excitedslp Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 I did not initially intend to post in this forum, but I'm confused and would like some advice! Like jkathleen and SLP33, I was accepted at both Vanderbilt and MGH, and I'm having a difficult time deciding between the two. Vanderbilt offered me a 50% tuition scholarship, and MGH didn't give me any funding. However, I eventually want to end up in the Boston area, and if I went to MGH, I'd make more connections in Boston. Does anyone have any advice? I assumed that I wouldn't get into Vanderbilt because it is such a competitive program, so I had my heart set on Boston. Now I'm vacillating between the two programs. Help??
kr12nc Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Has anyone heard anything from Appalachian State University or the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)? Edited March 21, 2012 by kr12nc
SomedaySLP Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Officially accepted admission to UW today so relieved to have this process behind me and to start planning for the fall! If anyone else is going to UW, please contact me, I'd love to connect with some people before school starts!! NorcalSLP and leesta 2
gracie114 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Officially accepted admission to UW today so relieved to have this process behind me and to start planning for the fall! If anyone else is going to UW, please contact me, I'd love to connect with some people before school starts!! How exciting for you and everyone else who has made decisions! I look forward to the day when I can actually give a definitive answer when people ask what I'll be doing next year.
soontobeslp Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 When did you hear back from New Paltz? and was it an email/letter? Hey, sorry I didn't see this until now but I was notified by email about 2 weeks ago and the attached letter said to decide within 3 weeks of recieving the letter, hope that helps
Svetlana Kantorovich Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Anyone know about anything about the SLP program in Touro College, NY??
the_rain_in_spain Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Officially accepted admission to UW today so relieved to have this process behind me and to start planning for the fall! If anyone else is going to UW, please contact me, I'd love to connect with some people before school starts!! Congratulations, Allie! I'm sure you must be thrilled to have made a decision, and it sounds like it is a great one. I wish you lots of success and happiness at UW!
Jen1991 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Hi all, I've been reading all of your comments and I just want to say good luck! I will be applying next fall and it is killing me!!!! I am an undergrad CD major at mercy college. I have a 3.2 gpa and I'm still working on picking that up to a 3.3-3.4. I will be working on undergrad speech related research this summer. Do I have a chance? I'm feeling extremely discouraged. Edited March 21, 2012 by Jen1991
honeybee Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hi all, I've been reading all of your comments and I just want to say good luck! I will be applying next fall and it is killing me!!!! I am an undergrad CD major at mercy college. I have a 3.2 gpa and I'm still working on picking that up to a 3.3-3.4. I will be working on undergrad speech related research this summer. Do I have a chance? I'm feeling extremely discouraged. Hi Jen1991 I was/am in a similar spot to you. Overall, I have a 3.46 GPA. Two years ago, as a junior, I decided that I needed to do something to make myself more appealing to graduate schools. I joined the McNair Program and was able to do research with a faculty member on traumatic brain injury in veterans. I think it definitely helped me become a well-rounded applicant and stand out a little more. Unfortunately, I'm still having a rough time getting accepted.. but I made the mistake of applying to a lot of top schools and not applying to enough schools/schools in my GPA range. What can I say, I had high hopes! Especially because I want to do medical speech pathology and not a lot of schools have that emphasis without having a higher average GPA. So, my best advice is to try for the best GPA you can get and apply to both dream schools and lower GPA schools. Yes, you definitely have a chance!! Just make sure to study this summer for the GRE and I'd buy a GRE book as soon as summer starts and start practicing. You can do it!
Jen1991 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Jen1991 I was/am in a similar spot to you. Overall, I have a 3.46 GPA. Two years ago, as a junior, I decided that I needed to do something to make myself more appealing to graduate schools. I joined the McNair Program and was able to do research with a faculty member on traumatic brain injury in veterans. I think it definitely helped me become a well-rounded applicant and stand out a little more. Unfortunately, I'm still having a rough time getting accepted.. but I made the mistake of applying to a lot of top schools and not applying to enough schools/schools in my GPA range. What can I say, I had high hopes! Especially because I want to do medical speech pathology and not a lot of schools have that emphasis without having a higher average GPA. So, my best advice is to try for the best GPA you can get and apply to both dream schools and lower GPA schools. Yes, you definitely have a chance!! Just make sure to study this summer for the GRE and I'd buy a GRE book as soon as summer starts and start practicing. You can do it! Thank you so much! I am very worried that I will not get in to any schools. I am a horrible test taker but I definitely will follow your advice. Best of luck to you
honeybee Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Thank you so much! I am very worried that I will not get in to any schools. I am a horrible test taker but I definitely will follow your advice. Best of luck to you Well, the GRE is half just being familiar/comfortable with it. If you get familiar with the questions they typically ask, you'll be fine The GRE workbooks have tons of examples. I'd even check out Sparknotes for some really good advice on the GRE - Hopefully you've been thinking about the 3 people that will write your letters of recommendation in the fall. I'm sure the research will be a great opportunity to get a letter or two!!! Also, start making a rough draft of your personal statement over the summer. Good luck!
