<p>I just finished my first semester at PSU and got all Cs. I want to be a Speech Communication Disorders major (Speech Therapist) but I'm worried. I know I have to get into grad school and I am wondering if I stand a chance. I am an average student (always have been and I am not a great test-taker and have issues with reading comprehension). I worked hard this semester and, to be honest, I've heard it only gets harder and if this is the best I can do....what are my chances.</p>
<p>I'm scared.</p>
<p>I love people and working with kids especially and am thinking about something where I don't need grad school may be a better choice for me.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? I don't think I want to be a teacher.</p>
<p>away2school - I think it’s too early to count yourself out of graduate school. The first semester is actually the hardest semester for many students. You have to make the leap from high school to college; the classes are much more difficult and so is the grading. You not only have to make the academic adjustment, but at the same time you have to make the adjustments to leaving home, making new friends, doing your own laundry…everything!</p>
<p>I understand your concern. I was a student who didn’t do too well my first quarter in college and I was very worried, yet I went on to grad school in the field of speech pathology. Your classes will get more difficult, but you will become a better student. I thought school got easier. You’ve got a couple of years to figure things out. Just keep doing your best!</p>
<p>away2school, I have done graduate admissions in a completely different field, but my experience may be relevant. Many, many students struggle in their first semester or year of college, and then improve dramatically as they learn how to handle the workload and to balance competing academic, social, and work demands without parental help. This is so common in science majors, particularly, that at Johns Hopkins the first semester grades are not listed on the transcript, and MIT, I believe, does not record grades for the whole first year. Graduate admissions committees know about the problem, and will look much more carefully at your grades in your later years of college. </p>
<p>If you want to be a speech therapist, stick out the first couple of years of the program. Then, if you still aren’t doing as well as you’d like, you can change your major. Many of the prerequisites for a speech therapy program would equip you for other allied-health careers as well. Make sure, too, that you are fulfilling any general distribution requirements at your college so that you will be in good shape if you need to make a change. But meanwhile, keep working hard and take things one step at a time.</p>