Where to begin?

[GingerD]

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone can give me some personal feedback.  I don't even know where to begin.  I graduated undergrad way back in 2002 with a BA in English.  I started a program in applied linguistics in 2004, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to withdraw during the first semester.  My husband is active duty military, and he had an unexpected change of orders at the last minute.  Anyway, since then, I have been a stay-at-home mom because that is what has worked best for my family considering my husband has lengthy deployments.  I have done some free-lance tutoring and editing, have volunteer experiences (particularity with family readiness and military organizations), and have worked seasonally in retail.  Each of children have speech delays, and I have spent hundreds of hours observing their therapy sessions (in private practice and in schools).  As my husband approaches military retirement and my youngest child becomes school-age, I would like to finally start building a career.  I have decided I want to do speech language therapy, and I am looking at leveling courses online.  I'm just curious if my 15+ break from studies will hurt my chances of getting accepted somewhere.  Have any of you been in my shoes?  Also, how difficult will it be for me to get LORs from professors from online leveling courses?  Being a military spouse in a remote location for now, I have no other option than taking the pre-reqs online.   Can anyone recommend a good leveling program to look into?   I'm feeling very overwhelmed and not really sure where to start, so any feedback is appreciated.   Thanks.

Editing to also ask, for the required chemistry from ASHA, can that be an online course without lab?  Thanks.

Edited June 12, 2018 by GingerD
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[Jordyn_M463]

I can't speak for any recommendations for leveling classes, but I don't think the break will hurt your chances at all. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get LORs but something to think about, in my case, my letters were from professors and employers that new me very well but had no affiliation with SLP. If you can find individuals who know you well enough and can speak on your behalf about work ethic and personality, that can definitely be enough. I know that your GRE scores (if applying to schools that ask for them) have to be within the past 5 years. Your situation is unique, and I believe your personal statement would be a shining point in your application. Not everyone has had experiences like you have which is awesome! As for chemistry, I took a basic Chem class that was the university's equivalent of "high school chemistry" which had no lab. So you should be fine with an online chem or physics! You could always ask prospective grad schools to be sure! 

My particular program has a handful of individuals who came back to grad school for SLP after having other (unrelated) careers for 10-15 years. I wouldn't stress too much about the break! 

Best of luck!

Edited June 12, 2018 by Jordyn_M463

[GingerD]

3 hours ago, Jordyn_M463 said:

I can't speak for any recommendations for leveling classes, but I don't think the break will hurt your chances at all. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to get LORs but something to think about, in my case, my letters were from professors and employers that new me very well but had no affiliation with SLP. If you can find individuals who know you well enough and can speak on your behalf about work ethic and personality, that can definitely be enough. I know that your GRE scores (if applying to schools that ask for them) have to be within the past 5 years. Your situation is unique, and I believe your personal statement would be a shining point in your application. Not everyone has had experiences like you have which is awesome! As for chemistry, I took a basic Chem class that was the university's equivalent of "high school chemistry" which had no lab. So you should be fine with an online chem or physics! You could always ask prospective grad schools to be sure! 

My particular program has a handful of individuals who came back to grad school for SLP after having other (unrelated) careers for 10-15 years. I wouldn't stress too much about the break! 

Best of luck!

Thank you for the response.  I did read that GRE scores must be recent (it has been 15 years since I took the GRE!), so I want to start studying for the exam asap.  In the meantime, I'm trying to register for online leveling courses for the fall.  I'm hopeful that I can make strong enough connections with professors via online learning courses to get strong LORs.   I am contemplating taking the chemistry and statistics on campus at a community college so that I could at least have one or two LORs from someone who has met me face to face, assuming those instructors would be willing, as I know ASHA does require those courses, and I'm lacking those.  My undergraduate GPA was high, (3.95), and I'm hoping I can manage to achieve a high GPA in the leveling courses to strengthen my application.  I hope that I can achieve a high enough GPA in my leveling courses and a high GRE score to compensate for weaker LORs.

Edited June 12, 2018 by GingerD

[bibliophile222]

4 hours ago, GingerD said:

 I'm just curious if my 15+ break from studies will hurt my chances of getting accepted somewhere.  Have any of you been in my shoes?  Also, how difficult will it be for me to get LORs from professors from online leveling courses?  Being a military spouse in a remote location for now, I have no other option than taking the pre-reqs online.   Can anyone recommend a good leveling program to look into? 

