SLPsingballs

I always love an intelligent discussion that challenges the status quo.  
Two very interesting analogies.  First, academic history vs medical history.  Each entity has an interest that your history be pristine.  Medical much more so, I would think.  Particularly as we pay exhorbitant amounts of money for medical care in the US.  I was denied medical insurance through a certain big provider back in my early twenties.  My "sin?"  Mild asthma.  Is that right???  Heck no.  Imagine those with conditions much more severe than mine.
The academic desire for a "perfect history" is quite different, however.  It has much less to do with money and far more to do with prestige, IMO, as most masters level grad students in SLP are funding their education themselves.  So my guess is that a shortage of programs coupled with the desire for higher rankings provides the incentive for schools to require certain academic standards, even if the academic records are unrelated to SLP or - even if related - courses have been retaken with improved grades.  Some SLP grad schools recognize the classes that have been retaken and disregard the "old grades" when calculating the cumulative GPA.  Unfortunately, CSDCAS does NOT do so.  Some SLP schools weigh the "last 60 units" more heavily than the cumulative.  Others do not.  There is no universal "one-size-fits-all" way to admit students to grad school in our field.  That is problematic for many, IMO.  The admissions process is quite clearly not consistent across the board here in the US.  
Universally, I believe that if a student takes a class and fails, they should get a failing grade.  If this student should retake this class and get a higher grade, they have then clearly demonstrated a higher level of mastery, and this should pretty much wipe out the first grade.  The first failing grade is irrelevant at this point.  (Assuming that the level of difficulty of the class is equal to the first class, of course).
Second very interesting point.  Allowing for *hiding* of GRE scores.  Or rather, submission of the *best* score.  I'm in agreement here as well.  If allowed for a standardized test score, why not grades as well???  I also have strong feelings about the bias that is present in standardized testing such as the GRE - (race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc) but that's another topic altogether, I suppose).

CSDCAS is the enemy. 
The End.

You can add as many programs as you want! You don't need to inform your letter writers. It's kind of like transcripts- once the info is uploaded, it is free to be used for any and all programs. 

Check the Western Regional Graduate Program list to see if NAU is on there. I can't remember off the top of my head but there are a bunch of SLP programs that give discounted tuition to CA residents. It's higher than in-state but lower than full OOS.

If you look at your GPA report in CSDCAS there are several calculations other than the cumulative GPA (by category, major, sr. & jr. year, etc). I assume if a school says they put more weight on your later coursework, they will look at all factors. Your stats are great, I bet if you have taken your time with all parts of the application you will get in!

There are no specific guidelines for the SOP mostly because schools want this to be an extension of you and they want to see what you come up with. You have the freedom to sell yourself in any manner that you want. However, there are specific questions you definitely need to address in the SOP, which is how I structured mine. 
1. What motivates/motivated you to apply to graduate school? (Try not to turn this into a sob story. Avoid adverse life or childhood events.)
2. What field are you interested in and why? (This is important. Think about it thoughtfully not just for your SOP but for yourself) 
3. What experience or training do you have to support your admission? (Focus on your most meaningful (your role, length) experiences. Also focus on experiences most applicable to the work you want to do in grad school. You can talk about each experience in a manner like this: 
What? Where? When? With Whom? and Significance of the work? What were your specific contributions? What did you learn? (That will help you in grad school) Any collaborations? Was it multidisciplinary? Have you disseminated the results of your work? (talks, posters, meetings) Any professional achievements? (fellowships, grants, papers, invited to meetings)  4. What are your long term career goals and how will PhD/graduate training help you do that? (Academia is the gold standard answer)
5. Why this program? Why are you a good fit? (Be specific as possible because this lets the reader know you are serious and invested in this school. Also a place to mention faculty you're interested in working with.) 
Closing statement/argument (quickly restate your strengths) 
 
Additional things:
1. You are being judged on your passion for a particular field, your ability to write and communicate effectively, motivation and proactive behavior (i applied for this, I seeked out this), signs of leadership capabilities, personal character, and uniqueness. 
2. You may need to include a grade statement if your GPA is not stellar or if there is something that needs an explanation. (In this case, push it towards the beginning of the essay and make it brief. Don't try to validate something or fail to take ownership, just reassure the adcom that it's not an issue and why?
3. Single spaced is appropriate. Your header can just be your name and the program you're applying to. 
4. Take my advice with a grain of salt. This is what I think worked for me but everything is different for each person. If you think something here is a good idea (try implementing it). It's all about selling yourself and there's isn't one way to do this.