2021 Canadian SLP Thread

[15itspossibleslp]

Thank you for all of the information here. It has been very helpful. 

[neuroling]

Hey everyone! I got this email from Dal this morning:

Thank you for submitting your application to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. We appreciate your patience while we compiled and verified your application documents.  

We are pleased to let you know that your application is considered complete and has been passed onto the school’s admissions committee for review. You will be informed in April at this email address of their decision. 

I submitted my application on Jan 1 I think? Or very late December, I can't remember which. Just letting everyone know that they are still going through apps and hopefully all the confirmation emails will be out soon.

Edit to add: I just checked and it (their receipt of my GRE, refs, etc) hasn't been updated on the portal yet. I guess they must email first before they update

Edited February 17, 2021 by neuroling

[SLP-2020]

2 hours ago, neuroling said:

Hey everyone! I got this email from Dal this morning:

Thank you for submitting your application to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. We appreciate your patience while we compiled and verified your application documents.  

We are pleased to let you know that your application is considered complete and has been passed onto the school’s admissions committee for review. You will be informed in April at this email address of their decision. 

I submitted my application on Jan 1 I think? Or very late December, I can't remember which. Just letting everyone know that they are still going through apps and hopefully all the confirmation emails will be out soon.

Edit to add: I just checked and it (their receipt of my GRE, refs, etc) hasn't been updated on the portal yet. I guess they must email first before they update

Thanks for letting us know  I still have not received my email. Does anyone know how many applications Dalhousie received this year ?

[2021speechie]

18 minutes ago, SLP-2020 said:

Thanks for letting us know  I still have not received my email. Does anyone know how many applications Dalhousie received this year ?

I havent received the email everyone is talking about either, what is the first letter of your last name? I think that they are working their way through applicants alphabetically, my friend whose last name starts with L got the email yesterday.

I am also curious as to who how many applications have been sent compared to past years but i dont know the answer!

[neuroling]

Just now, 2021speechie said:

I havent received the email everyone is talking about either, what is the first letter of your last name? I think that they are working their way through applicants alphabetically, my friend whose last name starts with L got the email yesterday.

I am also curious as to who how many applications have been sent compared to past years but i dont know the answer!

 

That would make perfect sense, my last name starts with M! I am also curious about numbers if anyone knows

[SLPThreadGirl]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would give an update, I also received confirmation from Dalhousie today but still no update on their online application. I applied to Dalhousie last year, was waitlisted and ultimately not accepted. I asked for feedback on my application and was told that there were 250 applicants last year with only 40 spots (14 of which are audiology students). Hopefully, there aren't as many applicants this year and best of luck to everyone!

[SLP-2020]

59 minutes ago, 2021speechie said:

I havent received the email everyone is talking about either, what is the first letter of your last name? I think that they are working their way through applicants alphabetically, my friend whose last name starts with L got the email yesterday.

I am also curious as to who how many applications have been sent compared to past years but i dont know the answer!

Mine is P! That makes sense and makes me less worried 

[coco_SLP]

4 hours ago, neuroling said:

Hey everyone! I got this email from Dal this morning:

Thank you for submitting your application to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. We appreciate your patience while we compiled and verified your application documents.  

We are pleased to let you know that your application is considered complete and has been passed onto the school’s admissions committee for review. You will be informed in April at this email address of their decision. 

I submitted my application on Jan 1 I think? Or very late December, I can't remember which. Just letting everyone know that they are still going through apps and hopefully all the confirmation emails will be out soon.

Edit to add: I just checked and it (their receipt of my GRE, refs, etc) hasn't been updated on the portal yet. I guess they must email first before they update

I also got this email (received at 7:53a.m. Ontario time). My application portal also hasn't been updated to show this either, and I didn't receive information about a student number or anything either. 

1 hour ago, 2021speechie said:

I havent received the email everyone is talking about either, what is the first letter of your last name? I think that they are working their way through applicants alphabetically, my friend whose last name starts with L got the email yesterday.

I am also curious as to who how many applications have been sent compared to past years but i dont know the answer!

While alphabetical would normally make sense, I don't think this is how they're doing it. I just received my email this morning and my last name starts with C, so considering others with last names further down the alphabet received theirs earlier than me I have a feeling they might use some other system (maybe when the application was first created, paid, completed, GRE results received, etc. who knows haha). 

Not trying to be discouraging, but moreso letting those of you who might get worried if you see people with last names further down from you that have heard from Dalhousie if you haven't. I don't want any of you to worry anymore than you have to/probably already are!  

They say it can take 5 weeks and the deadline was January 15th, so I probably wouldn't get too worried unless you haven't heard from them by next week or so, at which point sending an email to check in might be worth it. I also imagine with COVID it's a different checking process that they've typically been used to, so I think it's completely possible there might be some delays.

