KT-SLP

I live in London and went to Western for my undergrad - I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, either here or through DMs. I think someone had a similar question last year and another person pointed out that Western's very careful with their language - they won't release the exact position, but I think they'll still give you the "rough" position, aka the quadrant. Definitely worth at least asking. Unfortunately I don't know the size of the waitlist, but it's possible they might tell you that, too.

Thank you so much for your response! This is good to hear and definitely gives me a new perspective. While I'm sure programs want to feel confident that applicants know the field and will be good professionals, I think I've been underestimating that their most immediate concern is that you can successfully complete the program itself. That's probably why they heavily prefer academic references, even if they feel one-dimensional. I have just over 100 hours volunteering with adults with aphasia, so it's also great to hear that was enough experience to be competitive in AuD applications (even though I know it was 2021 so things may have changed). I wanted to apply to AuD as well this year but I really didn't have much exposure to the field and didn't seriously consider it until too close to the deadline. The positive side of all this is I have more time to shadow and explore both SLP and Aud. Out of curiosity, I'm assuming based on your username that you ended up accepting and going into Aud? If so, would you mind if I DM'd you sometime with questions about the field and your grad school experience? Thanks again for the good vibes and good insights. All the best! ❤️

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 😔