California schools and taking their own students

[MadisonMachelle]

I keep seeing that California schools are notorious for taking their own students, specifically CSU's. I think the reason why is because they have SO MANY specific pre-requisites that it's nearly impossible for someone to be as 'well-matched' and competitive as their own students. I went to SDSU and have a BA in speech language hearing sciences but am not applying to SDSU.

For this reason I am looking into taking some extra classes that I didn't: Aural Rehab, Clinical Methods, AAC/Autism, and Speech Sound Disorders. I have a decent GPA and decent GRE and great experience working/volunteer but I'm not sure if I'm still a strong enough candidate. 

I'm curious what your opinions are on this? Is it worth it to take all of the extra classes and spend time and money to "catch up" to other applicants?

[oldsolnewworld]

It seems to me if your participating in this application cycle, there is no need to play "catch up." I'm sure you will be exposed to many of these topics in graduate school. If not you could always consider these topics for continuing education as a practitioner.

[bibliophile222]

I would ask the grad programs directly. If those are prereqs that need to be completed by the time you begin, maybe take a couple of the more common ones and see if you can take the rest next summer. If they are prereqs that you can take during the grad program OR are just recommended, maybe hold off for now until you get in.