2023 Canada Admissions SLP thread

[egall]

On 12/18/2022 at 10:44 AM, SLPplease1 said:

For U  of T...  the second section in the SOI...where it says

"The second section of the Statement of Intent is a summary of volunteer experiences and should list:

1. Volunteer experiences in the field of speech‑language pathology and/or audiology in point form, including dates, duration, total hours, populations, and the nature of activities in which the applicant participated; and
2. Other relevant volunteer experiences, including dates, duration, populations, and activities."

Is THIS part of the 500 ish words?? I cannot locate another "section" to upload a part two to.  Help please.  I see on the orpas site that there is a volunteer section, but it's very prescribed only allowing particular information.  In the description section, there are just a few lines available to write what you did.  

 

I see no where to upload a second section which would allow me to list a summary.  Thanks for any insight.

The volunteer section is where you are meant to enter any volunteer work and yes, it is very limiting. The 3,000 character limit is for the main statement of intent, which works out to be roughly 500 words. I also worked my volunteer experience into my main statement of intent naturally. 

[SLPplease1]

2 minutes ago, egall said:

The volunteer section is where you are meant to enter any volunteer work and yes, it is very limiting. The 3,000 character limit is for the main statement of intent, which works out to be roughly 500 words. I also worked my volunteer experience into my main statement of intent naturally. 

Thx. I just wish they used the same language as each other. There is no “Part 2” listed on the orpas site, so it just makes me second guess myself. I had zero room in the soi for volunteer info. Hoping “Part 2” is sufficient for them. Ugh. 

[SLPplease1]

There are so few people here and even fewer asking/responding questions. I wonder if that means that apps are way down this year, compared to other years. If I check 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, there was way more going on in those areas. Hmmmmmmm....

[egall]

36 minutes ago, SLPplease1 said:

There are so few people here and even fewer asking/responding questions. I wonder if that means that apps are way down this year, compared to other years. If I check 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, there was way more going on in those areas. Hmmmmmmm....

I thought the same thing but saw somewhere (maybe in an old gradcafe forum) that number of applications just keeps increasing. It's also possible people don't know about this site ?‍♀️

[egall]

53 minutes ago, egall said:

I thought the same thing but saw somewhere (maybe in an old gradcafe forum) that number of applications just keeps increasing. It's also possible people don't know about this site ?‍♀️

p.s. if anyone can find the information from the Canadian schools regarding the number of applicants and average GPA of those accepted for the previous years please let me know!!

[slp_meg]

For volunteer experience found under personal submissions for Western and U of T ... does anyone know if they allow paid work experience to be included in the submission. I have co-op work experience and other work experience that I think is relevant to the profession and would love to include it in my application.

Thanks in advance!

[SLPplease1]

3 hours ago, slp_meg said:

For volunteer experience found under personal submissions for Western and U of T ... does anyone know if they allow paid work experience to be included in the submission. I have co-op work experience and other work experience that I think is relevant to the profession and would love to include it in my application.

Thanks in advance!

Does it not fit into the soi? 

[nslp2be]

Question about transcripts for UofA. My current and former schools (brock, ryerson) will not issue me transcripts that are downloadable - they all get sent through MyCreds directly to the schools. So there's no way for me to download and upload pdfs of my transcripts to my application. I explained this in an email to UofA asking if it can be sent through MyCreds and they just said nope you need to upload a pdf. So confused about this, does anyone know what to do?

[NikolaSLP]

10 minutes ago, nslp2be said:

Question about transcripts for UofA. My current and former schools (brock, ryerson) will not issue me transcripts that are downloadable - they all get sent through MyCreds directly to the schools. So there's no way for me to download and upload pdfs of my transcripts to my application. I explained this in an email to UofA asking if it can be sent through MyCreds and they just said nope you need to upload a pdf. So confused about this, does anyone know what to do?

Yes, they won't accept it from MyCreds because the application only requires unofficial transcripts. You should be able to have a copy of your transcript sent to you either electronically or by mail, from there you can print/open them and scan them to your computer which will allow you to upload them as a pdf. If thats not possible I would contact Ryerson and Brock and let them know you need a physical copy. 

[hopefulslper]

Hi, I know I'm late to this but I'm a current first year at U of A for SLP, this forum did help me quite a bit when I was applying last year so if you have questions feel free to message and I can try to help

Edited December 24, 2022 by hopefulslper

[SLPplease1]

On 12/20/2022 at 3:58 PM, egall said:

I thought the same thing but saw somewhere (maybe in an old gradcafe forum) that number of applications just keeps increasing. It's also possible people don't know about this site ?‍♀️

After having a think, I wonder if *this* year might actually be an aberration...Two friends of mine, both in honours and both 4th years, are actually taking another year to finish their degrees. The pandemic messed them up and need another year to complete. I bet they aren’t the only ones out there experiencing this. 

[quruxSLP]

Hey everyone~ This is first time posting on grad cafe and the first time applying to SLP schools! I was wondering if anyone has experience or know someone who has experience applying for McMaster's SLP program through the Facilitated Black Admissions Program?

Edited December 24, 2022 by quruxSLP

[MajorTom10]

Just submitted my U of A application. I’m going all in to it, as I’m Alberta’s and don’t want to leave the province. Hell even moving to Edmonton feels like a lot for me. 
 

I’ve never been this nervous about anything! I’m applying with a 3.82 GPA in a BSC in Speech and Hearing Science from Arizona State, a reference letter from the dean of my college, a leadership position in my sorority, volunteer hours with both children and seniors, a previous job as a paraprofessional at schools and my SOI is pretty damn good (I have some personal tragedy related to why I want to be an SLP). If one of my friends presented with my application I’d say they’re a for sure and yet… I can’t honestly consider that they might accept me. 
 

