2019 Canadian SLP Thread

[SpeechPlease]

Hi everyone!

I haven't seen a 2019 thread for us Canadians applying to SLP yet. Just curious to know where everyone is applying to and what your background is!

I am from Concordia University, finishing up my second BA, and I will be applying all over -- McGill, OttawaU, UofT, McMasters, and Western. I'm hoping I have a chance of getting in, my GPA from this program is a 3.67, although my first BA was under a 3.0.  I work as an ABA therapist and have a ton of diverse volunteering, including with a SLP. I keep seeing acceptances in the US to students with a much lower GPA, so I'm really not sure what to expect.

I'm in the middle of writing my SOP and the character limits from McGill and UofT are seriously throwing me off. Any suggestions?

 

[cneuz]

Hey! I am applying to the SLP program at Western. Honestly I'm not holding out a lot of hope that I'll get in this time around. My GPA is roughly a 3.3 - 3.4, so I don't think I'll make it through due to the competitive GPAs of other applicants and the admittance numbers. But I also have a lot of volunteering experience in various areas; I volunteer with children in school as a mentor, I volunteer at a Distress Centre, and I am volunteering with an SLP at a children's centre as well. I heard having lived in another country is a plus, which I've done (student exchange to Germany), and I also know a second language and have beginner's knowledge of a third. Right now I'm working as a community support worker... Sigh. I dunno. I will have some good reference letters and am working on what will hopefully be a funny, memorable personal statement. I'm just really hoping they look at everything combined and not my GPA alone, because then maybe I stand a chance. I'm taking more uni classes in the new year, trying to be proactive regarding my GPA, so that if I don't make it through this time, hopefully the second time around I do.

I'm really nervous about this whole process, more so now that I've started actually working on the different parts of my application, realizing what a task it will be to get it all finished. But I'm honestly just really excited to have a clear goal. While I was getting my undergrad (in Psychology) I had no idea at all and it was mentally draining. 

[EagerSpeechie2019]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a BSc in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Neuroscience. I'm looking into applying across Canada for SLP. Do you know if certain programs look at both degrees or just your most recent degree? Just trying to figure out GPA. I'm currently working as an ABA therapist. I'm hopeful I'll get in but it's a daunting process. I will be writing my GRE soon. 

 

Good luck everyone!

[slpleaseletmeintoslp]

Hi everyone!

I'll be applying this year to UofT, McMaster and Western University. I have a degree in Early Childhood Studies, but rumour has it that they prefer people with science/psychology backgrounds. Does anyone know if anyone with an early childhood background has gotten into the program before? 

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

[DreamingofSpeech]

Hi guys! 

So nerve-racking to actually be posting here after lurking for so long..

So I'm a student at UofT, finally graduating in June with a degree in French Linguistics (random I know), applying to UofT, Western and McGill. MCGILL IS THE DREAM, I've been wanting to go there since high school and I hope (PRAY) that my French background might give me some sort of edge since I would pursue bilingual placements. I feel like I've been taking extra courses to apply for years, still have a few more to go next semester. 

My biggest concern is that I decided to pursue this going into the 4th year, so I feel like I've been playing catch-up to other students that have been volunteering for years and have stellar GPA's (i.e. some of my third year marks suck and are going to be included.. ugh). Anyone else feeling the pressure? 

[Guest student45238]

Does anyone know whether spaces are included in McGill's 3000 character count?

[amandae]

Hello! 

 

I'm a UofT Kinesiology student (random i know LOL). I have a 3.1-3.2 subGPA for my application. I'm applying to UofT, Western and McMaster, but UofT is my number one choice. I have 100+ hours in volunteering with various cohorts (young students to retirement homes). I do not have strong faith in my application, as my phonetics mark is meh. The rest of the pre-reqs are great and I'm beginning sign language lessons in 2019, so hopefully that'll push me through. I decided to pursue this field later in my degree, when I realize physiotherapy is not what I actually love after volunteering for a bit. Does anyone have any tips or ideas to help my application stand out, or do they think I have a strong/medium chance of getting in?