Timbrr Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Is it an accepted students day? Or just an open house for everyone? I haven't heard anything from USF yet! I am not sure.... you could email Dr. Maldonado or Dr. Bahr and ask! Your interest and commitment wouldn't seem to hurt anything.
NorcalSLP Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hi all, I've been reading all of your comments and I just want to say good luck! I will be applying next fall and it is killing me!!!! I am an undergrad CD major at mercy college. I have a 3.2 gpa and I'm still working on picking that up to a 3.3-3.4. I will be working on undergrad speech related research this summer. Do I have a chance? I'm feeling extremely discouraged. If you don't mind me asking what is your in major GPA? What about your last 60 credits? Some grad schools place a lot more emphasis on those numbers than on overall GPA. I agree with Honeybee you need to apply to a wide range of schools. Try to get a professor you are close with to sit down with you and go over grad school prospects. I had a professor do that with me and it really helped. I think it also made his letter of recommendation stand out because he knew my commitment to the field. Working on research will certainly help, especially if you can extend it for more than just the summer. I have mediocre grades (3.49 in my post bacc (but from UW which I think helped) 3.57 for my first undergrad) and decent GRE scores (159 V 150 (so that THAT great but above 50%) Q). But nowhere near the caliber of some of the people I was applying against. I have research and volunteer work but so do a majority of the people applying. I'm not going to lie and say it is easy but it's also not impossible. The fact that you are thinking about it now is really good. Again, if you can, arrange to meet with a professor and/or mentor who can help you sort out the mess that is grad schools. Then, if you can, visit your top 3-5 schools (either on perspective student days or on your own) and figure out what you really like about the program, and include that in your personal statement. With CSDCAS people can now apply to a ton of programs with a few clicks of a button and schools really want to know that you have done your due diligence. It will also help you sell yourself to the school because you can cater you personal statement (or at least part of it, writing ten separate statements would be a bit overkill) to the schools strengths or current research projects. Similarly if you can afford it I would advise applying to several schools. My professors thought I was crazy when I applied to ten graduate programs but it was what I needed to do. I also knew that as a mid level (in terms of just GPA/GRE) applicant I had to give myself a lot of options, some that were reaches and others that I was fairly confidant I was a competitive applicant for. Ten is extreme but it gave me peace of mind (note I also applied to 15 undergraduate schools and 9 postbacc/3 year masters programs so maybe I am a little crazy haha). It's also important to not be stuck in the idea of attending your one "dream" school. Did i have (do I have) a #1 choice? Yes. But I knew I would be happy to attend any one of the schools I was applying to. It makes it a little less heartbreaking when your first choice rejects or wait lists you (I still can't decide which is worse). I started thinking about grad schools around this time last year too (well I thought about them my whole post bacc year but I REALLY began thinking about them around now). While neurotic, it was nice to get a jump start on things. Start with a long list (like REALLY long) of schools that may, possibly interest you. Make a spread sheet (ave gpa/gre, location, any thing about the program or location that stands out to you (really simple things like "Boston is a fun city but really cold in the winter" or "has a specialized AAC track") etc) and continue to add to it as you come across possible schools. Figure out which schools on that list stand out most to you (without crossing any out yet) and arrange a meeting with a professor to ask about those schools and any others s/he may advise you look into. I would never have applied to UNCo without talking to a professor. Granted I am not going there but his advise was still invaluable. When you (if you) talk to a professor be really honest about your credentials/interests/worries. While they are certainly not your therapist they can't help you unless they know your situation. But if you are able to find the right person to talk to you will likely walk away feeling much better about the situation (if the person you talk you doesn't make you feel better and does not suggest ways to help- find someone else to talk to). Everyone who is a SLP professor or a practicing SLP has been through this process. Yes, it is stress inducing, confusing and at times utterly miserable. But it ends. You WILL open an acceptance letter (possibly many) and you will go to grad school. You just have to be willing to put in the work and clearly you are. Best of luck going forward (and sorry for the long post, I am a bit of a chatter box).
