2016 Canadian SLP Thread

[SLPright]

On 5/24/2016 at 1:55 AM, Klamb said:

Hey everyone! I came across this forum when tying to find advice online about volunteering. I am a certified teacher from Montreal who is currently living and working in Tokyo. In September, I am returning to Montreal to take some prerequisite courses at McGill and will be applying to the SLP program for the following year (Fall 2017). I graduated from my undergraduate degree with a GPA of 3.7 which I hope is high enough to be considered (?). 

My main concern (which I am actually losing sleep over) is the volunteering hours. I have been shamelessly emailing places in the hope of securing something for the fall but to no avail. It seems nearly impossible to find an SLP who is looking for a volunteer or a shadow... I have also tried hospitals and care facilities but they mostly want volunteers for cafeterias, bingo nights, etc. 

Any advice, help or contacts would be GREATLY appreciated! 

 

I asked a lot of SLPs for informational interviews and/or shadows (even short-term, like a few days) if they couldn't take volunteers. This is helpful because it shows that you know what you're getting yourself into, and have made the effort to research the profession even if you can't get direct volunteer hours.

If you have anyone in your contacts who's remotely related to the field, it's worth asking if they can connect you with an SLP, who might be more receptive than ones you cold call/email. I knew a Special Ed teacher through sports and she set me up with some school district SLPs.

Good luck!

[LittleHopeful]

Hi everyone! I'm a Canadian student living in Ontario, and I just finished my first year of uni. While researching, I stumbled upon the speech language pathology programs Canada has and I think it's something I'm really interested in applying for. I read everything I could about the application process, and it looks tough. I'm glad I found this forum and this specific Canadian thread so I could read about other experiences. I still have so many questions though, so I was wondering if anybody would be willing to answer them?

First of all, what does exactly does the timeline look like when applying? Do people apply when in fourth year, so that they can directly go into the program after finishing their undergrad? And secondly, what kind of degree do you need to apply to SLP? Are people looking specifically for a BSc, since that is what seems related? This especially worries me, because I'm nowhere near a BSc program right now, ha ha.

Any answers or other advice would be greatly appreciated!

[klfstudent]

On June 23, 2016 at 3:25 PM, LittleHopeful said:

Hi everyone! I'm a Canadian student living in Ontario, and I just finished my first year of uni. While researching, I stumbled upon the speech language pathology programs Canada has and I think it's something I'm really interested in applying for. I read everything I could about the application process, and it looks tough. I'm glad I found this forum and this specific Canadian thread so I could read about other experiences. I still have so many questions though, so I was wondering if anybody would be willing to answer them?

First of all, what does exactly does the timeline look like when applying? Do people apply when in fourth year, so that they can directly go into the program after finishing their undergrad? And secondly, what kind of degree do you need to apply to SLP? Are people looking specifically for a BSc, since that is what seems related? This especially worries me, because I'm nowhere near a BSc program right now, ha ha.

Any answers or other advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello! Yes, many people apply in fourth year, but since I didn't find the program until third year, I had to do some of the prerequisites in fourth year. I ended up applying a year later after I graduated since it's better to apply after you have all of your prerequisites completed (although you don't have to). You need a four year degree in anything as long as you have the required prerequisites (many people get in with a BA). My advice would be to start volunteering with an SLP now to see if you like it and to accumulate volunteer hours, and start taking the prerequisite courses now. Also, focus on getting the best grades possible in your prerequisite courses as well as your GPA (they look at the last 2 years worth of credits at the time of applying). Let me know if you have any other questions!

[LittleHopeful]

On 2016-06-25 at 2:22 PM, klfstudent said:

Hello! Yes, many people apply in fourth year, but since I didn't find the program until third year, I had to do some of the prerequisites in fourth year. I ended up applying a year later after I graduated since it's better to apply after you have all of your prerequisites completed (although you don't have to). You need a four year degree in anything as long as you have the required prerequisites (many people get in with a BA). My advice would be to start volunteering with an SLP now to see if you like it and to accumulate volunteer hours, and start taking the prerequisite courses now. Also, focus on getting the best grades possible in your prerequisite courses as well as your GPA (they look at the last 2 years worth of credits at the time of applying). Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thank you so much! Knowing that there are people who do get in with a BA is a big relief for me.

[SLPright]

7 hours ago, LittleHopeful said:

Thank you so much! Knowing that there are people who do get in with a BA is a big relief for me.

Almost all of the people from my undergrad university who went onto SLP did so with a BA, since linguistics and psychology are both in the faculty of arts at my uni. I think it is important to do well in the more science-y pre-reqs, but I don't think your actual degree matters as much as your pre-reqs, and your other experience! The volunteer experience is important since that's one of the big things distinguishes applicants from each other.

I applied just after graduating with my BA, so I'm in a bit of a gap year right now. I've met people who went into the SLP grad program straight after undergrad, and others who had some time off before starting their master's (whether by choice or because they discovered SLP later and needed time to build up their application.

[skittlez]

Hey here is the link for the U of T facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/227346370990429/

[speechie14]

Hey everyone! 

I AM LOOKING FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN SLP WHO:

LIVE NEAR/IN/CAN GET TO MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO

ARE NOT (YET) IN THE SLP PROGRAM

WANT ONE ON ONE EXPERIENCE WITH A MAN WITH APHASIA AND HAVE FREE TIME WEEKDAY / WEEKEND MORNINGS

I am beginning the SLP program in Sept  and looking for someone to take over my job. I am a personal worker for a family in Mississauga who's father is in a long term care facility. He had a stroke last year and has come a long long way with his resulting aphasia. The job entails driving to the home, doing naming and memory games, reading to him, taking him for walks and just having conversation with him! He is the such a wonderful man with a great spirit and personality. The family is just as great and his daughter is willing to write a letter of recommendation to anyone who does a good job! They are looking for someone available 3 times a week for about 2-3 hours each. If you can only do 1 or 2 days, they are willing to hire more than one person to share the job.

Please only inbox message with legitimate interest and if you transportation to Mississauga each week. (Will give more details/my contact info upon request)

Please feel free to copy and paste this to anyone you think has relevant background/interested. 

I really care about this family and want to set them up with someone reliable.

Thanks so much

[speechies]

Hello everyone,

Any waitlisters going to give it another shot next cycle? 

[speechie_3423]

On 4/4/2016 at 7:40 AM, june_lu said:

Hi! In terms of how ORPAS calculates the cGPA/sGPA for Ontario schools, I am definitely on the lower end of the scale, too. According to ORPAS, my sGPA was 3.69 and my cGPA was 3.71. I went on exchange in my third year, and the grades I earned abroad were not counted in the calculations (they used grades from my second year to replace these).

Surprisingly I have been waitlisted at Western and accepted at UBC! Of course, UBC's prerequisites are completely different from Ontario schools, and I expect that my GPA was higher with their method of calculation. However, asides from your GPA, I think having a lot of experience is crucial. I have 100+ hours of experience working with SLPs in two different specializations, I work as an RA for a professor who does SLP research, I volunteer as an RA in a linguistics lab, I have 100+ hours of volunteer experience in related fields, etc., etc.

My point is, GPA isn't everything!

Hey I'm trying to figure out how UBC calculates GPA. My university uses a 9 point grading scale rather than GPA, so would UBC convert each of my percentage grades into their gpa scale and then calculate the average, or would they calculate an average percentage from all my grades and then convert that percentage to their gpa scale? Thanks!

Edited November 21, 2016 by laura_xx

[speechie_3423]

Does anyone know how UBC calculates your GPA if your university does percentage grades rather than GPA?