Less competitive schools in the east coast

[Slp123*]

Anyone know schools in the east coast that are less competitive with a high acceptance rate? Specifically northeast but all recommendations are welcome!

[curly_girl]

All of this information is on EdFind, most schools list the number of applicants they had and how many they accepted. From that you can calculate the acceptance rate.

When I looked at EdFind over a year ago (I at first thought I would apply for fall 2015), I found 22 schools on what I would consider the East Coast with acceptance rate over 25%, 18 schools with acceptance rates over 30%, 4 schools with acceptance rates over 40%, and 2 schools with acceptance rates over 50%.

Edited October 27, 2015 by curly_girl
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[Slp123*]

I know edfind but I'm not sure how accurate it is. I'm saying this because I emailed a school that I'd be in the range for, and they said my stats were very low for their school. So Just because the range dips lower doesn't mean they usually let people like that in. It could be one person with an amazing background let in while everyone else is above a 3.8... I'm just looking for schools that are notoriously more flexible and look at the whole package.

[kjm26]

curly_girl, can you tell us the names of the specific schools you are referring to with those acceptance rates?

[slptobe92]

The northeast is one of the most competitive places for SLP grad schools. "Less competitive" usually just means they have a bigger class therefor they accept more people, but you still need good stats to get into any SLP program. It's a competitive field.

[Slp123*]

Cmm28 I understand it's a competitive field. I think we all know that by now. I was talking less competitive compared to the area. I wanted to know if anyone had insight to a school that looks at the whole package rather then just the stats. And my headline is "east coast" therefore not just northeast. 

Kjm26 so far I've found Hofstra and Hampton university

 

 

[curly_girl]

So like I said, last I looked was over a year ago. Some of these colleges are self-selecting. For example, NYU had an acceptance rate of 36% and MGH had an acceptance rate of 31%, both of these schools are very expensive, and I would guess that their stats are higher than their acceptance rates would suggest. Howard had a high acceptance rate (46%), and is a historically black college, which I would guess would cause some potential applicants to not apply.  Other schools may have had new programs, so they might be much more competitive today.

I also don't know how any of these schools review applications, or even how they reported stats to EdFind. I also don't think this field is nearly as competitive as people like to think it is. 

I would HIGHLY suggest everyone goes to EdFind and look at all of the schools that are in locations they are willing to move to. After identifying schools, you can always call or email schools you are interested in and ask if they would consider an applicant with your stats and extracurriculars. Some might flat out say no, but at least you didn't waste money applying.

Lastly, other parts of the country are much less competitive, as you probably already know. 

Sorry if I sound annoyed, it sometimes seems like I am the only person who took the time (an hour or maybe two) to go through EdFind. We are lucky as applicants to have so much data in one place.

Here are the schools I was talking about:

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

Galloudet

Hampton

Hofstra

Howard

Ithaca

Loyola University of Maryland

Marywood

MGH 

NY Medical College

NYU

North Carolina Central U

Penn State

Seton Hall

Southern Connecticut State

SUNY at Fredonia

Syracuse

Towson

U of Central Florida

U of Georgia

U of New Hampshire

U of Vermont

 

 

 

[slptobe92]

So like I said, last I looked was over a year ago. Some of these colleges are self-selecting. For example, NYU had an acceptance rate of 36% and MGH had an acceptance rate of 31%, both of these schools are very expensive, and I would guess that their stats are higher than their acceptance rates would suggest. Howard had a high acceptance rate (46%), and is a historically black college, which I would guess would cause some potential applicants to not apply.  Other schools may have had new programs, so they might be much more competitive today.

I also don't know how any of these schools review applications, or even how they reported stats to EdFind. I also don't think this field is nearly as competitive as people like to think it is. 

I would HIGHLY suggest everyone goes to EdFind and look at all of the schools that are in locations they are willing to move to. After identifying schools, you can always call or email schools you are interested in and ask if they would consider an applicant with your stats and extracurriculars. Some might flat out say no, but at least you didn't waste money applying.

Lastly, other parts of the country are much less competitive, as you probably already know. 

Sorry if I sound annoyed, it sometimes seems like I am the only person who took the time (an hour or maybe two) to go through EdFind. We are lucky as applicants to have so much data in one place.

Here are the schools I was talking about:

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

Galloudet

Hampton

Hofstra

Howard

Ithaca

Loyola University of Maryland

Marywood

MGH 

NY Medical College

NYU

North Carolina Central U

Penn State

Seton Hall

Southern Connecticut State

SUNY at Fredonia

Syracuse

Towson

U of Central Florida

U of Georgia

U of New Hampshire

U of Vermont

 

 

 

New York Medical College is very competitive. I visited there and before I visited when I was trying to set up the visit, they told me my GPA should be higher before I apply. Mine was a 3.3 and they were very very adamant about telling me I needed a 3.5 to even be considered. They've very competitive especially since they're a medical college. NYU is competitive as well. Not sure all these are accurate, lots of schools on here are very hard to get into for any of their programs.

