2021 Canadian SLP Thread

[HOPEFUL13]

Hi everyone!

My plan is to apply at Western and McMaster for Speech Pathology and at Queens and UOT for occupational therapy. Is anyone also applying to both SLP and OT? I am a bit confused right now about how to guide my academic references to speak on both programs behalf if anyone has any tips. I am also a bit nervous about my professional reference. I know that Western waved the clinical reference this year but said that if you have a speech pathologist as a reference they can use the academic form. I did ask a speech pathologist for a reference, so would this make the speech pathologist my professional reference for my OT applications? If this is the case, do you think that this would look bad to the occupational therapy programs? The reason I am asking is because I am wondering if it will just be better all together if I ask my work supervisor (I work at daycare) to write my reference as I have known her much longer (I worked on a project for the SLP and had a min of 4 meetings with her). 

Sorry if the wording is confusing guys, I had a hard time finding the right wording to express my questions. Any opinions are welcome, please help me out of my dilemma! 

Also, one last thing, does anyone know is applying to SLP and OT at Western and McMaster is frowned upon? 

[NDspeechie]

For anyone who is applying to U of T, do we just not put in a clinical reference then? 

Edited November 8, 2020 by NDspeechie

[corinthians1614]

Hey all! I'm currently a first year SLP student at McGill and understand any feelings of worry/stress during the application process! I also applied to McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie last year, so if you have any questions, feel free to message me

[sunnyspeech]

On 11/9/2020 at 9:20 AM, corinthians1614 said:

Hey all! I'm currently a first year SLP student at McGill and understand any feelings of worry/stress during the application process! I also applied to McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie last year, so if you have any questions, feel free to message me

Hello! Thank you for offering your help! I am wondering if your academic references had to fill out different forms for Western and McMaster or if it’s the same form since they’re both under ORPAS? I want to let my references know how much they need to do haha (I believe someone asked this question in the beginning of the thread but hasn’t been answered yet) Thank you in advance!  

[Speechiepeach]

17 hours ago, sunnyspeech said:

Hello! Thank you for offering your help! I am wondering if your academic references had to fill out different forms for Western and McMaster or if it’s the same form since they’re both under ORPAS? I want to let my references know how much they need to do haha (I believe someone asked this question in the beginning of the thread but hasn’t been answered yet) Thank you in advance!  

Hi there! I believe your references will fill out the form that ORPAS sends them, then ORPAS sends the completed reference forms to each University that needs them. Although, in your case, McMaster doesn't require references, so ORPAS will only send the completed forms to Western. Someone correct me if I am mistaken 

[Loki_Odinson]

Hello Everyone,

I am also applying for the first time this year. I have a subGPA of 3.64 and I am planning to apply to UBC and Western. I would honestly prefer to be admitted into UBC as I live close to Vancouver, but I will take whatever I can get! I am super nervous reading through all these posts, you all seem so smart, accomplished and great and I'm starting to question whether my grades and application will be good enough! I decided to pursue SLP very last minute so I have didn't have any volunteer experience although I was planning on acquiring some this year (COVID totally ruined those plans). But, I am currently doing some virtual volunteering with a private clinic. I know Western has eliminated the clinical hours for this years application but I still felt like some exposure into the field would be helpful. This is all so overwhelming and I think I'm slowly loosing my mind! With that being said, I wish everyone good luck for their applications!

[speechncookies]

4 hours ago, Loki_Odinson said:

Hello Everyone,

I am also applying for the first time this year. I have a subGPA of 3.64 and I am planning to apply to UBC and Western. I would honestly prefer to be admitted into UBC as I live close to Vancouver, but I will take whatever I can get! I am super nervous reading through all these posts, you all seem so smart, accomplished and great and I'm starting to question whether my grades and application will be good enough! I decided to pursue SLP very last minute so I have didn't have any volunteer experience although I was planning on acquiring some this year (COVID totally ruined those plans). But, I am currently doing some virtual volunteering with a private clinic. I know Western has eliminated the clinical hours for this years application but I still felt like some exposure into the field would be helpful. This is all so overwhelming and I think I'm slowly loosing my mind! With that being said, I wish everyone good luck for their applications!

Hi there! I actually think it's great you have virtual volunteer experience! With everything going on, I think you can play up this opportunity you have right now. I know my instructor who is an SLP has mentioned that it would be great to get telepractice/virtual therapy experience, as it is really important for the field at the moment. I hope this gives you more encouragement, as I think you have something interesting and very relevant to the health situation to maybe talk about in your personal statement!

Edited November 12, 2020 by speechncookies

[Loki_Odinson]

1 hour ago, speechncookies said:

Hi there! I actually think it's great you have virtual volunteer experience! With everything going on, I think you can play up this opportunity you have right now. I know my instructor who is an SLP has mentioned that it would be great to get telepractice/virtual therapy experience, as it is really important for the field at the moment. I hope this gives you more encouragement, as I think you have something interesting and very relevant to the health situation to maybe talk about in your personal statement!

Thank you!

This is really encouraging!

[NDspeechie]

Hey! For "Volunteer Experiences" on ORPAS, could I put any paid positions? For example, I get paid to do resources in one speech clinic. Could I put that in there? 

