What should I do?

[heypeypey]

Hi all! 

 

I am currently a junior speech pathology major at a small school. Due to the size of our school and the size of our program, only two to three speech path classes are offered a semester, and they are only offered at certain times. For example, the three classes I just started for this spring semester are only offered in the spring of even numbered years. I have 25 observation hours along with 16 hours and 15 minutes of clinical practicum (field work). My grades for my major classes have been ok (A's and B's mostly), and my other classes. My overall cumulative GPA is a 3.369. Due to some personal things at home and a death in the family, I decided to for-go participating in field work this semester. (It would have been close to 40 hours of field work by the end of the semester.) My question being: if I take this semester to get my grades up and my head straight, did I mess up by not taking the clinical practicum class? I'd like to go to graduate school and pursue a Master's degree, but I've been worried that my GPA and clinical hours will not be good enough. I still have a year left to get hours, but how much do clinical hours matter in grad school applications?

 

Thank you 

[Jolie717]

I've just finished applying for grad school, and I was not asked once in any app about number of observation hours.  In my program we are required to obtain 25 hours, which I did plus more, but I am pretty sure only 25 hours are needed.  

[thespeechblog.com]

15 hours ago, heypeypey said:

Hi all! 

 

I am currently a junior speech pathology major at a small school. Due to the size of our school and the size of our program, only two to three speech path classes are offered a semester, and they are only offered at certain times. For example, the three classes I just started for this spring semester are only offered in the spring of even numbered years. I have 25 observation hours along with 16 hours and 15 minutes of clinical practicum (field work). My grades for my major classes have been ok (A's and B's mostly), and my other classes. My overall cumulative GPA is a 3.369. Due to some personal things at home and a death in the family (It´s okay to touch on this in your SOP as a reason that your GPA was low that semester) I decided to for-go participating in field work this semester. (It would have been close to 40 hours of field work by the end of the semester.) My question being: if I take this semester to get my grades up and my head straight, did I mess up by not taking the clinical practicum class? (One: Ask your professors/advisors. Two: Can you graduate without the class? Three: I don´t think you´ve messed up. Most schools Ive seen don´t require the hours to apply for a masters. If you can graduate with a degree in SHS, many schools will let you take 1 or 2 extra courses that they want you to have during the first year of your masters.). 

I'd like to go to graduate school and pursue a Master's degree, but I've been worried that my GPA and clinical hours will not be good enough. I still have a year left to get hours, but how much do clinical hours matter in grad school applications (They matter as much as they prove your dedication to the field AND to provide you with meaningful experiences for your SOP. In other words, they matter indirectly. I haven´t seen any schools that include them as a major component of evaluating an application). 

Thank you 

 

[Crimson Wife]

You could try checking your local community college to see if they offer a field practicum in either Special Ed or Early Childhood Ed that you could do. Then just arrange to do it in a language-delay or autism class. You won't get CSD credit but it would be relevant for your grad school apps.