[amandae]

On 11/15/2018 at 12:13 AM, DreamingofSpeech said:

Hi guys! 

So nerve-racking to actually be posting here after lurking for so long..

So I'm a student at UofT, finally graduating in June with a degree in French Linguistics (random I know), applying to UofT, Western and McGill. MCGILL IS THE DREAM, I've been wanting to go there since high school and I hope (PRAY) that my French background might give me some sort of edge since I would pursue bilingual placements. I feel like I've been taking extra courses to apply for years, still have a few more to go next semester. 

My biggest concern is that I decided to pursue this going into the 4th year, so I feel like I've been playing catch-up to other students that have been volunteering for years and have stellar GPA's (i.e. some of my third year marks suck and are going to be included.. ugh). Anyone else feeling the pressure? 

YES, i FEELL that presuure homie. I switched my career focus towards SLP in my final year as well. I have a degree in Kinesiology and currently completing a 5th year to snag all those pre-reqs before I apply. Hopefully you get into McGill!!

[19SPEECHIE]

Hey guys!

I'm applying to SLP for my first time but have been dreaming about this moment since I was 10!!! I'm applying to McMaster and Western and I have a subGPA of 3.74 and an overall GPA of 3.58! I have approx. 250 SLP volunteer hours and I have worked as a TA for two years. I don't have any research experience but I know my clinical and academic references will be very strong. I'm hoping my letter of intent will help me stand out from the crowd too! 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the acceptance averages for the 2018 cohort?

Good luck everyone!

[Amy Sid]

Hi Everyone! 

Thank you @smellyrich for creating this thread for all of us 2019 SLP hopefuls to interact and share our experiences! I hope we can all end up in the field of our dreams! 

My SLP journey also began very late, just earlier this year actually! Unfortunately my university doesn't offer two of the SLP-specific prerequisites, so this past semester I've been scrambling to register for these courses through distance education, and trying to network with Speech-Language Pathologists near me to get some clinical hours. Thankfully, I've been successful in getting placements in a few places, and I've also been able to register to take the courses I was missing next term! I really hope that having less clinical hours and not having completed all the prerequisite courses before applying doesn't significantly hurt my application. I may not have the strongest application, but I am hoping that my work experience as a TA and Peer Tutor, volunteer experience in a variety of health areas, somewhat high GPA, and (hopefully) strong statement of intent, references, and interview can give me a chance! I am planning on applying to UofT, Western, and McMaster because I don't intend on leaving Ontario and want to stay relatively close to home!

Good luck everyone, I can't wait until April when hopefully all of us can see our hard work pay off and finally receive those letters of acceptance ?

[/spiʧ nɚd/]

@student45238 I think it does include spaces, although they don't really specify on their website or their application portal.

[maroo7]

Hi everyone!

I'm a linguistics student applying to Western, Dalhousie, Alberta and UBC! I have about 100 hours of SLP volunteering (all with children :/), 50 hours of volunteering with kids with developmental delays in a non-SLP environment, and over 200 hours of research experience in a psycholinguistics lab on my campus. From what I can tell, my sub-GPA works out to about a 3.91, and my GRE scores are pretty strong except for quant (math is the bane of my existence). SLP has been my longtime dream and honestly I've been lurking on these forums since the first year of my undergrad to motivate myself and see what kind of applicants get in! UBC is my dream school but I'm from out of province and I know they reserve the majority of seats for in-province students so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. Would anyone happen to know of any students who got into UBC who applied from outside the province? 

Good luck to everyone on your applications, it's nice to have a support system during this taxing process!!! 

[SLPDreamer_96]

On November 26, 2018 at 9:20 PM, 19SPEECHIE said:

Hey guys!

