Who are you emailing?

[onlybattles]

Hi everyone! 

I'm planning on starting the application prep super early this year, so as not to hit the ground running, and so that I have enough time to reach out to schools and figure out where I might fit in best with my less-than-stellar stats. That being said, who are you emailing to have a conversation about your stats and if it's worth a shot to apply to that school? I've read a lot of posts that say "I emailed the school to find out if X, Y, & Z work for their program," but who? I don't think I'd feel comfortable emailing a director of a program, but I've emailed admissions for one school, and they don't quite know where to forward my email. So, any help would be appreciated! TIA!

[kumapanda]

I emailed the director of the graduate programs or the graduate coordinators, although if you emailed it to the wrong person, they're usually nice and will redirect your email to the correct person who can answer your questions.  Not all the schools will reply back, so having a big list of schools to email to can be a nice thing if you worry your list will be too small. 

[DeWi]

I used the contacts listed on each school's ASHA EdFind page. If that person didn't answer, I just hunted around on each program's website to see if they specified who I should be in contact with 

[thespeechblog.com]

@onlybattles I contacted anyone I could in the department. Contact information can be hard to come by, so use it when you get it. At the graduate level, the general admissions office won't have much information for you - you really need to be in touch with the department office. 

Obviously if you're going to contact professors, have clear questions for them. Don't be afraid to contact program directors! They know their program best and will also give you a good sense of how friendly/accessible the faculty are based on their attitude. If you can, at least skim their CV or faculty profile online if available to have an idea of their interest and background/ 

Email is okay, but try to make a phone call when you can. When calling faculty, always ask if they have the time to speak with you or if they'd prefer that you schedule a call during office hours. 

[midweststudent343]

I've found the best liaison to be the 'Graduate Coordinator'! Most the schools I interacted with had one, at least the bigger programs. If they don't seem to have one, or they don't respond after a reasonable amount of time, a polite email to the director is the next step. Just make sure you are concise with your questions, and ask if they could help you or possibly connect with someone that could. Keeping in mind, I didn't email to ask about stats, but in my correspondences about other things, that's my experience. Also a lot of schools have portions of their websites (FAQ or Student outcome data) that is likely to say either minimum requirements or average stats of incoming students. Hope that helps! Good luck