Portland State University

[Hope2bSLP]

I received a Self-Reporting GPA survey via email today. Is this the final part of the application? Does everyone receive this? Do they have interviews?

Edited February 13, 2016 by Hope2bSLP

[kumapanda]

I checked my email when I saw your post and yes!  I got the same email as well!  I don't think they have interviews since I didn't see them mention interviews on the department website and the results page from previous cycles never mentioned them. 

[seands]

I got it too. I think all applicants received the email. The email made it sound like they wanted the survey filled out before they even begin the review process ("At this time, our department requires additional information to begin our review process.") I think it's probably just to help them organize the pool of applicants a little bit, but then again I am not on the ad comm, so my guess is as good as anyone else's. 

Hope we hear soon

[mayaella]

I got it too! Just responded! 

[honeydewthis]

I got that email too. It's confusing me and I wondering how y'all understood it. 

I received my 1st bachelor's & I am currently earning my postbaccalaureate 2nd bachelor's degree are at the same institution. Does that mean I should only fill out the "For your most recent, degree-granting undergraduate program (BA or BS)" section with my cumulative institution GPA and ignore the "If you have taken 4 or more courses in Speech & Hearing Sciences / Communication Sciences & Disorders as part of a post baccalaureate/ prerequisite/ leveling program" section?

So, my cumulative GPA is much lower than my Communication Disorders GPA. I feel like that sorting candidates by cumulative institution GPAs may provide an unfair disadvantage or advantage depending on how many institutions they attended. If they're organizing the reported GPAs electronically and using it as a way to narrow down applicants, this reporting method may not be a very accurate representation. For example, someone that attended a different school for postbacc than their undergrad could easily have a 4.0 because it's only calculating GPA from that institution. Why institution and not major? 

Does this make any sense? I'm probably waaaaaaaay overthinking this. Ugh.

[Hope2bSLP]

53 minutes ago, honeydewthis said:

I got that email too. It's confusing me and I wondering how y'all understood it. 

I received my 1st bachelor's & I am currently earning my postbaccalaureate 2nd bachelor's degree are at the same institution. Does that mean I should only fill out the "For your most recent, degree-granting undergraduate program (BA or BS)" section with my cumulative institution GPA and ignore the "If you have taken 4 or more courses in Speech & Hearing Sciences / Communication Sciences & Disorders as part of a post baccalaureate/ prerequisite/ leveling program" section?

So, my cumulative GPA is much lower than my Communication Disorders GPA. I feel like that sorting candidates by cumulative institution GPAs may provide an unfair disadvantage or advantage depending on how many institutions they attended. If they're organizing the reported GPAs electronically and using it as a way to narrow down applicants, this reporting method may not be a very accurate representation. For example, someone that attended a different school for postbacc than their undergrad could easily have a 4.0 because it's only calculating GPA from that institution. Why institution and not major? 

Does this make any sense? I'm probably waaaaaaaay overthinking this. Ugh.

Hi, you might be over thinking it. I am sure they are going to look more into it than putting our application in an excel spread sheet and sorting it from greatest to least. In example they care about your extra curricular activities, how many languages you speak, leadership opportunities you've been exposed to, clinical experiences, LOR, and many other things. 

[honeydewthis]

Thanks for the response @Hope2bSLP! I don't have much emotional energy to spare and I shouldn't be wasting it on overanalyzing this stuff. I submitted the poll according to how I understood it and whatever happens, happens. 

[talkingcake]

Late reply, but I also got that email.  In my case, I minored in communication disorders in my bachelor's and now I'm in a post-bacc.  It only asked for post-bacc GPA, so I only put in my post-bacc GPA without my original minor GPA.  I agree it's confusing though.

[SoLa]

My undergrad institution doesn't give grades - I'm pondering how to respond to this survey, awaiting a response from the office. Any ideas?

[kumapanda]

16 minutes ago, SoLa said:

My undergrad institution doesn't give grades - I'm pondering how to respond to this survey, awaiting a response from the office. Any ideas?

How did you respond to those other applications when they asked you for your grades?  I'm just curious, but how did your undergrad program rank or grade you then? 

[SoLa]

33 minutes ago, rainsonata said:

How did you respond to those other applications when they asked you for your grades?  I'm just curious, but how did your undergrad program rank or grade you then? 

I did mostly CSDCAS schools, and they just counted it as a pass/no pass. I have enough courses outside that school for a solid GPA. But we had narrative evaluations, which are kind of great in that if you're a good student, your transcript is basically a series of recommendations from professors. This is actually the first time I've had any stress about it.

[rzilby]

I just got a reminder e-mail about the survey and had a small heart attack. This is my top choice school and every time I see sometime in my inbox from them I panic. Does anyone know if they do interviews or just send out acceptances/rejections? 

[kumapanda]

43 minutes ago, rzilby said:

I just got a reminder e-mail about the survey and had a small heart attack. This is my top choice school and every time I see sometime in my inbox from them I panic. Does anyone know if they do interviews or just send out acceptances/rejections? 

I haven't seen mentions of interviews on the results page for Portland, so I'm going to assume the answer is no.  We get answers back in late March according to emails. 

Have you received any emails from Syracuse about the interview?  They said to expect it sometime this week.

[rzilby]

39 minutes ago, rainsonata said:

I haven't seen mentions of interviews on the results page for Portland, so I'm going to assume the answer is no.  We get answers back in late March according to emails. 

Have you received any emails from Syracuse about the interview?  They said to expect it sometime this week.

Oh man, late March feels so far away. I'm dying to know!!

I got my Syracuse email yesterday to schedule a time, so I'm doing mine Thursday. My friend got her invite last week though so I was panicking for a bit thinking I didn't actually get one. I'm not sure how they're organizing it, because she and I both have last names that start with Z. If you don't hear back from Syracuse, I would call them to see what's going on.

