2018 Canadian SLP Thread

[SLPhopeful1]

Hi everyone! I know there's a 2018 SLP thread that's supposed to be for Canadians already, but it was really convoluted with posts from other countries, so I thought I would make a thread that's explicitly Canadian so that we don't have to worry about sifting through everyone's posts to find what's relevant for us!

Applications open up really soon and I'm sure we're all super nervous! It's really nice to have this community to be able to talk about everything SLP-related! Happy applying, friends!

For myself, this is my first time applying. I'm thinking of only applying to the University of Alberta and Dalhousie, though UBC would definitely be at the top of my list if I had the prerequisites. I'm sitting at a GPA of 3.92 (3.89 for ORPAS), with a prereq GPA of 3.84. It's not perfect, but I'm hoping it'll be enough! I also have a couple years worth of heavy research experience for a developmental psycholinguist.

In the other 2018 SLP thread I had mentioned that I don't have a lot of related experience to SLPs, but I'm happy to say that since posting there I've put in over 50 hours (so far) in a couple different speech clinics, working with a variety of age groups. It's been really cool!

[just_speechie]

Wow! Your stats sound incredible, @SLPhopeful1!

Thanks for starting this thread! I'm sure it will be my salvation as we all stress through the next few months together.

This is my first time applying and I will be applying to UBC, Western, and Alberta. If I calculated it correctly, my subGPA is about 3.94 for ORPAS, though from what I could find, it looks like Alberta is more forgiving in their scaling, and by my best estimate I'm sitting at 3.98. My GRE quantitative score isn't where I'd like it to be, but I'm hoping the rest of my application will balance that out. I've been working in a language learning research lab for a year and this semester I'm working in a discourse analysis lab as well. It's been a great opportunity to see language research from these vastly different approaches! I also have experience volunteering with SLPs in different settings with children and adults (altogether about 170 hours so far), and I've loved every one of them.

My big worry right now is the personal statements/ letters of intent. How do you even fit so much love for a profession and desire to help people into so few words? Luckily there's still some time to work on them.

[SLPlease?]

Good luck to everyone applying this year! I'm 3 months into my first year at UofA, and it's been an incredible experience so far! I look forward to meeting some of you next year

[treaclemineroad]

Hello hopeful SLPs! I'm a current second-year student at the McGill SLP program. We just got some info that I thought this thread could benefit from. I don't know if this information has been publicized yet, but I wanted to make sure it was out there ASAP.

Quebec has changed some laws to do with criminal record checks, and it means two main things for our program, as I understand it:

- The program has CLOSED applications for international students, at the very least for the 2018-2019 school year but possibly longer.

- Practicum placements for the 2018-2019 school year will be delayed until the Winter 2019 semester for first-year students. This is a huge change to the practicum schedule and to be honest, I would not want in on this.

This is all to do with having to have a criminal record check from Quebec, for which you need a Quebec address.

I've passed this along to you guys because if I was an incoming student, I would very much want to know this for making a decision about which school I would attend. In my book, this would be a dealbreaker.

Edited November 27, 2017 by treaclemineroad

[SLPhopeful1]

7 hours ago, treaclemineroad said:

Hello hopeful SLPs! I'm a current second-year student at the McGill SLP program. We just got some info that I thought this thread could benefit from. I don't know if this information has been publicized yet, but I wanted to make sure it was out there ASAP.

Quebec has changed some laws to do with criminal record checks, and it means two main things for our program, as I understand it:

- The program has CLOSED applications for international students, at the very least for the 2018-2019 school year but possibly longer.

- Practicum placements for the 2018-2019 school year will be delayed until the Winter 2019 semester for first-year students. This is a huge change to the practicum schedule and to be honest, I would not want in on this.

This is all to do with having to have a criminal record check from Quebec, for which you need a Quebec address.

I've passed this along to you guys because if I was an incoming student, I would very much want to know this for making a decision about which school I would attend. In my book, this would be a dealbreaker.

Wow, thanks for that information @treaclemineroad! That's really unfortunate that everything is so deranged over there! But it's super good to know as an applicant.

Edited November 28, 2017 by SLPhopeful1

[SLPhopeful1]

On 11/1/2017 at 9:10 PM, SLPdreamer1996 said:

I was wondering whether I should mention my scholarships in my letter of intent, the last thing I want to do is to brag and sound snobbish.

