2018 Canadian SLP Thread

[Guest student45238]

16 hours ago, just_speechie said:

I received an email with an offer from UBC yesterday too, but I will be declining to attend UofA.

I applied to UBC as well, but I will not be able to complete the Neuroanatomy pre-req before September so I'm not expecting to get accepted. Just wondering how you found that class was? I'm assuming people who get accepted got As or A+s in AUDI 402.

Edited March 16, 2018 by student45238

[just_speechie]

42 minutes ago, student45238 said:

I applied to UBC as well, but I will not be able to complete the Neuroanatomy pre-req before September so I'm not expecting to get accepted. Just wondering how you found that class was? I'm assuming people who get accepted got As or A+s in AUDI 402.

UBC requires that you complete that course before starting the M.Sc., so if you didn't indicate that you planned to complete it before the program start date, I imagine that could hurt your application. I'm not sure how the grade you get plays into their decision. As you know, it's so difficult to predict what the most important aspects of your application are. I can tell you AUDI 402 itself is a very interesting but quite dense class. You need to know anatomical details and functions, and clinical signs of lesions rather than just the locations. I planned ahead and took a few other neuroanatomy and neuropsych focused courses beforehand, and that gave me a solid foundation to do well in the class. I'm a neuro geek so I loved learning everything in it, even though I thought the provided materials were sometimes weak and/or unclear. If you do decide to take it though, make sure you study the diagrams in the course materials and supplement it from other sources and give yourself plenty of time to make the study materials that help you learn best. You'll probably do very well if you understand the whys and hows and if you're motivated to find some of that yourself. They encourage study groups and have a forum and an online platform for meetings if you can't meet in person, so there's a bit of a community for help with questions and sharing resources. I hope that helps answer questions you have, but feel free to message me if you want to know more.

[Hoosnan770]

2 hours ago, firstshotatthis said:

Received official refusal from McGill today. Whomp whomp!

Same here

[Hoosnan770]

On 15/03/2018 at 12:49 PM, voicethysoul said:

Congratulations everyone on your acceptances!!

I got an email from McGill this morning with an offer of acceptance and will definitely be accepting! If you will be attending as well, feel free to message me  

If you are still waiting to hear back, hang in there!!!! I know it's incredibly stressful  keep yourself busy and distracted!!

Do you mind sharing your stats? Trying to gauge what the applicant pool looked like!

 

[cait2018]

Can someone please clarify when we will hear back from ORPAS and where this was listed? Is it the same structure every year (checking the ORPAS portal) or could individual schools contact us before that?  Thanks!

[Hoosnan770]

35 minutes ago, cait2018 said:

Can someone please clarify when we will hear back from ORPAS and where this was listed? Is it the same structure every year (checking the ORPAS portal) or could individual schools contact us before that?  Thanks!

April 3rd

[SLPletsgo]

Hey everyone, in hopes to try to distract myself for the next two weeks until we receive ORPAS results, I was wondering what are your top school choices and why? I'm from Montreal so getting the rejection from McGill really got me on a downer but I'm trying to keep positive for the other schools I applied to (McMaster, UofT, Ottawa, Western). Any responses are super appreciated  

[slp.dreamer]

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far! I was rejected from McMaster (via email March 5), then I was waitlisted at Dalhousie (via email on March 9) and now I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from Alberta..! Since the first round of acceptances went out for UofA last week I've been checking my emails and logging into the portal every half hour!! Last year, I was rejected from all 4 programs I applied to (UofT, Western, McGill, McMaster), so being waitlisted at Dal is a step in the right direction and I'm really proud of myself for that! Good luck to everyone!!

Edited March 17, 2018 by slp.dreamer

[SLPletsgo]

Sending good vibes your way! Goodluck to all  

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

2 hours ago, SLPletsgo said:

Hey everyone, in hopes to try to distract myself for the next two weeks until we receive ORPAS results, I was wondering what are your top school choices and why? I'm from Montreal so getting the rejection from McGill really got me on a downer but I'm trying to keep positive for the other schools I applied to (McMaster, UofT, Ottawa, Western). Any responses are super appreciated  

Hey @SLPletsgo! My top choice is definitely Western, followed by U of T and then McMaster. This is mainly because of how close Western is from where I live (only about 2 hours away, whereas McMaster is 3 hours and Toronto is about 4 hours). I'm also really interested in working with children, especially children with autism, and I have heard from many that Western has more opportunity to work with children (including their own autism research lab!!) while Toronto is more adult-oriented. I'm not sure what McMaster is like in terms of the clinical populations they tend to work with since it is so new, but it also seems like a great school from what I saw when I went for the interview, just the fact that it is not yet accredited has slightly deterred me from wanting to go there. I would be thrilled to be accepted to any school though!

