Advice for out-of-field applicants

[Guest lacrosse789]

Hey! Long time reader, first time poster

 

I'm graduated with a degree in psychology, and after working in special education I realized that I'd love to go for my MA in speech pathology and apply in the fall 2015 cycle. What advice can you give to those of us without a communication disorders background that can "better" our application, and, if you've been through this already, can I ask what program you got into?

 

Ideally I'd like to just apply to programs that take out-of-field applicants and do my pre-reqs there but from reading the forums here it seems like almost everyone did their prereqs first... I'm just afraid of sinking money into classes only to find that they don't transfer.

 

thanks so much!

Edited March 14, 2015 by rising_star
to remove some identifying information

[QS05]

I'm an out-of-field applicant (BA in psych as well) and applied for Fall 2014. At first I was going to apply without pre-reqs but I found it hard to find programs that did not require pre-reqs first. I entered a post-bacc program last summer and am in my last semester. 

 

I would say that it's important to have a well written personal statement and good GRE scores as well as a good GPA. I would also research programs that you are interested in and e-mail them. See if they accept applicants that do not have pre-reqs completed prior to applying. Ask if they could tell you what percentage of their incoming class did not have any pre-reqs when applying. Also, I would say that it would be a good idea to complete observation hours. For my post-bacc program I had to complete 25 hours of observation. I think that this looked good to admission committees because they saw that I was getting out into the field and learning what it would be like to be a SLP. This is also good for you because you can see if being a SLP is really for you!

 

 

Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions! I know that this process can be very nerve-wracking!

[sayjo]

I'm out of field, but I STRONGLY suggest you do at least a few pre-reqs first.  Many schools that allow out-of-fielders have very few spots available for those who need to complete all pre-reqs.  Unless the rest of your app is top-notch, you may find it difficult to get in.  I had only two pre-reqs done at the time of applying, but I feel that they helped me a lot.  Also, in many cases it may be less expensive to do the pre-reqs first than at the same school as your Master's where tuition may be higher.

 

 

I'm just afraid of sinking money into classes only to find that they don't transfer.

 

You shouldn't have a problem transferring classes if they are through a school with accreditation - even online ones such as Utah State.

[Guest lacrosse789]

I'm an out-of-field applicant (BA in psych as well) and applied for Fall 2014. At first I was going to apply without pre-reqs but I found it hard to find programs that did not require pre-reqs first. I entered a post-bacc program last summer and am in my last semester. 

 

I would say that it's important to have a well written personal statement and good GRE scores as well as a good GPA. I would also research programs that you are interested in and e-mail them. See if they accept applicants that do not have pre-reqs completed prior to applying. Ask if they could tell you what percentage of their incoming class did not have any pre-reqs when applying. Also, I would say that it would be a good idea to complete observation hours. For my post-bacc program I had to complete 25 hours of observation. I think that this looked good to admission committees because they saw that I was getting out into the field and learning what it would be like to be a SLP. This is also good for you because you can see if being a SLP is really for you!

 

 

Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions! I know that this process can be very nerve-wracking!

 

This is a really stupid question, but is observing the same thing as shadowing someone at their job?

 

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it

[sayjo]

This is a really stupid question, but is observing the same thing as shadowing someone at their job?

 

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it

 

Pretty much.  But if you might want to take copious notes in case you need to write about your observation later on to meet the ASHA requirement.

[goingtobeslp13]

I was also a psychology major undergrad. I would HIGHLY recommend taking all or most of your pre-reqs first. While it can be tricky because every school wants different things, some of the basics are needed everywhere - intro to communication disorders, anat & phys, intro to audiology, child language development, etc come to mind. I took my pre-reqs online through SUNY New Paltz, and I had a good experience. It's a 3 semester program (summer, fall, and spring) with 3 classes each semester. That way, when I was applying, I had a GPA to show for 6 speech classes. I think this really helps schools feel confident in accepting you because they see how well you can actually do when studying the subject you're applying for. I took the 25 hours of observation through this program. I've heard (I'm not sure if this is true everywhere/anywhere) that some places will only accept observation hours if you took them as part of a class, but I honestly don't know if that's true.

 

I also want to second what smrv said about having a very strong personal statement - write it, rewrite it, have everyone you know give you feedback on it, look up advice for what SLP programs want and don't want on the internet, whatever you need to do to make it be the best it could possibly be. I was told that many schools don't interview, and use the personal statement in lieu of an interview to get to know their candidates. Make it personal, make yourself shine. I would also say that having very strong letters of recommendation, from professors that really know you, also makes your application stand out. If your LORs only say "I had so and so in this class and they got an A" - you don't stand out at all.

 

Good luck! 

[chitchat2016]

Hey fellow out of field applicant

For the observation hours, 2 of the schools I applied to required them to be through a program because eventually you'll have to submit documentation to ASHA that you observed licensed professionals. My current post bacc program requires a write up for each hour of observation as well.