I agree, @SLPdreamer1996! I am also debating whether I should include my scholarships in my resume. Since there's only so much space, I'm seriously considering not including that information, but it's also hard to do that because I don't want to leave anything that could be important out! I wish that there was a simple step-by-step "here's how you get in" guide. Ha ha

[SpeechiePeachie]

@SLPhopeful1: in terms of your academic accomplishments (i.e. your scholarships), I would HIGHLY recommend that you include that as that would be considered one of the key elements that will set you apart from all of the other prospective applicants. Again, you need to focus on making your statement of intent reflect your unique self that would make your application competitive enough from such a large pool of applicants. From my Information Session at UofT, one of the members from the Grad Admissions Committee kept on emphasizing how crucial it is to include your scholarships (if applicable) over and over again -- so definitely include that! Don't worry about sounding "snobbish", you are simply letting them know about your academic accomplishments  

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

Hey everyone!

I am starting the application process for September 2018 intake. I will be applying to Western, U of Toronto, and McMaster. My GPA is somewhere between a 3.8 and a 3.9 - haven't officially calculated that yet. All of my clinical experience with SLP's has been with children - I probably have around 100 hours. I also have a lot of experience working with adults with aphasia through a psycholinguistics lab I work in at my University. I am a support worker for a young boy with autism, though he doesn't have any speech or fluency disorders, I still feel it might be important to mention in my application that I have experience working with individuals with disabilities.  I'm getting super nervous about asking for reference letters, and starting my statement of intent has definitely stressed me out. If anyone has any advice regarding what is most important to include I would definitely appreciate it. 

Thanks, and good luck to you all! 

[SpeechiePeachie]

Hi @HopefulSpeechie2018! Just like you, I am also currently applying to Western, UofT and McMaster. From listening to other grads and profs, I would say the KEY thing to keep in mind when writing your statement of intent is to make yourself stand out from the rest. What qualities, experiences, academic accomplishments would make you competitive? For the academic section, be sure to include any scholarships and/or awards as they do take that into consideration -- so don't forget about that! Try explaining how your volunteer experiences have led you to feel so passionate about pursuing SLP as well. You might want to mention about a specific population, disability, therapy technique, etc.

Make sure to find at least 5-6 people to edit your final SOI as you want it to be error-free and immaculate.

Best of luck  

[treaclemineroad]

On 11/27/2017 at 2:25 PM, treaclemineroad said:

Hello hopeful SLPs! I'm a current second-year student at the McGill SLP program. We just got some info that I thought this thread could benefit from. I don't know if this information has been publicized yet, but I wanted to make sure it was out there ASAP.

Quebec has changed some laws to do with criminal record checks, and it means two main things for our program, as I understand it:

- The program has CLOSED applications for international students, at the very least for the 2018-2019 school year but possibly longer.

- Practicum placements for the 2018-2019 school year will be delayed until the Winter 2019 semester for first-year students. This is a huge change to the practicum schedule and to be honest, I would not want in on this.

This is all to do with having to have a criminal record check from Quebec, for which you need a Quebec address.

I've passed this along to you guys because if I was an incoming student, I would very much want to know this for making a decision about which school I would attend. In my book, this would be a dealbreaker.

I want to clarify this information on two points:

- The applications are closed to international applicants who do not already reside in Canada. If you already live in Canada, you can still apply.

- The fall practicum for 1st year students has been renegotiated since I posted this information. There now exists a practicum for the fall semester of first year. Which, by the way, is very early practicum exposure for this program -- it's pretty cool to be getting hands-on experience right out of the gate!

Sorry for flooding this thread with info about this but apparently I've already stressed out a couple of hopeful applicants -- sorry about that!

[SLPlease?]

13 hours ago, Ling_Aud said:

Hi, a quick question for those who are already in SLP or Audiology programs in Canada: is it unusual to have classmates who are in their 30s and with advanced degrees (e.g., doctorates)? I was wondering if the admissions committee might be biased against older applicants ... Permanent resident of Canada and applying this year. Good luck to everyone!

I'm in my first year at UofA for SLP and I'm 30 years old, and there are few other people in the program who are also around the same age. We do also have a number of students who have previous Masters degrees, but I don't believe there are any with a PhD. I would pretty surprised if the admissions committee considered age of applicants in the acceptance process.

[Ling_Aud]

9 hours ago, SLPlease? said:

I'm in my first year at UofA for SLP and I'm 30 years old, and there are few other people in the program who are also around the same age. We do also have a number of students who have previous Masters degrees, but I don't believe there are any with a PhD. I would pretty surprised if the admissions committee considered age of applicants in the acceptance process.

Thanks SLPlease?. Good luck with your program.

[fluentbi]

guys I am shitting myself, we're in the final stretch of the ontario application process!!! eek

I'm hoping some people who are in SLP programs already can comment on this, but how do the admission committees weigh all the application components?

