2021 Canadian SLP Thread

[coco_SLP]

44 minutes ago, NDspeechie said:

I'd love to hear everyones stats  I'm a little antsy with this wait!

Hey! I'm not sure 100% which stats you're looking for, but I've pasted some things below for me, so if others wanna copy and paste and use a similar template please feel free to  or else do it your own way, that's cool too!

 

Degree: Undergrad in Linguistics (Concentration in Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders, minor in Spanish) 

GPA: ORPAS subGPA was 3.88, other schools use different scales so 4.05 for Dal, 3.85 for McGill, and 3.84 for UAlberta 

GRE: VR - 156 (72nd percentile), QR - 153 (48th percentile), AW – 5.5 (98th percentile) 

Experience/Volunteering: Unfortunately, not much SLP related due to Covid but I have experience being a teaching assistant for university courses, research experience by doing an Honours thesis, and volunteer experience writing letters to people in LTC homes, running a campus club for 3+ years, being a leader at a summer camp, and being a member of a club that connects students with disabilities to students from other backgrounds. 

References: From professors who have taught me, as well as from those who I’ve worked for as a TA 

 

I'd love to hear everyone else's as well! I'm also getting antsy

[Wuglette]

8 hours ago, coco_SLP said:

Hey! I'm not sure 100% which stats you're looking for, but I've pasted some things below for me, so if others wanna copy and paste and use a similar template please feel free to  or else do it your own way, that's cool too!

 

Degree: Undergrad in Linguistics (Concentration in Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders, minor in Spanish) 

GPA: ORPAS subGPA was 3.88, other schools use different scales so 4.05 for Dal, 3.85 for McGill, and 3.84 for UAlberta 

GRE: VR - 156 (72nd percentile), QR - 153 (48th percentile), AW – 5.5 (98th percentile) 

Experience/Volunteering: Unfortunately, not much SLP related due to Covid but I have experience being a teaching assistant for university courses, research experience by doing an Honours thesis, and volunteer experience writing letters to people in LTC homes, running a campus club for 3+ years, being a leader at a summer camp, and being a member of a club that connects students with disabilities to students from other backgrounds. 

References: From professors who have taught me, as well as from those who I’ve worked for as a TA 

 

I'd love to hear everyone else's as well! I'm also getting antsy

Nice stats! Do you mind explaining how McGill calculates GPA? Is it just that they use cGPA instead of sGPA, or is there something else to it? Thanks!

[coco_SLP]

2 hours ago, Wuglette said:

Nice stats! Do you mind explaining how McGill calculates GPA? Is it just that they use cGPA instead of sGPA, or is there something else to it? Thanks!

Hey! McGill uses a bit of a different scale than ORPAS and many other schools. At McGill, anything that's an A or A+ (85-100%) is given a 4.0, and is only called an A (A+'s don't exist there I guess). Some other schools (and ORPAS) use a system where an A is 3.9, and an A+ is 4.0, so although the 0.1 difference isn't super large, it can produce some different numbers! UAlberta also uses a similar scale to McGill, except they're not using any grades from Winter 2020 towards the calculation of GPA. 

Here's a link to McGill's grading scale -> https://www.mcgill.ca/dise/resources/instructor-resources/undergrading

Here's a link to ORPAS scale, for instance -> https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-conversion-table/

So from those, you can see that they differ a bit. Additionally, Dal uses a 4.3 scale, and the school I did my undergrad at actually used a 12.0 scale so I had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out all these conversions/calculations haha. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by coco_SLP

[Wuglette]

12 hours ago, NDspeechie said:

I'd love to hear everyones stats  I'm a little antsy with this wait!

Hey! I am also getting really antsy, and I feel like this forum is the only thing keeping me semi-sane throughout this whole process! I would also love to hear about everyone's stats, so here are mine:

Degree: I am currently completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Honours Cognitive Science of Language and a Minor in French Studies.

