<p>D is deciding between U Delaware and Ithaca. Ithaca "guarantees" admission into their grad school and UDel says that it is easy to get into grad schools coming from UDel. Does anyone have inside info about either school.</p>
<p>The issue is that my D does not do well on standardized tests and wants the best shot at a grad school.</p>
<p>I am a speech pathologist. Your daughter needs to do VERY well in her undergrad studies AND she will have to make a decent showing on the GRE to gain acceptance into most grad speech path programs. The grad programs have very limited enrollments and currently cannot accommodate all of those with undergrad degrees who apply.</p>
<p>So…she will need to do well academically as an undergrad AND do well on the GRE to some degree.</p>
<p>What is considered to be a goo GRE (the equivalent of what SAT score?)</p>
<p>It will depend on the school. When I went to grad school in the dark ages…I had a combined score of over 1200 on the math/reading sections of the GRE. My scores were NOT considered top notch but I had a 3.9 undergrad GPA and got a fellowship to grad school.</p>
<p>I don’t know what schools are looking for now…but my scores back when the dinos roamed were about 600 on each section…I did NOT get accepted to every school to which I applied.</p>
<p>My daughter is graduating in May with dual degrees in Speech Pathology and Psychology. She knew from the start that she wanted to work with children with developmental disabilities so she started out as a freshman in Speech Pathology. After she took a course on the Psychology of Learning, she volunteered to work on her Psych prof’s research team. This lead to an honors undergrad thesis in Psych. She’s currently applying to grad programs in School Psych. One of her best friends from high school is currently applying to grad programs in Speech Pathology.</p>
<p>While guaranteed admission to grad school is nice, don’t make your undergrad school choice based solely on that. DD still has the same goal of working with children with disabilities but her path took a little different turn. She has a good friend who chose undergrad school based on guaranteed admission to med school and changed her major twice, first to engineering and then to math.</p>
<p>Thumper is right that admission to these programs is competitive but the admissions package is more than just the GRE score so don’t worry about that yet. Worry about getting involved with the research of a prof in that field and developing an interest in the field. That provides great experience, gives the applicant an edge over other applicants, and gives you a letter of rec for grad school apps. If she gets the opportunity to attend a regional or national conference through a prof or student organization, take advantage of that opportunity because it’s great experience in networking and to learn more about the field. If she gets the opportunity to do an undergrad thesis, take advantage of that as well because it will set her apart from the other applicants.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter! She’s at the beginning of an exciting journey.</p>
<p>One more thought. Thumper is right that the grad programs cannot accept all that apply from undergrad. Kind of scary, I know. For that reason, you might want to encourage your daughter to choose a minor or double major along the way as her interests develop further. Kind of a plan B if you will. DD has mentioned to me that many in her Speech Path classes are worried about what they will do if they don’t get into a grad program.</p>
<p>Bottom line to be competitive as possible: keep GPA as high as possible, prep well for GRE, get research experience through a prof, develop relationships with profs so that she’ll have strong letters of rec…and it never hurts to have a backup plan.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply to my post. Do you know if grad school admission is less competitive for school psychology. My D is interested in speech as well as psych so that may be a fabulous way for her to go…minor in psych and apply to both speech path grad schools and school psych grad schools.</p>
<p>On a side note, I find it extremely unfortunate that speech pathology is so competitive that many wonderfully dedicated people may not be able to follow their dreams…especially since there is such a great need with autistic children and kids with special needs.</p>
<p>I agree that it is too bad about the numbers in grad speech path programs…and there is a shortage of certified and llicensed speech paths. This issue has come up repeately at American Speech and Hearing Association conferences. </p>
<p>If your child is interested in working with autistic students, I would suggest she pursue a BCBA…certification in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)…an area with a huge shortage of professionals.</p>
<p>Speech Pathology Masters programs are very hard to get into. Everything stated above is true. Your daughter should be willing to apply to many schools in different areas. I work with many young women, with their BA’s and almost all are now going to get their masters in special ed instead as it is easier to get into. The are all staying local to Long Island, so I think this is the downfall.</p>
<p>Who says that UD graduates get accepted to grad school form their for speech. From what I keep hearing about UD, they think a degree form there is better then anywhere else. If the rest of the world thought this way, all our kids would go there. (And this is from a Mom whose son was accepted to UD and decided not to attend.)</p>
