Fall 2014 "Less Competitive" Grad Programs Applicants Thread!

[daisynic]

Daisyinc, is that your overall GPA or your SLP GPA? 

I went to Hofstra for undergrad. It is a beautiful campus, but not so great neighborhood.  It is also very expensive. 

 

Arcanelady27, it is my overall GPA, but my SLP GPA isn't much higher. 

I'm frustrated because academically, my grades weren't stellar, but as a student clinician I excelled! My actual work with clients and students (from the local elementary school, my undergraduate clinic, and student teaching) is where I did my best work. I hope that the schools I applied to this year can see that from my letters of recommendation and personal statement.

 

Did you live on campus at Hofstra? A girl from my undergraduate school currently attends Hofstra, but she commutes. 

Edited February 14, 2014 by daisynic

[Arcanelady27]

Arcanelady27, it is my overall GPA, but my SLP GPA isn't much higher. 

I'm frustrated because academically, my grades weren't stellar, but as a student clinician I excelled! My actual work with clients and students (from the local elementary school, my undergraduate clinic, and student teaching) is where I did my best work. I hope that the schools I applied to this year can see that from my letters of recommendation and personal statement.

 

Did you live on campus at Hofstra? A girl from my undergraduate school currently attends Hofstra, but she commutes. 

Daisynic, 

I lived on campus. Since graduating back in 2003, they have built new dorms that I have heard are very nice. 

What is your SLP GPA? 

Did you have someone review your personal statement? 

You GRE scores are fine. I wish I had scores like yours LOL. 

New York schools are very competitive. I am sure you'll land somewhere this time around.

[LDadvocate]

I haven't had a chance to read through everyone's comments on this thread, but I am looking forward to reading what everyone has to say. I took time to work in a pre-school as a pre-kindergarten teacher after college instead of applying to graduate school right away. Unfortunately, there weren't any job opportunities for recent undergraduates holding NY teacher of speech certification in my area. 

 

I applied to 4 graduate schools last year (Brooklyn College, Queens College, Montclair, St. John's University). I wanted to stay in the NY area, mostly for financial reasons. Unfortunately, I was rejected from 3 and waitlisted to Montclair.

 

My GPA is not competitive AT ALL. I truly messed up in undergrad. I took a few non-matriculated grad classes at Teachers College this past fall and earned a 4.0 in them, so I am hoping that shows how I have matured over the past couple years. 

 

This year, I'm applying to 14 schools scattered across the US (as you can see below! ). I've lost hope in getting into a public school in NY because they get so many applicants! 

 

It's really nice knowing that there are so many other people out there going through the same thing and feeling super anxious waiting to hear back from schools! I check my e-mail constantly.

 

Hi daisynic, I'm also a New York applicant and I totally agree with you about the competitiveness in New York. I have a couple of questions since you already been though this experience last year. 

 

You mentioned getting your NY teacher of speech certification, how did you get that? Because I have read that you can work with your bachelor's but you must have your tssld.

 

Our GPAs are pretty similar, did you ever hear back from Montclair after you were waitlisted?

 

[daisynic]

Hi daisynic, I'm also a New York applicant and I totally agree with you about the competitiveness in New York. I have a couple of questions since you already been though this experience last year. 

 

You mentioned getting your NY teacher of speech certification, how did you get that? Because I have read that you can work with your bachelor's but you must have your tssld.

 

Our GPAs are pretty similar, did you ever hear back from Montclair after you were waitlisted?

 

 

Hi LD Advocate! I received my NY teacher cert through my undergraduate program. They had two available tracks; certification and non-cert. I chose certification because we were told we would be able to work (like what you said) if we didn't go to graduate school right away. I took the two teacher certification exams for TSSLD (LAST and CST). When I graduated and searched for jobs, I couldn't find anyone hiring applicants without masters or C's. 

 

Last year, Montclair sent a follow-up letter to say that they had filled all the spots for their program and didn't take anyone off the wait-list. 

[twinguy7]

Hello @daisynic.....