GPA: My ORPAS sGPA and cGPA are 3.98

Volunteering: I have just under 60hrs of volunteering with SLPs and CDAs in various settings (47.5hrs in a speech clinic where I worked with a non-verbal child and an adult with an acquired brain injury; 3.5hrs in a hospital where I observed a videofluoroscopy performed on a stroke patient; 6hrs in a French elementary school with a CDA). I also have 24hrs of related volunteer experience where I helped immigrant elementary-aged children (many of them learning English as a second language) with their homework. 

References: I am kinda worried about my academic references, as although I had 5 courses with one of them, she gets asked to write 20+ references each year, so I am worried that her reference letter might be a bit cookie-cutter. And my second academic reference, with whom I only took 2 courses, is only a sessional prof, so I don't know how that will affect it. But, my professional reference is my current boss who has known me for over 8 years, so although it won't be SLP related, I think her reference will be pretty strong. 

[heynowheynow]

15 hours ago, NDspeechie said:

I'd love to hear everyones stats  I'm a little antsy with this wait!

Hi! Same omg lol I've just been refreshing this page for updates haha

Degree: I am currently completing a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry  

GPA: My ORPAS sGPA is 3.84 (McGill: 3.82)

Volunteering: I have >100hrs of SLP related volunteer work at a Swallowing clinic and I was a volunteer at my local hospital where I got to work closely with SLPs a lot. Coming from a not so "speech-path" related major, I don't have too much research in that field, but do have a lot of diverse wet lab and clinical research experience, although I am a bit worried about not having enough SLP-related experience in undergrad. I also lead a club at my school for improving the wellbeing of the geriatric population. 

References: One of my academic references is a prof I took a course with, and im a little worried since I only took one course with her, but I did do an extra project with her during that time and we did get quite close. My second one is a professor I took a course with as well as my summer supervisor and I'm hoping she gives me a strong one! 

Also I just wanted to say there's some amazing stats here and not gonna lie, it spiked my nervousness a bit BUT I hope everyone has a stress-free app process; best of luckkk to everyone

 

[NDspeechie]

Everyone has amazing stats! What schools are your on your top list? 

[happyeveryday]

Hope everyone is surviving the dreaded waiting period! Thought I would share my stats since it looks like a couple people have as well. 

GPA: 4.21/4.30 (I'm only applying to Dal so no ORPAS GPA for me) 

GRE: VR - 75th percentile, QR - 59th percentile, AW – 55th percentile 

Experience/Volunteering: 50 volunteer hours at an OT clinic working directly with clients, 20 volunteer hours making resources and working with clients at a pediatric SLP clinic, 40 volunteer hours through school club at a children's hospital, completed my Honours thesis on the use of music to alleviate isolation and loneliness in Ontario LTC homes (manuscript about to be submitted), work experience as a research assistant for the Room 217 Foundation, work experience as an assistant teacher for kids in summer school, work experience as an elementary and high school tutor, experience planning and leading intergenerational music programming for an elementary school and LTC home through one of my third year courses

References: One professor who I have taken 3 courses with and my thesis supervisor 

[NDspeechie]

Degree: Undergrad in Cognitive Science of Language, 1 year post-grad in Speech and Language Sciences

GPA: ORPAS subGPA was 3.74 (a little bit on the lower end so I'm super nervous about this)

Experience/Volunteering: I'm currently working at an assistive tech company that created an AAC app. I'm also working as a tutor for a 5-year-old with global developmental delay and creating resources for a speech clinic. In terms of volunteering, I have around 200 hours volunteering with a S-LP in a school board, rehab hospital (adults- feeding), 2 speech clinics with kiddos. I was a research assistant at the language, memory, and brain lab in my school for a year and 1 summer, I was an Instructor Therapist for a 5-year-old who was nonverbal and autistic. I also have general volunteering at a children's rehab hospital (not SLP related). 

References: One professor from my undergrad (I was a research assistant in her lab), one professor from my post-grad certificate program 

I'm super nervous because of my sub-gpa and I'm starting to really doubt the contents of my Letter of Intent. I have to stop looking at my application bc I know I cant change it now ?  i'm just like torturing myself lol

[Owl.on.a.Slide]

3 hours ago, Wuglette said:

Hey! I am also getting really antsy, and I feel like this forum is the only thing keeping me semi-sane throughout this whole process! I would also love to hear about everyone's stats, so here are mine:

Degree: I am currently completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Honours Cognitive Science of Language and a Minor in French Studies.

