Older students - recent evidence of study

[ashny]

Hi,

I have been doing some research on universities that offer graduate SLP programs and have found that some of them would like to see recent evidence of study. Since i completed my university education over 18 years ago, it is considered too long ago. 

What has been the experience of other older students on this board? Did you have to go back to studies again (e.g  do second bachelors/pre-requisites etc)  or was your degree from previous years/decades recognized? I understand that the GRE is usually required to provide evidence of your educational capabilities at this point in time but I am not sure if additional studies are generally required from universities. I do not have a CSD degree so have just been looking at universities that accept out of field applicants.

Edited February 20, 2017 by ashny

[Afternoonprogram]

I finished my undergrad in 1996 and my masters in counseling in 2001.  I took post-bacc classes -1. to make sure I really wanted to go into the field. 2. to get recent letters of recommendation.  My professors at my current post-bacc school said it didn't matter if you had been out of school 5 years or 20 years -they wanted letters from professors discussing your academic ability.  I'm glad I did the post-bacc.  I was accepted into the Master's program where I am doing my post-bacc and another University in Chicago (still waiting to hear about 2 more).  I would consider doing a post-bacc where you think you want to attend as it's a good way for the professors to get to know you.

[BeachySpeechy]

Most schools want you to take the 4 ASHA required courses plus their prerequisite CD courses before starting grad school. Not doing so will limit the grad schools you can apply to. In addition, you will need some current academic letters of reference for your application.

Since your degree was in another field you should really consider taking your prereqs or doing a 2nd bachelors in CD before applying to grad schools. Even if you have a 4.0 GPA and end up with really high GRE scores, you will be going up against other students with the same stats plus CD classes under their belt. If you found a program that took students without any CD courses completed you would still have to eventually take them anyways, but you will end up paying a lot more. 

[Crimson Wife]

Getting current academic letters of recommendation and the cost savings of taking the leveling classes at the undergraduate vs. graduate level is why I did the 2nd bachelor's. If you don't have any academic experience more recent than 18 years ago, I doubt even a perfect GRE score would be enough.

[ashny]

Thanks, it sounds like I need to take some CSD prerequisites/post bacc/2nd bachelors. It would be good to for me to take CSD courses anyway to raise my GPA from 3.4 to a higher GPA, especially considering how competitive it is to gain admission I got a good letter of recommendation from a lecturer whose classes I attended for a certification course a few years ago, but that was in a different field and the universities seem to want more recent relevant studies.

Congratulations on your admission to the Masters program 'afternoonprogram'.

Edited February 21, 2017 by ashny