 

not that it's a good thing for either of us, but it's nice to see someone with an undergrad GPA closer to my horrible 2.77.  I think the committees at the schools you are applying to will see your improvement with that 4.0 in recent classes and value your teaching experience.  It's good that you applied to many schools also and to less competitive programs.  Your GRE's are really good too.  I emailed over 100 schools last May and through communication with them narrowed my schools to the 15 I applied to.  I'm sure you will get into a school this year!

[Persis]

Hello @daisynic.....

 

not that it's a good thing for either of us, but it's nice to see someone with an undergrad GPA closer to my horrible 2.77.  I think the committees at the schools you are applying to will see your improvement with that 4.0 in recent classes and value your teaching experience.  It's good that you applied to many schools also and to less competitive programs.  Your GRE's are really good too.  I emailed over 100 schools last May and through communication with them narrowed my schools to the 15 I applied to.  I'm sure you will get into a school this year!

Twinguy i also have a horrible undergrad GPA as well.  Yours is way better than mine lol

[daisynic]

Hello @daisynic.....

 

not that it's a good thing for either of us, but it's nice to see someone with an undergrad GPA closer to my horrible 2.77.  I think the committees at the schools you are applying to will see your improvement with that 4.0 in recent classes and value your teaching experience.  It's good that you applied to many schools also and to less competitive programs.  Your GRE's are really good too.  I emailed over 100 schools last May and through communication with them narrowed my schools to the 15 I applied to.  I'm sure you will get into a school this year!

 

Yes, It is definitely refreshing! Although I applaud those who have excellent GPAs, sometimes good grades do not directly correlate with interpersonal skills! But I understand that programs need to have a rubric of some sort in order to decide who to accept.  

[twinguy7]

What is your GPA @ Asemoooooo?

 

@ daisynic  Agreed!  IT takes a lot of dedication and studying to get good grades!  I see that in my wife. She's a 4.0 student even in her 2nd bachelors I nursing program!  Her example has helped me increase my GPA my last 2 years of undergrad.  I also agree that interpersonal communication skills are vital to the profession and unfortunately cannot be measured by a test or gpa's.

[Persis]

What is your GPA @ Asemoooooo?

 

@ daisynic  Agreed!  IT takes a lot of dedication and studying to get good grades!  I see that in my wife. She's a 4.0 student even in her 2nd bachelors I nursing program!  Her example has helped me increase my GPA my last 2 years of undergrad.  I also agree that interpersonal communication skills are vital to the profession and unfortunately cannot be measured by a test or gpa's.

twinguy, my GPA is 2.41 so you are in a much better situation than i am.  I am even kidding myself thinking i will get in anywhere lol

[twinguy7]

@ amesooo, Well what about your last 60 units or your CSD GPA?  Is it higher? 

[Persis]

@ amesooo, Well what about your last 60 units or your CSD GPA?  Is it higher? 

Not that much higher.  My last 60 units is  3.3 and my CSD is 3.0 ( and that is after retaking several of those CSD classes)

[SLP_hopeful_1]

 

I applied to 10 schools  , crazy I know. I just wanted to make sure I got in somewhere! I have an undergrad overall GPA of 3.59, CDS gpa of 3.77 and GRE v: (155) q: (152) and w:(4). I hope i get in somewhere! I need peoples opinions! I just found this website and I can't stop looking at everyones stats, Im getting scared! 

Edited February 15, 2014 by Morgrach1

[autismadvocate]

Asemooooooo, have you considered a post-bacc? When I was looking into them, a lot of people assumed the reason I was doing so was a low undergraduate GPA that I wanted to use the post-bacc to bring up. Of course, the real reason I was doing it was because I hadn't taken any of those classes, but it sounds like that's a legitimate thing people do and you may wish to consider it if this year doesn't work out.
 

[LDadvocate]

@asemooooooo I agree with autism advocate, I am considering myself going back to school for a post bacc because I'm afraid my programs will judge my GPA and deny me. Just because you have a plan B doesn't mean you cant return to Plan A. I kinda got inspiration from one post in the Hunter admissions results page..one student had a low undergrad GPA but excelled in their post bacc and therefore received acceptance from Hunter. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the CUNYs for graduate school but they are extremely competitive, they are very selective (ex: Queens College accepts about 16 students a year). Whose to say what will happened, maybe you are qualified in other areas, but don't give up!!!