GPA: My ORPAS sGPA and cGPA are 3.98

Volunteering: I have just under 60hrs of volunteering with SLPs and CDAs in various settings (47.5hrs in a speech clinic where I worked with a non-verbal child and an adult with an acquired brain injury; 3.5hrs in a hospital where I observed a videofluoroscopy performed on a stroke patient; 6hrs in a French elementary school with a CDA). I also have 24hrs of related volunteer experience where I helped immigrant elementary-aged children (many of them learning English as a second language) with their homework. 

References: I am kinda worried about my academic references, as although I had 5 courses with one of them, she gets asked to write 20+ references each year, so I am worried that her reference letter might be a bit cookie-cutter. And my second academic reference, with whom I only took 2 courses, is only a sessional prof, so I don't know how that will affect it. But, my professional reference is my current boss who has known me for over 8 years, so although it won't be SLP related, I think her reference will be pretty strong. 

Amazing stats, but I find it kinda funny that someone with that average is worried ?

I'm pretty sure you're going to be accepted by every single school

[jec]

Hi there, to meet the Statistics course requirement for some schools, can anyone comment on Athabasca’s Soci 301? 

[SLPPPPwannabe]

Everyone's stats are so amazing! Makes me super nervous for applying this year..  as my stats are not the best!

Degree: I finished my BSc with a major in Genetics, and minor in Psychology.

GPA: My ORPAS sGPA is only 3.55 and sGPA for UofA is 3.6. This is sadly where my application lacks

Experience/Volunteering: For experience I have worked as an SLPA for 3 years with children with Autism, Genetic Disorders, Cerebral Palsy and others, specifically working with SLP's, OT's, PT's and Behavioural therapists. I have also worked as respite and community aide worker for 7 years which is where I got the motivation to become an SLP. Also have about 20 volunteer hours with the same company helping the SLP's score assessments and reports. For volunteering I have worked in summer camps for 2 years and have coached girls hockey for 2 years.

References: I came from a smaller university so both of my references are professors that we had to do presentations with so I feel they knew me well enough for this! They both also zoomed with me before applications this year which I thought was amazing!

 

I am just so nervous with my sGPA being lower that I won't get in - it's my second year applying to UofA which I was waitlisted at, but first at Ontario schools.. 

[DreamingofSpeech]

20 minutes ago, jec said:

Hi there, to meet the Statistics course requirement for some schools, can anyone comment on Athabasca’s Soci 301? 

Super easy and straight forward! I got like ~95 in the course when the stats course in the math department I probably would have failed. I also found it more relevant for SLP purposes, especially it's focus on how to examine different elements of a study vs spending weeks on probability. 

[DreamingofSpeech]

Sooo I noticed some people starting to post their stats and experience on here and I can anticipate some of us are going to start getting a little freaked out and even more nervous as deadlines for offers are going to start approaching soon. I just want to remind everyone to keep their heads up! Others having stellar GPAs or much more experience does not discount your hard work and dedication! I know it's so easy to start comparing your own stats against everyone else's but trust me when I say it does not help. I think it's great that so many people have come together to share in this experience and support each other, so stay positive friends! You won't know until you know

[Speechies22]

22 hours ago, NDspeechie said:

I'd love to hear everyones stats  I'm a little antsy with this wait!

Hey! I'd love to hear everyones stats as well so here are mine!

Degree: Double major in Speech Sciences & Psychology 

GPA: ORPAS sgpa 3.91 

Experience/Volunteering: Have around 130 hours as an SLPA for 2 different clinics, mainly work with school-age children. 350 hours working as a behavioural interventionist, 1000 hours as an education assistant working with special needs children, around 200 hours as a peer tutor for neurotypical & special needs kiddos, and 2 years experience as a research assistant. A little nervous about this as my experience mainly comes from the pediatric population. 

