gre scores are 150V and 145Q and I'm retaking it in a month, cause I know they are terrible!! I have a list of schools that I may potentially fit in their ranges and I need advise! or even suggestions
I think @Spondee gave the perfect advice. Follow it!
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Columbia Teacher's College has an independent program at their bilingual institute. You don't have to enroll as part of a masters program from what I understand. SO you could do it after you finish your masters.
You might be able to take online classes on bilingualism. For example, Univ of New Mexico and New Mexico State Univ offer Bilingual Acquisition and Bilingual Assessment online.
ASHA probably also offers some CEU credits on working with bilingual / multilingual populations.
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Maybe you can look and see if you qualify for Medicaid or another program like it in your state
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The University of New Mexico doesn't have a "speciality track" for it in terms of academic classes (apart from the typical voice coursework), but it is one of the many clinical rotations / populations. There's group and individual sessions.
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@lindsayg1993 How did it turn out with the letter of rec situation?
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That is definitely a lot think about! I wish I had a good answer! All I have are more things to think about...
I think cost is a big consideration, and you're right: Boston is an expensive city. Sounds like Emerson might let you finish quicker. THey're both private. Is tuition comparable?
Can you work as an SLP-A in either California or Massachusetts with your current qualifications? If so, it might be a good part-time job option to help pay for Boston or to do from August to Jan while waiting to start at Redlands.
Both schools mentioned "a supportive environment" but you'll have to take that with a grain of salt. Have you called and talked to faculty at both schools? See which ones make you feel more comfortable.
You mentioned you're not a "city person." That's cool. Consider your commute and life in Boston vs Redlands. Boston you'd probably live without a car, walk a lot, and take the subway. Are you okay with that? Try Google mapping the areas you might live in and do the street view. How does it seem?
I wish I had some good, solid advice but it is a decision only you can make. Either way, you'll be fine
Both are great schools!
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3 hours ago, lily48slp said:
I feel very fortunate to have choices about where to go next year, but I'm going crazy trying to make a decision. Can we discuss how you all are considering cost vs. areas of interest in the field vs. program prestige/ranking?
I keep hearing that rankings don't matter in our field, and I'm especially inclined to believe that after seeing that the only basis for them in the U.S. News & World Report (per their methodologies page) is peer assessment surveys that had a measly 33% response rate. (!!) But I keep wondering whether those respondents' knowledge of the curriculum, faculty, or facilities might still be important.
Personally, I think I'm down to Program A and Program B.
Program A is: very highly ranked, costs less, but doesn't have any curriculum or clinic experiences in multilingual/multicultural assessment and intervention, which I really want to do.
Program B is: about 23k more than Program A, ranks about 70 spots lower (fwiw), and has multilingualism/multiculturalism as one of its biggest strengths that permeates the rest of the research and curriculum in the department.Part of me is telling myself to suck it up and be glad that I got into Program A, and just go there. But I'm not sure if that will put my whole career on a different trajectory.
I'd love to hear how others are weighing these factors! What do you all think? Would you pay more to go to a less "prestigious" school if it matched your interests better? Or, taking ranking out of the equation, how much more money is too much to go to a school that seems like a better interest fit? Is anyone else in the middle of a similarly tough decision?Hi Lily,
I would say forget rankings - they're kind of meaningless in the job market; During observations I did before grad school, I saw clinicians from top programs working in the same hospital with clinicians from "all the other" ranked programs. Even if you decide to go on in academia, they don't mean much.
I think cost is a big consideration - probably the biggest. I interviewed probably about half-a-dozen SLP's and they all told me to go to the most affordable school. While others clearly disagree, I think an extra $23,000 is a huge amount of money to be paying off in debt. That's a new car or two... or a down payment on a house!
I'm also interested in bilingualism and multiculturalism. I was lucky that my most affordable school also had an emphasis in bilingualism/multiculturalism. I'm sorry that didn't align so nicely for you. Don't worry - you can pick up that extra training in other ways. Maybe there are classes in the education or special ed (or even other!) departments at both universities on multiculturalism. You can take them as an elective. You're going to do Continuing Ed. credits for the rest of your career. I think TC Columbia offers their bilingual program as a certificate you can do separate from the graduate program. There are posters and presentations at ASHA every year (I'm applying now to present one!) on multiculturalism. The books and articles on topics of interest are available to you.
Finally, in my program I haven't even taken one of the special "bilingual/multicultural" assessment or development classes and I've already learned a ton about those topics. During your "regular" classes on assessment, intervention, etc - you should be covering these issues because they're kind of an inherent part of what we do. I ask questions about diverse populations all the time in classes not labeled "multicultural." When you get to chose a topic for an in-class research project, select something about "bilingual assessment" and you'll be reading the same literature / articles / journals as someone in a program with a "bilingual emphasis."