[sunnyspeech]

17 hours ago, Speechgirl44 said:

Hi there! I believe your references will fill out the form that ORPAS sends them, then ORPAS sends the completed reference forms to each University that needs them. Although, in your case, McMaster doesn't require references, so ORPAS will only send the completed forms to Western. Someone correct me if I am mistaken 

Thank you so much! Yes you’re right, I’m getting confused between the schools and the requirements. Thanks again! 

[fingerscrossedSLP]

On 11/8/2020 at 5:52 PM, NDspeechie said:

For anyone who is applying to U of T, do we just not put in a clinical reference then? 

Yes and no. I asked ORPAS how that works because Western is still accepting a clinical reference but UofT said in an info session not to include one. ORPAS said we can include a clinical reference for Western if we already arranged to have one (details are on Western's website) and UofT has agreed to just ignore it. (But if you're not applying to Western or haven't arranged for a clinical reference before covid, then correct, you just don't include one!) Hope that makes sense haha.

[Wugs]

On 11/12/2020 at 6:50 AM, NDspeechie said:

Hey! For "Volunteer Experiences" on ORPAS, could I put any paid positions? For example, I get paid to do resources in one speech clinic. Could I put that in there? 

I didn’t see this section for McMaster on ORPAS- do you think it’s because you’re applying to different programs?

[SpeechieAlly]

On 11/5/2020 at 7:51 PM, DreamingofSpeech said:

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. 

Thanks DreamingofSpeech  Super helpful! 

[SpeechieAlly]

On 11/8/2020 at 5:52 PM, NDspeechie said:

For anyone who is applying to U of T, do we just not put in a clinical reference then? 

Hi! I was emailing with Adriana at UofT and she nothing clinical is required so a reference letter is not needed. 
 

Edited November 14, 2020 by SpeechieAlly

[SpeechieAlly]

Is any one open to potentially exchanging Statements of Intent for mutual editing? I want someone familiar with the field and programs to look at my statement before I submit. I would certainly return the favour if anyone is willing  

[SpeechieAlly]

For the volunteer experience sections of UofT and Western’s applications, how did you fill out the description of activities? Bullet points or full sentences?

Does anybody have a resource they can share that explains what to include on an academic CV?

[speech2020]

Question for anyone on their second time applying - are you going to mention that in your statement of intent? I'm not sure if it's something I should include or how to include it

[speech2020]

On 10/27/2020 at 9:52 AM, DreamingofSpeech said:

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

Do you think it's required to put something in this spot? There's no asterisk next to it on ORPAS so I'm wondering if it's even necessary

[DreamingofSpeech]

1 hour ago, speech2020 said:

Do you think it's required to put something in this spot? There's no asterisk next to it on ORPAS so I'm wondering if it's even necessary

Yeah I don't think so either.. they don't give any further instructions so I don't even know why they included it this year

[nessiespeech]

Hi everyone! I have a question about calculating sub-GPA for ORPAS. I need to include 3 marks from my 2nd year to reach 20 courses. I understand that the average the duration will be used to calculate my GPA, but I was wondering if anyone knows if the average would be of my entire 2nd year (term 1 + 2) or if it would be just the recent term 2 average? Thanks in advance! 

[SLP_hopeful123]

On 11/9/2020 at 12:20 PM, corinthians1614 said:

Hey all! I'm currently a first year SLP student at McGill and understand any feelings of worry/stress during the application process! I also applied to McMaster, Western, and Dalhousie last year, so if you have any questions, feel free to message me

Hey! Can I ask what experience you had in the field prior to applying and any information you're willing to share about your academic background? My ideal situation would be getting accepted to McGill, but unfortunately I don't think I have the specific rigorous academic/professional qualifications they look for nor the extremely high gpa I've seen in other accepted applicants 

[SLPThreadGirl]

Hi guys,

This is my second year applying (last year I just applied to Dalhousie and was waitlisted). This year I will be applying to Dalhousie, UofT and McMaster. I am retaking two of pre-requisite courses and I am unsure of how this will be calculated and if anyone knows? In my prerequisites, should I list my previous mark or put that it's in progress? On U of T's admission page, I saw that students are allowed to take courses twice, but I am not sure how they go about this in terms of calculation GPA. If anyone has any insight on this, please let me know.

Thanks,

Ana

[gradschoolpls]

Hey how did you guys input the course descriptions for the prerequisites? There isn't enough characters to fit the full description on the course website.

[SpeechieAlly]

2 hours ago, SLPThreadGirl said:

Hi guys,

This is my second year applying (last year I just applied to Dalhousie and was waitlisted). This year I will be applying to Dalhousie, UofT and McMaster. I am retaking two of pre-requisite courses and I am unsure of how this will be calculated and if anyone knows? In my prerequisites, should I list my previous mark or put that it's in progress? On U of T's admission page, I saw that students are allowed to take courses twice, but I am not sure how they go about this in terms of calculation GPA. If anyone has any insight on this, please let me know.

Thanks,

Ana

Hi Anna

What I would do is list them as in progress, especially if you're retaking them because you need a higher grade to reach the admission threshold. I believe if the first time you took the courses was not within your last 20 half courses/10 FCEs they don't even consider it because it won't be included in your subGPA.

[SpeechieAlly]

43 minutes ago, gradschoolpls said:

Hey how did you guys input the course descriptions for the prerequisites? There isn't enough characters to fit the full description on the course website.

Hi gradschoolpls,

I just copied the description from my school's course calendar and then shortened that until it fit the 150 characters. Unfortunately you will have to take out some info but I would at least make sure that you keep the gist of the course details.

P.S. great screen name