This field is very competitive.

[Slp123*]

I've spent hours on edfind too but I've come to the same conclusion as cm28- I'm not sure how accurate it all is.. Southern ct is on that list but I know for a fact it's a super competitive program since it is a state school and is cheaper

[slptay]

The university of central Florida is extremely competitive. You have to have at least a 3.5 GPA for them to even look at application, and most that are accepted have at least a 3.8. And they get 400+ applications. Ed find is great, but it's not always accurate as far as how competitive programs are, unfortunately.

Edited October 28, 2015 by slptay

[curly_girl]

Like I said, these schools sometimes have self-selecting applicant pools. If they tell people they have to have at least a 3.5 to be even considered, people with GPAs below a 3.5 just won't apply. I know I wouldn't waste the money.  I also have no idea how accurate EdFind is, or even how the stats are calculated, which is why I suggested calling or emailing schools to ask. It is also part of the reason that I did not originally list the schools. That and the fact that the data I have is over a year old, and some of the schools have gone through two (or more) admissions cycles since then.

I don't think that edfind is perfect, but I do think it is a useful tool. At the very least it is a good starting place. I admit, I do find it annoying when people come on here asking how competitive programs are without even looking at edfind or going through the trouble of asking the school. 

I also stand by my statement that getting into grad school is not as crazy competitive as people make it out to be.  Yes, some schools accept less than 10% of their applicants. Many of those schools are on the east coast. That does not mean that every school accepts less than 10%, or that everyone who gets into grad school has perfect grades. In the application cycle for the 2010-2011 school year, applicants had almost a 26% chance of being accepted into grad school (https://slpecho.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/grad_slp_chances/). I don't know what the number was last year, but I would not consider that as ridiculously competitive as I feel these boards make it out to be. Before I started looking at edfind, I thought the average admissions rates would be under 10% based on what I was hearing from people and when I started looking at grad school websites. Do I think that just anyone can get into grad school? No, I don't. Do I think that people are overly nervous about it? Yes, yes I do. 

If you look at the people who are on these board and compare them to the general population of people who apply to grad school for SLP, they are unlikely to be similar. I was literally just learning about this today in my stats class. I think we have to remember that fact. We also have to remember to be careful how to ask schools questions. If you ask a question that contains the word "competitive" schools are going to say that they are. As a culture, we tend to judge the quality of an education by how hard it is to get into the school. I suggest you follow twinguy7's approach and ask how likely they are to consider an applicant like you. 

We also need to remember that you only need to get into one program. If you apply to 20 programs and get into all of them, you get to go to grad school. If you apply to 20 programs and only get into one, you still get to go to grad school.

Perhaps we disagree on what is "very competitive"  or how competitive people make the field out to be.  As I have suggested in other threads, I think that everyone with less than perfect stats check out this thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/49929-fall-2014-less-competitive-grad-programs-applicants-thread/.

Lastly, applicant who only want to go to schools in one region need to ask themselves the question: Is it more important to me to live in this certain area, or is it more important for me to be accepted this applicant cycle? 

Sorry for the poorly organized rant. 

 

[slptay]

Yep, I just wanted to add some more info on a school that I happened to inquire about already. They don't always say on the program's page if there is a cut off when a lot of times there is. I just happened to already talk to someone on the admissions committee and thought id pass along the info to save someone the time of sending an email.

I've spent countless hours on ed find, and still I find that grad cafe is very useful in determining where to apply, and hearing what other people know about the schools is very helpful. 

 

Edited October 28, 2015 by slptay

[curly_girl]

Yep, I just wanted to add some more info on a school that I happened to inquire about already. They don't always say on the program's page if there is a cut off when a lot of times there is. I just happened to already talk to someone on the admissions committee and thought id pass along the info to save someone the time of sending an email.

I've spent countless hours on ed find, and still I find that grad cafe is very useful in determining where to apply, and hearing what other people know about the schools is very helpful. 

 

It is good information that I am sure people appreciate it. That rant was a long time coming, and not directed at you in particular. Lately there have been a lot of threads about stats, and I get annoyed by two things:

1. When people ask questions about grad schools that a quick google search can answer. Not necessarily what this tread is doing, but I is seems like people sometimes post without looking at edfind or searching through old posts. Also, calling or emailing a school is always an option, in old threads people have even posted what they emailed (I know because I asked). This forum is a wonderful and useful resource, but I wish people did a little homework before starting new threads. 

