2016 Canadian SLP Thread

[OverCaffeinated]

3 hours ago, lindzzz said:

Okay I have good news!! I just logged back into ORPAS, and there's an option that says you can use the secure applicant messaging system to make changes to your app.. and when you click on that link there is an option to where you can upload your resume! yay! 

awesome! thanks for letting me know

[serendipity.]

Hey guys, 

Is there any way to verify if your references have been received by ORPAS before submitting your application or will this information be made available only after submitting the application?  

[OverCaffeinated]

hey guys, for those who submitted ORPAS already, where does it show up that the references have been received?

 

[treaclemineroad]

It seems like this thread is really dominated by ORPAS-related stuff this year. It's also fairly quiet. I decided to back out of my ORPAS application the other day just because it's 3x as expensive to apply to your first school in Ontario as it is to apply to any other Canadian school. (And I would only ever apply to U of T, since I've previously attended Western and it... did not agree with me, in short.) Kind of ridiculous, in my opinion. I wouldn't mind staying in Ontario, but I'm not so attached that I would pick U of Toronto over Dal or McGill. Did anyone else balk at that application cost? It was worth it for OUAC because there was a fair bit of choice, but when there's only so many SLP schools in Ontario, I just couldn't rationalize the price tag.

[SLPright]

2 hours ago, OverCaffeinated said:

hey guys, for those who submitted ORPAS already, where does it show up that the references have been received?

 

When you log into ORPAS, one of the bullet points under "What Now?" will say "You can verify the receipt of your application fees, references or transcripts." I'm assuming it takes a few days for processing etc. before this will show up; today's the first day I've seen it and I submitted my application last week.

[OverCaffeinated]

3 hours ago, SLPright said:

When you log into ORPAS, one of the bullet points under "What Now?" will say "You can verify the receipt of your application fees, references or transcripts." I'm assuming it takes a few days for processing etc. before this will show up; today's the first day I've seen it and I submitted my application last week.

ah ok, i figured that might be the case but wasnt sure, thanks

[speechies]

It really is quiet in this forum this round! 

Mine has officially been submitted.. let the waiting begin

[OverCaffeinated]

1 minute ago, speechies said:

It really is quiet in this forum this round! 

Mine has officially been submitted.. let the waiting begin

I was just saying that to someone the other day. Last year it was discussions all around....  

[treaclemineroad]

26 minutes ago, OverCaffeinated said:

I was just saying that to someone the other day. Last year it was discussions all around....  

I wondered whether maybe people who are usually inclined to this kind of discussion are just... referencing previous years' threads? I tend to check to see whether a question has already been answered on gradcafe before I ask here, and it usually has. Optimistically (or not, depending on how you look at it), it could also mean that there is, by some arbitrary happenstance, less competition this year. Or something else entirely, I dunno.

I'd be up for discussion regardless, since it's all I've really been thinking about for the past while. Right now I'm just waiting on reference letters. It's so hard to leave my future in someone else's hands, I find it very difficult to restrain myself from checking up with my last pending reference every day. I don't want to be a pest, though. Argh :\

What is everyone's first-choice school? I've been eyeing Dal for ages but now I'm wondering whether McGill might be a better choice.

Also, is anyone else also applying to audiology?

[OverCaffeinated]

1 hour ago, treaclemineroad said:

I wondered whether maybe people who are usually inclined to this kind of discussion are just... referencing previous years' threads? I tend to check to see whether a question has already been answered on gradcafe before I ask here, and it usually has. Optimistically (or not, depending on how you look at it), it could also mean that there is, by some arbitrary happenstance, less competition this year. Or something else entirely, I dunno.

I'd be up for discussion regardless, since it's all I've really been thinking about for the past while. Right now I'm just waiting on reference letters. It's so hard to leave my future in someone else's hands, I find it very difficult to restrain myself from checking up with my last pending reference every day. I don't want to be a pest, though. Argh :\

What is everyone's first-choice school? I've been eyeing Dal for ages but now I'm wondering whether McGill might be a better choice.

