Speech Pathology MA, Psych BA please help!

[theominousfuture]

Hello all!

I'm a senior at a well-known university studying child/adolescent psychology and education. I'm thinking of applying to speech pathology programs after my gap year but I don't have a background in the coursework and I'm trying to avoid doing a post-bacc if I can. 

GPA: 3.53 (3.9 last two years)

GRE: I haven't taken it yet, but I have a whole half year to study for it and I will hopefully get a great score.

But here's the thing!

I've worked with selectively mute kids, I'm in the process publishing a lit review/article in an undergrad journal on the subject, assisted in a classroom that had special needs children, and the research team that I'm on does a great deal of language development work and through the team, I'll get experience becoming certified in and administering several language assessments very commonly used by speech language pathologists to children on a large scale.

Will any of this be enough to get into a program that will let me take pre-reqs upon admission?

Thank you all for your time and advice. It's much appreciated.

[slptobe92]

Your choice of schools is severely limited if you haven't complete any post-bacc work. I would do some if you can. Also studying for the GRE is super important so don't put it off (like I did the first time).

[theominousfuture]

Thank you for the response! I will look up your comment later in the summer when I'm sure I'll be feeling those procrastinating urges. The main school I'd really like to get into is NYU and they emphasize that they accept students of all backgrounds and levels of relevant coursework. Does anyone know how true this is?

[racoomelon]

I'm coming into the field as an out of field applicant, more or less. But I'm also spending my senior year doing coursework so that I don't have to take a full third year. And I'm a linguistics major, so some of my linguistics classes kind of qualify as communication disorder classes.

From what I've understood, the 3 year programs can be more competitive than the general ones. That's the other reason why I tried to knock out coursework-- I wanted to be looked at as a 2 year candidate. I think a lot of schools have cut offs based on GPA and GRE scores, to the point to where it sometimes outweighs the extracurriculars you have. That said, it seems like a lot of the 3 year grad students I've talked to were accepted into the program because they had good resumes (Teach for America, stuff like that). So I think it depends on the program (programs that emphasize holistic admissions would be best). 

Also, just as something I found about after I finished applying: look on ASHA's EdFind to see what the candidates for schools normally looks like. You can see where you fall in the applicant pool AND you can get a rough estimate of how many people apply and are accepted. I would make sure to apply to a back up school that has a high acceptance rate, just to be safe. 

[theominousfuture]

Oh man, thank you for the tip about EdFind! Up until now I've just been using the NYU website which claims that:

Data on accepted applicants: Below is information about the interquartile range for GPA, GRE-verbal, GRE-quantitative, and GRE-writing. The interquartile range is the middle 50% of scores. This means that 25% of the accepted students are below this range and 25% are above this range. In evaluating applications, we examine the whole application, including letters of recommendation, statements of purpose, etc. 

GPA: 3.56-3.85
GRE-verbal: 152-160
GRE-quantitative: 150-156
GRE-writing: 4.0-5.0

Unfortunately they don't meet with prospective students and haven't listed their next info session :( It'd be nice to find out their acceptance rate!

[racoomelon]

2 minutes ago, theominousfuture said:

Oh man, thank you for the tip about EdFind! Up until now I've just been using the NYU website which claims that:

It'd be nice to find out their acceptance rate!

Sometimes the acceptances listed on EdFind are a bit off, so take it with a grain of salt (Portland State, for example, has way more applicants than what they've listed)!

Try emailing the coordinator / professor in charge of the admissions? They're normally pretty good about emailing back. 

[rose6593]

8 minutes ago, theominousfuture said:

Oh man, thank you for the tip about EdFind! Up until now I've just been using the NYU website which claims that:

Data on accepted applicants: Below is information about the interquartile range for GPA, GRE-verbal, GRE-quantitative, and GRE-writing. The interquartile range is the middle 50% of scores. This means that 25% of the accepted students are below this range and 25% are above this range. In evaluating applications, we examine the whole application, including letters of recommendation, statements of purpose, etc. 

