GandalfTheGrey

I didn't volunteer but I have several friends who did and thought it was definitely worth it - you get free registration! I know transportation and lodging can still be expensive though. I'd definitely recommend trying to volunteer/attend when you are in graduate school - you can learn about specific treatment approaches that aren't covered in grad school, or just learn how different clinicians approach various disorders. Make sure you take good notes because it's a hectic event and everything becomes a blur really soon.

I wouldn't put too much weight on the specific letters in the degree - for example, I think Columbia offers strong medical focus, but since their SLP program is through the school of education, it's an M.Ed. Focus more on the classes offered and the practicum experiences, the letters/degree type matter very little. Employers care more about your coursework/experiences than the letters in your degree.

Definitely ask a professor to read over your essay before you submit it - then you can be more confident it won't backfire.

I think that sounds like a great idea for an essay. Speaking from personal experience, I opened my essay with an anecdote about how my obsession with all things Tolkien made me want to be an SLP, and I got in everywhere I applied. I think showing you have interests in other areas that will augment your clinical practice is a good thing.

To my knowledge, there are no ASHA requirements for familiarity with a second language, including ASL. I personally feel that this is problematic because so many of our clients are bilingual, not to mention that learning a second language often deepens your understanding of your first language. Not knowing a second language isn't inherently a disadvantage, although knowing a second language is one of the many factors that can boost an application. So as you're applying, emphasize your strengths, as I'm sure you possess many other skills that set you apart.

This is my favorite SLP grad school blog: http://slpecho.wordpress.com/

Thanks, sayjo, for clarifying what I meant. That's exactly what I meant to say. I've also heard that some schools care more about the quantitative section, so I'd suggest asking specific schools which sections of the GRE they value most.

Many people in other threads have reported finding Magoosh really helpful for test prep. If you think you can raise your score, take it again. If you are concerned about not having enough time to really study, consider investing in a tutor. Many college/grad students who tutor only charge $20-$40 per hour, which might be a worthwhile investment if it means a better score and scholarship $$ down the line. 6 hours with a tutor will probably be more effective than 6 hours by yourself with a book.

If employers are looking for experience in NLP, I would think that grad school would count if it gave you that experience and you can demonstrate sufficient competency in it. It seems silly to get a PhD just for "work experience" (but if it genuinely interests you, then go for it). You might even be able to convince employers that your different undergrad degree is a strength - maybe you gained writing experience or something else that would get your foot in the door in a related position while you gain more experience with NLP. You might also be able to take additional classes as a non-degree student to bolster your experience after you graduate. Does UW have a career office that would be able to help you with your questions? And from one linguist to another, welcome to the dark side. =). Good luck!

My school, as well as most schools I applied to, required a B- or better in science/math/stat prereqs.

I agree with Missthang. You don't gain anything by being vague, and they know people are going to rescind acceptances. You're not letting the university down.

1. The person who taught the LOTR actors and actresses to speak the language of Middle Earth. Totes qualified, just born in the wrong decade. 2. Professor. Hope to be reasonably qualified at some point in my life. Need to get that PhD first. 3. Math teacher, any grade K-12. I guess I'm qualified. 4. Speech Pathologist in a children's hospital and/or cleft palate team. I'm about as qualified as one can be straight out of grad school, just need to hope someone's hiring.

If you've had a lot of contact with the director, calling would be the more personal way to withdraw your acceptance. It's not required, but it's a nice gesture. I had to do that two years ago and the director thanked me for calling and said she appreciated getting a phone call instead of an email. I second what other posters have said that it's totally acceptable to withdraw your acceptance and email is perfectly appropriate, but calling might be a nice thing to do.

1) Views on use of common space. Is the living room a quiet space for doing work? A social space where your roommate will want to listen to tv/talk to people/have friends over? Your roommate might describe herself as "quiet", but this actually means that she doesn't have loud parties but always listens to music. Or maybe your roommate spends all her time in her room with the door closed and you'll find this odd. 2) Common-ness of objects. Are your pots and pans separate? Are you combining all kitchen supplies? Will you share food? How will you divide cleaning duties? How often do you clean the apartment? Does your roommate let dishes pile up in the sink for a day or two at a time? For example, I refuse to live with anyone who has never owned a broom before. 3) Guests. how often do you/does your roommate have overnight guests? Do you care if your roommate's significant other sleeps over six nights a week? 4) Rent/credit. If you and your roommate are on the same lease, you need to make sure you trust each other to pay the rent on time. Are you going to split the rent 50/50, or by the size of your respective bedrooms? How will you decide who gets the better bedroom? 5) Schedules. I find it helpful to live with other grad students but from a different program. This way we are equally busy and unlikely to want to host loud parties on wednesday nights. We have a mutual understanding that the apartment gets messy during finals week and we clean up after. By being in different programs, we don't get sick of each other. I'm also nocturnal, and morning people generally don't like rooming with me because even as I sneak around like a mouse after they go to bed, it still wakes them up. So I'm very up front about this. 6) Drugs/alcohol. It's helpful to have roughly similar views (not necessarily similar habits). 6a) smoking. I'm not advocating asking every single one of these questions verbatim, but it should help you think about what you want in a roommate. Sometimes the seemingly little things can become the most annoying when you are living with someone! I'll add more if I think of anything.

