wcslp

Sorry, I'm gonna have to be the downer in this thread. Having gone through grad school already, I just want to say that anything nearing six figures is a ridiculous amount of money for this field... I understand it's your passion and your dream and so on, but so many young people underestimate the impact loans can have on your future. It's a general rule of thumb that you don't want to take out more loans than what you expect to make your first year out... and let me say that I do not know ANY SLPs who started out even remotely close to a six figure salary, and I live in one of the most expensive locations in California! 
 
You can try to bank on PSLF, but imo, putting all your eggs into one basket can be dangerous, especially when PSLF might not even be a thing in the future anymore. SLP is a great degree and I love the field as well, but please put some more thought into taking out tremendous amounts of loans. It is a crippling feeling to be shackled by such absurd amounts. Congratulations to you all for getting accepted into school, but realize that at the end of the day, your degree is your degree. Rankings and such don't really matter in this field. 
"$90,000 is reasonable to have for student loans." 
I am sorry, but I absolutely CANNOT condone this, AT ALL. In what world is 90 THOUSAND dollars reasonable to have for student loans? That is an INSANE amount of money!!! Few people realize how disastrous this will prove in the future. Think about it; you are nearing physician levels of debt at that amount! 
Take a look at a few of these threads to see what established SLPs have to say. You can see that a six figure loan is definitely, absolutely, no-way-in-hell a "reasonable" amount.
 
 
 

Hi all, 

I wanted to share this post that I found on Reddit (in the SLP subreddit, which I highly recommend checking out btw) that is impacting how I'm looking at the loans I'm facing for grad school: https://www.reddit.com/r/slp/comments/5awlfz/frustrated_husband_of_a_slp_with_some_questions/?st=j0y2lvwq&sh=a2f635fb

One of the most important takeaways for me was realizing that the salary stats we've all referenced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are skewed for SLPs in schools. Their reports take an hourly wage and multiply it as if it were a full-time, yearly salary (when it's actually a school-year salary).  As one response mentions, "the BLS data is skewed because school salaries are being annualized. In other words, a 45k salary working roughly 1600 hours a year looks like 58k once it's been annualized using the 2080 work hours per year factor." Similar problems are mentioned for some other settings where SLPs are paid by the visit.

(Caution: clicking link may induce anxiety!! But I hope you found it as helpful as I did.)

Also just to throw out some numbers- I currently pay $935/month to share HALF of a bedroom through student housing at SF State. & that was their cheapest option (and unfurnished). 
My friend in Portland pays $500 for her own entire bedroom! 

Grad school is 2 years out of your life while student loans will take decades to pay off.
Take some advice from someone older and wiser- you WILL pay through the nose if you want to live in a "cool" city like S.F., NYC, Boston, Seattle, etc. and it REALLY isn't worth going into way more debt for. SLP pays decently but you're not going to be making $200k/yr like an investment banker or patent attorney or whatever.
A couple of years in some place boring is far better than being middle-aged and wishing that you hadn't spent so much to attend grad school in [insert name of cool city here].

Sorry, I'm gonna have to be the downer in this thread. Having gone through grad school already, I just want to say that anything nearing six figures is a ridiculous amount of money for this field... I understand it's your passion and your dream and so on, but so many young people underestimate the impact loans can have on your future. It's a general rule of thumb that you don't want to take out more loans than what you expect to make your first year out... and let me say that I do not know ANY SLPs who started out even remotely close to a six figure salary, and I live in one of the most expensive locations in California! 
 
You can try to bank on PSLF, but imo, putting all your eggs into one basket can be dangerous, especially when PSLF might not even be a thing in the future anymore. SLP is a great degree and I love the field as well, but please put some more thought into taking out tremendous amounts of loans. It is a crippling feeling to be shackled by such absurd amounts. Congratulations to you all for getting accepted into school, but realize that at the end of the day, your degree is your degree. Rankings and such don't really matter in this field. 
"$90,000 is reasonable to have for student loans." 
I am sorry, but I absolutely CANNOT condone this, AT ALL. In what world is 90 THOUSAND dollars reasonable to have for student loans? That is an INSANE amount of money!!! Few people realize how disastrous this will prove in the future. Think about it; you are nearing physician levels of debt at that amount! 
Take a look at a few of these threads to see what established SLPs have to say. You can see that a six figure loan is definitely, absolutely, no-way-in-hell a "reasonable" amount.
 