References: 1 teaching professor, 1 teaching + supervising professor, 1 work reference from a school-based SLP that I worked with for 8 months 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Speechies22

[Speechies22]

Everyone has amazing stats!  I can definitely see why admission committees emphasize on the letter of intent so much...

[coco_SLP]

Wonderful stats everyone, good luck!

23 hours ago, NDspeechie said:

Everyone has amazing stats! What schools are your on your top list? 

My personal rankings keep changing all the time! I think my front two are McGill and UAlberta, followed by McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie in that order. McGill used to be a solid #1 for me, but the more I think about it, the more I worry about the difficulty in finding placements as someone who only has basic French and may have to travel out of province for some of the placements.

What about everyone else? I'd love to hear your choices and reasons for them!  

Edited February 15, 2021 by coco_SLP

[Wuglette]

2 hours ago, coco_SLP said:

Wonderful stats everyone, good luck!

My personal rankings keep changing all the time! I think my front two are McGill and UAlberta, followed by McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie in that order. McGill used to be a solid #1 for me, but the more I think about it, the more I worry about the difficulty in finding placements as someone who only has basic French and may have to travel out of province for some of the placements.

What about everyone else? I'd love to hear your choices and reasons for them!  

Hey! My top two choices are probably Western and McGill. McGill used to be my top choice as well because I liked the idea of being able to get experience in French placements while still completing my graduate studies in English and I loved the idea of living in Montreal, but after learning how much focus McGill puts on theoretical learning, I think I am leaning more towards Western now. I like that Western has a pediatric focus (I would love to work for a school board in the future) and I really like that they have an on-sight clinic where you can do your first clinical placement. That being said, I still keep going back and forth between McGill and Western as my top choice. My choices after that would be McMaster, Toronto and then Ottawa. 

 

What are everyone else's top choices?  

[wug#2]

For me, Dalhousie is my top choice. Here is why: 

The faculty members are also very welcoming and supportive. From what it seems like, staff does a fantastic job at increasing camaraderie of the cohort. 

If you'd like, you can continue developing research skills by volunteering for a lab, for example. 

Apart from the program itself, I also like the idea of experiencing life in a city that isnt so expensive. 

Hopefully this helps someone! 

Edited February 15, 2021 by wug#2

[Speechiepeach]

On 2/13/2021 at 8:50 PM, NDspeechie said:

I'd love to hear everyones stats  I'm a little antsy with this wait!

Everyone has great stats, you should all be proud as the application process is hard enough!

Degree: Bachelor of applied science in psychology 

ORPAS sGPA: 3.86

Experience/Volunteering: Unfortunately little SLP related experience due to COVID, but am a French tutor, cross-cultural mentor for ESL students, helped with creating and volunteering for a yearly fair event for World Autism Awareness Day, volunteered at a gym to partner with a man with autism to support them through their workout, taught cooking classes to adults with traumatic brain injuries, facilitated conversation groups for older adults with aphasia, and have completed research in neuroscience and mental health.

References: 1 teaching professor, 1 teaching and supervising professor, my boss from a medical teaching clinic I worked at

[1996slp]

21 hours ago, Wuglette said:

Hey! My top two choices are probably Western and McGill. McGill used to be my top choice as well because I liked the idea of being able to get experience in French placements while still completing my graduate studies in English and I loved the idea of living in Montreal, but after learning how much focus McGill puts on theoretical learning, I think I am leaning more towards Western now. I like that Western has a pediatric focus (I would love to work for a school board in the future) and I really like that they have an on-sight clinic where you can do your first clinical placement. That being said, I still keep going back and forth between McGill and Western as my top choice. My choices after that would be McMaster, Toronto and then Ottawa. 

 

What are everyone else's top choices?  

I am currently a student in the McGill SLP program and would strongly discourage anyone from attending! It has been a massive disappointment and I think people are having much better experiences at other schools. Feel free to message me with any questions! 