 

Minus the military spouse and kids, I was in a similar-ish position. I dropped out after my first year of college, took a 9-year hiatus, and did the rest of my undergrad degree and post bacc online due to my busy work schedule. If anything, the time off from school lets you gain real world experience and shows grad programs that you can handle responsibility. 

As far as LORs go, it might depend on the program, but every school I applied to required at least two LORs from professors. If you can get a recommendation from your kids' SLPs that would be great, but ideally try for at least one professor who can speak to your classroom abilities. It is harder to connect with online profs, but there are ways (which I didn't properly utilize). They might have online office hours through Hangouts or another program. Ask questions or even just share what interests you in class. If there are discussions, write thoughtful posts and connect to real world experiences. If they get a sense of who you are, not just how well you write, they can write a decent recommendation even without the face to face experience.

As far as a leveling program, I did a 2 semester post-bacc at Pacific University and recommend it. It's shorter than many leveling programs, it has a good selection of courses that would cover most schools' pre-reqs, the professors are good, and it's a certificate program, which enables you to get federal loans if you need them. It was about 10 grand for the whole program.

Good luck! I think even with so-so LORs you have a decent chance. I used three online Linguistics professors that didn't know me very well and still got in. Stress your experience and work hard on your personal statement!

Edited June 12, 2018 by bibliophile222
Typo

[GingerD]

4 hours ago, bibliophile222 said:

Minus the military spouse and kids, I was in a similar-ish position. I dropped out after my first year of college, took a 9-year hiatus, and did the rest of my undergrad degree and post bacc online due to my busy work schedule. If anything, the time off from school lets you gain real world experience and shows grad programs that you can handle responsibility. 

As far as LORs go, it might depend on the program, but every school I applied to required at least two LORs from professors. If you can get a recommendation from your kids' SLPs that would be great, but ideally try for at least one professor who can speak to your classroom abilities. It is harder to connect with online profs, but there are ways (which I didn't properly utilize). They might have online office hours through Hangouts or another program. Ask questions or even just share what interests you in class. If there are discussions, write thoughtful posts and connect to real world experiences. If they get a sense of who you are, not just how well you write, they can write a decent recommendation even without the face to face experience.

As far as a leveling program, I did a 2 semester post-bacc at Pacific University and recommend it. It's shorter than many leveling programs, it has a good selection of courses that would cover most schools' pre-reqs, the professors are good, and it's a certificate program, which enables you to get federal loans if you need them. It was about 10 grand for the whole program.

Good luck! I think even with so-so LORs you have a decent chance. I used three online Linguistics professors that didn't know me very well and still got in. Stress your experience and work hard on your personal statement!

Thank you for sharing your story with me and for the encouragement.  I will look into Pacific University.  I wish you the best in your graduate studies.

[HoneyBee03]

Are you able to go to campus and take courses? I'm asking because that's what I did at my local college. They offer an undergraduate degree in Speech so I was able to take the prerequisite classes as a non-degree seeking student. I know there are some online classes that will give you LORs (Utah State is one) but I guess I just felt I got a stronger one with instructors I saw in person. I had one professor who was my professor for probably 4 of the 7 or so prerequisite classes that I took lol. 

I had been out of undergrad for awhile as well. I finished my Bachelor's in 2007. I think having children with speech delays will definitely help your personal statement. The recommendation thing is something to really think about because there are a lot of schools that want recommendations to only come from instructors. 

Good luck!! 

[Bretonve]

University of South Florida has a really good online bridge program for those out of field. I'm on my 4th class and love it.