 
 

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. 

Before you commit to this, I would make absolutely sure, ABOVE ALL, that you shadow actual SLPs in a variety of settings (public schools, SNFs, hospitals, private practice, home health, etc) for a multitude of hours. It's better to know for sure before you take the leap and end up regretting it halfway. Many people in college will end up changing their majors several times before they finish. I encourage you to make sure you do your research and know for a fact that this is what you want, because if you change your mind partway in, you will lose both money and time. 

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 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. 

Thank you for this! I am currently working as an SLP-A and the work experience has altered how I view the field from a financial standpoint. Unfortunately, there is A LOT of misinformation regarding what grads can expect to make. I couldn't justify taking out 100k+ to attend graduate school. I am looking at taking on ~35k and that freaks me out...

Salaries are really specific to area. I wish I'd understood how bad school SLP salaries were in my area when I started. I probably won't end up working in a school. Starting salary is 40K. That's absolutely absurd when I consider how much education I will have at that point. 

Dig around and see if you can find pay scales online for the school districts that you'd like to work for. Lots of them publish them. 

Congrats on getting into your first school! $90,000 is reasonable to have for student loans. It seems outrageous, but you will start getting a salary soon enough. I'm applying to different scholarships, but I only expect to get a small percentage covered with scholarships. I'm expecting to get at least $50-75,000 in loans. Hopefully, the school I get into will also be able to set me up with a work study or assistant position. This is the only way I would work during grad school.
I would recommend not getting a private loan if you can avoid it. The interest is much higher than un/subsidized federal loans. 

Getting the scores and NOT getting in... while competitiveness of GPA/GRE is valued on a case by case basis at schools, applicants on this forum speak of how competitive it is generally speaking overall within the field. I don't mean to deter you in any way, but understand that being told your stats are good/you have a good chance of getting in is not the same as getting in. (I have classmates that have learned this the hard way, eeek.) 
Like many applicants and yourself, I too have spent a lot of time speculating about whether my stats were good enough. The reality is that "good enough" is relative to where you apply, and while some schools are less competitive than others, a rule of thumb is that the higher your stats are, the more competitive of an applicant you are.
We just have to apply and see the results to truly gauge where we are at! 

Getting these scores and NOT getting in. 

Anecdotal, of course, but I know many many many people who have failed to get into a program and have switched careers as a result. Note that I am located in California, and things are much more competitive here, so that may play a factor as well. 
In undergrad, our graduating cohort had maybe 70 people, and we were all quite close. Maybe 15 of them (myself included) were accepted into our school's grad program. Surprisingly, only a handful were accepted into other programs in state, but I have heard numerous times that California's programs heavily favor their own undergrads, so that may be why. The rest of my cohort did not get into any schools here, and after the second year, maybe a dozen or so chose to go out of state. Of the remaining students, they have tried year after year to get accepted, applying to the same schools over and over again without luck. Many of them have now switched careers (it's been about 5 years since). I know most of them went into teaching, a good chunk went to nursing school, some are still holding out luck applying, and the rest are doing unrelated things (two girls actually opened up unrelated Etsy shops). 
This has actually been the norm among my peer groups here. I'm friends with many girls who were rejected several times, but still constantly told "Don't give up on your dreams. If you want it bad enough you can do it.", etc. Which, don't get me wrong, I agree that if it's your passion, then you should pursue it. But many times, in my experience, these ladies are playing a losing game. I can't imagine the amount of money they've put into this, and now even more money to switch careers, and years of time wasted. These ladies are absolutely brilliant, but it's a numbers game at this point. I truly empathize with people in this situation, but I absolutely think it's important to understand when to move on and to be realistic about yourself. 
Sorry about rambling! 

