2021 Canadian SLP Thread

[fingerscrossedSLP]

Hey, does anyone know if Western has specific requirements for their Statement of Intent? The website just says that one is required but I'm not sure where to start in terms of structure/length/focus, etc. Thanks!

Edited October 22, 2020 by fingerscrossedSLP

[C0DA]

On 10/22/2020 at 1:48 PM, fingerscrossedSLP said:

Hey, does anyone know if Western has specific requirements for their Statement of Intent? The website just says that one is required but I'm not sure where to start in terms of structure/length/focus, etc. Thanks!

When you're in ORPAS there's info under the personal submissions:

 

Western University - Statement of Intent (maximum 3,000 characters)

The Statement of Intent should include the following points, with particular emphasis on a, b, c, and d (e only if applicable):

1. explain reasons for choosing speech-language pathology as a career
2. highlight specific personal attributes that you bring to the profession
3. emphasize academic and non-academic accomplishments;
4. outline reasons for entering the Master's program at Western University; and
5. if you have any irregularities in your application, please explain.

[fingerscrossedSLP]

19 hours ago, C0DA said:

When you're in ORPAS there's info under the personal submissions:

 

Western University - Statement of Intent (maximum 3,000 characters)

The Statement of Intent should include the following points, with particular emphasis on a, b, c, and d (e only if applicable):

1. explain reasons for choosing speech-language pathology as a career
2. highlight specific personal attributes that you bring to the profession
3. emphasize academic and non-academic accomplishments;
4. outline reasons for entering the Master's program at Western University; and
5. if you have any irregularities in your application, please explain.

Awesome, thanks so much!

[emSpeech]

@SunshineSpeechieThat is awesome we have a lot in common! I am also in fourth year studying neuroscience and psychology! Sounds like you have a really great application. Good luck as well

 

[DreamingofSpeech]

Hey, does anyone know what the extra space for "course description website details" is for in the prerequisites section? I feel like this is the first time I'm seeing it. 

[MHTherapy]

Quick question: when inputting your prerequisite courses in ORPAS, what are you putting down as a grade for those courses that you’re taking next semester? It doesn’t let me submit it unless a grade is inputted but I haven’t taken the course yet. I tentatively put down “NA” and have “Winter 2021” for the grade and semester boxes. I just want to know what everyone else is inputting. 
 

Cheers!

[wug#2]

@SunshineSpeechie IPR is what you put in the boxes of courses that are still in progress. 

[SpeechieAlly]

On 10/21/2020 at 11:07 PM, DreamingofSpeech said:

haha same... not sure how to feel about these volunteer hours

I’m in the same boat! I was hoping that my low-ish GPA would be offset by having 200+ hours but I don’t know if they’ll count for anything this year! 

[SpeechieAlly]

Hello everybody-many years long lurker first time poster! 

I’ll post my full stats and GPA once everything is finalized because I know for me previously I found those very helpful. 

Can anybody help my figure out how my subGPA would be calculated? I took 2 extra half courses after I graduated my undergrad. So For my subGPA they would have to use those 2, 10 half courses from my 4th year, and then 5 courses from the second semester of my 3rd year-bringing me to the total of 17 half courses. How do they calculate the grades needed for the 3 additional courses? Do they use the annual GPA from my 3rd year, or 2nd year, or do they do something else? Do they just select 3 courses from the 3rd year? I find the subGPA section of the ORPAS website confusing! 

[DreamingofSpeech]

Just now, SpeechieAlly said:

Hello everybody-many years long lurker first time poster! 

I’ll post my full stats and GPA once everything is finalized because I know for me previously I found those very helpful. 

Can anybody help my figure out how my subGPA would be calculated? I took 2 extra half courses after I graduated my undergrad. So For my subGPA they would have to use those 2, 10 half courses from my 4th year, and then 5 courses from the second semester of my 3rd year-bringing me to the total of 17 half courses. How do they calculate the grades needed for the 3 additional courses? Do they use the annual GPA from my 3rd year, or 2nd year, or do they do something else? Do they just select 3 courses from the 3rd year? I find the subGPA section of the ORPAS website confusing! 