GPA: 3.56-3.85
GRE-verbal: 152-160
GRE-quantitative: 150-156
GRE-writing: 4.0-5.0

Unfortunately they don't meet with prospective students and haven't listed their next info session It'd be nice to find out their acceptance rate!

I am unsure what their exact acceptance rate is, but I applied this year and was recently accepted and my letter stated that there were over 400 applicants and I believe they accept around 50. That information is also all on EdFind. 

[theominousfuture]

Congratulations on your acceptance!! Also, good god that is a lot of applicants. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on doing the NYC Teach scholarship for NYU if you decide to attend? I'd love to learn more about that process if you have any info/advice. It seems like a spectacular opportunity but I'm just an outsider looking in.

[talkingcake]

From what I hear, NYU does tend to accept a lot of out-of-fielders!  In the past, I've talked to a linguistics major and a psych major who were both going to NYU for their masters program in speech without taking prereqs or post-bacc programs.  I don't remember their names and never got their contact info though.  A friend of mine also mentioned meeting an English major (or literature? I forget) who was also in the same program.  That reputation to accept many OOFers was actually the main reason why I applied there!  I agree with @racoomelon though.  I recommend looking into a post-bacc, if possible.  There's a higher likelihood that you'll graduate on time, which schools really like.  If you do a post-bacc, you will be just as prepared as your SLP major peers, which means there's also less scrambling on your part to catch up once you get in.  And to top it off, you'll still have that OOF experience to make you stand out!

[rose6593]

30 minutes ago, theominousfuture said:

Congratulations on your acceptance!! Also, good god that is a lot of applicants. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on doing the NYC Teach scholarship for NYU if you decide to attend? I'd love to learn more about that process if you have any info/advice. It seems like a spectacular opportunity but I'm just an outsider looking in.

Thank you!! I am unsure if I will even attend NYU at this point, I am definitely highly considering it but I was accepted at some other programs as well so it is a hard decision. I likely will not do the teaching scholarship. I am not from New York originally and would like the option to move home after graduate school. Since the teaching scholarship requires multiple years of commitment following graduation, I just don't want to be stuck in that situation and limited from being able to move. It definitely is a great opportunity though, I think if I were from New York or at least the east coast I would go for it! One of my biggest concerns with NYU is the cost, so it definitely would help with that considerably! 

[theominousfuture]

I'm from the city so I was considering it if I got into a local school. But it seems now that getting in is a bit of a long shot haha. Hmm it seems that post-bacc may be the way to go! How long have those taken in your experiences?

[Crimson Wife]

Different post-baccs have different numbers of courses. Utah State's is 12 courses so 3 semesters if you go FT and 6 semesters if you go half-time. They offer every course every semester including summers. The cost is $299/credit for out-of-state, which is one of the more reasonable tuitions I've seen. Eastern NM is I believe cheaper but they do not offer every course every semester.

[racoomelon]

I wouldn't totally give up on a three year program! I didn't mean to make it sound like it would be impossible to get into one. Schools in areas that people want to live in (namely CA and NY) have more applicants, so they're automatically more competitive. Long story short, I would just apply to multiple ones and try to find a fall back that's relatively easy to get into. That way you're not left hanging. And, again, look for holistic admissions. Some schools might weigh your published research article more heavily than others. 

And like @Crimson Wife said about post-bachs, it varies by program. Inconvenient as it is, some schools require different pre-reqs than others do and I think that's reflected in the coursework they offer for the post-bach. (Just as an example, neurology of communication or its like is required by some schools but not by others). 

One last thing-- look into taking one of ETS's practice GRE tests. They have them on their website, and you can stimulate the testing environment (more or less) at home while you take it. You can see how you do, get a guess-timate as to where you'll fall, score-wise, and know what areas you need to study. When I was studying for the LSAT (before I found out about this field), they advised that you take the practice test cold turkey so that you know which areas you need to work on. I'm assuming the same goes for the GRE. Plus, you'll get an idea as to whether or not you "have" competitive GRE scores for whichever program you're looking for.