I would wait to apply. I applied 3 years ago to five different school and did not get accepted. I had a 3.2 GPA and a 284 on the GRE Q: 143 V-141 AW: 3.5
I have just recently within the last year started studying for the GRE again and have had much better results after taking it a few times. I applied for the spring 2017 admissions. I am hoping to get in now that I have brought up my GRE a good bit. I would not waste the money to apply though without at least getting a 290 on the GRE since you have a 3.0 GPA. I honestly wish someone would have told me that 3 years ago, because I wasted a lot of money trying to get in to schools I did not meet their requirements. 

I agree with what everyone else is saying wait until your GRE score is much higher.  Take the money you would have spent on the applications and put it towards an extremely effective study course!
Fullerton is a no go I know how their application process works and your stats are not a match for who they accept.  They tell their own students to aim for 4.0s.  Also the majority  of their own students have hands on speech therapy experience already under their belt.  Anyone getting in below a 3.8 is not going to be someone they don't have a relationship with.  
Here is the only constructive comment I can add.  Really think about why you want to do this.  Some people apply bc the career sounds good but don't really know what the job entails.  Why are you passionate about this kind of therapy over any other?  
After you've decided if this is your field.  You have to understand the committees go through hundreds of applications what about yours would make them say yes over someone else with much higher stats, first hand experience and an ability to express what exactly they are so passionate about.
If you can raise your scores and are able to do some things to make your app stand out apply!  Good luck 

I'd save your money and not bother applying unless you can raise your verbal score by 20 points and your quant score by 10 points before apps are due. With a low GPA, you're going to need decent test scores to offset it.

I don't think how much debt is really the right question you need to be asking. What you need to determine is, assuming you start a job straight out of school, how much can you afford in monthly payments to the collector of the debt. This varies greatly on the type of loan you get, the interest rate, your income, and what your other monthly expenditures are, ie. rent, utilities, food, car payments, insurance, mortgage, other expenses, etc.
What would your monthly payment be and could you afford it with your other expenses?
How fast (or slowly) are you willing or able to pay it down?
Considering this number is sitting on your credit report for X amount of time, how much would prevent you from obtaining other purchases you may need to make down the road like a car or a home loan?

Thinking of it in those terms will give you a much better idea if you'd be comfortable with the debt than just the number as a whole.

Agree 200%. I know everyone wants encouragement, but you're only hurting applicants if you sugar coat everything and not help them see the reality. I have known many, many colleagues that spent years getting into grad school only to end up in debt, broke, and with nothing to show on their resume. 
I empathize with your personal circumstances; I went through a lot during school. But four Cs is quite a lot. If you absolutely want to become an SLP and understand that it will probably take you more than one application cycle and a lot of $$$, then my best advice is to scour these boards to find schools that accept those with much lower GPAs. Retake the GRE as many times as you can. A 150 on each is not going to cut it for your situation. You're going to want at least a 160 range to show that your GPA is just a fluke. I'm sure someone will come in and tell you that hey, don't worry, I got into X school with X GPA, you'll be fine. BE REALISTIC. Have a back up plan or two ready to go in case this doesn't work out. I truly, truly wish you the best of luck. I just do not want to see another young person end up at a dead end because people kept telling them everything will be fine

1.  Only if you can score really high on the GRE.  I know there are a lot of eternal optimists on this page that will tell people to reach for their dream etc etc, but give little consideration to the costs and sometimes the realistic likelihood of getting in.  It is so competitive that unless your GRE stands out and I'm talking combined 320+ to balance out the GPA.  I would say don't do it unless you are passionately wanting to pursue this.  A lot of programs will not combine your masters gpa with your bachelors so your gpa will still be a 3.04 at most schools.  Unfortunately almost all programs have a GPA cut off whether or not they publicize it...3.5 seems to be a common one.  
Go take the GRE first, see what you score, take a class to improve it (if you need to) and if you can get a really great score give it a shot.  I am not trying to crush your dream if it is to be an SLP but at the same time go into the process with all the information you can!  Good luck, hope you can kick the GRE's butt!
 
