If you could go back in time to when you were applying for grad school and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?

[Lor780]

@twinguy7 Hi twinguy7! Thanks so much for making this forum and continuing to help out people that are having difficulty getting into grad school! I'm curious to know what types of questions you asked in your initial emails to grad schools? Did you right off the bat tell them your scores and GPA and see whether they would consider those competitive? 

[twinguy7]

Hi @Lor780,

I did just what you said.  I told them my stats and my story and asked if there were students who were accepted to their programs with my stats and experiences.  Most replied with the honest truth and some helped and told me of schools they thought accepted people like me.  

[poor_salieri]

 I agree with a lot of the other people's posts regarding the, "Would I really go to the school if I got in." It's OK to have one or two schools that might be "dream schools" in the sense of they cost too much  and what you think you could afford,  or big move, but you also have to think if you apply to 6-7 schools that are 100 K plus, and you wouldn't be able to afford that without  substantial  financial aid many, including  if you affordable options would be wise. 

 

I'm a CF now, and  reflecting on the last couple years of seeing my friends getting to school or not get into schools, I don't think that people really understand that there aren't any "fallback schools." I've seen people with less than stellar stats get into higher ranking, "prestigious" universities and I've seen people with 4.0's and a well-rounded background not get into in ranked state schools.  A lot of the time it also comes down to cost, is someone willing to pay a lot of money for a particular school/location. It really just depends on what the school is looking for, and the other applicants. You can do your best to figure it out, but no one ever knows for sure.

 

 

 The advice I wish I could've given myself is to really look at the fit of the school and not just things like location or rank, which are the more superficial things that we all think of initially. But really concentrate on the professors (teaching style, research, availability to make connections), the other students, class-size (this is big to me looking back), the support I would get, my support net (too far from friends/family if that would be difficult)  how they run their in-house clinics and their external placements. I feel like on the website a lot of schools try and sell themselves with the type of externships they offer (especially medical placements). However, when it actually comes time for the Extertal internships there might be only a few spots and if you have a class of 50 and only 5 students can be placed at those sites, the rest of you just have to kind of have to "deal with it." I think that was hard on a lot of people who  selected schools based on the fact that this school or that school advertised certain concentrations or externship experiences. 

[bibliophile222]

APPLY TO CHEAPER PROGRAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I'm praying for a hefty aid package and dreading the thought of the additional 75K in loans if I don't get one. I'm going either way, but I'm going to have a full-blown mortgage by the time I'm done.

[20SLP20]

2 hours ago, bibliophile222 said:

APPLY TO CHEAPER PROGRAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I'm praying for a hefty aid package and dreading the thought of the additional 75K in loans if I don't get one. I'm going either way, but I'm going to have a full-blown mortgage by the time I'm done.

I second this. I'm hoping to get off the waitlist for my two in-state schools, otherwise I'll have to pay more than twice as much for the out of state school I got into. I was relieved to be accepted somewhere, especially to a "top 10 ranked" school, but I don't think I was really prepared for the price difference/not receiving any aid. People who are accepted to a program they know they aren't going to, us waitlisted people will appreciate it if you decline asap! I'm hoping to get off the waitlist for my number one in-state school. 

[futureSLPhopefullylol]

Save hundreds of dollars and apply to way less schools lol (applied to 10, got into 5 and waitlisted at 4)... but better safe than sorry right?

[Southwestspeechie]

13 minutes ago, futureSLPhopefullylol said:

Save hundreds of dollars and apply to way less schools lol (applied to 10, got into 5 and waitlisted at 4)... but better safe than sorry right?

I completely agree! I think applying to five is a good number, and make sure you have a variety in terms of tuition costs, ranking, etc. I applied to seven and realized that I cannot see myself at most of these schools lol. 

[Swishfish22]

2 hours ago, Felice said:

I completely agree! I think applying to five is a good number, and make sure you have a variety in terms of tuition costs, ranking, etc. I applied to seven and realized that I cannot see myself at most of these schools lol. 

Yeah, I second this--only apply to schools you can actually see yourself at. I went application crazy and applied to at least 3 schools I couldn't really see myself going to--waste of money.

[cclBo2020]

On 6/21/2016 at 5:19 PM, K8eCastle said:

I'm applying to grad school this fall and I'm extremely nervous! Do you have any advice that you wish someone had told you when you were applying? Thanks in advance!

Send your transcripts and GRE scores EARLY!

I unfortunately was in a very tight spot financially this year, and wasn't able to send my scores until January. This led to my CSDCAS application not being officially verified until February, and automatic rejections from multiple programs. It sucks because I ended up throwing away about $350+ (between CSDCAS, Cal State and sendibg grades/scores) just because I didn't have enough cash in early December.

I also second the recommendations for creating timelines and back-up plans. I have not been accepted into a program yet, and am looking at applying to some Spring starts or a Sped program (Sped woild apply to my current job, but has been recommended for building up my resume as well).

Also, don't be afraid to ask for letters of rec and/or advice. This was the most nerve-wracking part for me, but once I did it I realized how many people are willing to help. And the earlier you ask, the better you'll know whether they'll provode a confident letter or not. I personally avoided asking the people that it turns out would have provided stronger letters for silly reasons, which in hindsight could have enhanced my application.

[bibliophile222]

Oh yeah, I have another one: ask for LORs about three months earlier. Waiting for responses and repeatedly emailing was almost as agonizing as waiting for admissions results. I also should have started researching programs and the application process much earlier. I put it off until November and was scrambling.

[ObsessLP]

Get to know your instructors! I took online courses and extremely few people took the time to email instructors to ask questions or give feedback. I was surprised at how receptive my online instructors were, and I ended up keeping in touch with a handful of them. Those same instructors ended up offering me letters of recommendation when the time came to apply to grad schools.

If you really enjoyed a course, if a course inspired you to pursue a specific specialization, or even if you just thought it was a well-organized class, tell your instructor what you think and thank them for their work. Affirmation feels great to anyone!

[AlwaysaFalcon]

1. Start the application process early!

Once the csdcas application opened up in early August I was online filling out the time consuming sections such as resume, coursework and volunteer and work experience. This might not seem like much but this stuff wastes time and it doesn't hurt to get done early!

 

2. Ask for letters of recommendation early!

Professors are usually asked about letters from October-January. Get in the door early and ask even in the summer. You'll be a priority for them and then you won't get rejected because they won't be bogged down writing other letters. I provided a list of schools and they letter of recommendation deadlines to each of my recommenders. I think this is a courtesy that is not only professional but also keeps the professor organized. This way they can keep each school on track, if you were like me and applied to so many schools. 

 

3. Thoroughly research the graduate programs you are interested in.

I can not stress this ENOUGH. Research asha edfind and realistically apply to schools you think you can get into. Research the ratio of applicants to class size, applicants to the number of interviews given, the percentage those offered in interview with given an acceptance. This helped me so much to narrow down my number of schools. Research gpa range, gre score range, etc. This is valuable information given right on the website.

 

4. Believe in yourself!

Just because you are not accepted the first application cycle into the program does not mean that you are not meant to be a speech language pathologist. Don't give up :)!