Also, is anyone else also applying to audiology?

i see youre applying to UofA, im having trouble finding the section where i indicate im applying to the combined program. have you seen it? lol I dont want to email them unless absolutely necessary 

[treaclemineroad]

4 hours ago, OverCaffeinated said:

i see youre applying to UofA, im having trouble finding the section where i indicate im applying to the combined program. have you seen it? lol I dont want to email them unless absolutely necessary 

No, sorry, I don't. You'd think it would be part of the first section but apparently not? Very strange.

[Mymyd]

I am finishing up my questions on the McGill application. I was wondering if any of you have submitted yours already and could tell me if the CV has to be a certain amount of pages. Also, once you've submitted, I was told that at that moment it will be possible de upload the transcript and the CV.

Are any of you applying to UOttawa? (I know the program's in french, I'm from Québec ) Do I have to submit my CEGEP transcript as well as my undergrad transcript? Since both are postsecondary studies, I was wondering if that is required!

Also to submit the official transcript for UOttawa does it have to arrive before January 9 via mail? Is there a possibility to send it online with ORPAS? I would rather send it online than taking the risk to having it be lost in the mail.

Thank you!!

[treaclemineroad]

1 hour ago, Mymyd said:

I am finishing up my questions on the McGill application. I was wondering if any of you have submitted yours already and could tell me if the CV has to be a certain amount of pages. Also, once you've submitted, I was told that at that moment it will be possible de upload the transcript and the CV.

Thank you!!

I have submitted my McGill application. The CV does not have a required page count. And yes, once you have submitted, you'll be able to upload transcripts, your CV, as well as a course description of your stats prereq to proof that you have studied ANOVA.

[lindzzz]

On 1/3/2016 at 4:08 PM, treaclemineroad said:

It seems like this thread is really dominated by ORPAS-related stuff this year. It's also fairly quiet. I decided to back out of my ORPAS application the other day just because it's 3x as expensive to apply to your first school in Ontario as it is to apply to any other Canadian school. (And I would only ever apply to U of T, since I've previously attended Western and it... did not agree with me, in short.) Kind of ridiculous, in my opinion. I wouldn't mind staying in Ontario, but I'm not so attached that I would pick U of Toronto over Dal or McGill. Did anyone else balk at that application cost? It was worth it for OUAC because there was a fair bit of choice, but when there's only so many SLP schools in Ontario, I just couldn't rationalize the price tag.

My heart sunk when I realized how expensive it was to apply to ORPAS schools.. I actually applied to both Toronto and Western in order to justify the cost a bit more.. 300 for one app is just ridiculous... 

[OverCaffeinated]

11 hours ago, lindzzz said:

My heart sunk when I realized how expensive it was to apply to ORPAS schools.. I actually applied to both Toronto and Western in order to justify the cost a bit more.. 300 for one app is just ridiculous... 

i also didnt realize how much it was... but with my applying to csdcas honestly it wasnt even half of my american school aplications. maxed out my credit card over last week of december paying for applications :0!

[speechies]

Hello everyone,

I hope you guys are all finishing up your applications and you guys had a great holiday!

I was wondering if we should do a brief summing up of our applications, and which programs we applied to. I know I found it very useful looking back on past forums and what successful applicants had, or what those not accepted were missing. 

SubGPA: 3.75 

Volunteer: 200+ hours in LTC, private therapy, hospitals, schools,  SLP summer camps, and 2 research labs. 

References: Academic references I'm sure were not spectacular.. both professors knew me quite well as I often go to office hours but I'm sure these were still standard

Professional References: Two professional references from two fantastic SLP's. Both were incredibly kind, supportive and gave great advice! I am actually confident about these haha

Schools Applied: U of T and Western..But hoping for U of T 

Worries: Sub GPA, I did great in the pre-req courses though and I hope they take that into account. If I don't get in I will probably take two extra courses and that should bump me up into the 3.8 range.