They average out any year where they need to take at least one course but don't use the entire year. So in your case they would probably use your two additional courses, 10 individual courses from your fourth year, and average out your entire 3rd year for the remaining credits (giving your third year average a weight of as many credits are used)

So for example, if the average for your entire third year was 3.7 and you were missing 8 credits (20 total minus 2 non-degree and 10 from 4th year), then it would be calculated as a 3.7 with a weight of 8 out of 20 credits (this would obv depend on whether or not your third year includes this many credits, or they may dip into your second year if needed). You can probably use the scale posted on the ORPAS website to determine approx. how it would be averaged out compared to what shows up on your transcript as your annual GPA for that year, depending on the school points system ORPAS uses. 

If you need more help PM me, I've saved my scale from last year's application where I had a similar issue.

[DreamingofSpeech]

6 hours ago, SunshineSpeechie said:

Quick question: when inputting your prerequisite courses in ORPAS, what are you putting down as a grade for those courses that you’re taking next semester? It doesn’t let me submit it unless a grade is inputted but I haven’t taken the course yet. I tentatively put down “NA” and have “Winter 2021” for the grade and semester boxes. I just want to know what everyone else is inputting. 
 

Cheers!

I think you put "future planned"(F/P) if you are starting the course in January. I would check on the School's website.. I know I've seen this information somewhere before.

[SpeechieAlly]

31 minutes ago, DreamingofSpeech said:

They average out any year where they need to take at least one course but don't use the entire year. So in your case they would probably use your two additional courses, 10 individual courses from your fourth year, and average out your entire 3rd year for the remaining credits (giving your third year average a weight of as many credits are used)

So for example, if the average for your entire third year was 3.7 and you were missing 8 credits (20 total minus 2 non-degree and 10 from 4th year), then it would be calculated as a 3.7 with a weight of 8 out of 20 credits (this would obv depend on whether or not your third year includes this many credits, or they may dip into your second year if needed). You can probably use the scale posted on the ORPAS website to determine approx. how it would be averaged out compared to what shows up on your transcript as your annual GPA for that year, depending on the school points system ORPAS uses. 

If you need more help PM me, I've saved my scale from last year's application where I had a similar issue.

That’s a yikes for me ? This is literally the worst case scenario for my subGPA-here’s hoping what I have is still good enough! Thanks for the answer DreamingofSpeech  

[speechncookies]

On 10/25/2020 at 12:18 AM, DreamingofSpeech said:

Hey, does anyone know what the extra space for "course description website details" is for in the prerequisites section? I feel like this is the first time I'm seeing it. 

I found the websites for my prereqs (like the course calendar) and input the description of the course on the website into that space. Most of them didn't fit with the character count, so I had to modify it. I hope this is what we are supposed to do, but if I'm wrong please correct me!

[DreamingofSpeech]

1 hour ago, speechncookies said:

I found the websites for my prereqs (like the course calendar) and input the description of the course on the website into that space. Most of them didn't fit with the character count, so I had to modify it. I hope this is what we are supposed to do, but if I'm wrong please correct me!

Yes that's what I assumed too, but I was hesitant because of the character count like you said. Thanks!

[SpeechieAlly]

23 hours ago, DreamingofSpeech said:

I think you put "future planned"(F/P) if you are starting the course in January. I would check on the School's website.. I know I've seen this information somewhere before.

This is what I’ve found on the ORPAS website: https://www.ouac.on.ca/faq/enter-prerequisite-currently-in-progress/

I would think for these courses you put “IPR” 

[fingerscrossedSLP]

On 10/25/2020 at 12:18 AM, DreamingofSpeech said:

Hey, does anyone know what the extra space for "course description website details" is for in the prerequisites section? I feel like this is the first time I'm seeing it. 

I actually attached course outlines/syllabi/descriptions and if necessary I gave explanations for what page the description was on. I'm not sure if that was right, but we can always use the live chat or SAM on ORPAS to ask for clarification!

Edited October 28, 2020 by fingerscrossedSLP

[speechncookies]

Hi, does anyone know how the referee system works? As in, when referees receive the email from orpas, are they submitting separate letters for each school; does each school have different requirements or separate academic forms; or is it one form and letter that they submit that all schools (that accept references) will see? 
 