Edited June 18, 2018 by Bretonve

[SLPhopeful2018]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 8:44 AM, GingerD said:

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone can give me some personal feedback.  I don't even know where to begin.  I graduated undergrad way back in 2002 with a BA in English.  I started a program in applied linguistics in 2004, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to withdraw during the first semester.  My husband is active duty military, and he had an unexpected change of orders at the last minute.  Anyway, since then, I have been a stay-at-home mom because that is what has worked best for my family considering my husband has lengthy deployments.  I have done some free-lance tutoring and editing, have volunteer experiences (particularity with family readiness and military organizations), and have worked seasonally in retail.  Each of children have speech delays, and I have spent hundreds of hours observing their therapy sessions (in private practice and in schools).  As my husband approaches military retirement and my youngest child becomes school-age, I would like to finally start building a career.  I have decided I want to do speech language therapy, and I am looking at leveling courses online.  I'm just curious if my 15+ break from studies will hurt my chances of getting accepted somewhere.  Have any of you been in my shoes?  Also, how difficult will it be for me to get LORs from professors from online leveling courses?  Being a military spouse in a remote location for now, I have no other option than taking the pre-reqs online.   Can anyone recommend a good leveling program to look into?   I'm feeling very overwhelmed and not really sure where to start, so any feedback is appreciated.   Thanks.

Editing to also ask, for the required chemistry from ASHA, can that be an online course without lab?  Thanks.

I took all my pre-reqs online and never met the profs in person. I was able to obtain wonderful LORs from them despite that fact. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

[slporbust2016]

I had a very similar situation. 15 years between when I finished my first BA and when I started leveling courses. 

Utah State has a good online program. I liked that it was an actual second BS because that can make it easier for transferring some coursework. I got all my letters from those professors and got into grad school which I will finish next year.

[GingerD]

On 6/17/2018 at 11:23 PM, HoneyBee03 said:

Are you able to go to campus and take courses? I'm asking because that's what I did at my local college. They offer an undergraduate degree in Speech so I was able to take the prerequisite classes as a non-degree seeking student. I know there are some online classes that will give you LORs (Utah State is one) but I guess I just felt I got a stronger one with instructors I saw in person. I had one professor who was my professor for probably 4 of the 7 or so prerequisite classes that I took lol. 

I had been out of undergrad for awhile as well. I finished my Bachelor's in 2007. I think having children with speech delays will definitely help your personal statement. The recommendation thing is something to really think about because there are a lot of schools that want recommendations to only come from instructors. 

Good luck!! 

Thank you for the feedback.  For now, the only classes I can take are online. The military may relocated my family in a few months, and then I will  see what my options are.  I would much prefer campus based courses.  I’m just trying to make my application as appealing as possible because I worry the time gap is going to work to my disadvantage.  

[GingerD]

22 hours ago, slporbust2016 said:

I had a very similar situation. 15 years between when I finished my first BA and when I started leveling courses. 

Utah State has a good online program. I liked that it was an actual second BS because that can make it easier for transferring some coursework. I got all my letters from those professors and got into grad school which I will finish next year.

Thank you!  You give me hope!  

[GingerD]

On 6/18/2018 at 12:53 AM, Bretonve said:

University of South Florida has a really good online bridge program for those out of field. I'm on my 4th class and love it.

Thank you.  I just enrolled in Longwood U’s online SLP courses since I can pay in state rate for those as a Virginia resident.  I’m glad to hear you are loving your classes.  I’m eager to get started.

[GingerD]

22 hours ago, SLPhopeful2018 said:

I took all my pre-reqs online and never met the profs in person. I was able to obtain wonderful LORs from them despite that fact. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Thank you.  That makes me feel a lot better about the LoRs.  Hopefully I will have the same outcome. 

[thespeechblog.com]

Hey GingerD! Sounds like you're super early-on in the process. 

This is a great place to start gathering info. Check out ASHA EdFind, and also look around at blogs. 

There's a flow chart here that (though a little cheesy) is kind of a nice, quick and dirty summary: http://www.thespeechblog.com/step-by-step-to-become-a-speech-language-pathologist/ 

I think one thing that might help you is to set-up a timeline and to understand the admissions cycle/timeline. You'll need to know when you would need to finish your leveling courses, etc to know when to apply, to know when to take the GRE, etc, etc. Does that make sense? 

And finally, I don't think 15 years away from school is a bad thing. In fact, if you leverage it right in your personal statement it might even be a strength. There are several people in my program who have take 15 (or even 30!) years off between their last degree and the masters. You can do it! 

[sandara]

On 6/18/2018 at 12:53 AM, Bretonve said:

University of South Florida has a really good online bridge program for those out of field. I'm on my 4th class and love it.

I am starting this Fall (hopefully if I get a loan) at USF. Can I message you with questions about the program and your experience so far?