jazspeaks

I wish that could be the case for everyone. However, these assistantships are very very competitive. I wouldn't hold out for one. There were only 2 graduate assistantships available out of the ~36 students admitted. I interviewed, but didn't get it. I am saving up as much as I can this summer, taking out the full $20k allotted for financial aid, trying to establish residency for the spring semester, and will be trying to work 10 hrs/wk to just barely skate by. I've had friends who took 1-2 bartending/server shifts each week and this seemed to be the best way to make it through.

You can also look into prerequisite/leveling programs. I took online classes from University of Alaska and University of Montana and that allowed me to apply to all of the schools I was interested in attending.

Hey!! I will be in the the communication disorders master's program at the UofA. I completed my bachelor's degree there, but I've been living in Alaska since then. I can't wait to return to warmer weather as well! :-) Housing... Unfortunately, Fayetteville recently got ranked as #3 in some top places to live list. I say unfortunately because that means housing prices are inflated now. If you can move down there during the summer, that's really the best time to look because it's a big "college town," so a big chunk of the population moves out during the summer. In August, the demand will be higher than the supply. If you're looking for an apartment instead of a house/plex that's a little bit easier. You can try craigslist and reddoorar.com, but if you can drive around and look for For Rent signs, that's better. If you're unsure about what parts of town are good, send me the address you're looking at and I'd be happy to tell you if that area is ok. For the most part though, it's all pretty safe. I don't know what my partner and I are going to do about housing. We may live with family for a little while until we can recover from the moving expenses!

You can look at the probation report on the ASHA website: http://caa.asha.org/programs/accreditation-decisions/ University of Arkansas was on probation for the last year but it was all minor stuff. They are now off probation. I look at it as a positive thing actually... If a program goes on probation, the University won't be happy because they might lose a lot of money and it can hurt their reputation, so you know the program is under a lot of pressure to fix it. It can hurt the ratings though. I think University of Arkansas was ranked #106 in 2015 and is now #120 in 2016.

Waitlisted for the University of Montana distance program yesterday. I have already decided to go to an on-campus program, so I'll be asking them to remove me from the waitlist to give other folks a chance. Congrats to those accepted! It looks like they sent out acceptances on Friday and Monday, waitlists on Tues, and rejections Wednesday.

Last year, someone posted a list of schools that take spring admission applications:

I haven't heard anything from either UAMS or UofA about a Facebook page. Still haven't heard from anyone going to UofA :-(. I got some information in the mail from UAMS regarding the next steps, so if you haven't received that, you should receive it soon. I emailed Univ. of Arkansas to see if there's anything I need to be doing right now and was told information would be sent out after April 15th.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience this application season. I don't know why some of these schools are so rude to their applicants (umm.. we want to give you money!). Your scores aren't that far off from mine. I didn't have a communication disorders undergrad degree either. I didn't apply for super top-notch schools and I think the East coast might be a little more competitive than where I applied as well. There was a post somewhere in gradcafe from someone who sat down with an advisor and discussed the reasons she/he was not accepted. I wish I could find that post again. It sounded like the committee didn't feel that she/he was ready for grad school. It may be worthwhile to try to get a meeting with someone at one or two of these schools to help improve your application for the next round. I've seen people with awesome scores and experience not get in the first round. It's hard to say what they're really looking for in a candidate. Don't give up hope yet though. It looks like you still have a couple of schools to hear from.

I agree that Univ. of Northern Colorado is probably one of the best online programs based on my pre-application research. They only take applications every "even numbered" year, so the next application round is Feb 2018. They also have a flat rate for their online program (as opposed to in/out-of state tuition) and only like a 2wks or month on-campus requirement. I also think Univ. of Montana has a good program, but they have only recently been ranked because their program just started. They are also "synchronous" so classes are during the day, like a normal campus schedule. There's also Eastern Carolina Univ. They're pretty expensive though. I have no idea how all of that works between countries though. You should email a few of them to get more information. You can also search for their 2016 rankings for the SLP program. It won't designate between on-campus and distance probably, but I would assume a high-ranking school would want their distance program to be similar in quality.