- SpeechLaedy, tvl, utteranomaly and 2 others
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Mine was $500 - it got credited towards my first semester tuition though once I started classes
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22 hours ago, kayyyyy_ said:
I may be moving out of state for grad school. This wouldn't just be a 10 hour drive but a jumping across some states for a move. Has any one done it or have researched it? What's the cheapest way to do it? I was researching PODS but it looks like I would be spending around 2,000. Is that average?
I moved internationally for grad school. I left most things behind or sold them. Went first to my parents. I rented a small uhaul (few hundred dollars?) which I filled with thrift store finds and a mattress I "borrowed" from my parents house. They towed it 12 hours for me to where I'm in school.
I'm still acquiring furniture (went 7 months without a kitchen table or anything in my living room). I go to thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, and I even found a great table to use as a desk next to the dumpster in my apartment complex. You can find tons of good kitchen stuff at thrift stores, also occasionally there are good lamps and chairs. Sometimes things need some TLC, which is a lot of work but also kind of fun. I'm sanding down and repainting that table I mentioned, and I'm recovering some old chairs I also found in the garbage area. They "have good bones" by designer friend says, they just need some TLC.
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In terms of coursework, most of it is going to be pretty much the same since all programs need to meet the same certification requirements. Look at the program you're going to and see if you have get elective hours (You might get 2 or 3 elective classes at most). Does your department offer extra coursework in swallowing (a big part of hospital work) or adult neurogenic disorders (the other big part of hospital work)? Maybe look in other disciplines and see if there is a course you can add (medical terminology, counseling could be useful, multicultural considerations in health care, legal environment of healthcare, etc).
Your clinical hours also have to be divided among the scope of practice in a pretty "set" way. But there is flexibility, so try your hardest to get a rotation in a hospital setting for your adult hours. Express your interest early (planning clinical rotations is sometimes done years in advance) but be willing to accept that your professors are the experts and know what you need more than you do. You kind of have to trust them.
Finally, get involved with research. Any research experience is good, but especially related to the populations you'd work with in the hospital (again mostly swallowing and adult neurogenic). That experience can be really valuable in terms of making you a better clinician but also for your resume - lots of hospital have staff engaging in active research projects.
Hope that helps
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On 2/22/2017 at 1:17 AM, bettafish293 said:
Congrats on the acceptances in your signature! You have great stats. Can you tell me anything about your time in linguistics and education as an undergrad? I'm also considering education now.
I just can't seem to make up my mind! Which major did you find was more related/beneficial to you for grad school? The easy answer I'm thinking is linguistics, but I can also see how acquiring the foundations of becoming a teacher could help a future SLP. I see applicants freaking out over not getting accepted with 3.8 GPA's and it's very daunting, so it's nice to see someone with a 3.54 get into so many schools!
Side note -- it drives me crazy how competitive this field is! Non SLP majors think anything above a 3.0 is a competitive GPA, but we have people freaking out in fear of not getting in to grad school with GPA's in the 3.5's through .8's!
Thanks
I had a lot of trouble too making up my mind; I ended up with 3 minors for that reason. I think almost anything can be relevant to SLP if you think about it in the right way.
My hispanic literature classes taught me about different ways to experience the world (So important in working with CLD populations). Linguistic classes study a lot of the same aspects of language, just with a different perspective or goal in mind. My Ed minor was great all around for SLP. For example, In Ed Psych I saw the same fundamental theories (Cognitivism, Social interactionism, Behaviorism, etc) from similar perspectives which is great now as I apply those theoretical frameworks to therapy. Biology and chemistry would be so valuable in understanding the fundamentals of neural signaling. You can study a lot of things and it still be relevant to SLP. As for what is most helpful - it depends on you and what you need. I would advise the following:
1) Find out what it takes to be a good grad student
2) Find out what it takes to be a good SLP
3) Find out which of those things you already have and which you're lacking
4) For the things you're lacking, find experiences (maybe a specific class, minor, or major! Maybe a summer internship!) that will give you those skills.
5) Once you've got that covered, think about what excites you and study that even more. (for me it's bilingualism, so I learned other languages. If its Med.SLP for you, get some medical terminology classes, if its voice feminization therapy, take a gender theory class).
Does that make sense? I could tell you what was valuable for me, but it'll be different for you. Maybe you need to work on your writing (so important for grad school). Or maybe you need to work on your people skills (so important as an SLP!). You know yourself and your needs better than I.