[talkingcake]

Many people I know apply to 3 year programs, but apply to post-baccs at the same time as a fall back plan.  I forgot to mention this earlier, but if you get accepted into a 3 year program, that means that you don't have to wait to hear back from grad schools again.  And it's obvious what a huge perk that is after spending 5 minutes on this forum lol.

I believe the 1 year post-bacc I'm in is roughly $10,000 total I think?  I'm not paying as much, because I knocked out half my classes with my undergrad speech minor.  There's also a two-year part-time option, for which you'd end up paying more tuition in the end, but you'd have more time to work or scout out other opportunities outside of class.  From my understanding, there are also cheaper online post-bacc programs available as well.  Also, keep in mind that even though most people call it a "post-baccalaureate program", other schools might list it as "master's preparatory" "leveling" or "second bachelor's" or something instead.

Edited March 6, 2016 by talkingcake

[SpeechieM]

On 3/5/2016 at 7:49 PM, rose6593 said:

I am unsure what their exact acceptance rate is, but I applied this year and was recently accepted and my letter stated that there were over 400 applicants and I believe they accept around 50. That information is also all on EdFind. 

Congrats on getting in to NYU. Does it seem like they accepted everyone in that one email or have you heard anything about them sending more? I never heard back from them and I'm trying to stay positive but I have no reason to believe they're sending more acceptances out  

[NorcalSLP]

On March 4, 2016 at 3:54 PM, theominousfuture said:

Hello all!

I'm a senior at a well-known university studying child/adolescent psychology and education. I'm thinking of applying to speech pathology programs after my gap year but I don't have a background in the coursework and I'm trying to avoid doing a post-bacc if I can. 

GPA: 3.53 (3.9 last two years)

GRE: I haven't taken it yet, but I have a whole half year to study for it and I will hopefully get a great score.

But here's the thing!

I've worked with selectively mute kids, I'm in the process publishing a lit review/article in an undergrad journal on the subject, assisted in a classroom that had special needs children, and the research team that I'm on does a great deal of language development work and through the team, I'll get experience becoming certified in and administering several language assessments very commonly used by speech language pathologists to children on a large scale.

Will any of this be enough to get into a program that will let me take pre-reqs upon admission?

Thank you all for your time and advice. It's much appreciated.

I'm going to reiterate what many others have said: applying to only three year masters programs is risky, even if you have a strong application.

 

I tell everyone who is applying as an out of fielder to apply to three year programs AND post baccs. That way IF you have to apply again, you will have done the pre request classes and will be a stronger candidate.

In the mean time you can start to take some classes online. 

And if you can move there, apply to the Portland State post bacc. It's rolling admissions and non competitive so they accept whomever applies until the class is full (and they are pretty well regarded from what I understand). Meaning you could still apply now to start in fall.

 

 And I'm speaking from personal experience. I was an out of field applicant. I applied to three year and post baccs. I got wait listed at a couple three years but didn't get off. BUT I got into all the post baccs, went to one (not psu) and got into multiple grad schools the next time I applied. 

 

Just my two cents

[rose6593]

On 3/6/2016 at 8:11 PM, Speechiem said:

Congrats on getting in to NYU. Does it seem like they accepted everyone in that one email or have you heard anything about them sending more? I never heard back from them and I'm trying to stay positive but I have no reason to believe they're sending more acceptances out  

I am unsure if they accepted everyone in one email, but I have received many supplemental emails since I was accepted so it seems like they may have. They also have their open house in a couple of weeks so I imagine if you haven't heard soon you will! Best of luck!

