LaceySpeechie

Yeah, I've basically been wondering how anyone can afford it. ? Applying just to six schools was ridiculously expensive (especially at Chapel Hill - I'm almost wishing I didn't apply, what with that ridiculous supplemental application fee) and looking at the 2-year tuition, it's not completely outrageous but I just have no idea how I'll do it, apart from taking out about a million loans. I'm hoping to either get into my current top-choice program, which is about half the cost of all the others I'm applying to, or miraculously get some type of funding.

For the summer, I would recommend working at a summer camp. You can gain SO many valuable skills from that experience, particularly if you are interested in working with children as a SLP, and even more so if you're able to find a job at a camp geared towards children with special needs. For me, because children are my population of interest, working at a summer camp and volunteering in schools (as well as now working as a teaching assistant for two years) are all experiences that I feel have helped prepare me for grad school, as well as helped me to complete the grad school applications.

I doubt anyone here can actually give you exact odds... the best thing to do is look at ASHA EdFind to see how many acceptances vs. the number of applications they get, which should give you an idea of how competitive each school is. You could also try looking through the forums here to find others who got accepted (or rejected) from the schools you're applying to.

Has anyone taken a class to fulfill the biological sciences requirement online? If so, where did you take it, how much was it, etc.? (I'm looking for anatomy, general biology, etc. - whatever will be accepted by grad schools for the bio requirement.) I graduated from undergrad with nutrition fulfilling my bio requirement, because my program signed us up for that prior to the new ASHA guidelines, which I didn't become aware of in time to take another class prior to graduating. EDIT: I'll need to take it in the summer, although I would prefer to do it in May or June vs. throughout the entire summer.

Just in case anyone's struggling with this, I did in fact email one of the professors, who kindly thanked me for the reminder and reassured me that she'll make the deadline. Don't be afraid to check in with your recommenders!

At a quick glance I didn't see anything recent on this topic - I've asked 3 people to write me LORs, one from outside the CSD department and two from within. The recommender from outside the department submitted her LOR in October, but the other two have yet to submit their LORs. My first deadline is coming up on December 15th with CSDCAS and it's a blue deadline, meaning (I think) that at least two LORs must be submitted by the deadline - currently I haven't got that. How can I politely remind my recommenders that I need their letters? This is the only school I'm applying to with CSDCAS, and it's by far the most expensive application-wise, and I really don't want to give them $200+ if I'm going to be disqualified due to my LORs not being in on time. Advice? I want to believe the two CSD professors know how it goes, but I'm a bit concerned. And I'm out of school (and the country) so I can't exactly stop into office hours - email is my only form of communication.

In my opinion, you're still really early into your undergrad career - I definitely wouldn't give up yet if I were you, just keep working. If you can get your GPA in the 3.4 range by the time you graduate that's pretty manageable, and since you're planning ahead now you'll be able to start gathering other experiences that could help make you a strong candidate. If there are opportunities in your undergrad program you should try to get involved in research, and you could start accumulating a bunch of SLP shadowing/observation hours, or try to find a volunteer/work experience as a tutor, teaching assistant, or something related to the field that could give you a leg up. Don't give up quite yet!

Mine's 2 pages, because I wanted to include my education, post-grad employment, undergrad employment, undergrad TAing/research, and undergrad extracurricular involvement. I was able to get all that into 2 pages, and I think it looks nice, so I'm going with it and hoping for the best.

One of my programs (NCCU) only requires 2 letters of rec - I'd suggest checking ASHA EdFind and looking at the requirements, as I'm sure that there are at least several more than would only require 2, and some only requiring one. Also if you've been out of school a while I think the programs are much more accepting of letters from bosses or coworkers, from what I've seen at the places I'm applying to, so honestly if I were you I'd just get some from those people.

It's my first cycle applying but just from looking at the average GRE scores of the schools I'm applying to, I'd say it's definitely possible. You might want to look at schools that fit your score profile, but most of my schools have an average verbal 148-152 and average quant 145-150, and with all your other qualifications I feel like it ought to balance out, so long as you write good personal statements and apply to schools within a reasonable range for your scores.

I took a year off (actually, two) and I have no regrets about it! Most of my undergrad class applied to start grad school straight after graduating but I personally wanted to gain some experience, both to get additional credentials to help me when applying (which I'm doing now for 2019) and to actually have some real-world experience in a full-time job before getting a Masters degree. I've been a teaching assistant in Spain for the past two years, and for me it's been a great way to travel, get more experience with different cultures and languages, and get enough experience to actually feel ready for grad school. I think taking a gap year can be great, IF it's what you want to do. If you think you want to start grad school next year, then I honestly think it would be worthwhile to apply and just have a backup plan for what you can do in case you don't get in.