2. When people overstate how competitive this field is, it doesn't help anything and makes anxious people more anxious than they need to be. I think of it this way:  If I had decided to continue working instead of going back to school, every job I would have applied for would be more competitive than any of the grad schools I applied to.  Even had I applied to more competitive schools, that might have been true. Some of my former classmates got jobs (and didn't) where over 100 people applied. 

 

Back to the OPs original question:

It is really hard to tell how competitive a school is, because you don't know the stories behind the stats, even if they are accurate. Some schools put a greater focus on numbers, others more on the resume. If you are looking for some "safety" schools to put on your list, I would start calling/emailing schools. Ask them about the admissions, but also ask them questions about the program. I was set to apply to one school, until I called them and asked specific questions. 

Also, when you write your SOP, make it specific to each school. Name a professor or a program unique to the school that makes you want to go there. Sounds simple, but a lot of people don't.

[CBG321]

Hi so idk if my opinion will be helpful at all to you but I would be cautious about applying to schools that have been listed as "less competitive" or you can easily google to find.  Like some other posters said it really does pay in the long run to take the time to call different schools and make a personal connection especially if you feel the stats on edfind are less than accurate or current.

I say this because I also spent hours going through every single program and looking at stats and calling and confirming, and I am glad I did one program had a 30% decrease in acceptance rate in one application cycle.  I feel this may be because a lot of people easily found this school listed when they googled "less competitive schools" as a result a huge amount of people arbitrarily applied there thinking it would be a good backup option and is now one of the more competitive programs.

So I am sure you've done your research but anything someone else can find at the click of a button is going to be a school that possibly becomes more competitive as a result.  

[jmk]

I also advise to take edfind stats with a grain of salt. 

Ex: UMass Amherst in Boston lists on Edfind that they had a pretty large GPA range. Meanwhile, on their website, it says their average was a 3.85 cumulative. I emailed the program and indeed, edFind was not up to date, and their actual accepted applicants had much higher GPA's. 

In addition, some programs put more stress on last 60 and CSD, versus cumulative and CSD, which can greatly increase or decrease an applicant's chance that has a lower cumulative but higher last 60. 

I would make a list of programs you are interested in based on cost and location as well as specialty, then email them directly to gain insight on GPA, GRE, and acceptance rate. 

I have found that programs not in a metropolitan area (ex: Southern Illinois) tend to appear to have lower GPA and GRE averages. In addition, smaller schools that are less well known, such as East Stroudsborg (that may be the wrong spelling) in Pennsylvania may also have a smaller pool of applicants. 

[hopefulspeechie16]

Most of the schools that I have emailed, have told me that there is no way of them deterring the likelihood of me getting accepted with my stats. I'm not sure what to think of this response.

[Jolie717]

55 minutes ago, speechie94 said:

Most of the schools that I have emailed, have told me that there is no way of them deterring the likelihood of me getting accepted with my stats. I'm not sure what to think of this response.

Deterring or determining?  I'm confused.  If it's determining, I would imagine these programs must be pretty flexible...  

[jmk]

1 hour ago, speechie94 said:

Most of the schools that I have emailed, have told me that there is no way of them deterring the likelihood of me getting accepted with my stats. I'm not sure what to think of this response.

I would ask more specific questions than your stats. 

Ex: What was your average GPA of accepted applicants past cycles?

Do you have a GRE minimum or cut-off?

What was your acceptance rate for the last cycle?

Do you place more weight on cumulative or last 60 GPA? 

I have found programs to be pretty responsive to the above. Some programs give more generic answers, and some list the above on their website. 

Armed with GPA and GRE of the last cycle, you can more adequately assess if you match with the school's stats. Obviously each year the applicant pool is a bit different, but if a school states that their average GPA of accepted students was a 3.8, and I have a 3.55 GPA, I am not going to apply as personally, I feel that my chances would be pretty slim. 

[hopefulspeechie16]

On November 4, 2015 at 12:29:29 AM, Jolie717 said:

Deterring or determining?  I'm confused.  If it's determining, I would imagine these programs must be pretty flexible...  

Sorry, I meant determining.

[Yancey]

Many of the schools with higher acceptance rate (NYU, Teacher's Collefe, MGH) have more to do with a) how expensive they are. Not all people end up accepting their admission due to loans (to much debt), funding offered elsewhere, an overall cheaper (program).

B. Many of those schools may have a large pool of students with high GRE,GPA, strong SOP, LOR, etc so do again that pool may have applied to all of those types of schools, but can only attend one (therefore increasing the acceptance rate at the other schools who now pull from their wait list because the the accepted applicant decline admission

c) private schools may have larger class and thus in theory accept a larger class. So even though they receive 500/800 applicants their class size maybe 60. Add in the initial declines and pulls from the waitlists and it looks like that school accepts 33% of students when really that 33% is not really their initial acceptance rate (which would be lower).