[theominousfuture]

Thank you all for your advice and wisdom. I've just gotten into the SUNY New Paltz post bacc program and hopefully I'll do well enough in it to really increase my chances at a Master's program! It seems that if I manage to get a 4.0 for my post-bacc, it'll bring my combined GPA somewhere around a 3.6. Will this, along with the rest of my application, be able to make the cut at the following schools?

NYU, Teachers College, SUNY New Paltz, LIU Brooklyn, CUNY Hunter, New York Medical College, Kean, Montclair

 

[slptobe92]

17 minutes ago, theominousfuture said:

Thank you all for your advice and wisdom. I've just gotten into the SUNY New Paltz post bacc program and hopefully I'll do well enough in it to really increase my chances at a Master's program! It seems that if I manage to get a 4.0 for my post-bacc, it'll bring my combined GPA somewhere around a 3.6. Will this, along with the rest of my application, be able to make the cut at the following schools?

NYU, Teachers College, SUNY New Paltz, LIU Brooklyn, CUNY Hunter, New York Medical College, Kean, Montclair

 

The biggest thing I've learned through this process is how important it is to research each school individually. Some schools have GPA cut offs and look mostly at GPA and GRE while others look at the whole package. It's impossibly to say "if you have X GPA you will for sure get into X school" because people with 4.0's are rejected and people with 3.2's get in, it really depends on the school. I would check out the results page for the schools you're interested in and even contact the schools individually (this helps them get familiar with your name before your application comes in, which shows your true interest).

Good luck!

[SpeechieM]

1 hour ago, theominousfuture said:

Thank you all for your advice and wisdom. I've just gotten into the SUNY New Paltz post bacc program and hopefully I'll do well enough in it to really increase my chances at a Master's program! It seems that if I manage to get a 4.0 for my post-bacc, it'll bring my combined GPA somewhere around a 3.6. Will this, along with the rest of my application, be able to make the cut at the following schools?

NYU, Teachers College, SUNY New Paltz, LIU Brooklyn, CUNY Hunter, New York Medical College, Kean, Montclair

 

If you're wanting to compare stats for a couple of those schools, I have a 3.8 GPA (4.0 CSD Major), GRE was 154 Verbal 152 Quant with a lot of great extracurriculars and leadership positions. I was accepted to Montclair but waitlisted to NYU and rejected to TC. It honestly gets harder every year and I thought for sure I would get into NYU. To some degree it seems like it's up to chance because people with lower stats were accepted. So you never really know what's gonna happen!

[theominousfuture]

40 minutes ago, SpeechieM said:

If you're wanting to compare stats for a couple of those schools, I have a 3.8 GPA (4.0 CSD Major), GRE was 154 Verbal 152 Quant with a lot of great extracurriculars and leadership positions. I was accepted to Montclair but waitlisted to NYU and rejected to TC. It honestly gets harder every year and I thought for sure I would get into NYU. To some degree it seems like it's up to chance because people with lower stats were accepted. So you never really know what's gonna happen!

Holy smokes, I would have thought you'd be a sure thing for NYU too. I've heard people with lower stats get into their program all the time. Did you do your undergrad in CSD? I feel like I hear more speech path undergrads express frustration with admissions compared to out of field applicants. It's a jungle out there. 

[SpeechieM]

17 hours ago, theominousfuture said:

Holy smokes, I would have thought you'd be a sure thing for NYU too. I've heard people with lower stats get into their program all the time. Did you do your undergrad in CSD? I feel like I hear more speech path undergrads express frustration with admissions compared to out of field applicants. It's a jungle out there. 

Yes my undergrad is in CSD. I'm still not sure if that hurt or help me in the process. The best advice I can give is for you to just put your all into your application. Study a lot for the GREs cause if it does nothing else, higher scores will help you get funding (thats what most merit scholarships are based off of). Although I am disappointed that I didn't get into every school I applied to, I know that I really did everything I could to make the strongest application possible for myself. So I have no regrets and I am very excited to attend the school I ended up choosing!! I think if you approach it with the same attitude you'll end up somewhere