Jump to content

torrislp

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by torrislp

    2024 Canada Prep & Admissions SLP Thread

    in Speech-Language Pathology Forum

    Posted

    2 hours ago, cornpop15 said:

    Haven’t heard anything! I have been emailing and they told me someone would get back to me soon but that was a week ago 😕 I ended up accepting an offer at an american school

    I also have not heard back from Dal, and also accepted an offer at an American school, would still love to hear my admission decision from them!

    2024 Canada Prep & Admissions SLP Thread

    in Speech-Language Pathology Forum

    Posted

    51 minutes ago, KT-SLP said:

    Congrats to everyone who got offers/waitlist spots!

    Unfortunately I got rejected, but it's my first time applying and I only applied to Western, so I'm not too surprised. I did have some questions about re-applying and improving my application and hoping others have some advice and encouragement... sorry this is such a long post, but it's a complex situation.

    I think my biggest weaknesses are my sGPA (3.57), volunteering experience with only 1 population, and I'm missing the phonetics requirement for most schools (I went to Western for my undergrad 2017-2022, and back then their "phonetics" course wasn't in-depth enough). The volunteering I'm sure I can figure out, but for the sGPA/pre-req, I'm a mature student who is also working, so I'm not able to go back to school full-time and can probably only take 1-2 courses a semester. This causes a few problems:

    • My grades are sort of all over the place; they were mostly in the 80s, but a few 70s. I also took a half-course after graduating, so I think they averaged out my 3rd year (3.47 at a length of 9). Another course I took in my 4th year really put a ding in my sGPA (2.7, most others were 3.7 with a few 3.3 and 3.9s). If I'm not mistaken, this means I'd need to take 2 full years just to get those poor grades off my sGPA calculation - or do EXTREMELY well in others just to "balance it out" and probably raise my sGPA from like 3.57 to 3.6? Since I'll be going back to school after time away, I'm not confident I could get 4.0s in classes, and I'm still confused about how ORPAS' calculations work; I'm trying to weigh the benefits vs. costs of taking more courses. I really can't tell how much I'll actually be able to boost my GPA. If I took 1-2 courses this fall, would that reduce the "length" of my averaged 3rd year? Has anyone else been in this scenario and can help me understand if this would really have a worthwhile impact on my sGPA?
    • If I return to school in the fall for 1 course, I think this also affects my reference letters. Since I've been out of university for more than 5 years, I'm able to submit 2 personal references and 1 academic instead of the reverse. My personal recs (from my boss and volunteering) are incredibly strong, and my 1 academic reference is definitely my weakest. I don't think it's bad, but it's from my thesis supervisor from several years ago who was moving to England while "supervising" me. I worked much more closely with a grad student of theirs and the supervisor themselves, while kind and helpful when they could be, definitely flaked out on a lot of things. I'm sure that reference is pretty generic, and I can't imagine any reference I could get from a prof who teaches me for just 1 class would be any better, especially at the expense of one of my excellent personal references? Has anyone ever been able to make a case to submit 2 personal and 1 academic reference even with a recent course? It honestly feels a little silly that they'd rather have 2 people write about how well I can handle coursework and academics instead of 2 people who can speak to my personal and professional strengths and suitability for the field. Or, any advice for getting a strong reference letter from someone you've only had 1 class with?

    Only really being able to apply to Western severely limits my options, but it feels like going back to take the pre-req or trying to boost my sGPA will weaken my application in other ways and put me on the path of having to spend 3 more years just preparing to be able to make a serious, competitive application in an extremely competitive environment. I know it'll be worth it in the long run if I get in, but it's really difficult to think about as a mature student who feels like they're running out of time to make a career change 😔

    Oftentimes if you reach out and ask for feedback from the schools, they will be able to provide feedback on your application. I know that UofT isn't doing that this year, but it never hurts to see if other schools may be willing to discuss what they recommend for you for the next cycle. 

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

  I accept