Edited February 17, 2021 by coco_SLP

[2021speechie]

Does anyone else's emails from Dal have a student number in it? I cant figure out if the one I received is equivalent since it didn't say that my application was considered complete and being passed on for review but it did say thank you for your application heres your student number. 

[DreamingofSpeech]

Hi all,

Random question.. I've seen people say in this thread and in previous years say that Western's program has a "paediatric focus" so I'm curious if anyone could shed some light into why this might be? As far as I understand, all the programs have the same number of hours per service area that must be completed as part of their program so I'm wondering how it would be possible to have a specific focus on one area more than others? Not sure if it has something to do with the on-site clinic or not.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on this I'd be happy to hear them

[MHTherapy]

Hi all! Eagerly waiting for April 1st! In the meantime, I will also be happy to share my stats.

 

Degree: I will be finishing my honours bachelors of science in psychology and neuroscience with a minor in biology.

GPA: My ORPAS sGPA is only 3.43 and cGPA is 2.7. I am extremelyyyy nervous about my GPAs, especially my cGPA because I spent my second year of uni on academic probation. I worked really hard to get out of it and maintained pretty much straight As the past couple of semesters, however I know that my few mishaps from second/third year have been included in my sGPA calculation. Good news is I am only applying to Western and McMaster, both of which claim to focus solely on sGPA, but seeing my cGPA on ORPAS lets me down every time.

Experience/Volunteering: 

1. SLP student assistant - 130 hours 

2. Direct support professional working with dual diagnostic adults and seniors in residential homes - 680 hours 

3. Inclusion facilitator working with dual diagnostic children supporting them in day camps - 400 hours 

4. Child and youth worker assistant/mental health therapist assistant working in day milieu program for autistic children and a youth mental health walk-in clinic - 480 hours

5. Executive member on two university clubs promoting and raising awareness for autism and childhood cancer

6. Volunteering in cognitive neuroscience research labs investigating human communication

References: I was lucky enough to have a the SLP that I volunteered with to provide me a good clinical reference letter (although this specific requirement has been waived this year), but my two academic references were from profs I took courses with during the past fall semester or last year. I am not sure if these will be strong references, however given that my university has switched to being completely online, finding professors to write reference letters this year was especially challenging.

I am extremely nervous about this whole process. I have already been rejected from one program (non-SLP) where I felt extremely confident in my application. After receiving that news, it's been a little tough to not feel discouraged. I'm not holding out too much hope on McMaster as I know their selection process begins with sGPA ranking, however I am hoping (by God's good grace) that I get into Western.

Good luck to everyone! Remember to keep your mind healthy during these times

[15itspossibleslp]

Hi everyone, just wondering if Universities have their own gpa criteria too or do they just use the ORPAS gpa? Its just that my school is on a 4.5 scale and my gpa went down a bit on a 4.0 scale. I got my sgpa corrected and got it adjusted on ORPAS so just wondering about how universities look at gpa. Thank you!

[2021speechie]

12 minutes ago, thisislife15 said:

Hi everyone, just wondering if Universities have their own gpa criteria too or do they just use the ORPAS gpa? Its just that my school is on a 4.5 scale and my gpa went down a bit on a 4.0 scale. I got my sgpa corrected and got it adjusted on ORPAS so just wondering about how universities look at gpa. Thank you!

Hi, my university uses a 12 point scale so mine went down when it got converted on ORPAS as well. How did you get it corrected? I thought everyones GPA just shifted when they converted it to the 4.0 scale. Western, McGill and Alberta use the 4.0 scale too but for McGill and Alberta A+ and A both convert to 4.0 and  Dal is on a 4.3 scale.

[15itspossibleslp]

I 

1 minute ago, 2021speechie said:

Hi, my university uses a 12 point scale so mine went down when it got converted on ORPAS as well. How did you get it corrected? I thought everyones GPA just shifted when they converted it to the 4.0 scale. Western, McGill and Alberta use the 4.0 scale too but for McGill and Alberta A+ and A both convert to 4.0 and  Dal is on a 4.3 scale.

I asked SAM because they had an error on the calculations they did not include my 4th year fall semester which was my concern previously and I also have regarded that concern here in the previous post. But it is still quite low overall since the 4.0 scale have adjusted everything. So i was wondering if Western or Mcmaster have a different scale when GPA is calculated.

[tazm]

1 minute ago, thisislife15 said:

I 

I asked SAM because they had an error on the calculations they did not include my 4th year fall semester which was my concern previously and I also have regarded that concern here in the previous post. But it is still quite low overall since the 4.0 scale have adjusted everything. So i was wondering if Western or Mcmaster have a different scale when GPA is calculated.

The schools only recalculate your grades if you have graduate courses!