I would say I have a mediocre subGPA (around 3.73), cGPA of 3.82, but I'm thinking I may be able to make up for that with my volunteering and research experience which makes me more well-rounded (working abroad, psycholinguistics lab, CAMH research project, volunteering in St.Michael's SLP clinic in Toronto, working with developmentally-delayed children in a speech club, etc).

In my letter of intent i've chosen to focus on my breadth of exp and well-roundedness as a unique quality as I'm not sure how else i'd be able to stand out....basically talked about how I can utilize tools learned from various experiences to my advantage when dealing with diverse clients in the future. Everyone has said to stick to a central theme for the letter of intent but it's so hard finding a good/catchy one! gah

I'm applying to UofT, Western, McGill and McMaster so hopefully one of these will see the potential in me!  so nervous though... I'm also applying to counselling psychology as a back-up so who know where I'll end up...

 

anyways good luck to you all and let's see how the process goes this year!

[SLPhopeful1]

Just finished submitting all of my applications! Now is the worst part... the waiting. After looking over past years' threads, it seems to me that schools are fairly inconsistent when it comes to the time it takes them to make a decision. I almost just wish they told us we'd know on a specific date! 

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

Hey guys! Has anyone received an application confirmation email from University of Toronto? I got one from McMaster and Western but not yet from UofT. Just wondering if anyone has had this experience as well

[112233]

anybody know the stats of people who got accepted into U of A SLP last year?

did anybody get in who had pre-requisites in progress before the application deadline?

[112233]

On 1/25/2018 at 5:52 PM, HopefulSpeechie2018 said:

Hey guys! Has anyone received an application confirmation email from University of Toronto? I got one from McMaster and Western but not yet from UofT. Just wondering if anyone has had this experience as well

i have not received any confirmation from the u of t either!

[A2018]

1 hour ago, lovetolearn said:

i have not received any confirmation from the u of t either!

Do you mean the email with your application ID and password? I received those, as well as the email with my JOIN ID. This was back in December. After I uploaded my documents, my application status also changed to "Under Review" (meaning the graduate assistant has received them and manually changed the status) 

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

19 hours ago, A2018 said:

Do you mean the email with your application ID and password? I received those, as well as the email with my JOIN ID. This was back in December. After I uploaded my documents, my application status also changed to "Under Review" (meaning the graduate assistant has received them and manually changed the status) 

I'm not sure what the JOIN ID is I don't recall receiving that. But I was referring to the specific schools I applied to. I received an application confirmation email from Western and McMaster that included student ID's to be able to access their student centre through my own account. 

[A2018]

1 hour ago, HopefulSpeechie2018 said:

I'm not sure what the JOIN ID is I don't recall receiving that. But I was referring to the specific schools I applied to. I received an application confirmation email from Western and McMaster that included student ID's to be able to access their student centre through my own account. 

Well, I thought you were talking about not receiving the email from UofT, so my post was specifically referring to UofT. JoinID is basically the log in information for UofT student services (they also sent me the student number). 

Edited January 29, 2018 by A2018

[112233]

On 1/28/2018 at 3:14 PM, A2018 said:

Do you mean the email with your application ID and password? I received those, as well as the email with my JOIN ID. This was back in December. After I uploaded my documents, my application status also changed to "Under Review" (meaning the graduate assistant has received them and manually changed the status) 

No I got the e-mails regarding JOIN ID, just nothing regarding them receiving my application from ORPAS. Where did you see that your application status changed to under review?

[A2018]

14 hours ago, lovetolearn said:

No I got the e-mails regarding JOIN ID, just nothing regarding them receiving my application from ORPAS. Where did you see that your application status changed to under review?

My apologies!! I assumed it would be the same across all programs at UofT but perhaps it's different if you're applying with ORPAS. I'm applying to a different program with UofT, UofT sent me confirmation emails with student IDs and I'm able to log on to check my application status on the School of Graduate Studies site. 

 

Again I'm sorry for not reading properly. 

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

23 hours ago, A2018 said:

Well, I thought you were talking about not receiving the email from UofT, so my post was specifically referring to UofT. JoinID is basically the log in information for UofT student services (they also sent me the student number). 

I'm glad you said something because I never got that email from UofT so thank you! I just called them and straightened everything out. 

[A2018]

2 hours ago, HopefulSpeechie2018 said:

I'm glad you said something because I never got that email from UofT so thank you! I just called them and straightened everything out. 

Glad I was able to help! Did they send you the email? 

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

4 hours ago, A2018 said:

Glad I was able to help! Did they send you the email? 

They said they receive applications on a "rolling" basis, not all at once, and they just received mine on the 11th so I should be getting the email with my ID within the next week. Hope this helps anyone else in the same position as I was!