Times Applied Previously: 0

 

 

[klfstudent]

How did everyone format their personal statements in ORPAS? Did you indent the paragraphs, put spaces between them or just put the next paragraph on the next line? It uses up characters to put spaces between them and indent, but I don't know if starting on the next line is enough. 

[OverCaffeinated]

1 hour ago, klfstudent said:

How did everyone format their personal statements in ORPAS? Did you indent the paragraphs, put spaces between them or just put the next paragraph on the next line? It uses up characters to put spaces between them and indent, but I don't know if starting on the next line is enough. 

i made sure to have enough characters left over for spaces, its tough but doable. otherwise it looks like a jumbled mess

[klfstudent]

Does anyone know how long it takes for McGill to contact your references after you submit your application? Is it an automated process or manual? 

[treaclemineroad]

5 hours ago, klfstudent said:

Does anyone know how long it takes for McGill to contact your references after you submit your application? Is it an automated process or manual? 

I don't know this for certain but I'm fairly sure it's automated, I can't imagine they'd make it manual. One of my references submitted my letter pretty quickly after I made it available to him, like a couple of days.

22 hours ago, speechies said:

Hello everyone,

I hope you guys are all finishing up your applications and you guys had a great holiday!

I was wondering if we should do a brief summing up of our applications, and which programs we applied to. I know I found it very useful looking back on past forums and what successful applicants had, or what those not accepted were missing. 

 

I'm game for this. I often end up being creepy in people's post history, trying to find their stats, so might as well make it easy.

SubGPA: 3.99
GRE: V165/Q162/AW5.5
Volunteer/Work: ~20 hours volunteering with/job shadowing with SLPs, research assistant position with phonologist
References: 2 academic references, both of which should be quite good; neither of them are thesis supervisors, although one is the phonologist for whom I worked as an RA. 1 professional reference from an SLP I volunteered with, which should be good as long as she gets it done in time (it's the only thing left outstanding on all of my applications).
Schools Applied: Dalhousie, McGill, U of Alberta (also applying to audiology at Dal)
Worries: I don't have a lot of volunteer experience. I'm also not on a thesis track for my major.
Times Applied Previously: 0

[paidean]

On 1/7/2016 at 1:26 PM, treaclemineroad said:

I don't know this for certain but I'm fairly sure it's automated, I can't imagine they'd make it manual. One of my references submitted my letter pretty quickly after I made it available to him, like a couple of days.

I'm game for this. I often end up being creepy in people's post history, trying to find their stats, so might as well make it easy.

SubGPA: 3.99
GRE: V165/Q162/AW5.5
Volunteer/Work: ~20 hours volunteering with/job shadowing with SLPs, research assistant position with phonologist
References: 2 academic references, both of which should be quite good; neither of them are thesis supervisors, although one is the phonologist for whom I worked as an RA. 1 professional reference from an SLP I volunteered with, which should be good as long as she gets it done in time (it's the only thing left outstanding on all of my applications).
Schools Applied: Dalhousie, McGill, U of Alberta (also applying to audiology at Dal)
Worries: I don't have a lot of volunteer experience. I'm also not on a thesis track for my major.
Times Applied Previously: 0

I just have to say that your GRE scores are amazing! When I took the GRE a few years back, I sort of let it slide while I was working full-time and it snuck up on me. I hadn't studied, but because it was already paid for (with no prayer for a refund) I figured -- what the heck -- it could be a test run if nothing else. I ended up not doing awful, but your scores put mine to shame! Congrats on your academic achievements in general! I don't think you'll have to worry about your minimal volunteer experience at all. 

[treaclemineroad]

17 hours ago, paidean said:

I just have to say that your GRE scores are amazing! When I took the GRE a few years back, I sort of let it slide while I was working full-time and it snuck up on me. I hadn't studied, but because it was already paid for (with no prayer for a refund) I figured -- what the heck -- it could be a test run if nothing else. I ended up not doing awful, but your scores put mine to shame! Congrats on your academic achievements in general! I don't think you'll have to worry about your minimal volunteer experience at all. 

