I am a first year graduate student. Ask me anything!

[K8eCastle]

The title kind of explains it all! Feel free to ask me any questions about grad school, the application process, or anything else you can think of! I know there are several of these threads out there but I figured I would add mine to the list since I am from a different region than a lot of you so my experiences will be different!

[HooHooHooHoosiers]

Where do you go to school? How would you rate the difficulty of the courses? How many clients do you have at a time? Thanks! 

[SeaCai]

What about your first year has surprised you the most?

[K8eCastle]

7 hours ago, Hoosier27 said:

Where do you go to school? How would you rate the difficulty of the courses? How many clients do you have at a time? Thanks! 

I go to the University of Central Oklahoma! On a scale from 1-10 I’d give most classes a rating of 6-8. Some classes are definitely more difficult than others, but that also has to do with the professor as well. Overall I don’t think my grad classes are any more demanding than my undergrad classes (I went to UCO for undergrad as well), but juggling clients on top of the classes can be tough. It varies from person to person, but most everyone has 3-4 clients each semester during the first year. Last semester I had one client but travelled to other cities throughout the week conducting screenings and evaluations, so I spent 3-4 days doing clinic-related things. This semester I have 4 clients in one day (from 9-11:30) which is kind of nice because it feels more like what I’ll be doing in the real world. I have to make sure I have everything ready for all my clients before I start with the first one because there is a pretty quick turnaround!

[K8eCastle]

43 minutes ago, SeaCai said:

What about your first year has surprised you the most?

In terms of good surprises, I was surprised at how much I was able to recall from my undergraduate classes. I had prepared myself to have to look up a ton of things, but for the most part I was able to be pretty independent when it came to determining goals and treatment plans. 

I don’t know that I had any “bad” surprises, but I did find it interesting to see the different attitudes toward speech pathologists that are out there. Last semester I traveled to several preschools in the area conducting speech and hearing screenings. Some of the teachers were very nice and thankful for us, but I came across a handful that clearly thought we were an inconvenience. I was surprised because you’d think that a teacher of all people would be happy to have their students screened for delays, but according to my supervisor that isn’t uncommon.