I'm applying to SLP for my first time but have been dreaming about this moment since I was 10!!! I'm applying to McMaster and Western and I have a subGPA of 3.74 and an overall GPA of 3.58! I have approx. 250 SLP volunteer hours and I have worked as a TA for two years. I don't have any research experience but I know my clinical and academic references will be very strong. I'm hoping my letter of intent will help me stand out from the crowd too! 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the acceptance averages for the 2018 cohort?

Good luck everyone!

Hey!

I’m not sure about McMaster, but I went to Western’s Open House and this is the admission data they gave us:

Applications received: 425

Available spaces: 50

Grade range of incoming class: 3.39-4.00 sub-GPA

Hope this helps 

[19SPEECHIE]

4 hours ago, SLPDreamer_96 said:

Hey!

I’m not sure about McMaster, but I went to Western’s Open House and this is the admission data they gave us:

Applications received: 425

Available spaces: 50

Grade range of incoming class: 3.39-4.00 sub-GPA

Hope this helps 

Oh awesome!! So last year, if you were anywhere in between there with good references etc, seems like you had a shot! Fingers crossed its similar for this year!

[esslepea]

Hi everyone, I'm a second time applicant, kind of -- I applied to Dal a couple years ago and was waitlisted. I've spent the time since taking ling/psych classes so I can apply to the two year programs.

This round I'm applying to U of T, McGill, Western, and U of A. I'm not local in any of those provinces unfortunately so I have that working against me. (Also why I'm not applying to McMaster haha.) My subGPA is in the 3.7-3.9 range and I've volunteered with both kids and adults in different settings (school/clinic/private practice) and had volunteer experience lead into paid work with similar populations to those SLPs work with. I'm also currently helping with some phonology research. I flip flop between "I am so incredibly average; how will I ever get in?!" and "okay but you're also comparing yourself to people who post online about their stats and experiences and that crowd probably skews toward stronger applicants; stop panicking about average".

Does anyone know how much U of A looks at GRE scores? I half remember someone saying all that it's mostly "Are you average or better? Ok good, on to the next part of the app." But I have zero idea if that's credible.

 Anyway, nice to meet you all and hope very much to meet some of you in person next September. So, how 'bout that CASPer test?

[SLPwug]

On 11/28/2018 at 6:36 AM, maroo7 said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a linguistics student applying to Western, Dalhousie, Alberta and UBC! I have about 100 hours of SLP volunteering (all with children :/), 50 hours of volunteering with kids with developmental delays in a non-SLP environment, and over 200 hours of research experience in a psycholinguistics lab on my campus. From what I can tell, my sub-GPA works out to about a 3.91, and my GRE scores are pretty strong except for quant (math is the bane of my existence). SLP has been my longtime dream and honestly I've been lurking on these forums since the first year of my undergrad to motivate myself and see what kind of applicants get in! UBC is my dream school but I'm from out of province and I know they reserve the majority of seats for in-province students so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. Would anyone happen to know of any students who got into UBC who applied from outside the province? 

Good luck to everyone on your applications, it's nice to have a support system during this taxing process!!! 

Hey @maroo7!

I am a first-year SLP student at UBC right now and was accepted as an out of province applicant! I am from Manitoba! There are 36 students in our cohort and about 7 of us are from out of province. There are a few of us from Montreal, Manitoba, and Alberta, so they do reserve some spots for us, which is great. 

Hope that helps :)

[maroo7]

17 hours ago, SLPwug said:

Hey @maroo7!

I am a first-year SLP student at UBC right now and was accepted as an out of province applicant! I am from Manitoba! There are 36 students in our cohort and about 7 of us are from out of province. There are a few of us from Montreal, Manitoba, and Alberta, so they do reserve some spots for us, which is great. 

Hope that helps

That's awesome to hear, thank you so much for letting me know!!  I was able to meet up with my AUDI402 prof right after the course finished last spring and he had said that he definitely knew of out-of-province students in the program, but then on their website it says spots are reserved for BC students, so it's good to know that there is hope!