[LDadvocate]

Hi LD Advocate! I received my NY teacher cert through my undergraduate program. They had two available tracks; certification and non-cert. I chose certification because we were told we would be able to work (like what you said) if we didn't go to graduate school right away. I took the two teacher certification exams for TSSLD (LAST and CST). When I graduated and searched for jobs, I couldn't find anyone hiring applicants without masters or C's. 

 

 

Hi daisynic!!! Thanks for responding back, I'm sorry I'm bombarding you with questions but do you mind sharing where you got your NY teacher certification at?

 

I've been quite discouraged lately about obtaining my tssld because although you are right there might not be jobs available, I can't find any programs that offer the 6 credit course for the tssld. I graduated from Queens College, and they mentioned on their website that 1 three credit course was available but the other 3 credit course is solely for grad students. I checked out hunter too and likewise its the same thing.

 

Even if jobs are scarce, I'd rather have something under my belt than nothing. and I just found out NY doesn't allow SLPAs which makes me think I'll be stuck with my undergrad forever.

 

[twinguy7]

@ amesoooo  ,  I agree with the other posters.  Maybe a post bad to help and it is SOOO important to email schools and see which schools are a fit for you and which schools take chances on people with lower GPA's.  Thats what I did starting last may!  You will show your desire and you can build up relationships with the faculty at these schools and they will remember your name when apps come in.  Your last 60 does show an upward trend so that's good also!

[Persis]

Asemooooooo, have you considered a post-bacc? When I was looking into them, a lot of people assumed the reason I was doing so was a low undergraduate GPA that I wanted to use the post-bacc to bring up. Of course, the real reason I was doing it was because I hadn't taken any of those classes, but it sounds like that's a legitimate thing people do and you may wish to consider it if this year doesn't work out.

 

Autismadvocate, I am Canadian.  My undergrad is in CSD.  So, i am not sure what i will do my post-bacc in.  I have done all the requirements in CSD  Also, in Ontario Canada we have a one year post-graduate certificate program in CSD to become a Communicative Disorders Assistant a.k.a. SLPA.  I completed that and i worked for two years.  My GPA for that was 3.55, but in Canada they do not consider it.  In fact they look down on it just like people were saying they look down on SLPA.  So at this point i am not sure what else to do.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Asemooooooo

[Persis]

@asemooooooo I agree with autism advocate, I am considering myself going back to school for a post bacc because I'm afraid my programs will judge my GPA and deny me. Just because you have a plan B doesn't mean you cant return to Plan A. I kinda got inspiration from one post in the Hunter admissions results page..one student had a low undergrad GPA but excelled in their post bacc and therefore received acceptance from Hunter. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the CUNYs for graduate school but they are extremely competitive, they are very selective (ex: Queens College accepts about 16 students a year). Whose to say what will happened, maybe you are qualified in other areas, but don't give up!!!

LDadvocate, i am hoping that my other qualifications will be good.  I do have experience in the field plus experience working with individuals with disabilities for 15 years.  But it seems like GPA is a really big factor and so i feel like i don't have a chance

[autismadvocate]

@ amesoooo  ,  I agree with the other posters.  Maybe a post bad to help and it is SOOO important to email schools and see which schools are a fit for you and which schools take chances on people with lower GPA's.  Thats what I did starting last may!  You will show your desire and you can build up relationships with the faculty at these schools and they will remember your name when apps come in.  Your last 60 does show an upward trend so that's good also!

 

I just wanted to say, because I've been thinking it for a while and I don't think I've ever actually expressed it, I am so impressed with what you've done twinguy7. Seriously. Emailing all those schools to find where you have a better chance of admission and working on forming bonds with professors? That shows some serious dedication and is very impressive.

 

Heck, when it comes to that, all of you guys who are battling these low GPAs or test scores and have to work so hard to compensate for it, and to those of you who have been rejected one, two, or even three cycles already and still come back because you just care THAT much about this field. My hats off to all of you. To be honest, personally that fact in of itself should get you in. (And, fyi if you're a good writer who can pull it off, that would totally make a great thing to slip in to a personal statement.) I'm rooting for all of you and you guys should be proud of your efforts. I know I'm lucky to have a good GPA (and when I'm here freaking out about getting in even though I have a good GPA, please don't take that to heart, guys, I just have some crazy bad anxiety), but I also firmly believe that GPA isn't everything and if sheer passion for the field was measured, you guys would all be shoo ins. With this kind of persistence and hard work, you are bound to get accepted, if not this cycle then the next, and I know you'll go out there and be awesome SLPs.