[1996slp]

On 2/15/2021 at 11:22 AM, coco_SLP said:

Wonderful stats everyone, good luck!

My personal rankings keep changing all the time! I think my front two are McGill and UAlberta, followed by McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie in that order. McGill used to be a solid #1 for me, but the more I think about it, the more I worry about the difficulty in finding placements as someone who only has basic French and may have to travel out of province for some of the placements.

What about everyone else? I'd love to hear your choices and reasons for them!  

I would definitely pick U Alberta over McGill! I am currently an SLP student at McGill and it has been a mostly terrible experience. I am also an anglophone with only basic French and can attest to the fact that your placements are super limited. You're also not eligible for any travel related bursaries if you're not a fluent French speaker. My friend is at U of A and it has been a much better experience overall. I wish I had went to any other school!! Feel free to message me with questions! 

[1996slp]

On 2/11/2021 at 3:39 PM, coco_SLP said:

Wow, those are amazing stats, thank you for sharing! If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular reason you chose UA over the other schools? This is my first year applying and I've applied to several of those schools as well, and everyone keeps asking me which one is my top choice and honestly I'm not 100% which would one would be! I go back and forth over it all the time. I know this field is super competitive and I'd be happy to be accepted anywhere, but I'm a little curious about how schools rank in other people's books. 

I suppose I could extend this question to everyone here, if anyone else would like to answer what their top choice(s) are and why!  

I am currently an SLP student at McGill and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's definitely important to speak to people currently in the program to get a sense of the program's strengths and weaknesses! I strongly regret not speaking to a student before accepting at McGill because it's been a very disappointing experience. Please message me if you have questions!

[coco_SLP]

1 hour ago, 1996slp said:

I would definitely pick U Alberta over McGill! I am currently an SLP student at McGill and it has been a mostly terrible experience. I am also an anglophone with only basic French and can attest to the fact that your placements are super limited. You're also not eligible for any travel related bursaries if you're not a fluent French speaker. My friend is at U of A and it has been a much better experience overall. I wish I had went to any other school!! Feel free to message me with questions! 

 

1 hour ago, 1996slp said:

I am currently an SLP student at McGill and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's definitely important to speak to people currently in the program to get a sense of the program's strengths and weaknesses! I strongly regret not speaking to a student before accepting at McGill because it's been a very disappointing experience. Please message me if you have questions!

Wow, interesting, thank you for your honesty! I know COVID has definitely impacted some people's perceptions obviously, but even without COVID some of your concerns around being an anglophone, less funding opportunities, and difficulty with placements is still completely valid. I think for me I love Montreal as a city and McGill overall as a school, but from the way you've put it it could be worth questioning how those factors make me feel about the program itself. 

Thank you for your honesty, I'll be sure to keep it in mind if given the chance to choose between schools! I know this field is super competitive so I'd honestly be ecstatic to get accepted anywhere, but nonetheless, thank you for your input. Feel free to message me if there's any other thoughts you think might be worth sharing with someone currently going through the admissions cycle. 

[Wuglette]

5 hours ago, 1996slp said:

I am currently a student in the McGill SLP program and would strongly discourage anyone from attending! It has been a massive disappointment and I think people are having much better experiences at other schools. Feel free to message me with any questions! 

I am sorry to hear that you aren't having a good experience at McGill!  Are you still in the first year of their program? Anyways, I hope it gets better for you! I appreciate you giving us your feedback, cause these are the types of things we would never know without speaking to someone who is in the program.

[Speechiepeach]

30 minutes ago, Wuglette said:

I am sorry to hear that you aren't having a good experience at McGill!  Are you still in the first year of their program? Anyways, I hope it gets better for you! I appreciate you giving us your feedback, cause these are the types of things we would never know without speaking to someone who is in the program.

I appreciate any feedback on the different SLP programs and feel it's important to do your own research on each school! I find most people on this forum very helpful. If you look through the 2019 and 2020 SLP threads, maybe try to reach out to someone you see got accepted to and attends the school you are most interested in. It's nice to hear various perspectives and opinions.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Speechiepeach