s.slp

Hey! I'm currently a first year student at UofA. Last year I was accepted to 5 schools but when I was making my decision it ended up coming down to UofA and UBC as they were closest to home (I'm from BC). Ultimately I went with UofA because I had heard only good things about the program. Current students told me how much they loved it and that the program was very clinically focused. Also, SLPs that I shadowed told me that if they have a choice between a UBC student or UofA student for practicum rotations/hiring, they prefer the UofA ones as they find that the UBC students are not as well prepared clinically compared to UofA students. I also spoke with some UBC grads and they said that even though they love theory, the program at UBC was noticeably theory and research heavy. I'm becoming an SLP to work clinically and I'm not interested in pursuing research and so I decided that UofA would be a better fit for me. The UBC grads both said that if they had to go back and make the decision again they would still choose UBC so there is that. However, one thing both told me was that they wished UBC had an in-house clinic like UofA and some other schools have so that was an interesting point I hadn't thought of. The cost of UBC's program is notably less though so definitely something to keep in mind, although as someone said on here earlier the cost of living in Vancouver is much higher. I'm so far enjoying my classes here at UofA. It's definitely not what I was expecting because of covid haha but I've found that all the profs really do tie the content into actual clinical work. Of course the coursework in these programs is very foundational but I do feel that I've learned some necessary skills AND how to apply them going into our spring clinic. I know most of the clinical learning will happen in placements but I do feel that I have knowledge to draw on. So while I still think we'll be starting in the deep end during placements, our profs have at least given us life jackets! Haha ? One thing is that I thought it would be easier to get external placements in BC but UBC gets to pick spots first so that's one thing that I wish I had known. We don't know our placements yet but its looking like I will be able to get 1 of our 2 placements in BC. So not too bad and definitely an adventure to move away but thought I would share! I hope this helps! (And sorry it was so long haha)

Hey I had the same timeline that JenSed outlined here. I just wanted to say that I noticed this line on the admissions page a while ago and remembered being surprised since I had had so long to decide. Hopefully this doesn't mean that they will wait until April like the Ontario schools, but they may have decided to tighten up their turnaround time this year. I don't know when you all will hear but I have my fingers crossed for you all!! Hopefully this helps "Applicants whom the department is recommending for acceptance will receive an e-mail or telephone call informing them of the recommendation and asking them to reply within two weeks to let the Department know whether or not they are interested." from https://www.ualberta.ca/communications-sciences-and-disorders/programs/msc-in-speech-language-pathology/admissions/index.html

Hey I'm sorry but I'm not sure! All I was told was that they would be looking at all the additional materials first, but I don't know what specific experiences they will be prioritizing. I imagine that GPA may still be a factor, especially for people near the bottom of the top ~60 because if people have similarly ranked additional materials then I imagine GPA would come in to differentiate those people. This is just my personal speculation though based on the limited info the student society gave me so please don't take this as fact!!

For those of you wondering about UofA's new admission process, I think I may be able to shed a bit more light! In past years (including 2020 admission cycle) UofA ranked all applicants by GPA and only once they had their rankings of the top grades did they begin to look at any supplemental items. This year they are doing it the opposite way and will be looking at all the additional items and doing their rankings while blinded to the GPAs. They have changed this in an effort to get a more diverse class and are using the GPA cutoff listed as just a minimum. So if you have great supplementals (within the top 62 applicants) and a lower GPA still within their cutoff, it seems like you would have a fairly decent shot at being admitted. Obviously there are more nuanced details that won't have been shared outside of staff though so do keep that in mind! I'm a student at UofA and our student society just gave us this information recently and we were told to share with applicants. Obviously my class did not have admissions using this process so I don't have much more insight but I thought I'd pass along what I was told!

Thank you! I went with UofA for a number of reasons. I heard that UofA had a much better clinical focus than UBC where they are more focused on theory and research. Since I know I want to be a clinician rather than a researcher I had placed UBC fairly low on my list. Dalhousie was last on my list because it was the farthest school from home and the only 3 year program. I chose not to attend McMaster because of their accreditation status being somewhat of an unknown and their focus on problem-based group learning, which is not my preferred learning style. So then Western and UofA were left and I ultimately went with UofA because it was closer to home, I had heard only good things about their program, and I really didn't know a lot about Western's program. This was my (condensed for clarity lol) thought process but it was definitely a decision I had to think about for a long time! I only made my final decision the night before the response deadlines in April!

Thank you! And sure Degree: BA (major linguistics, minor psychology) SubGPA from ORPAS: 3.9 (I don't know my cGPA but it was definitely lower!) GRE: Verbal reasoning - 163; Quantitative reasoning - 154; Analytical writing - 4.5 Volunteering: 4 summers with a stroke recovery group, 1 summer as the leader of an aphasia conversation group, small amount of volunteering with an SLP in a school, created AAC boards with an SLP in a hospital Research: 3 years as a research assistant in a ling lab with 1 year as a field worker as well. (This was a paid position) Other: had a second part-time job on campus related to community/school engagement so I made sure to include that aspect in my letters Hope this help

Officially, I think they send them out March 2nd. But in last year's thread someone said that they received an MMI offer on February 19th. So hopefully we will hear from them soon! Yes I found out about my interview on Feb 19th and I had until Feb 26th to accept or decline the offer. I was surprised because last year it also said we would find out on March 2nd. Also I'm in my first year at UofA but I was also accepted at McMaster, Western, UBC, and Dalhousie so please feel free to send any questions you have!

It was sent to our UofA emails! Vicki sent it so it was from the SLP department

I have also declined by offer at UBC

Just declined my offers at McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie

Yeah I got it this morning

I received an acceptance to Dalhousie on the 7th and I'm not from the maritimes

UBC has started sending out acceptances!

Has anyone heard anything from UBC or know when we should expect to?

I would suggest contacting the individual provincial SLP college for the province you are intending to work in to see if they will accept a degree from McMaster. I contacted the BC college last month and they said that students from McMaster can register to work in BC and they currently have SLPs working in BC right now who graduated from there. Hope that helps!