Advice for Out of Field applicant, no prereqs

[onedayslp]

Hi there,

I am in need of some advice for applying to SLP programs. I have a BA in Psychology and French with a 3.72 GPA from a nationally recognized university. I have been working in college student services since I graduated in a mentoring/counseling capacity. I have some experience working with kids in a pre-school and nannying, but no direct SLP experience. I am trilingual (unfortunately no Spanish...darn). I am REALLY hoping to apply this winter for Fall 15 entry so I can get started on this career path ASAP. But do I have a chance with no SLP experience and no prereqs? I plan to reach out to SLP's in my area to at least shadow in the next few months before applying.. and I have considered signing up for 1 or 2 online leveling courses for the fall. Would this help my chances? I have a FT job, so I need to decide what would be most advantageous of these options since I don't have much free time.

I have good GRE scores-- 168 V, 162 Q, 5.0 AW. I am hoping this will help, but not sure how heavily different parts of the app will be weighed.

Anyone know of schools that weigh GPA and GRE more heavily than experience? I may want to look towards those. Of course, I can only apply to schools which accept Out of Field applicants. So far have been looking at schools in Boston (Emerson, MGH, BU), Chicago (Northwestern, Rush, St Xavier), and others (U Maryland, UT Dallas, U Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt).. Thanks for the help!!

[sayjo]

I was also out of field and decided to take pre-reqs before applying.  I'm so glad I did!  It opened up a lot of additional options in terms of schools and solidified my application.  I started taking pre-reqs in the fall of 2013, applied to grad school in the winter, and am starting grad school this fall.  So you can definitely start taking pre-reqs now and still be able to start grad school in fall 2015.  If you're concerned about working while taking pre-reqs, consider taking them online. 

 

Also - just so you know - you DO need pre-reqs before starting Rush.  A family member of mine went there for grad school and was out of field. That family member spent a year taking pre-reqs before applying.  Speaking from experience, Rush and Northwestern are both insanely expensive tuition-wise (especially Northwestern).  Definitely something to keep in mind as you're choosing schools to apply to.

 

Hope this helps!

[arthritiskid]

Hey onedayslp! I was also an out of field applicant with a BA in psychology. I ended up choosing to do my prerequisites so that I would one, get a little experience in the SLP area and two, so that I could add those to my application. I was also a nanny, and I think that helped out my application as well. Though you do have a chance getting in without prereqs, it may be worth it to take a couple before you start the application process. I started my pre requites this past fall and was able to get wait listed and then accepted to my top choice program and I couldn't be happier! I wish you luck!  

[onedayslp]

@sayjo -- I am planning to take some prereqs online through Utah State. Glad to hear someone else went this route and succeeded! How many classes were you able to do each semester? I am trying to decide whether to take 2 or 3 while working FT...

[whatsinmind]

I applied last cycle without taking any pre-reqs. It is definitely possible to apply successfully without taking pre-req classes! It can limit your options and/or add a year to your program (ie increasing tuition). But you should talk to directors of the programs you apply to about the requirements. When I applied to GWU, they looked at my transcript (my undergrad was in cognitive psychology) and allowed me to use two psych/linguistics classes to substitute for pre-reqs and then I had the option to take the other pre-reqs the summer before the program started in order to skip their re-entry program and join the cohort of students with an slp background.

In terms of experience, any experience with children/adults (like babysitting, tutoring, volunteering at a senior home) would be fine. Involvement in causes for clinical populations you might be interested in would be great too (eg helping at an autism speaks walk or aphasia support group etc)

[arthritiskid]

@sayjo -- I am planning to take some prereqs online through Utah State. Glad to hear someone else went this route and succeeded! How many classes were you able to do each semester? I am trying to decide whether to take 2 or 3 while working FT...

 

I did my prereqs through Utah State and was able to do a full course load while working a full time job. I think it all depends on how much you think you can handle. I would do a lighter course load the first semester and if you think you can handle more, you could add more for the second semester!  

[S_Colorado]

I was an out of field applicant with experience working with the populations served but not in a speech capacity. Having no prerequisites does really limit where you can apply, and say at a school like Emerson, I was applied and accepted but would have had to complete 6 pre-reqs in the summer before school started. Yes, I could have done it, but it was going to be very difficult. I'm very happy I got accepted into a 3 year program, but I would really recommend taking some pre-reqs so that you can apply to a wider selection of schools.