[/spiʧ nɚd/]

On 10/22/2018 at 9:19 PM, EagerSpeechie2019 said:

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a BSc in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Neuroscience. I'm looking into applying across Canada for SLP. Do you know if certain programs look at both degrees or just your most recent degree? Just trying to figure out GPA. I'm currently working as an ABA therapist. I'm hopeful I'll get in but it's a daunting process. I will be writing my GRE soon. 

 

Good luck everyone!

Hey there! I believe the schools in Ontario only take into account your GPA from your undergrad degree, even if you've completed graduate coursework (according to ORPAS). Not too sure about other schools across Canada, but hope this somewhat helps!

[SLP2B_95]

Hey y’all, I’m wondering if there are any other indigenous applicants this year? I’ll be applying to Alberta, McGill, Western and McMaster. Or, any past indigenous applicant care to share their experience with application/acceptance? Thanks and good luck to everyone this year!

[DreamingofSpeech]

On 11/24/2018 at 9:54 PM, amandae said:

Hello! 

 

I'm a UofT Kinesiology student (random i know LOL). I have a 3.1-3.2 subGPA for my application. I'm applying to UofT, Western and McMaster, but UofT is my number one choice. I have 100+ hours in volunteering with various cohorts (young students to retirement homes). I do not have strong faith in my application, as my phonetics mark is meh. The rest of the pre-reqs are great and I'm beginning sign language lessons in 2019, so hopefully that'll push me through. I decided to pursue this field later in my degree, when I realize physiotherapy is not what I actually love after volunteering for a bit. Does anyone have any tips or ideas to help my application stand out, or do they think I have a strong/medium chance of getting in?

Hey Amanda,

Thanks for your previous reply to my post, glad to know we're in the same boat haha. Honestly the stress of maybe not getting in almost led to not even attempt to apply, but you lose nothing! From the people I've spoken to, its VERY common to apply more than once (obviously not ideal though). At least for us, seeing as we've been playing some "catch-up" this past year, I've just come to realize that there's only so much I can do in that period of time to do extra volunteering/improve bad marks from previous years, etc. So for me, I'm putting a lot of focus on what I CAN do, which is the statements of intent and trying to secure the best possible recommendations from my referees. Every single one of us has something unique to offer in the field, focus on that! Best of luck!

[SpeechPlease]

On 11/22/2018 at 7:41 PM, student45238 said:

Does anyone know whether spaces are included in McGill's 3000 character count?

Yup unfortunately

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

Hey everyone! I am currently in my first year of SLP at Western and loving it. I also got into UofT and got an interview at McMaster but was ultimately not accepted there. If anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know!

[SpeechPlease]

2 hours ago, HopefulSpeechie2018 said:

Hey everyone! I am currently in my first year of SLP at Western and loving it. I also got into UofT and got an interview at McMaster but was ultimately not accepted there. If anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know!

Hi! I would love to know more about you! What was your gpa? Did you have volunteer hours with an SLP? Did you have anything on your CV that made you stand out? Any suggestions for a strong letter that will make me stand out?

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

12 hours ago, smellyrich said:

Hi! I would love to know more about you! What was your gpa? Did you have volunteer hours with an SLP? Did you have anything on your CV that made you stand out? Any suggestions for a strong letter that will make me stand out?

Hey! My cumulative gpa was around a 3.8 and sub gpa was around 3.85. I had about 200 hours working with a SLP at a preschool speech and language clinic, and about 75 hours working with adults with aphasia. I also had some research experience working in a cognitive neuroscience lab that focused heavily on language. I know multiple of my friends who are in the program with me right now who had lower gpa's as well as less hours so definitely don't get discouraged if you feel like you may be lacking in either area. They really do look for overall well-rounded candidates, and in my opinion (also based on some of my classmates' stats that I've heard) your volunteer experience is more important than your gpa!

[slphopeful101]

Hey everyone, I'm currently a first year student at U of A, and it's been great so far! I was also accepted to Dalhousie (although waitlisted first)! If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! :)