That is very sweet to say, thank you! Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about the academic side of my stats. I've got volunteer hours in... I guess sort of tangentially related stuff, like day care supervision, tutoring, and other stuff with kids, but I don't know if that will count for anything. I'm feeling OK about it, but there are definitely more balanced candidates than me out there. Hopefully there will be a good variety of prospective students accepted (and, selfishly, I hope that includes me, heh).

This advice is too late to benefit anyone applying this year, but maybe for people in future application years: in order to get that GRE score, I read "Cracking the GRE Premium Edition with 6 Practice Tests" back-to-front and practiced with Magoosh GRE Vocab flashcard apps on my phone. The former is really savvy about the weird, illogical aspects of the GRE and has a sense of humour about it, a pretty decent read.

[JonasNegm]

You guys want to know what I find quite misleading (and perhaps purposefully so) about these SLP programs? The required minimum GPAs. U of T's is a B+, which is a 3.3, and Western's is a a mid-B which is just a 3.0. But God knows that basically no one is getting in either school with those grades, given the current trend of applicants. I just feel that these university sites should raise their minimum to around 3.5, or state very clearly and up-front that you need A-range grades to be competitive. Because if people don't read forums like these (which they shouldn't have to), I'm sure you've got tons of applicants with a 3.4 thinking that they're a whole 0.4 above the requirement at Western, or perhaps going through their undergrad careers feeling as though they have a good shot at SLP, without realizing that a 3.4 is actually way below average! It's just dishonest, and with applications costing hundreds, you can imagine how much the universities make in just app fees...

It's also just disheartening to see that money is a barrier to education, even if you're just applying! I've paid over a thousand bucks in application fees so far this year, and just for getting someone to read a few letters and transcripts, that's just ridiculous and a bit exploitative IMO (ie ORPAS charging $300 for one application). 

[OverCaffeinated]

7 hours ago, JonasNegm said:

You guys want to know what I find quite misleading (and perhaps purposefully so) about these SLP programs? The required minimum GPAs. U of T's is a B+, which is a 3.3, and Western's is a a mid-B which is just a 3.0. But God knows that basically no one is getting in either school with those grades, given the current trend of applicants. I just feel that these university sites should raise their minimum to around 3.5, or state very clearly and up-front that you need A-range grades to be competitive. Because if people don't read forums like these (which they shouldn't have to), I'm sure you've got tons of applicants with a 3.4 thinking that they're a whole 0.4 above the requirement at Western, or perhaps going through their undergrad careers feeling as though they have a good shot at SLP, without realizing that a 3.4 is actually way below average! It's just dishonest, and with applications costing hundreds, you can imagine how much the universities make in just app fees...

It's also just disheartening to see that money is a barrier to education, even if you're just applying! I've paid over a thousand bucks in application fees so far this year, and just for getting someone to read a few letters and transcripts, that's just ridiculous and a bit exploitative IMO (ie ORPAS charging $300 for one application). 

Not true. Uoft admitted applicants with a b standing last year. Gpa does play a big role but applications with lower than 3.7 standing get looked at too, just last. Lots of people reject the acceptance and then those on wait list get a chance to get in. 

 

Also so hold on, where are you getting the 3.4 from? The minimum for uoft is a 3.7... 

Edited January 10, 2016 by OverCaffeinated

[lindzzz]

1 hour ago, OverCaffeinated said:

Not true. Uoft admitted applicants with a b standing last year. Gpa does play a big role but applications with lower than 3.7 standing get looked at too, just last. Lots of people reject the acceptance and then those on wait list get a chance to get in. 

 

Also so hold on, where are you getting the 3.4 from? The minimum for uoft is a 3.7... 

I believe what the OP was saying is that most (maybe all.. Can't remember at the moment) SLP departments indicate that you need at least a 3.3 to be considered.. So someone with a 3.4 may believe they have a competitive application based on this, when that is simply not the case.