 

Agree with Crimson Wife. Of course people are going to tell you that you will be perfectly fine and that they got in with this score and that score, but at the end of the day, you are trying to put out the best application you can, and if you know that one school lists their GRE range as higher than yours, then I think you should try and retake it or add another less selective school to your list. It's important to understand that there will always be people who got in with lower scores, but they might have extraordinary circumstances, and they are NOT the norm. Not trying to disparage anyone here, but I think the best advice for future and current applicants is to put out the best of what you can offer. If you know that your stats are not within the accepted range and that you can do better, then do it! Don't gamble your acceptance on the fact that someone somewhere got in with lower scores when you already know what the stats range is. Admissions can seem really arbitrary and random; students with great scores don't always get in, and students with lower scores don't always get rejected. Definitely true, but it's only logical that you will have a better chance IF you have higher scores. 

Hello, I am also located in Southern California. Applied several years ago and got into most schools; if you have any questions about the process, feel free to ask. One thing to consider is that programs in this state, ESPECIALLY since you are in SoCal are extremely, extremely competitive. One of my programs had over 600 applicants for 23 spots. California CSU schools are also known to heavily favor their own undergrads, and private schools here are very expensive, especially if you don't have a place to stay. I also have my SLPA license, and I don't regret it at all. California actually employs a good number of SLPAs, so this is a worthwhile option. Since you say that there are only 2 schools near you, I would definitely do a post bacc and get perfect grades or look outside of state. Most of my classmates with 4.0s, etc usually end up applying to 6+ schools, including out of states, just because it is so competitive here. 
Another thing, to echo what Crimson Wife said, I think you should really take some time and consider the field before putting all of your eggs into one basket. Do you have any experience with SLP at all? You said you heard about it from your psychology professor (who, not to be harsh, probably doesn't have a very thorough grasp of SLP) and that you can see yourself working with young kids/teenagers in a school setting. I would highly, highly suggest that you shadow an SLP before jumping headfirst into the field. In addition, not trying to sway you from this path, but there are many other professionals that work with those populations in the school setting that you may enjoy doing more. I only stress that you take a lot of time to consider this field because I have known many individuals who jumped head first into a post bacc, not knowing what SLP was really like, dropping out, or not getting into any graduate programs in California. I find it kind of worrisome that everyone is telling you what to do here when you haven't even really gotten enough experience to decide if this is what you truly want. Post bacc will cost money, grad school will cost money -- graduate students rarely get financial aid; most of us end up taking loans. This is something else to consider if you're not really sure about the field yet; consider that most SLPs will average 50-60k salaries in the school setting, so you don't want to come out with 100k worth of loans. Just trying to be realistic here. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you choose to do. 

Agree with Crimson Wife. Of course people are going to tell you that you will be perfectly fine and that they got in with this score and that score, but at the end of the day, you are trying to put out the best application you can, and if you know that one school lists their GRE range as higher than yours, then I think you should try and retake it or add another less selective school to your list. It's important to understand that there will always be people who got in with lower scores, but they might have extraordinary circumstances, and they are NOT the norm. Not trying to disparage anyone here, but I think the best advice for future and current applicants is to put out the best of what you can offer. If you know that your stats are not within the accepted range and that you can do better, then do it! Don't gamble your acceptance on the fact that someone somewhere got in with lower scores when you already know what the stats range is. Admissions can seem really arbitrary and random; students with great scores don't always get in, and students with lower scores don't always get rejected. Definitely true, but it's only logical that you will have a better chance IF you have higher scores. 

Agree with Crimson Wife. Of course people are going to tell you that you will be perfectly fine and that they got in with this score and that score, but at the end of the day, you are trying to put out the best application you can, and if you know that one school lists their GRE range as higher than yours, then I think you should try and retake it or add another less selective school to your list. It's important to understand that there will always be people who got in with lower scores, but they might have extraordinary circumstances, and they are NOT the norm. Not trying to disparage anyone here, but I think the best advice for future and current applicants is to put out the best of what you can offer. If you know that your stats are not within the accepted range and that you can do better, then do it! Don't gamble your acceptance on the fact that someone somewhere got in with lower scores when you already know what the stats range is. Admissions can seem really arbitrary and random; students with great scores don't always get in, and students with lower scores don't always get rejected. Definitely true, but it's only logical that you will have a better chance IF you have higher scores.