Looks like from previous threads most acceptances are in March and I feel like I might explode waiting till then 

[nslp2be]

Has anyone finished Dalhousie's app? I'm confused because I don't see anywhere to upload the letter of intent. Also, just realized my professional reference (which I understand is optional) does not have an email that they'll accept (only goverment/university/hospital emails) which sucks. Something to look out for.   

[nslp2be]

15 minutes ago, nslp2be said:

Has anyone finished Dalhousie's app? I'm confused because I don't see anywhere to upload the letter of intent. Also, just realized my professional reference (which I understand is optional) does not have an email that they'll accept (only goverment/university/hospital emails) which sucks. Something to look out for.   

Nevermind, totally missed this. All documents are emailed together as a single PDF. Also non-academic references can fill out the PDF form and email directly to admissions if their email address isn't acceptable.  

[somethingcleveraboutspeech]

Hi! Just to piggy back on this - some schools, like U of T, might not even look at the volunteer section since they waived the requirement. It completely depends on who is reviewing the app. STRONGLY recommend putting any relevant volunteer information into the SOI.

ALSO, I can't seem to find info about this on the website - does the employer reference need to be a current employer? Thank you!

[somethingcleveraboutspeech]

Hi all,

Always stressful that student affairs coordinators are on break during this time in the application season! 

Anybody have any insight on this? I took a prereq course at UAlberta in the fall. The grade will not be available until Feb, so I'm obviously waiting to send in the transcript until then. Should I put IPR on the application? Or mark it as completed?

[MajorTom10]

1 hour ago, somethingcleveraboutspeech said:

Hi all,

Always stressful that student affairs coordinators are on break during this time in the application season! 

Anybody have any insight on this? I took a prereq course at UAlberta in the fall. The grade will not be available until Feb, so I'm obviously waiting to send in the transcript until then. Should I put IPR on the application? Or mark it as completed?

I’ve got some credits in progress and Vicki at UAlberta told me to just put ‘in progress’ and then if I get it before the decision to update it, but if not and I’m accepted it will be conditional on them being finished 

[NikolaSLP]

2 hours ago, somethingcleveraboutspeech said:

Hi! Just to piggy back on this - some schools, like U of T, might not even look at the volunteer section since they waived the requirement. It completely depends on who is reviewing the app. STRONGLY recommend putting any relevant volunteer information into the SOI.

ALSO, I can't seem to find info about this on the website - does the employer reference need to be a current employer? Thank you!

The professional reference does not need to be from a current employer. 

[NikolaSLP]

2 hours ago, somethingcleveraboutspeech said:

Hi all,

Always stressful that student affairs coordinators are on break during this time in the application season! 

Anybody have any insight on this? I took a prereq course at UAlberta in the fall. The grade will not be available until Feb, so I'm obviously waiting to send in the transcript until then. Should I put IPR on the application? Or mark it as completed?

I had the same problem last year when I took a pre-req at the UofA. The answer depends on the school. 

For UofA applications, you only need unofficial transcripts, which should be available to you mid-January from the UofA. From there you can download a copy and upload it to your application. 

For the UofT and Western, ORPAS only accepts official transcripts, so you'll have to leave it as IPR, and send the official transcript as soon as you receive it. 

[somethingcleveraboutspeech]

1 hour ago, NikolaSLP said:

I had the same problem last year when I took a pre-req at the UofA. The answer depends on the school. 

For UofA applications, you only need unofficial transcripts, which should be available to you mid-January from the UofA. From there you can download a copy and upload it to your application. 

For the UofT and Western, ORPAS only accepts official transcripts, so you'll have to leave it as IPR, and send the official transcript as soon as you receive it. 

Thank you! Very helpful. I am only applying to Ontario universities - I'll leave it as IPR and hope the grade comes back before they review my application since it's going to affect my SGPA quite a bit!

[nslp2be]

For McGill, I've just submitted and paid for the online application, but there was nowhere to upload my CV or transcripts... I thought instructions would come at the end or something but they didn't. Has anyone done theirs?? Thank you

Edited December 27, 2022 by nslp2be

[lilaccloudsz]

10 hours ago, NikolaSLP said:

The professional reference does not need to be from a current employer. 

I've been seeing things about a professional reference and I just wanted to confirm that this type of reference is only if you have been out of school for X years? That's what I saw on the website lol bc I only submitted my letters from my professors 

[NikolaSLP]

7 minutes ago, lilaccloudsz said:

I've been seeing things about a professional reference and I just wanted to confirm that this type of reference is only if you have been out of school for X years? That's what I saw on the website lol bc I only submitted my letters from my professors 

Yes, typically if the schools require a third reference they give you the option of submitting either a third academic reference or a professional reference. However, for Western it needs to be two academic and one professional/personal reference, the professional/personal reference being the replacement for the clinical reference this year. For the UofA its at least two academic references and the third can be either or. The UofT is only requiring two academic references and waiving the third reference all together, but if you have been out of University for five or more years then one can be a professional reference. I can't speak for the other schools as I haven't looked into their application processes that much. 

[Natalie SLP]

23 hours ago, nslp2be said:

For McGill, I've just submitted and paid for the online application, but there was nowhere to upload my CV or transcripts... I thought instructions would come at the end or something but they didn't. Has anyone done theirs?? Thank you

Sorry I'm no help but I'm applying to McGill and I have the same question...

The information on their website are very vague about where to upload these supporting documents. Did you happen to figure this out or does anyone else have insight on this?