Edited October 31, 2020 by speechncookies

[15itspossibleslp]

Hello everyone so glad to see the SLP 2021 Canadian Uni thread! I am also planning to apply at McMaster and Western for Sept 2021. I am concerned with the letter of intent and also GPA if it is competitive enough I probably have around 3.4 for sub gpa, but my volunteer, background and prerequisites GPA are really good I believe. Any tips for writing a good letter? Or if anyone knows who got in with a low GPA and what they could do to offset it? Thank you very much!!

[CCSLP94]

Hey everyone! I'm currently a first-year student at Western. If you have any questions about the application process or about Western specifically, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them

(I also applied to McMaster and did the MMI but was ultimately not accepted, but I may or may not be able to help with McMaster-related questions as well)

Edited November 4, 2020 by CCSLP94

[SpeechieAlly]

Hello CCSLP94, 

Thanks for the offer! 

How does the program at UWO meet your expectations? Is there any that’s surprising or that you don’t like? 

Do you have any advice for writing the statement of intent? 

[SpeechieAlly]

Hey everybody, 

Has anybody taken any courses at Athabasca? How did you end up sending your transcript to ORPAS and how long did it take? 

[SLPWaitlisted]

Hey everyone! I'm a first year student at Mac right now so if anyone has any questions about the program, problem-based learning, MMI's etc. feel free to send me a message

[PSCspeech2020]

Hi everyone! Similar to what a few other's have already done I thought I would offer myself up in case anyone has any questions about anything regarding the application process. I am a first year student at Dalhousie and I also applied to Western so if anyone has any questions about the application process for either of those schools, questions about the Dal program, or anything in general feel free to shoot me a message  

Edited November 5, 2020 by PSCspeech2020

[DreamingofSpeech]

22 hours ago, SpeechieAlly said:

Hey everybody, 

Has anybody taken any courses at Athabasca? How did you end up sending your transcript to ORPAS and how long did it take? 

Hey!

I've taken a few  So you order your transcripts form the myAU homepage and enter the address from the ORPAS website. It's an address in Guelph.. something on Research Lane I believe. You can find it on the website under the transcripts section.

Now I wish I had an exact answer for you about how long it took, but I can't be certain! I want to say that I got the transcript within a week, and I've never had it expressed shipped or couriered so that was through regular mail. I live in Toronto so one thing I did was actually have a transcript mailed to myself to see how long it took.. and I think a week is pretty reasonable for Canada Post. I personally like to give myself as much time as possible for it arrive, especially in winter months when weather may impact service so I would try 2 weeks at least if you can just to be safe  

Once they receive it at ORPAS you will see it as received under document tracking. 

[CCSLP94]

On 11/4/2020 at 8:51 PM, SpeechieAlly said:

Hello CCSLP94, 

Thanks for the offer! 

How does the program at UWO meet your expectations? Is there any that’s surprising or that you don’t like? 

Do you have any advice for writing the statement of intent? 

Hey! I would say that for the most part, Western's program is meeting my expectations pretty well. Of course due to COVID things are a lot different than I was initially expecting during application season last year but I think the faculty members are doing a great job trying to make online learning as easy as "normal" as possible. The work load is basically what I expected based on advice I got from upper year students (be prepared for A LOT more work than undergrad, at least in my experience). The content so far is not too bad for me since I did my undergrad in Speech and Language Sciences, so it's been a lot of review so far. The main thing that I don't like is the insane amount of group work we are assigned. I can definitely appreciate the importance of working well with my colleagues, but it seems that the professors are trying to compensate for the lack of in-person classes by giving us way more group work than we would normally get and it's very difficult to try and arrange Zoom meetings with 10 different groups every week. However, the professors are very open to our feedback (this is just as much an adjustment for them as it is for us!) and I think next term will run a lot more smoothly.

Regarding the statement of intent, the main advice I've been giving is to just really focus on playing up your strengths. For example, although COVID has changed the volunteer requirements, if you have awesome volunteer experiences I would definitely still talk about it in your letter. If your GPA is a bit lower than you'd hoped, focus on achievements in other areas. This website has some great tips that I used when writing my letter: https://www.gograd.org/resources/grad-school-statement-of-purpose/

I hope this helps!