Last note, lots of people freak out over GPA and that's because it is an easy thing to look at/compare and easy to stress over. Personal statements are harder to judge and compare, but they're infinitely more meaningful to a committee when they're trying to get to know you. I'd take a kick-ass personal statement over a kick-ass GPA any day.
- bettafish293, SpeechLaedy, inessie and 1 other
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17 hours ago, bettafish293 said:
@mcamp Perhaps I worded it wrong, but what I meant is because social work is easier than linguistics (in my opinion/experience) it might be beneficial for me to pursue that degree instead for a possibly higher GPA, thus giving me a better chance of getting into grad school. It's just a big hypothetical scenario I've cooked up in my head lol. However, my intro to communication disorders class has had two chapters on phonetics and linguistics so far and I did very well in those chapters and found them to be interesting as well. Also, I will be taking 6 CSD classes through my schools CSD department. My school doesn't offer an official major or minor, but they do have a grad program and a few undergrad classes, and you can also take some graduate level courses as an undergrad if you get permission from the department, so I'm hoping if I continue to get good grades, I might be able to take a couple more pre-reqs that way. I do not want to switch schools and wouldn't have the finances/support to move to another school either away. The only other option would be moving back home and commuting to the local university but I would 100% rather have to take more classes in grad school than do that because of personal reasons. I went into college thinking I wanted to study business (lol) and now I am trying to make the best out of the school I'm at now (which I actually love a lot despite it not offering an undergrad CSD degree)
@Crimson Wife I hope she likes foreign languages! My university has an English linguistics major and it only requires two basic low level language courses in a foreign language to meet that requirement, which I think I'll be able to handle.
@Afternoonprogram Thank you for your reply, I think it helped me realize that social work is not for me. You brought up a great point about having a plan B if I don't get into grad school (a scary, scary thought lol). I can't see myself being happy as a social worker, so I definitely need to do some soul searching and figure out what interests me the most besides SLP, but I think it might be linguistics.
@maurmaur and @SpeechLaedy Thank you for showing me the similarities and strengths of working in both professions. I think my main unvoiced concern was that I've never heard of a social work major getting into an SLP program, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Also hopefully one day I'll be able to start trimming down my posts some more but that's a song for another time, like after I get into grad school and come back here to help undergrads in the same boat, lol.
Gooootcha - That makes more sense! So I think yeah, you're probably okay keeping your social work major. It'll definitely give you some unique perspectives and experiences that can hopefully come out in your personal statement and LOR's. I know a lot of people really emphasize GPA; I think GPA is a "blunt instrument" schools use but not the heart of an admissions decision.
About the classes, look closely at grad school requirements for any school you're considering. Not having a degree in SHS/COMD/etc can sometimes limit the schools you can apply to. It is possible though to do what you're doing - my undergrad was in Spanish & Linguistics & Education (didn't even know SLP existed then) with a 3.54 GPA - now I'm doing a 3-year masters degree with missing pre-reqs included.
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On 2/17/2017 at 3:01 AM, bettafish293 said:
Hello! I apologize in advance for the lengthy post that follows this sentence.
After this semester I'll have 60 credit hours. I am planning on changing my major from social work to linguistics because my school doesn't offer an undergrad CSD degree, and I feel that linguistics is more in line with SLP than social work (and beyond that, I find the course work more interesting).
However, my school does offer six undergraduate CSD courses that I am hoping are/will count as grad school pre reqs: intro to comm. disorders, anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing mechanisms, hearing and hearing problems, neural bases of speech language and hearing, speech/hearing science, and normal processes of speech and language development.
Here's the problem: There are 45 more credit hours specific to obtaining an undergrad degree in linguistics and 15 more credits (I've already taken intro to comm. disorders) of SLP pre reqs, which totals 60. I already have 60 credit hours, and would really like to not go over the required 120 needed to graduate. Unfortunately, ASHA lists chemistry as a gen ed pre requisite for graduate school admission, and I have yet to take a chemistry course.
In truth, this post could have been a lot shorter and I could have wasted a lot less of your time if I just led with "do I really have to take chemistry?" But, I've always had a flair for the dramatic, considering that my second greatest hobby--second only to worrying myself into a daily bout of existential dread over fear of not getting into grad school and failing to bring honor to my family, cue the Mulan soundtrack--is reading "what are my chances of getting into grad school?" posts on this very forum site.
Thank you in advance to any replies!
You could probably get into grad school without having completed those requirements (check with each school)... but you're still going to have to take them.
As a graduate student, you'll be paying graduate student tuition for them (which is usually significantly more expensive), and also taking a full-time graduate student load + clinical rotations.
Another option would be to complete them through a local community college (or maybe even online) where the credit hour rate might be cheaper. You could maybe even do this the summer before you start grad school.
