What If...

I was looking at the stats of my blog today and saw this under search keywords: "what if I don't get into slp grad school". Well, it's that time of year again and I've seen many "what if... " posts on facebook and I wanted to explore what you can do if you don't get into SLP grad school this time around.

I remember obsessing thinking about this a lot around this time last year. I had 3 grad school apps in and the waiting game was killing me. I thought a lot about what I was going to do if I didn't get in... there were so many "what if's" zooming around in my head!

So, what do you do if you don't get in this year? First off, don't give up!! If this is what you really want to do with your life, you should not give up on it just yet. There so are many things you can do!

USU

UPDATE - 3/11/2015: It's been almost 3 years since I graduated in May of 2012 from USU's online post-bacc program so the information I have on the program is waaaaay out of date! I've heard that there have been a few professor changes and tuition changes so I will only be able to answer very general questions about attending school online.

The best places to get the most up to date information about attending USU and the classes are the Utah State Online COMD Group! to talk to current students and USU's online post-bacc page to get info straight from the program.

Related post by @SLP_Echo: The SLP Post-baccalaureate Plunge. She has compiled a list of other post-bacc programs, so there are more options to explore besides USU!

First Week - Finished!

It's Tuesday night and I am finished for classes for the week.  Yep, you read that right... I have one class on Mondays, three classes on Tuesday and then I am finished for the week.  Good thing though, is that almost all of my classes have a few outside of class components besides homework and studying for exams.

For my diagnostics class, we are being broken up into pairs and will be matched with a faculty member to perform a diagnostic in our university clinic.  We also have to set up an observation with a local SLP to observe (or participate in - if the SLP is comfortable with that) a speech and language evaluation of either a child or an adult.  For our aphasia class, we have to set up an observation of a treatment session (either individual or group) or attend a meeting of an aphasia support group.  Then for our audiometric disorders class, we are putting together a hearing conservation project, then going out into the community to a class (1st grade classroom or a middle school classroom, etc.) teach them about the anatomy and physiology of the ear, the loudness scale, hair cells damage, and hearing conservation.

There are also a lot more presentations this semester in comparison to last semester... I definitely need practice with public speaking so I am glad we will have many opportunities to do so.  My goal is to not use note cards at all since I tend to over-rely on them.  This semester I'm also going to set up some volunteer hours with the SLP at the Autism Collaborative Center on campus.  It's definitely going to be much busier this semester compared to last!

Overall I am really excited about this semester.  I love that we will go out into the community to observe and to teach.  Going off of first impressions of first days in classes, my favorite so far is diagnostics and aphasia as a close second!
     
Oh! Another cool thing about today - I met someone who also did the Utah State University online post bachelor's in communicative disorders and deaf education!  We overlapped by three semesters so we probably had a class or two together but didn't know each other then.  She's in two of my classes this semester and happened to mention that she attended USU online.  I've only "met" my former classmates online and not in person, so it was great to finally meet someone IRL.  Definitely made my day!

The end is in sight!

The end of my first semester in grad school is in sight!  There's lots to do between now and my last final, but it's good to be almost finished.  A lot of this semester has felt like review, which means that Utah State got me off to a good solid start. 

   

There have been a few unexpected surprises this semester, the biggest being a much longer time in grad school than expected (7 semesters vs the typical 5 semesters of most programs).  The other unexpected surprise is a very unorganized professor (who teaches two of my classes this semester) and her very specifically-vague directions with a dash of inconsistent grading.  Yes, specifically-vague... and sometimes the inconsistent grading was in my favor and other times it was not.  I definitely have higher expectations for grad school professors... but, yeah... moving on.

Next semester should have a bit more new information and I will also one step closer to getting clinic hours.  I can't wait to get into clinic!

Holy crap, I'm in grad school!!

I had a moment today while studying for my artic/phono impairments mid-term in the library... it suddenly hit me that I was actually in grad school.  I am in grad school, working towards my Master's degree in SLP... how the heck did that happen?!!

If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I would ever go for a master's degree in something... anything... I would have looked at you like you were crazy.  I had a degree and it allowed me to join the Peace Corps as well as teach English in South Korea.  For a long time I didn't want to go back to school... and to be honest, for a long time I felt that there was no way I could even get into grad school with my dismal 1st undergrad gpa.  I felt kinda "stuck".  As soon as I looked into SLP at a friend's suggestion, I became unstuck and nothing was going to stop me from becoming an SLP.   

   

I'm so happy that I didn't let that first undergrad gpa stop me from pursuing a post-bacc in communicative disorders and then applying to grad school.  I'm so glad that I don't let my age hold me back.  I am grateful for every twist and turn I have taken to get here.  I'm so thankful to be in grad school and to be working on this next step towards becoming an SLP.  It's been a long crazy journey to discovering my passion for speech-language pathology and I'm indebted to that friend who once said "why not speech therapy?".  

My Stats...

1st undergrad (History B.S.) gpa: 2.74

Post-Bachelor’s in Communicative Disorders at Utah State University Online: 3.94

GRE Scores: V - 157

                    Q - 144

Writing Score - 3.5

Oh, and the above GRE scores are from the 2nd time I took them.

Yes, my first gpa was crap.  Eh, my GRE scores were average.  I applied to 3 schools and received rejections from two, an acceptance to one.  All it takes is one.

I still got into grad school for SLP even though my stats weren’t that great.  I really believe what saved me was my post-bacc at USU and my overseas travel/teaching experience.  I definitely recommend going through a post-bacc program like Utah State University’s online program to make your application more solid.  If I can make it into grad school with stats like above, then no one should give up if this is truly your passion.  

It can be done!  :)