How many schools should you apply to?

[toriec]

I'm Canadian and I'm planning on applying to 5 Canadian schools (all of the English ones except UBC). I'll be applying for 2015 so it's quite a while away, but I'd like to prepare in advance to make sure I have the best possible chance of getting in somewhere. I'm wondering if this seems like enough; should I look into American schools as well to better my chances?

[mystiqueSLP]

I would look into how licensing works before you go to a school outside of Canada. I hear it can be difficult to get a license if you completed your education in another state in the US so I imagine licensing might be tricky between US and Canada.

 

And I think a good number would be 5-8 schools. If you're really concerned about getting in somewhere, I've heard of people applying up to 11 schools but that can get really expensive. You also want a large range of schools, competitive ones to not so competitive ones.

[katieliz456]

Yeah, we usually hear the "5-8" number, but that is for US schools.  I know of a girl who ended up applying to 20 schools-- her stats were very low (I'm thinking GPA below 3.0, Cs and Ds in Speech & Hearing classes, low GRE), so she really wanted to be cautious.

 

The whole admissions process seems to be pretty unpredictable. I was accepted to  a school that i thought was a huge "reach", but waitlisted for a school that is lower ranked and has lower average GPA/GRE. If you are flexible geographically, your odds will be much better  

[SLPjmar]

Yeah, we usually hear the "5-8" number, but that is for US schools.  I know of a girl who ended up applying to 20 schools-- her stats were very low (I'm thinking GPA below 3.0, Cs and Ds in Speech & Hearing classes, low GRE), so she really wanted to be cautious.

 

The whole admissions process seems to be pretty unpredictable. I was accepted to  a school that i thought was a huge "reach", but waitlisted for a school that is lower ranked and has lower average GPA/GRE. If you are flexible geographically, your odds will be much better

 

20 schools?!?! I would be broke for months after that 

[katieliz456]

20 schools?!?! I would be broke for months after that 

Same here, but i don't think she had many other options. It was either spend 2k + on applications, or spend wayy more than that doing some type of post-bacc/certificate and attempt to boost her GPA. This was a very unusual case, so she had to do unconventional things; i feel really bad for her recommenders haha!

[mystiqueSLP]

Yeah, we usually hear the "5-8" number, but that is for US schools.  I know of a girl who ended up applying to 20 schools-- her stats were very low (I'm thinking GPA below 3.0, Cs and Ds in Speech & Hearing classes, low GRE), so she really wanted to be cautious.

 

The whole admissions process seems to be pretty unpredictable. I was accepted to  a school that i thought was a huge "reach", but waitlisted for a school that is lower ranked and has lower average GPA/GRE. If you are flexible geographically, your odds will be much better

 

Wow, I was so broke after applying to only 6 programs! Do you know if she actually got in anywhere with those stats?

 

Lower ranked schools can be tougher to get into because everyone sees them as their "safety" so lots of applicants vs. very limited number of available seats so there's that to keep in mind. If your stats are "too good" for the lower ranked schools, they might not offer you admission because they'll assume you just applied to them as your safety and you might end up not going anyway.

[katieliz456]

Wow, I was so broke after applying to only 6 programs! Do you know if she actually got in anywhere with those stats?

The last I knew, she had heard back from about half of the programs, and all had been rejections. I don't think she had stellar recs, or many extracurriculars/work experience/etc. to make up for her numbers.

[midnight]

I'm Canadian and I'm planning on applying to 5 Canadian schools (all of the English ones except UBC). I'll be applying for 2015 so it's quite a while away, but I'd like to prepare in advance to make sure I have the best possible chance of getting in somewhere. I'm wondering if this seems like enough; should I look into American schools as well to better my chances?

 

Check the Canadian applicant thread here if you haven't already. The posters there can help you with that side of things.

 

As for US schools, I know that the Canadians here have done very well this year with acceptances to US programs, including very competitive ones.

[mystiqueSLP]

The last I knew, she had heard back from about half of the programs, and all had been rejections. I don't think she had stellar recs, or many extracurriculars/work experience/etc. to make up for her numbers.

 

Ah. To be honest, it doesn't make any sense to apply to so many places with really, really low stats without outstanding letters and experience.

 

But I can't imagine how it feels to spend so much money on fees and time on different essays to apply to 20 schools and be rejected.

[midnight]

Ah. To be honest, it doesn't make any sense to apply to so many places with really, really low stats without outstanding letters and experience.

 

But I can't imagine how it feels to spend so much money on fees and time on different essays to apply to 20 schools and be rejected.

 

Seriously. I'd rather complete an entire post-bacc program than apply to that many schools. Twenty likely rejections would be torturous.

[mystiqueSLP]

Seriously. I'd rather complete an entire post-bacc program than apply to that many schools. Twenty likely rejections would be torturous.

 

Postbacc would have been more worthwhile for her too. Application fees alone for 20 schools would have been around $1300-1400 and now she possibly only has rejections to show for it. At least with a postbacc, she would have came out with (hopefully) better grades and letters.

[toriec]

Thanks everyone. I have read on CASLPA's website that they have a mutual recognition agreement with ASHA, but I'd still want to double check before going somewhere. 20 schools sounds like a bit much! I do hope 5 is enough for me, but in Canada things may be a bit different since we have fewer schools to choose from in the first place.

[Inny]

Thanks everyone. I have read on CASLPA's website that they have a mutual recognition agreement with ASHA, but I'd still want to double check before going somewhere. 20 schools sounds like a bit much! I do hope 5 is enough for me, but in Canada things may be a bit different since we have fewer schools to choose from in the first place.

 

Other than just improving your chances, is their a particular reason you want to apply to the US? 

 

I had low grades, and from the experience of others I knew there was no way that I would get into Canada, but I had a good shot at the US. So as I saw it, I had a choice: I could spend up to $50,000/year, for up to 3 years at an American school, or I could live at home and spend a bit of money ('a bit' was quite a bit, but nothing compared to the tuition of an American school) going to a local university to pick up extra courses (I ended up picking up a second degree, but that's another story). 

 

If you have the financial resources to spend that kind of money in the US, that's fantastic.

 

But if that money may be a bit of stretch, consider that if you're not going til 2015, you still have plenty of time between now and your applications to improve any perceived weaknesses in your application... 

 

Best of luck!

 

PS A lot of people I know only apply to three - Western, U of T, and McGill. So five sounds good to me (I applied to four -- all the schools that didn't require the GRE) 

Edited March 12, 2013 by Inny

[toriec]

The only real reason I wanted to apply to the US was to improve my chances, and it would be a last resort as I'd rather spend less money if I can. I think my application will be pretty strong, but I also can't know who I'm up against that year! I just want to be certain I'll get in somewhere. 

 

Thanks for the advice!

[midnight]

toriec: If you do decide to apply to US schools, I recommend against California and Florida public schools. Their programs are extremely competitive and often have a lot of internal applicants (and apparently the budget is a huge problem in California, too), so even very qualified applicants are often flat-out rejected, not even waitlisted. There are similar issues with some of the NY (SUNY) schools, too.

 

I mention this because some of the California State University schools aren't ranked so high and appear to be a safer bet, but in reality they're not.

 

Since you currently live in BC, you might be interested in the University of Oregon, Portland State, and the University of Washington in Seattle (although PSU and UW are highly competitive).

 

There are pitfalls to the process that many people don't know about until they experience them firsthand or read about them here, so I just thought I'd share.

[toriec]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind. It's things like that that us Canadians don't always know about!