[hales2018]

Hi all! New poster here. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far and good luck to those still waiting!

I got waitlisted by McGill this week. Does anyone know how many people were waitlisted at McGill/if there is currently any sort of ranking system for people on the waitlist?

I've also applied to McMaster, U of T, and Western; I interviewed at McMaster last week. All ORPAS schools, so the suspense of waiting 2 more weeks to find out those results is killing me! I can't stop refreshing the website even though I know results won't appear till the end of the month. Ahhhh! 

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

13 hours ago, cait2018 said:

Can someone please clarify when we will hear back from ORPAS and where this was listed? Is it the same structure every year (checking the ORPAS portal) or could individual schools contact us before that?  Thanks!

https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-dates/ from reading past years forums is seems that right at midnight they update ORPAS with acceptances, and you won't be contacted before then 

[SLPdreamer1996]

33 minutes ago, hales2018 said:

Hi all! New poster here. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far and good luck to those still waiting!

I got waitlisted by McGill this week. Does anyone know how many people were waitlisted at McGill/if there is currently any sort of ranking system for people on the waitlist?

I've also applied to McMaster, U of T, and Western; I interviewed at McMaster last week. All ORPAS schools, so the suspense of waiting 2 more weeks to find out those results is killing me! I can't stop refreshing the website even though I know results won't appear till the end of the month. Ahhhh! 

Currently, there is no ranking system at McGill. They told me it's against their policy to release the specific positions, which is stressful since I was also wait listed! Good luck!

[voicethysoul]

22 hours ago, Hoosnan770 said:

Do you mind sharing your stats? Trying to gauge what the applicant pool looked like!

 

No problem! I graduated with a BA in Psychology (Honours). Final GPA: 4.07/4.33 so about 3.95/4.0. I have 5 years of experience as lab coordinator in a child studies lab and 3 years on and off as a substitute educator. I wrote an Honours thesis, held a few RA positions in other labs, have 500+ hours of experience volunteering at a helpline for people in distress, and only a few months ago started volunteering with children with language-based disorders as a tutor/mentor, so I actually didn't have much SLP-related experience. Didn't do the GRE's. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions

 

[SLP2B_95]

Hi everyone!

I'm a third year student looking to apply January 2019 into the SLP Masters programs. Right now I'm looking at Alberta, McGill, McMaster, Western and maybe two schools in Grand Forks. I am of indigenous ancestry and I was wondering if anyone with the same background of me would be willing to share their application experience. I do have a fairly competitive GPA but obviously nervous with such a competitive pool. I'm hoping my indigenous ancestry will help as some universities save 2 seats each year or advance indigenous students to the interview level of the application.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has anymore insight and is willing to share!

Thanks so much guys and have a great day!

Edited March 17, 2018 by SLP2B_95

[HopefulSpeechie2018]

2 hours ago, SLP2B_95 said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a third year student looking to apply January 2019 into the SLP Masters programs. Right now I'm looking at Alberta, McGill, McMaster, Western and maybe two schools in Grand Forks. I am of indigenous ancestry and I was wondering if anyone with the same background of me would be willing to share their application experience. I do have a fairly competitive GPA but obviously nervous with such a competitive pool. I'm hoping my indigenous ancestry will help as some universities save 2 seats each year or advance indigenous students to the interview level of the application.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has anymore insight and is willing to share!

Thanks so much guys and have a great day!

McMaster invites anyone of Indigenous background to their interviews (https://srs-mcmaster.ca/slp-admissions/#1491934523574-b42a1edc-1fa4) and then from there you will be considered among all other applicants based on your GPA and interview scores. I'm not sure about the other schools though!

[SLPletsgo]

On 2018-03-17 at 10:10 AM, slp.dreamer said:

Congrats to everyone who has been accepted so far! I was rejected from McMaster (via email March 5), then I was waitlisted at Dalhousie (via email on March 9) and now I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from Alberta..! Since the first round of acceptances went out for UofA last week I've been checking my emails and logging into the portal every half hour!! Last year, I was rejected from all 4 programs I applied to (UofT, Western, McGill, McMaster), so being waitlisted at Dal is a step in the right direction and I'm really proud of myself for that! Good luck to everyone!!