[2021speechie]

1 minute ago, thisislife15 said:

I 

I asked SAM because they had an error on the calculations they did not include my 4th year fall semester which was my concern previously and I also have regarded that concern here in the previous post. But it is still quite low overall since the 4.0 scale have adjusted everything. So i was wondering if Western or Mcmaster have a different scale when GPA is calculated.

OH I'm sorry I didn't realize they missed some courses! I thought you were referring to the fluctuation of GPA on the different scales. 

[15itspossibleslp]

8 minutes ago, tazm said:

The schools only recalculate your grades if you have graduate courses!

Oh I see Thank you for the info!

 

[15itspossibleslp]

8 minutes ago, 2021speechie said:

OH I'm sorry I didn't realize they missed some courses! I thought you were referring to the fluctuation of GPA on the different scales. 

Yes they just missed some courses, but yeah I guess since 4.0 scale is not the scale of my school hence the adjustment. But thank you!

[coco_SLP]

Hey! My school also uses the 12.0 scale. For those of you wondering about the differences in scales, if you haven't seen this already then you might want to check out this conversion table. It converts every university's scale into the ORPAS one by assigning it to a scale type and showing you how they convert it. Unfortunately, some scales don't line up perfectly, but this is how ORPAS does it. However if the issue is that there are courses missing though then that's an issue to discuss with SAM to make sure it's corrected, but in terms of how they go from a 12 point/4.3 point/4.5 point/etc. down to the 4.0 then this is it. Find your school and you can see how they did it  

Here's the link -> https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-conversion-table/

18 minutes ago, thisislife15 said:

I 

I asked SAM because they had an error on the calculations they did not include my 4th year fall semester which was my concern previously and I also have regarded that concern here in the previous post. But it is still quite low overall since the 4.0 scale have adjusted everything. So i was wondering if Western or Mcmaster have a different scale when GPA is calculated.

In regards to your last line, I believe they just use the ORPAS one as their websites say applications are coordinated/ completed via ORPAS. However, if you want to be absolutely sure then you could contact the departments themselves, but from my knowledge they use ORPAS. 

Hope this helps!

[15itspossibleslp]

4 minutes ago, coco_SLP said:

Hey! My school also uses the 12.0 scale. For those of you wondering about the differences in scales, if you haven't seen this already then you might want to check out this conversion table. It converts every university's scale into the ORPAS one by assigning it to a scale type and showing you how they convert it. Unfortunately, some scales don't line up perfectly, but this is how ORPAS does it. However if the issue is that there are courses missing though then that's an issue to discuss with SAM to make sure it's corrected, but in terms of how they go from a 12 point/4.3 point/4.5 point/etc. down to the 4.0 then this is it. Find your school and you can see how they did it  

Here's the link -> https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-conversion-table/

In regards to your last line, I believe they just use the ORPAS one as their websites say applications are coordinated/ completed via ORPAS. However, if you want to be absolutely sure then you could contact the departments themselves, but from my knowledge they use ORPAS. 

Hope this helps!

Thank you again coco_SLP I will check that link to see my school  

[speechncookies]

Hello! To those of you who contacted SAM because of mistakes in your sGPA, how quickly did they rectify it?

Edited February 18, 2021 by speechncookies

[coco_SLP]

41 minutes ago, speechncookies said:

Hello! To those of you who contacted SAM because of mistakes in your sGPA, how quickly did they rectify it?

Hi! Not the exact situation you're describing as I didn't have a mistake in the calculations per se, but they needed to recalculate mine because I had an updated transcript come in so new grades were available. My GPA had been recalculated and updated within 24 hours of my school sending them the new transcript, so it was a surprisingly quick turnaround! I imagine it should also be fairly quick for recalculating/fixing mistakes as well, but I can't say that with 100% certainty as there weren't mistakes that needed fixing with mine.

[jec]

Can anyone shed light on how ORPAS deals with grades earned on an exchange year in Europe for their sGPA calculations?

[coco_SLP]

37 minutes ago, jec said:

Can anyone shed light on how ORPAS deals with grades earned on an exchange year in Europe for their sGPA calculations?

Were you assigned a number or letter grade for the exchange, or is the grade given to you using a pass/fail system?

The reason I ask is my school uses pass/fail grades when people go on exchange, and this bit on OUAC says that they don't count pass/fail grades. (https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-gpa-calculations/)

Additionally, ORPAS needs transcripts from all schools, so as long as the school you did your exchange on also sent a transcript then I believe they'd just use those grades the same way they would other grades, in terms of 20 half-credits/60 credit hours in terms of recency. (This link here answers a question about needing transcripts from all schools, even if exchange grades show up on your home university's transcript -> https://www.ouac.on.ca/faq/transcript-from-exchange-institution/)

Does this help? 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by coco_SLP
Edited to add more info

[MiaSLP]

To anyone who applied to Dalhousie, I just received my confirmation email now. My last name starts with a V. Good luck everyone!