Has anyone had "warm" welcomes from their accepting schools? I've had a range from super-long email + physical mailed info packet to just a short congrats, we accept you. Unfortunately, the school I had my sights on is the later. I kind of want to receive a packet of information and welcome letter in the mail after waiting months for them to decide my fait. Maybe that's just me?

If you want to move to Anchorage, Alaska, you get about $14/hr + benefits from the school district. I don't know if other school districts in the country make it as easy to become a speech TA, it may be worth looking into. The pay isn't good as a TA as opposed to SLPA, but it's experience. For this district, you only need a bachelor's degree and leveling coursework in speech if the bachelor's was something different, as well as some experience, such as classroom/sped TA or observation hours. They have a tuition reimbursement option too if you work for the district during and a few years after grad school. Only online grad options though.

I agree that a cat would be a better option than a dog. My partner had a dog when he was working on his masters. He said it was nice to have the company, but there were times when he would get stuck on-campus for long periods of time and be unable to get home to the dog. A puppy would probably be very difficult. I can imagine coming home to chewed up stuff and accidents during grad school (ahh!!). Cats can be pretty self-sufficient though. If you have to go away for the weekend, you can ask a friend to come over once or twice a day for feeding and you can deal with the litter box when you get back. A dog requires 3x/day preferably.

I think this might be very specific to the program. I had a bunch of observation hours from my postbacc classes at UMT and they wanted a spreadsheet of all the details (hours, type of observation, date, etc.) submitted to a specific person. The professor signed the hours sheet, and told us the person to send it to. If you can't get into contact with that professor, email another professor you knew well or an assistant who may be able to help pass you along to the correct person.

I have an offer for the Speech-Language Pathology program! I've heard they have a great engineering program! Congrats!

Thank you for the tip!! I was beginning to think there was no one on here that had attended school or work in the area :-P. I'm very interested in acquired communication disorders, so I'll be looking into the hospitals and rehab centers. I'm glad to hear you've had good experiences there! It looks like I'll probably have classes on Tues/Thurs, so I would also have to work around that.

In case anyone runs across this in the future, I thought I'd conclude this post with an email I received from the UofA on March 18: "We are please to announce that our program’s probation status was removed, and we are in full compliance with the Standards for Accreditation. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Fayetteville, Arkansas Master’s program in speech-language pathology Accreditation dates: April 1, 2015 through March 31, 2023 The program was in compliance with all standards and has met CAA’s expectations (thresholds) for student outcomes"

I've also heard that part of the reason for the small number of students admitted to the programs has to do with the availability of clinical practicum sites and funding. Insurance companies won't pay for non-certified SLPs and that makes it hard to find clinical sites for grad students. More programs are definitely needed. There's only a postbacc program available in Alaska. If I don't want to do distance learning, I have to move out of state.

If you want to supplement with another class or two, it doesn't hurt to show these programs that your dedicated in bettering yourself. You could take human anatomy and physiology or something else related like a course on the aging brain or autism. You don't need to take a postbacc, but you can take classes without being enrolled for the whole program. My postbacc was online through Alaska, but I supplemented with a few online classes from Montana. I think it would be more valuable though for you to look for experience. Try to get more hours in shadowing/observation and see if you can be an SLP assistant (volunteer if needed!). This was my plan if I had not been accepted. I think if they see that instead of just sitting around sulking, you went out and found another way to get experience in the field, that will make a big difference in your resume. Also, definitely revise your essay. Consider setting up a meeting with someone to ask how you can improve your essay and application for next year. Some people have said they learned a lot from these conversations. Also... there are some schools that start in the spring. Just a thought. Best of luck next time around!