 

On 2018-03-17 at 12:36 PM, HopefulSpeechie2018 said:

Hey @SLPletsgo! My top choice is definitely Western, followed by U of T and then McMaster. This is mainly because of how close Western is from where I live (only about 2 hours away, whereas McMaster is 3 hours and Toronto is about 4 hours). I'm also really interested in working with children, especially children with autism, and I have heard from many that Western has more opportunity to work with children (including their own autism research lab!!) while Toronto is more adult-oriented. I'm not sure what McMaster is like in terms of the clinical populations they tend to work with since it is so new, but it also seems like a great school from what I saw when I went for the interview, just the fact that it is not yet accredited has slightly deterred me from wanting to go there. I would be thrilled to be accepted to any school though!

Heey thanks for your response! I heard the same thing about Western and Toronto and like you, my interest is in working with children  I think my preference is UofT though just because I like the big city environment but I will obviously go anywhere I get accepted (if I do!!!) I do need to do more research on the programs and that might change my mind but for now it's 1) UofT 2) Ottawa 3) Western 4) McMaster 5) Alberta.  I'm really worried about my GPA not being high enough though... I am very proud of myself for increasing by subGPA from a 3.72 to a 3.8 over the last year but reading the stats of all the other applicants is intimidating. I heard Western is more holistic in their selection process so hopefully that works in the favor of the candidates who don't have the highest GPAs. Congrats to all the applicants who have received acceptances and good luck to the rest of us! 

[kshelton]

Is anybody else for sure going to the U of A next year? I officially accepted my offer from them. 

[just_speechie]

2 hours ago, kshelton said:

Is anybody else for sure going to the U of A next year? I officially accepted my offer from them. 

I've accepted my offer there too! Anyone else?

[peachyspeechie]

On March 17, 2018 at 6:18 PM, SLP2B_95 said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a third year student looking to apply January 2019 into the SLP Masters programs. Right now I'm looking at Alberta, McGill, McMaster, Western and maybe two schools in Grand Forks. I am of indigenous ancestry and I was wondering if anyone with the same background of me would be willing to share their application experience. I do have a fairly competitive GPA but obviously nervous with such a competitive pool. I'm hoping my indigenous ancestry will help as some universities save 2 seats each year or advance indigenous students to the interview level of the application.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has anymore insight and is willing to share!

Thanks so much guys and have a great day!

UofT reserves one spot for an indigenous applicant every year, as long as all other requirements are met (ie. mid B average, pre-reqs etc). You just have to check off a self-declaration box in ORPAS. 

[lindzzz]

On 16/03/2018 at 11:52 AM, slplesgo said:

Has anyone who was admitted to UofA had a B on their prerequisites? Unfortunately first year slacking caused me to not be the best student. All of my other prereqs are A/A+. I have heard that UofT is an auto rejection if you have a B and was wondering if UofA was the same. 

I had a B+ in mine! From what I've heard, the U of A averages the prereq gpa and gpa from last two years and uses that combined average to rank applications...

 

Edited March 19, 2018 by lindzzz

[kshelton]

2 hours ago, just_speechie said:

I've accepted my offer there too! Anyone else?

You know that once you've accepted you can enroll in classes on beartracks?

[lindzzz]

On 17/03/2018 at 4:18 PM, SLP2B_95 said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a third year student looking to apply January 2019 into the SLP Masters programs. Right now I'm looking at Alberta, McGill, McMaster, Western and maybe two schools in Grand Forks. I am of indigenous ancestry and I was wondering if anyone with the same background of me would be willing to share their application experience. I do have a fairly competitive GPA but obviously nervous with such a competitive pool. I'm hoping my indigenous ancestry will help as some universities save 2 seats each year or advance indigenous students to the interview level of the application.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has anymore insight and is willing to share!

Thanks so much guys and have a great day!

The University of Alberta holds two seats for indigenous applicants! They told us they weren't able to fill them for our year or the year prior.. but not sure about the last two application years. Good chance it will definitely increase your odds!!

[just_speechie]

11 hours ago, kshelton said:

You know that once you've accepted you can enroll in classes on beartracks?

I  couldn't access any classes, only search and plan. The enrollment date says March 21st, and to check with the department, so I guess that's when I can start. It's not a huge rush though, since I'm sure lots of people haven't accepted their offers yet. Have you already enrolled?

[SLP2B_95]

10 hours ago, lindzzz said:

The University of Alberta holds two seats for indigenous applicants! They told us they weren't able to fill them for our year or the year prior.. but not sure about the last two application years. Good chance it will definitely increase your odds!!

Thank you so much for the information!!!! I'm going to work hard and hopefully this help! Best of luck everyone!