Getting into Graduate School for Speech-Language Pathology.

Note: if you have zero interest in speech-language pathology/getting into graduate school for said field, this might not be the most interesting post for you!

When I made the decision to apply for graduate school (in a field that was 100% different from my initial degree), I knew that quitting my job and going back to serving wasn’t going to be the only difficult part of the journey.

If you’re familiar with speech-language pathology as a field, you know that getting into graduate school is notoriously difficult. Hundreds of students apply for just 20-60 spots, and a good majority of them have phenomenal GPAs. 

Now that I've officially (and miraculously) been accepted to school, I thought I'd put together a list of tips that I believe helped me secure my spot in a great program:

Don’t blow off the GRE. No matter what your friends tell you, spend some time studying for the GRE. For one, it’s a really expensive test to just throw your hands up and see how things go. Learn the strategies, memorize the vocabulary, and take practice tests. I will be the first one to tell you that it’s a stupid test that in no way actually determines how you will perform in grad school. Having said that, it’s a stupid test that will either make or break your application. TIP: Spend a couple hours looking at sample analytical writing essays and prompts. My verbal and quantitative scores were above what I needed when I took the test my first time…and then my analytical writing score came back 12 days later 0.5 points below what I needed. It matters.

Personally, I loved using Magoosh for my studies. I could take full practice exams, and I had access to hundreds of verbal and quant questions. Every single practice question gave a 1-3 minute explanation for the answer, so it was like having my own personal tutor. Definitely worth the money, and it’s considerably cheaper than many other programs.

Immerse yourself in the field. I spent the summer before applying to schools emailing local private practices and hospitals about shadowing their SLPs. I managed to secure a volunteer position at a major hospital here in Tampa for my spring semester (just finishing up my 80 hours this month!), and I formed a great relationship with an SLP practicing at a local school (who ended up writing me a letter of recommendation!). Plus, I spent a couple half days shadowing my friend at the private practice she works at. Not only was I buffing up my grad school application, but I learned so much over the year while getting to work in different settings. 

Get personal with your letter of intent. Even though I’m pretty comfortable with writing, drafting my letter of intent was intimidating. It’s your only opportunity to tell the admission committees exactly why and how you’re different from other applicants…especially if you’re coming from another major or acknowledging a low GPA. I used my background in professional sales and recent observation hours to explain why I decided to pursue speech pathology, and why I felt I would be a perfect fit for the program. Get creative! I also made sure to send drafts to friends and family for review, and quadruple checked for spelling and grammatical errors. In a nutshell – sell yourself, but tastefully!

Reach out early for letters of recommendation. And don’t feel weird about asking for them! Writing letters of recommendation is literally in a professor’s job description. Having said that, reaching out early is key. Again, as a post-bacc, I was in a weird position. Thus, I had to reach out to professors after hardly getting to know them at all. If at all possible, don’t do this. Get involved in research or attend office hours. BUT, do know that it’s completely possible to get a good letter from a professor you don’t have a close relationship with, so long as you’re in good academic standing in the class.

Let them know you’re thinking about them, in a non-suffocating kind of way. As soon as I heard USF was sending out waitlist notifications (in addition to acceptances), I called the graduate school advisor to check in on the status of my application. While talking on the phone can seem scary, it really is so much more personal than an email. Later that week, I was waitlisted. I made sure to reply to the email expressing my continued interest in the school, and then sent an updated resume the following week. I maxed myself out at three separate points of contact, and from there, I [im]patiently waited for my future to unfold…into an acceptance! Of course, there’s no guarantee that reaching out here and there will make a definite difference, but it felt good to know that there was nothing more I could have done to make myself stand out.

The Day My Life Changed...

I had a feeling that Friday would be a life changing day.

After April 15th had come and gone, I knew that the first round of graduate school acceptance decisions would be made. The first round of applicants would either confirm or decline their spots at any given university, and the second round of acceptances would be released to a lucky few on the wait list.

Last Monday, after some massive Grad Cafe stalking, I found that my current university (USF) would be releasing their second wave of acceptances on Friday. I tried to keep my cool all week long, but truthfully, I was just sick of waiting. I was ready to hear a "no" so I could move my hopes on to my last two schools, and so I could possibly start figuring out the next step in my journey. 

Friday morning, I woke up business as usual. I took my pre-workout and had a decent workout. And by decent, I mean I was refreshing my email between burpees and trying to keep calm. By the time I pulled into my job's parking lot to work a quick lunch shift, I was a ball of nerves.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up," I texted Ryan. "I'm coming off my pre-workout and I'm super nervous about hearing from USF and I'm hungry. I think I'm dying."

I walked into work and tried to look busy while waiting for my section to fill up. Shortly after my first table arrived, I took another quick glance at my email feed. Sure enough, I saw an unread message that was about to change my life. 