[kumapanda]

55 minutes ago, rzilby said:

Oh man, late March feels so far away. I'm dying to know!!

I got my Syracuse email yesterday to schedule a time, so I'm doing mine Thursday. My friend got her invite last week though so I was panicking for a bit thinking I didn't actually get one. I'm not sure how they're organizing it, because she and I both have last names that start with Z. If you don't hear back from Syracuse, I would call them to see what's going on.

Email said invitations were going to be sent in waves, so I suppose I just have to wait.  I wake up every morning to look at my phone first thing because I'm really anxious for news?  We have weeks until March is here.

[rzilby]

11 hours ago, rainsonata said:

Email said invitations were going to be sent in waves, so I suppose I just have to wait.  I wake up every morning to look at my phone first thing because I'm really anxious for news?  We have weeks until March is here.

I'm the same way right now. Any e-mail from a school gives me a second of panic before I actually read it. Uuuugh, March can't get here soon enough

[g.costanza]

23 hours ago, rzilby said:

 Does anyone know if they do interviews or just send out acceptances/rejections? 

There are no interviews.  If you are accepted, you will receive a letter in mid March right before Spring Break.

[rzilby]

9 hours ago, g.costanza said:

There are no interviews.  If you are accepted, you will receive a letter in mid March right before Spring Break.

Ah okay, thanks for clarifying! I guess if there are no interviews, they look purely at numbers. :/

[g.costanza]

Don't stress too much about it (I know, easy for me to say). They really do look at the big picture. 

My quantitative score on the GRE was embarrassing. 

I thought it was really going to hurt me, but I ended getting an acceptance from them.

Hang in there and good luck.

[rzilby]

On 2/19/2016 at 0:12 PM, g.costanza said:

Don't stress too much about it (I know, easy for me to say). They really do look at the big picture. 

My quantitative score on the GRE was embarrassing. 

I thought it was really going to hurt me, but I ended getting an acceptance from them.

Hang in there and good luck.

Ah, okay. I feel better hearing that. I was a transfer and commuter student at my state college, and had to drive a total of 3 hours a day to my classes, 5 days a week. I didn't have time to take on any research or extra curriculars because of travel time, as well as course load (18-20 credits per semester). I tried to make up for last year by doing an internship and taking pre-reqs online as well as working, but we'll see...

On a side note, how was their program with funding, if you know anything about that? I looked at scholarships but it looked like they were all for current students or accepted students, rather than applicants. And most were for undergrads, I believe.

[marybet2]

Ahhh, PSU.

I am finishing my post-bacc work there now and I am not impressed with the program. I have friends in the grad portion as well and they feel less than impressed, and unsupported in the program. (Similar to how I felt in the post-bacc.) If you check ASHA, they provide you with information about the number of applicants, research funding, etc. 

I also applied to University of Northern Colorado. Did you hear anything yet?

 

Good luck!

[Cowsy]

5 minutes ago, marybet2 said:

Ahhh, PSU.

I am finishing my post-bacc work there now and I am not impressed with the program. I have friends in the grad portion as well and they feel less than impressed, and unsupported in the program. (Similar to how I felt in the post-bacc.) If you check ASHA, they provide you with information about the number of applicants, research funding, etc. 

I also applied to University of Northern Colorado. Did you hear anything yet?

 

Good luck!

Hi there! I'm really interested in knowing more about this. Would you be able to be more specific about the program and its flaws? PSU is my top choice, primarily because of location but also because their research on the intersection of culture and SLP is incredibly interesting to me. I've talked to a few others in the post-bacc program who don't love it, but haven't really heard from any grad students about that program and have hoped that it is a more positive experience. I went to PSU for undergrad and loved it, but my department was small (Black Studies) and I felt very connected/supported.

[kumapanda]

5 minutes ago, Cowsy said:

15 minutes ago, marybet2 said:

Ahhh, PSU.

I am finishing my post-bacc work there now and I am not impressed with the program. I have friends in the grad portion as well and they feel less than impressed, and unsupported in the program. (Similar to how I felt in the post-bacc.) If you check ASHA, they provide you with information about the number of applicants, research funding, etc. 

I also applied to University of Northern Colorado. Did you hear anything yet?

 

Good luck!

Hi there! I'm really interested in knowing more about this. Would you be able to be more specific about the program and its flaws? PSU is my top choice, primarily because of location but also because their research on the intersection of culture and SLP is incredibly interesting to me. I've talked to a few others in the post-bacc program who don't love it, but haven't really heard from any grad students about that program and have hoped that it is a more positive experience. I went to PSU for undergrad and loved it, but my department was small (Black Studies) and I felt very connected/supported.

I'm also interested in learning more about the program as PSU.  Can you elaborate on your impressions of the program?  I chose PSU because their research looked promising and I liked the various options given for therapy treatment, but I would love to hear more about it from you since you're already attending the school.  If you're uncomfortable writing it on the thread, you can private message me?

 

Edited March 11, 2016 by rainsonata

[Cowsy]

I'd accept a PM about PSU as well, haha....

[jm1988]

38 minutes ago, marybet2 said:

Ahhh, PSU.

I am finishing my post-bacc work there now and I am not impressed with the program. I have friends in the grad portion as well and they feel less than impressed, and unsupported in the program. (Similar to how I felt in the post-bacc.) If you check ASHA, they provide you with information about the number of applicants, research funding, etc. 

I also applied to University of Northern Colorado. Did you hear anything yet?

 

Good luck!

Can you please send me a PM about PSU and your experiences there? Like many others PSU is one of my top picks if admitted. Thanks!