I think the best way to get answers is to ask current students at your school - every school is so different.

Basically, you just need to look at each school's plan and compare them to eachother and what you need. You can also look into health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (healthcare.gov). I did a quick google search of "Buffalo State college graduate health insurance" and found this fact sheet: https://consolidatedhealthplan.com/files/pdf/SUNYBuffaloStatefinalSBC.pdf The other schools you are applying to probably have similar fact sheets that you can use to compare plans. ASHA has some useful information on the basics of understanding health insurance here: http://www.asha.org/public/coverage/ FYI, one of my friends is a grad student at UMASS (not in speech though) and she is very impressed with their coverage.

Everyone I know who did an internship as an undergrad either arranged it through their school's SLP department or by calling private practices until they were able to make something happen. Good luck!

Most schools have the estimated cost of attendance somewhere on their financial aid website, itemized by tuition, estimated living expenses, estimated cost of books, etc. You can also call the school if you aren't able to find what you need online. Financial aid is determined by individual schools, so you'd need to follow each school's financial aid policy to find out how much you'd be eligible for in terms of loans. In general, if you are a US citizen, have no criminal record, don't make a ton of money (and aren't married to someone who does) and don't have bad credit history, you'll probably be approved for a fair amount of federal loans.

I second rbrf. I'd suggest going ahead and calling them. I don't think you need to worry about sounding negative - they accepted you, so it means they want you there. Tell them how thrilled you are to go, but to make it happen you might need to defer and ask what your options are. They can't rescind your acceptance because you want to go and aren't sure if you can. Good luck!

My guess would be that CSD classes would be the most important, regardless of whether that was your major or not. Similarly, admissions committees should take into consideration which courses brought down your GPA. For example, poor grades in Sanskrit, chemistry, and music theory are probably looked at differently than poor grades in language development or anatomy. That's just my two cents.

If you google "northwestern university graduate tuition" you'll get to this page: http://www.northwestern.edu/sfs/tuition/t_grad_s_tuition.html Full-time tuition for the 2013-2014 school year is $15,040/quarter. FYI, that sample quarterly plan is from 2009, so I'm not sure I'd trust it.

That's a huge deposit! Can you call the department that accepted you and ask for an extension? You could also check the results board from last year to get a sense of when those other schools you are waiting on released decisions last year. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you to hear your decisions in the next 10 days though =) Good luck!

So true! I was considering Emerson for a while and I learned that they actually have access to the same placements as MGH and the other boston schools. Even though Emerson might not have a "medical focus", most of your learning happens on your placements anyway. Plus Emerson has a very supportive environment, and most people learn better in supportive environments.

What you should NOT do is accept to two schools as a way of putting off your decision. That's just not fair to the schools and other applicants. however, committing to one school because their deadline is approaching while you are still waiting for another offer is fine. For example, school A wants a commitment from you by march 24 but school B won't tell you if you've been accepted until April. Commit to school A on March 23, and then back out when you hear from school B. It's not fair to you to be required to follow through on your commitment to school A just because their deadline was so early, just like it's not fair to you to risk not going to grad school because you turned down school A while waiting for school B. Basically, do what's best for you, and do it in a way that is respectful to schools and other applicants.

If you are deciding between $20k of debt and $100k of debt, make sure you check out the loan repayment calculator first! https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action Is 10 years of paying over $1200 per month to Uncle Sam worth going to your dream school? Maybe it is, but I'm at an expensive school right now and I know a lot of my classmates are regretting their choice after realizing that job prospects are still pretty good no matter where you go. It might take a couple extra years to work your way into the ideal hospital job if you go to a local cheap school instead of MGH, but going to the local cheap school might mean that when you do get your ideal job 2-3 years after graduating, you're already practically debt-free...