snl1472 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hi all, I've been reading all of your comments and I just want to say good luck! I will be applying next fall and it is killing me!!!! I am an undergrad CD major at mercy college. I have a 3.2 gpa and I'm still working on picking that up to a 3.3-3.4. I will be working on undergrad speech related research this summer. Do I have a chance? I'm feeling extremely discouraged. Seriously, do not worry too much about your GPA! Really try hard to get it up, but I would say now start focusing on experience, getting great letters of rec, and then later, the GRE. By looking around on Grad Cafe, it is obvious I am the exception, but I have a 3.3 and have gotten accepted to two programs so far (waitlisted at two as well) and I haven't even heard back from 5! (I also only have a 3.3 in the Com Dis major...) What I did was similar to the advice given to you above... I started researching this time last year. I made an excel doc of all grad schools I was considering. I probably emailed 150 programs asking for stats from last years accepted class and put those numbers in the spreadsheet. Use the ASHA website to search for schools, but do not rely on their outdated numbers. I do have one really great LOR, and the other 2 were good as well. I have LOTS of experience from during school because I worked full-time almost all the way through. I've also volunteered at at least one place throughout school. Both my jobs and volunteer experiences were related to SLP in some way. I got those by emailing places asking for opportunities to observe, volunteer, or work. People thought I was crazy during this entire process, but it worked! It is not all about numbers, but you need to make sure you look appealing to a committee based on your whole application! I hope that helps and good luck!! It's all worth it when you get your first acceptance. NorcalSLP 1
gracie114 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 What I did was similar to the advice given to you above... I started researching this time last year. I made an excel doc of all grad schools I was considering. I probably emailed 150 programs asking for stats from last years accepted class and put those numbers in the spreadsheet. Use the ASHA website to search for schools, but do not rely on their outdated numbers. Great advice! The numbers on that website are often out of date, so it's best to get the statistics from the schools themselves. I also made an Excel spreadsheet and it was very helpful. Each of the six schools I applied to had its own row and I color coded them by state. These are the columns I used: school website (with hyperlink inserted), location, distance from home, average incoming GPA, average GRE score, tuition rate, deadline, # of letters of recommendation needed, deadline, GRE institution code, # of transcripts needed, faculty doing research that matched my interests for my personal statement, my username and password for their application website, and a hyperlink to the application status website. I would recommend Donald Asher's book about personal statements. I found it very helpful. Another piece of advice I wish I had received was to know what schools you're applying to before you take the GRE! I liked that by taking it in the summer I had ample opportunity to retake it, but I had no idea what schools I was applying to at that point. I wound up sending them to all in state schools and wound up only applying to two of those schools. Your undergrad institution also automatically gets a copy, so don't waste sending a score report on them. Good for you for already thinking about this! You're way ahead of most of your peers.
alicejcw Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 They sent me that letter, too!! And then I got my rejection today. What the hell, Boulder? Kinda misleading, no? Why would they do that and then reject you? Seems in poor taste. Oh well. The dry Colorado air does a number on my sinuses. I guess I will try to focus on past colorado-induced nosebleeds and not how much I love everything else about the place Yeah, that letter thing is so weird - I read that others had received it on here and I didn't get one, so I just assumed that I had been rejected, or wait-listed at best. They really should have sent it to everyone and left out the "top applicant" part if it didn't mean anything!
MesaSLP Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 I love this community! I am jealous of how you, Jenn1991, are plugging in so early! I only discovered this website well after I had applied. It is nice to know you are not going it alone. Is anyone else deciding on a school that is not their "best" on paper? Financial and geographical constraints can weigh in more than academic aspirations when it comes down to the wire! Any thoughts?
Theasaurus Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Yeah, that letter thing is so weird - I read that others had received it on here and I didn't get one, so I just assumed that I had been rejected, or wait-listed at best. They really should have sent it to everyone and left out the "top applicant" part if it didn't mean anything! Congrats on your acceptance to Boulder! I've decided to be forever confused by that ridiculously pointless letter and just be happy with the acceptances I've received. Even if UCF doesn't pan out, then I'm still extremely happy with attending NAU. trina and alicejcw 2
Hopeful SLP Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 @redheadedasian, we are classmates! I faxed my scholarship acceptance today and will mail the check in by the end of next week. I'm happy to open up a spot at Northwestern for someone on the wait list. :-) trina and mscongeniality1 1 1
pangea Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Is it an accepted students day? Or just an open house for everyone? I haven't heard anything from USF yet! A note to anyone waiting on USF - I contacted them about my status and got a response today. At this point, if you haven't heard anything, you're on the wait list. I was told that they admitted 90 people (out of 400) and are waiting to get answers from those folks by April 15th before they address the waiting list. She said that they are still reviewing applications (?) so it certainly doesn't hurt to call or e-mail just to make sure they have you listed correctly. Congrats to everyone who was accepted to USF!
agregory Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Folks who have received a written letter from Vanderbilt, was it sent to your temporary or permanent address?
jkathleen Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Folks who have received a written letter from Vanderbilt, was it sent to your temporary or permanent address? My temp and perm addresses are the same, so I can't answer your question. Just wanted you to know that someone has seen your post.
alicejcw Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Folks who have received a written letter from Vanderbilt, was it sent to your temporary or permanent address? Mine came to my temporary(mailing) address, not my permanent address.
agregory Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 My temp and perm addresses are the same, so I can't answer your question. Just wanted you to know that someone has seen your post. Mine came to my temporary(mailing) address, not my permanent address. Thanks guys!
hopefulslp88 Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 Hey guys! I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about the MAT(Miller Analogies Test)?
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