What was your gre score & did you volunteer anywhere?

[Gradgirl1]

For those who were accepted, what was your GRE score & did you have any volunteer experience? If so, what did you do & for how many hours?

[midnight]

I was an out-of-field applicant with 164V/150Q/5.0AW on the GRE.

 

I didn't have any volunteer experience, but I had several years of work experience as a tutor and inclusion preschool teacher as well as personal experience as a caretaker for a family member with aphasia; I discussed all of it in detail in my SOP.

[SLPtoBEweee]

I am also out-of-field, I had 165V/155Q/5.0AW.

 

As for volunteering, I did volunteer at a tuition free school for children with special needs age 0-6.  I volunteered for one day a week, for several months.  I loved my time there, and will go back when I have time again.  I am sure it helped my application!  I talked about it in my SOP as well.

 

Good luck!

[Ms.slp]

One thing I will say is volunteer volunteer volunteer. I got a chance to volunteer at two private practices and I'm sure it was a big factor in me getting accepted. 

[Nebraska19]

152 for both quant. and verbal and 4.0 on the writing. I shadowed an slp and concentrated on that the most since I am an out of field candidate. I volunteered at my local food pantry and homeless shelters with my Honors College organization, although it is not slp related it was probably a nice thing to have on a resume anyway.

[Dibbels81]

155 Q, 153 V, 4.5 AW.  I was an out of field applicant with 12 post bacc classes under my belt.  Last summer t I tried to find some volunteer work, but to no avail (didn't try overly hard).  I applied to six  schools (2 admits, 1 WL, 3 rejects).  So, I don't think extensive volunteer experience is necessary, but I'm sure it will help.  Don't burn yourself out with it, though.  I think a high GRE score will look better than having stalked a SLP around for a few weeks.    

[mystiqueSLP]

Out-of-field applicant - 159V/157Q/4.5AW

 

I volunteered at a hospital for many years and interned at a software development company for a summer. I've been teaching children at a tutoring center (including a girl with a fluency disorder) for nearly a year and working at the psycholinguistics lab on campus for almost 2 years.

 

I was lacking a lot of in-field exposure but I think it just depends on how you frame your experiences in your SoP and what led you to your passion in SLP.

[SLPSteph]

My scores were 169 verbal, 162 quantitative and 5.0 AW. I did not have any significant volunteer experience. I think the three schools I was accepted to (OU, Baylor and UTD) may have accepted me primarily on the basis of those and my GPA (3.88). But, I was wait listed at Vanderbilt, which was likely the most competitive school I applied to and I think things like that were the reason. It seems to me that the highest ranked schools are looking for very well-rounded applicants and I would bet that volunteer experience would be something they would like to see.

SO, if you're planning to apply next year, I would recommend working on your GRE score (if necessary - idk what yours is) and DEFINITELY volunteer as much as you can (and then talk it up in your SOP!), especially if you're applying for competitive schools.

I hope that all makes sense! Good luck!!

[CaramelLatte]

My scores were 169 verbal, 162 quantitative and 5.0 AW. I did not have any significant volunteer experience. I think the three schools I was accepted to (OU, Baylor and UTD) may have accepted me primarily on the basis of those and my GPA (3.88). But, I was wait listed at Vanderbilt, which was likely the most competitive school I applied to and I think things like that were the reason. It seems to me that the highest ranked schools are looking for very well-rounded applicants and I would bet that volunteer experience would be something they would like to see.

SO, if you're planning to apply next year, I would recommend working on your GRE score (if necessary - idk what yours is) and DEFINITELY volunteer as much as you can (and then talk it up in your SOP!), especially if you're applying for competitive schools.

I hope that all makes sense! Good luck!!

 

WOW! Those are great GRE scores, what were some of your study tips and/or did you take any review classes or tutors? 

 

THanks! 

[SLPSteph]

WOW! Those are great GRE scores, what were some of your study tips and/or did you take any review classes or tutors?    THanks! 

Thanks! I didn't use a tutor or a class (I tried to sign up for one but waited too long and it filled!) I studied on my own using a book - I think it was Kaplan. It really helped! I needed to do a lot of reviewing for the quantitative section because I had forgotten a lot, but probably the biggest thing was VOCAB! My book had a list of the most common GRE words and I made flash cards to study them. I really think that made a big difference. I hope that helps, and good luck!

[SpeechyK]

150Q/165V, volunteered for 2 places prior to applying.  One adult-based, one child-based. 

[maggiebSLP]

162V, 160Q, 5.0AW. I didn't have any SLP volunteer experience but I'd worked on two student research projects in my psychology department, one of which was an independent project for which I did a poster presentation at the EPA conference in March.

[SLPjmar]

156V, 150Q, 4.5AW. I did not volunteer, but I had a related internship.

[lauren8908]

149 for both math and verbal and a 4.0 for writing. I have the lowest GRE score of anyone here, but I got accepted into two schools. It proves that having related experience/a high GPA can make up for a low score. I worked with a small group of kindergarten students on their letter-sound correspondence during student teaching, I am currently a substitute teacher, I was a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters for a semester, and I volunteered at a summer camp at my college last summer.

[MagentaMacaron]

Quant-151, Verbal-158, AW-4.5

 

-2.5 years of volunteering in a speech and language group therapy program for children and teenagers with developmental disorders (worked hands on with clients and facilitated games, activities, etc.) 