USF CSD Graduate Admission Decision.

I'd thought about this moment for a long time. Actually, I'd had this moment already. Last time I opened this email, I found out I wait listed. I wasn't upset; frankly, I thought I'd be outright rejected, so it was a pleasant surprise. But this time around, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I thought maybe I would keep it unread until after my shift. Maybe I'd have someone record my reaction. I knew it was going to be a big moment, so why not?

Being the patient person I am, I waited all of 34 milliseconds before clicking it open:

Dear Samantha,

Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been recommended for admission to the Masters of Science degree program in Speech Language Pathology at the University of South Florida for Fall 2016...

Actually, "Congratulations!" was all I read before running into the bathroom to call Ryan and then my mom, and parading around the restaurant in my happy dance.

I got accepted into graduate school.

For anyone who is familiar with the SLP field, you know that getting into a grad school program is very competitive. Since the beginning of this little journey of mine, I've told Ryan to "prepare for a move, because I'm probably not going to get into USF's program." But I worked my ass off, and here I am.

It still doesn't feel completely real just yet, but I feel...lighter? Like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I know where I'm going. AH! Brb, gotta study for finals for the rest of my life.

Quitting Your Job & Going to Grad School: What to Expect.

In January 2015, I shadowed a speech-language pathologist for the very first time. Speech-language pathology was something I'd been considering for a long time, despite having a degree and career in a completely different field. After more than a year of indecision, I scheduled a one-time observation at an outpatient center for a local children's hospital. Just over two months later, I put in my two-weeks notice at my job, signed up for the GRE, and swapped my salary for tips. Sounds easy, right?

Nope. It's never been easy. It's hard all the time, every day. What I'm going to say next is 100% cliche, but true nonetheless. Can you guess it?

It's worth it.

Even if I don't get into graduate school this go around (speech-language pathology programs are notoriously difficult to get into), it will all have been worth it for me.

If you're thinking about going to graduate school for something completely different than your initial degree, making the first move can feel like a giant step. It is a giant step, and it's important to consider (and to expect) all of the following to happen once you decide that you are ready to make the jump:

Before...

• Think about it. Think about it again. Think about it some more. As I mentioned previously, I'd been thinking about SLP for a long time prior to actually quitting my job and returning to school. It started out as a random thought in my head in late 2013 and became a reality in early 2015. I am student loan-free from my first degree, so I really wanted to make sure it was something that was going to be worth going into debt for.
• Consult the people you love/the people who care about you the most. While the choice is ultimately up to you, I personally like to get feedback from my family, my boyfriend, and my very close friends before making big decisions. It's easy to make impulsive decisions on your own, but your friends and family are the people who can help you rationalize, and the people who will be your biggest supporters once you make the leap!
• Prepare yourself. Chances are, your life is about to change in a big way. It's time to get your ducks in a row. Quit your job if necessary, and find something more flexible. For me, it meant getting a serving job so I could spend most of my free time studying for the GRE. 

During...

• Find your why. Because you are 100% going to need one. Going into all this, I already had a perfectly good bachelor's degree in mass communication. So what if I didn't love sales? I could have easily found something else in (or out) of my field without putting myself through school once again. But the more I scrolled through endless job listings and descriptions, the less inspired I felt. It was within those moments that I realized what I was looking for: I wanted to help. Of course there was a lot more to it than that, but I wanted to do something where I could look back in years to come and say, "this really mattered." It's all a matter of opinion, but that was mine. So every break down I've had (there's been a lot), I've had to come back to my "why." It's probably what's kept me from completely losing my marbles.
• Adjust yourself, and remember that it's all temporary. I still haven't adjusted to being a broke college student. I thought I was done with serving forever, so going back to it was probably the biggest adjustment for me. I watch my friends from college go on vacation, plan their weddings, buy houses, etc. and I think, "that could've been me right now." But this, too, shall pass. I won't be broke forever. I won't be in school forever. It's all temporary. And I'll never look back and think "what if I'd gone back to school?" So it's a win.
• Immerse yourself in the field and keep an open mind about learning. Now that I'm spending my own money out of pocket (no loans until grad school, FML), it's a lot easier for me to dedicate myself to my studies. And while I won't always say this in the middle of an exam week, I truly enjoy [most of] what I'm learning. I'm observing at Tampa General Hospital every week and shadowing at an elementary school when I can. I'm getting good grades on my exams. I'm doing everything I can, because I chose this. What's the point of taking the leap if you're just going to half ass the journey?

After...

Weeeellll, I guess I'm not really at my "after" point yet. I'm still on this crazy road. Some days I truly enjoy it, and sometimes I really don't. Some days it's hard for me to remember my "why." But along the way, I've met some great friends, and I've learned more about myself than I even thought possible. It's been kind of life changing, and I don't think I'll ever regret it, regardless of the outcome.