I'm definitely interested in swapping, and I worked as a tutor and student career advisor in undergrad, so I would be more than happy to edit others' statements as well!

Many of my universities mention the exact length they want. Definitely keep it as concise as possible, and from what I can see, two pages double-spaced appears standard unless said otherwise. Research experience would certainly be something important to mention, but don't just restate what's in your resume - use the statement to discuss the research in depth and how it will benefit you as a graduate student.

I wouldn't say it would kill your chances... just look at the stats of where you want to apply. If the average quant of your schools is 157 then I'd be wary, but there are plenty of schools where the average quant is in the 147 range or below (several that I'm apply to have that as the case). If your other experiences are good then I really doubt it would disqualify you.

Awesome! Just sent you a private message

I know this is an older thread, but is anyone still willing to review statements, or does anyone new want to? I'd love some extra eyes to look mine over and give some objective feedback, and I would happily help others with their SOP in return!

If you want anyone to look over your resume, I'd be happy to! I actually worked as a Career Advising Assistant in undergrad and got experience critiquing resumes and cover letters. There isn't necessarily "one format" for resumes, but if you're looking for a formatting outline I really like the one here: https://www.unh.edu/career/resume-template

Would anyone be willing to look over my personal statement(s) for Speech-Language Pathology Master's programs? It would be great to have thoughts from objective outsiders, whether you're familiar with SLP/CSD or in a completely different field. I'm willing to look over statements in return! I've always really loved editing, and I have experience as a tutor and as an editor of resumes/cover letters, which is related. ?

The personal statements are the hardest part, for certain! I've got three nearly finished and still two more to go. I'm a bit concerned about how to handle Bridgewater's requirement for a "brief, but careful" statement, but on the one's without length requirements I'm hoping it's safe to just assume that 2 pages double-spaced is sufficient...

I'm only applying to one program that uses CSDCAS, but I think in general it's better to apply as early as possible, just to avoid any problems! My school through CSDCAS has the CSDCAS deadline of December, so I guess I just assumed everything CSDCAS needed to be submitted by then (December 15th). It's best that you send your transcripts to CSDCAS now, because I've heard they can take a while to be verified. I sent one of my transcripts online to CSDCAS and it was verified by them after about two weeks, and the other transcripts I requested to be sent by mail haven't been verified yet, after two weeks. So sent the transcripts to CSDCAS like... now. On CSDCAS, there are basically four sections. Personal information about yourself, academic information (your transcripts, etc.), supporting information (reference contacts, listing out all your experiences (volunteer, work, etc.), achievements, etc.), and program materials. The program materials section appears to be specific to each school - for example, Chapel Hill asks for the personal statement, a resume, and to identify courses meeting their prerequisites. Entering all of this information isn't very difficult, but is boring and takes a lot of time, so it's better to start ASAP! Schools might have different deadlines - again, I've only got one school using CSDCAS so keep that in mind! But while my CSDCAS application needs to be submitted by the December deadline, there's a Chapel Hill supplementary application that I'll be able to do after I submit the CSDCAS application, and that has a due date in January. If you go to the websites of the schools you're applying to, there's a good chance they'll explain the deadlines in better detail. Chapel Hill's website explains in detail what needs to be submitted with CSDCAS and when, and then what needs to be submitted with the supplementary application and when that's due. Basically, I'd say get everything done as soon as you can, although I'm also the type of person to want to do everything far in advance. My goal is to have everything CSDCAS submitted by the end of November, if not earlier.

I went there for undergrad, and it was a solid program! I really appreciate the location, and most of the professors were good. I also like the opportunities for clinicals (on and off campus) and the variety of tracks and classes they have, as well as research opportunities.

The University of New Hampshire has a language and literacy disabilities track!

On another note: does anyone want to exchange statements of purpose/letters of intent? I'd love to get feedback on mine and would be happy to provide feedback in exchange! As someone who's out of school I don't have the use of resources like university writing centers or career services - in case anyone else is in a similar situation, or just wants another pair of eyes to read their statement, let me know!

I went to the University of New Hampshire! I'm hoping to get in there, but really, I'm hoping to get into at least one of the five I'm applying to. ? That's a good list! I've heard George Washington is very nice, I thought about applying there but the cost seems so high. ?

Not much, apart from what I've found online! I'm trying to contact some current participants in the program through linkedin. ? I can let you know if I find out more! It's so difficult with the program being so new. And it seems very difficult to get into... there are many more prerequisites than the other programs I'm looking at. I've tried to email the school to ask about specific prerequisites, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. I'm hoping that missing some of the non-CSD prereqs won't count against me in the application! If I'm accepted I would definitely take the required courses in the summer prior to starting the program, but my current situation doesn't easily allow me to take classes right now. Where else are you thinking about applying to?