Last year I applied to 6 schools and hadn't completed any pre-reqs at the time. Result - wait listed at 5 and rejected at 1. I eventually got off the list for the school with a 3 yr program (where I am now) 1 yr pre-reqs, then the masters program. I reapplied to my original top 3 choices this year (Emerson College, UNC Greensboro, UGA) with 4 pre reqs done and another 3 in progress. Result - accepted with funding at 2 and wait listed at 1. So from my personal experience I would highly recommend completing pre requisite classes at an approved program. There are separate post-bac programs and also schools that have 3 year programs that you can look into. Good luck!

[S_Colorado]

I was an out of field applicant and I have not completed any pre-reqs. I applied to 4 schools that would accept you without pre-reqs but some required them to be completed prior to enrollment. I also applied to two post-bacc programs. I ended up getting accepted into two of the MA/MS programs and ultimately decided on a program with a leveling year because I didn't want to rush through the pre-reqs by doing them online over the summer.

 

My BA is way out of field (art history) but I have been working as an instructional aide at a school for children with ASDs for a few years. The two programs I got accepted at, as well as one that didn't accept me, told me that my recommendation letters as well as my GRE score were the things that put me on top of other applicants. The one that chose not to take me, said I would have been even more competitive if I had already completed the pre-reqs before applying. I put a lot of effort into my personal essay and into studying for the gre. My scores were in the 85-95 percentile range.

 

I think that coming from out-of-field, you need to demonstrate a strong passion for the field and commitment to the program. If they only have 5 or 6 slots for people with no pre-reqs, they want to make sure that you already know the field and have no doubts. That is where I think your recommendation letters and your essay come in.

 

The way I looked at it, I figured it was going to take me three years to complete grad school, and so I applied to a few dream programs as a stretch with the logical back up plan of going into a post-bacc. I was lucky enough to be accepted into one of those dream programs, but I think anything you can do to make yourself more competitive is great. 

[hopefulspeechie16]

I was an out of field applicant and I have not completed any pre-reqs. I applied to 4 schools that would accept you without pre-reqs but some required them to be completed prior to enrollment. I also applied to two post-bacc programs. I ended up getting accepted into two of the MA/MS programs and ultimately decided on a program with a leveling year because I didn't want to rush through the pre-reqs by doing them online over the summer.

 

My BA is way out of field (art history) but I have been working as an instructional aide at a school for children with ASDs for a few years. The two programs I got accepted at, as well as one that didn't accept me, told me that my recommendation letters as well as my GRE score were the things that put me on top of other applicants. The one that chose not to take me, said I would have been even more competitive if I had already completed the pre-reqs before applying. I put a lot of effort into my personal essay and into studying for the gre. My scores were in the 85-95 percentile range.

 

I think that coming from out-of-field, you need to demonstrate a strong passion for the field and commitment to the program. If they only have 5 or 6 slots for people with no pre-reqs, they want to make sure that you already know the field and have no doubts. That is where I think your recommendation letters and your essay come in.

 

The way I looked at it, I figured it was going to take me three years to complete grad school, and so I applied to a few dream programs as a stretch with the logical back up plan of going into a post-bacc. I was lucky enough to be accepted into one of those dream programs, but I think anything you can do to make yourself more competitive is great. 

 

What was the best way for you to study for the GRE?

[S_Colorado]

What was the best way for you to study for the GRE?

 

After bombing the GMAT, I decided to really put in a lot of hours into the GRE. I studied about 10 hours a week, broken up into chunks, for about  4 months. I used books with lots of problem sets and also took about 4 paper tests and 4 computer based tests. I made a huge amount of flash cards for the vocabulary. I did the ones where words are grouped together by similar meanings. It really helped. I found the list in the back of the ETS Official GRE book. For the math, I really had to reteach myself a lot of things. I had a friend who had a CSET Mathematics book and used the reteaching parts of that for specific areas in which I had issues.

[jolo]

I was an out-of-field applicant as well (Classics and Art History B.As w/Linguistics minor)  I think GREs are probably very important.  My math was horrifically low (20% percentile,) but I ended up at a fantastic school.  With that said, I think my Personal Statement helped me significantly during the application process.  I applied to a total of 8 schools and was accepted at 2, waitlisted 2, and rejected 4.  Ironically, my 'safe schools' were not so safe (got rejected) and my 'reach' schools were the ones I got accepted into.  Look at the size/reputation of the school.  If it has a history of being a really big research school, you can bank that will impact the numbers.  E.g. I was told that there were 800 apps for the Fall 2014 application cycle at one school.  I shadowed 50 hours in the fall as well as completed 3 SLP courses (Anatomy & Physiology/Language Development/Phonetics) and also completed ASHA requirements (Chemistry/Biology/Psychology/Statistics.)  This showed that I was a serious applicant, I think.