 

 

Also, random question, but Asemooooooo where did you get your username from? I can never get the number of o's right when I type it, lol....

[Persis]

I just wanted to say, because I've been thinking it for a while and I don't think I've ever actually expressed it, I am so impressed with what you've done twinguy7. Seriously. Emailing all those schools to find where you have a better chance of admission and working on forming bonds with professors? That shows some serious dedication and is very impressive.

 

Heck, when it comes to that, all of you guys who are battling these low GPAs or test scores and have to work so hard to compensate for it, and to those of you who have been rejected one, two, or even three cycles already and still come back because you just care THAT much about this field. My hats off to all of you. To be honest, personally that fact in of itself should get you in. (And, fyi if you're a good writer who can pull it off, that would totally make a great thing to slip in to a personal statement.) I'm rooting for all of you and you guys should be proud of your efforts. I know I'm lucky to have a good GPA (and when I'm here freaking out about getting in even though I have a good GPA, please don't take that to heart, guys, I just have some crazy bad anxiety), but I also firmly believe that GPA isn't everything and if sheer passion for the field was measured, you guys would all be shoo ins. With this kind of persistence and hard work, you are bound to get accepted, if not this cycle then the next, and I know you'll go out there and be awesome SLPs.

 

 

Also, random question, but Asemooooooo where did you get your username from? I can never get the number of o's right when I type it, lol.

 

 

autismadvocate, I made up my user name and the number of o's is 7 lol

[autismadvocate]

Ah...that explains it! I was wondering if it was some kind of reference to cows or something, but I couldn't figure out the "Ase" at the beginning, lol.

[Persis]

Ah...that explains it! I was wondering if it was some kind of reference to cows or something, but I couldn't figure out the "Ase" at the beginning, lol.

reference to cows? lol

[daisynic]

Hi daisynic!!! Thanks for responding back, I'm sorry I'm bombarding you with questions but do you mind sharing where you got your NY teacher certification at?

 

I've been quite discouraged lately about obtaining my tssld because although you are right there might not be jobs available, I can't find any programs that offer the 6 credit course for the tssld. I graduated from Queens College, and they mentioned on their website that 1 three credit course was available but the other 3 credit course is solely for grad students. I checked out hunter too and likewise its the same thing.

 

Even if jobs are scarce, I'd rather have something under my belt than nothing. and I just found out NY doesn't allow SLPAs which makes me think I'll be stuck with my undergrad forever.

 

 

Hi LDAdvocate!

I went to SUNY Geneseo for my undergrad, and they offered the courses to obtain teacher certification there. Unfortunately, The President and Provost decided to cut the program due to New York State budget cuts because it wasn't "liberal arts enough" (meanwhile, business programs are still thriving). We had a great program and serviced 3 elementary schools in the local area, had a great undergraduate and graduate clinic on campus, and had student teachers for speech all over Rochester, NY and the smaller surrounding towns in the fall and spring semesters. 

 

I'm surprised Queens College doesn't allow you to take those classes! 

 

When I first graduated and realized I couldn't work as an SLPA in NY, I applied to a job in Chicago that would have been PERFECT. The person I was speaking with told me that although my experience matched really well with what they are looking for, I didn't have Illinois SLPA certification (which is obtained through an associates program). Even though I have taken all the classes necessary to become an SLPA and had the Teacher Cert (in another state, though), I wasn't fully qualified.

 

Are you interested in moving elsewhere? you may be able to get the certificate for SLPA. I didn't look too much into how I could transfer my bachelor's degree into an SLPA certificate at the time, but it might be feasible. 

[autismadvocate]

reference to cows? lol

 

You have to admit, the "moooooooo" bit does give that impression! lol

[daisynic]

This wait is killing me! I know that we still probably have a few more weeks (or more) but I so desperately want to find out already!