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The kind of situation happens frequently. Sometimes when you commit to a school you have to pay a deposit. If you then decide not to attend after all (because you now want to go to your #1 choice), you forfeit that deposit. Even if the school has no deposit, definitely just notify the school ASAP about your decision - there are a lot of other people waiting and making big life decisions based on that acceptance spot.
I don't think it is a matter of ethics.
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9 hours ago, bettafish293 said:
Hi everyone!
I'm currently a social work major with plans to go into grad school for SLP. If all goes as planned, I'll have 6 SLP pre-reqs completed by graduation as well. Lately, I've been feeling really out of place in my social work classes. Fortunately, I am only a sophomore credit wise and still have the option of changing my major to something else. I've been considering linguistics an awful lot because of its relation to speech therapy. I also have found through my research that it is one of the most common out of field applicant majors for SLP programs, along with psychology (please don't suggest psychology because no-no-no-no-no I can't nope-nope-nope bye.)
Seems like an easy choice, right! Wrong. I'm capable of making a can with a pull tab difficult to open. Overall, I personally have found my social work classes to be very easy content wise. I understand that linguistics classes may be more demanding and content heavy with lots of memorization and phonetic-y fricative-y stuff, which I don't mind at all! But if social work is easier for me, should I pursue it in the interest of possibly obtaining a higher GPA since the graduate process is ultimately a game of numbers? In terms of graduate admissions, would majoring in linguistics look better on a transcript, or does it not matter at all what your major is if it's not CSD? Any suggestions besides these two you think would be a better fit? Etc. etc. etc. etc.
why do I always have to make these posts so longThanks!
I don't want to sound negative or overbearing, but if you're worried about phonetics in an undergrad linguistics class, a graduate degree in SLP would be even more difficult. That basic working knowledge of the phonetic system is the basis for so many things we do in SLP; seriously I talk about phonetics almost everyday in every class. I would strongly recommend at least trying a linguistics class and seeing what it is like for you.
Also, I'm not entirely sure - but if you're an undergrad and you have time to switch your major and you want to go into a masters in SLP program you should strongly consider at least a minor in SHS/SLP/Communication Disorders. If you don't, you'll have to complete all of the necessary prerequisite classes anyways as part of an extended masters program, post-bacc, or 2nd degree.
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15 hours ago, ashny said:
mcamp thanks for sharing your blog link - it has very useful information.
I'm glad you found it useful!
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On 2/4/2017 at 3:20 PM, wcslp said:
I appreciate the generosity, but I don't think it's fair to post the actual questions asked on the interview here... I've attended nearly a dozen interviews when I was applying, and we were always told not to tell other applicants the questions. This is particularly because many schools will have multiple rounds of interviews, not just 1 and done. That just makes it grossly unfair for the students who went in blind. Even if you yourself are okay with making it easier for the competition, the students that interviewed blindly with you on the first round might not (and probably won't be) cool with that. A big part of interviews are assessing personality. Someone who knows the questions beforehand are going to be MUCH more relaxed and confident than someone going in blind. This makes a stark difference for the people interviewing you, and gives the informed applicants a huge leg up on the competition. Not trying to antagonize anyone here, just my 2 cents on keeping it fair.
I think it is not fair to post the actual question used in your interview that year.
However, next year - post them. The school should be changing to stay up to date. And students would be doing themselves a huge disservice if they didn't think of possible interview questions (and none of those listed above are anything earth-shatteringly original).
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I applied to 6; I think somewhere between 5-10 is average (which I know is a big range, haha)
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I agree with most of what's been said. I will add that I have heard of schools "adjusting for grade inflation."
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I interviewed a now practicing SLP, Treasyri, who wasn't accepted until her 4th round of applications. But note that first part now practicing SLP. Be smart about how and where you're applying. Don't be afraid to apply again.
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If you can put together a strong personal statement, I think you'll stand a good chance! Most of your numbers look good enough to get your application noticed.
Observation Hours for Grad Application
in Speech-Language Pathology Forum
Posted
I think it definitely can't hurt to get those hours on your application.
As for helping, I think the number is probably not terribly important once you've hit the minimum. What is super important though, is how you use your experience gaining those hours to write an awesome personal statement and hopefully get a strong letter of rec. Does that make sense? Imagine you have 2 candidates: 1 has 1,000 clock hours and a boring personal statement that reads like everyone else's. The other has 25 hours but writes a burning plea illuminating her life's journey to uplift the downtrodden and support those left behind. See what I mean? When you get back from your trip, take some time and reflect on what made you learned from the observations and use that in your personal statement. There's some ideas about how to do that in my blog and there's a bunch of resources online with similar advice.
Good luck!