-1 year of volunteering in a speech and stuttering institute working with adults with fluency disorders and children with motor speech disorders (mostly shadowed SLPs)

- Helped an SLP administer motor speech assessments to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders at a hospital (on and off for about 4 months)

- volunteered as a research assistant in a speech lab for 6 months (created speech samples, ran tests etc.) 

Edited April 24, 2013 by MagentaMacaron

[june90bug]

I definitely agree with this. My scores were 142 quant, 157 verbal, 4.0 writing. I got accepted into 3 of the 5 schools I applied to. I have minimal volunteer experience - just one summer at a clinic - but a very strong GPA and transcript. 

 

149 for both math and verbal and a 4.0 for writing. I have the lowest GRE score of anyone here, but I got accepted into two schools. It proves that having related experience/a high GPA can make up for a low score. 

[steph190]

149/quant, 156/verbal, 4.5/writing

 

GPA- 3.65

Post bac GPA- 4.0

 

Volunteer: child with autism (1 day per week, a little over a year), tutor special needs and esl students (approx 40 hours), hospiral (50 hours), counselor at camp for special needs

 

Work: tutor (4+ years), substitute teacher, work with autistic, selectively mute girl

 

 

[queenleblanc]

I have 6 years of teaching experience, a previous masters degree in teaching (no GPA's are assigned at UNC Chapel Hill), and a 3.26 from my B.Mus degree in 2006, when getting an "A" from your professors was more arbitrary than today's college courses (I can attest to that after taking online pre-req courses, where the way to an "A" was made clear).  I volunteered / worked a lot during my previous undergraduate days, going on church mission trips abroad, working at children's music camps, serving in leadership for my music education student organizations, was also a leader in my career for the same organization.  I also showed on my resume the MANY independent, self-motivated tasks I had to complete in my career as a band teacher and music teacher, which I think weighed heavily in my favor -- being a HS band director with a competitive band program is a lot more work than a regular classroom teacher.  

 

My GRE's weren't as great as others on here, but I only studied for about 2 weeks and decided if I got scores over 150, I wasn't taking it again.  157 V, 152 Q.  My AW score was lower than I expected (got 6.0 the first time in 2005, but got 4.5 this time), but I didn't worry too much about it.  

 

I also had a 4.0 in pre-reqs when I applied. My prof's who wrote recommendations were very enthusiastic about writing them, which I really think helped me out.  I got admitted to 4 of the programs where I applied (out of 7), waitlisted for 2, and rejected for 1 (didn't have enough pre-reqs complete at time of app to be competitive at UNC Chapel Hill).

 

There isn't really a summary statement that says "this is what a successful SLP applicant looks like" -- we all come from varied backgrounds, and hugely different motivations.  As a teacher-turning-to-SLP, I will tell anyone who is looking to do the same --  if your resume doesn't show that you've tried teaching at several schools with several age groups, it will look like you are just unhappy with the one school where you currently work.  I have been cut by budgets, resigned due to wanting to be at one school (not itinerate), resigned due to ethics (I refuse to change grades after already giving generously where it was not deserved), and ultimately being sick of the politics of education and NOT being able to actually teach is driving me out.  I've spent a lot of time researching the field of SLP, reading journal articles, and I also have experiences with family in SNF's.  I'm not "rosey-colored glasses" about SLP -- it will definitely be a challenging field.  It's a wonder that a PhD isn't part of the process to be a practicing SLP with the huge scope of practice!!  I think showing that honesty, and accepting the challenge, is something professors want to see in your SOP's, as well as something about what makes you -- you.  

[GandalfTheGrey]

 

There isn't really a summary statement that says "this is what a successful SLP applicant looks like" -- we all come from varied backgrounds, and hugely different motivations.  As a teacher-turning-to-SLP, I will tell anyone who is looking to do the same --  if your resume doesn't show that you've tried teaching at several schools with several age groups, it will look like you are just unhappy with the one school where you currently work.  I have been cut by budgets, resigned due to wanting to be at one school (not itinerate), resigned due to ethics (I refuse to change grades after already giving generously where it was not deserved), and ultimately being sick of the politics of education and NOT being able to actually teach is driving me out.  I've spent a lot of time researching the field of SLP, reading journal articles, and I also have experiences with family in SNF's.  I'm not "rosey-colored glasses" about SLP -- it will definitely be a challenging field.  It's a wonder that a PhD isn't part of the process to be a practicing SLP with the huge scope of practice!!  I think showing that honesty, and accepting the challenge, is something professors want to see in your SOP's, as well as something about what makes you -- you.  

It's definitely important to show that becoming an SLP is a pull ("I want to be an SLP") rather than a push ("I'm sick of this career and need a new one and SLPs make good money"). I also think that having a strong sense of what an SLP does and what is required is hugely helpful in the application process and in grad school.

GRE scores: 800 quant, 620 verbal, 5.0 AW

Undergrad gpa: 3.7 postbacc GPA: 4.0

volunteer experience: not much, I ran a small mentoring program in college for kids in special ed. I also had a paid job coordinating and leading volunteer trips for high school kids, but that had very little to do with ComDis. I was a linguistics major in college and eat, sleep, and breathe that stuff, so I wrote a lot about that in my SOP.

I was accepted to 8/8 top 50 schools based on BS US News & World Report rankings.