Hey, folks! I just got accepted to the University of Arkansas, my alma mater, for the SLP grad program starting Fall 2016. Like many programs, it's a little tough to really figure out what to expect and I don't see a whole lot of conversation about the UofA program specifically in the thegradcafe forums. I would love the chance to connect to anyone else who is planning to attend and to hear from those who have attended this program. This conversation doesn't have to be just the UofA either. If anyone who attended UAMS, Central Ark., or another nearby program, has any advice they'd like to offer, please share! Some questions I have are: Are SLP graduates feeling satisfied with their education in Arkansas? What is the clinical practicum like? I know there's some on-campus at the clinic, but also external practicum. Recommendations? Do you feel like you are able to work a little bit? I really wanted a GA, but that's ok. It would be nice if I could work about 10 hrs/wk so I don't rely completely on loans for all of my expenses. Anyone know how the probation is going? I want to attend the UofA anyway because I trust that they will do everything they can to keep from losing their status. Plus, it doesn't look like they're under probation for anything truly serious. I am very curious how that's all coming along though and the ASHA website hasn't updated it. Go hogs! Congrats to those who got accepted to schools in Arkansas!!

My undergrad was in Art History, with a Gen. Business minor. Yup, big switch. If you're a post-bacc-y, I think having a health or sciences degree would help give you leg up no matter what type of post-bacc program you do. I spent about 3 years as a special education teacher assistant for the Anchorage School District before stumbling upon the awesome SLP career. My post-bacc was entirely online, primarily through the University of Alaska. When I started researching schools, I noticed that the program was a little short in the number and types of credits needed for most grad schools, so I supplemented 3 more classes from the University of Montana (also online). I think as long as you can add a little bit of valuable experience and a bunch of shadowing/observation to supplement the post-bacc coursework, you'll be fine. The only reason I think they would prefer an on-campus program is for clinical/hands-on experience, which is harder to get in an online post-bacc. Document all of your observation and hands-on experience in your CSDCAS application. Some programs require or prefer 25 observation hours prior to beginning graduate school. The University of Montana's online program requires a lot of those hours to be completed throughout the program (a lot of them through MasterClinician.org). Just a thought... I had decided that if I didn't get into grad school this round, I would then continue taking classes to essentially add up to another bachelor's degree. That way it's not a total loss for you if you don't get in the first time. But, if you do, great! Then, you didn't have to wait as long.

I ended up getting a NSSLHA membership after I had applied for graduate programs. I decided against submitting a bunch of updates through CSDCAS to avoid looking desperate, so I didn't include my membership. It apparently didn't affect their decision in my case. It couldn't hurt though. Also, I have already used my membership to research articles in my post-bac classes, so I would say it's worth it. Even if they are more concerned with "studying," extras can't hurt, especially if it's extras that build experience and knowledge in the field. Observation hours, by the way, can really help.

I didn't remember that either, but it does state it on the website under the Sample Curriculum link: "All students must maintain employment during each Fall and Spring semester of the program that will permit them to complete 25-60 hours of direct clinical services to children and/or adults with speech-language disorders." I think sudsnbubbles is right about the typo. It does say that the cohort begins Fall 2016. Does anyone else feel like there's so much that a lot of programs don't reveal until you're in? The program I really want to attend (my alma mater) has provided very little information and said they'll be providing more details in April. It sure would be nice to have that information before I say, "yes."

I think this really depends on the student and the school. I am completing my SLP post-bac classes online through 2 different schools. I have had an entirely different learning experience from each school. One has online live online lectures and research papers (UAA), and the other is more self-paced and has more projects that help apply the information (UMT). I applied to a couple of online graduate programs, but I have decided that I would personally be more engaged and have a better learning experience by being surrounded by my peers on-campus. I am a very hands-on learner. Reading concepts in a book don't really "stick" with me as much as seeing/doing. At the same time, the online programs tend to require more field experience (that you have to find on your own). I noticed that UNC required employment. Online is way more self-directed. I feel like this really is a personal preference based on what you know about your own personal learning style and self-motivating abilities. If the online style works for you, then I don't see why it wouldn't be equal in quality to an on-campus program.

My partner did his anthropology masters at the UofA. He loved it. I just got accepted to the Speech-Language Pathology masters program there. Can't wait to go back home! For housing, the good stuff sometimes isn't listed online. It really helps if you can walk/drive around and find the For Rent signage. There are some great apartments and duplexes just south of campus. Good luck!

University of Arkansas send out some admissions letters yesterday. Any good news?