<p>After reading this, I hope that Occupational Therapy grad programs will be easier to get into. OT is what my daughter is aspiring to do.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if there is a move to increase the amount of grad schools in speech pathology to accommodate the increasing need for speech pathologists due to autism and other speech issues?</p>
<p>At this point, I do not believe you will be seeing an increase in the number of grad programs OR seats in current programs. There are several reasons why.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There is a HUGE shortage of doctoral candidates…and those are the folks who would be TEACHING in these programs. There simply are not a lot of speech language pathologists entering doctoral programs with the intent of teaching on the college level. </p></li>
<li><p>It is expensive to have a speech therapy program. Schools not only need classroom space, but they also need clinical facilities. In addition, they need to have the ability to provide many, many hours of supervised clinical experience to their masters students.</p></li>
<li><p>The ASHA accreditation is very important for a grad program…and that isn’t free either. It’s also a lengthy process from the application time to the actual issuance of ASHA approval. It doesn’t happen overnight.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There have actually been threats of program closures at some universities as well. These programs are not huge, and the don’t generate a large amount of revenue for the colleges.</p>
<p>P.S. Occupational therapy and physical therapy are also very competitive programs.</p>
<p>I am currently in Graduate School for Speech Pathology. I had a 3.0 GPA as an undergrad and it was very difficult to get into grad schools. I applied to many schools in the past year and got into two of them. After graduating from my undergrad university, I did LOTS of working in the field, teaching and volunteer work and built my resume. I also had a really good statement letter and great recommendation letters. Although my GPA was low for this field, I got into a great program due to my other experiences. So if your daughter does not have a very high GPA, do not discourage her from applying to the Speech programs and pursuing her dreams. You never know :)</p>
<p>Back in the days when I was a student, Iowa and Northwestern, then perhaps Wisconsin were considered the best programmes in Speech Pathology. Is this still the case?</p>
<p>What kind of scores and grades must one have to have a realistic change of accepted in these schools?</p>
<p>As the spouse of a long working speech pathologist, I can tell you that the job market is not quite as rosy as ASHA presents it, and the salaries and working conditions are not always the best.</p>
<p>While it is true that one can develop scenarios that show a huge unmet need for therapy, that’s nothing new for our health care system. What is missing is the means to pay for this “unmet need”. </p>
<p>In general, the speech field is divided between that done in an education setting and that done in a health care setting. </p>
<p>Ed setting therapy is mostly done as part of the local school system budget. The therapists are employed by the school district. In many districts, they are not on the same employment track as teachers, so salary and benefits may not be as generous. And with the current budget cutbacks in school districts, therapists are doing more with less.</p>
<p>In the more traditional health care sector, the pressure on a therapist for productivity can be acute, especially in hospital and outpatient settings. Reimbursement issues are a constant nagging problem in the background. </p>
<p>It is interesting that my wife is aware of several hospitals that have laid off senior therapists while hiring CFY. Follow the $?</p>
<p>I’m a PT and have “gently” suggested to my daughter to look into speech pathology as a career. As the manager of rehab services for a large health care organization, I know what a difficult time we are having filling ST positions. Perhaps newmassdad’s spouse can come over my way in California! In general, the competition for spots in grad school for PT,OT,ST is pretty fierce but I agree with all posters re: building a resume but most of all she needs to make sure this is what she wants to do and may change her mind more than once in college.</p>
<p>I too am a practicing SLP (Speech Language Pathologist). D1 has decided to follow my footsteps into the field and is currently a 3rd year speech path undergraduate. I had mixed feelings about her entering the field (the work is hard and the compensation is not great–you have to love it!) I made sure she had done considerable observation hours at multiple settings to ensure she was truly “called”. She loves it so I accept it and am happy for her. </p>
<p>Although D1 had an idea that she might head this direction, she was unsure when entering as a first year undergraduate. I did not encourage her to go to a program that guaranteed admission to grad school, although I am not really against them. I have known of many students who were not accepted into the graduate programs from the schools in which they received their undergraduate degrees. This is not unusual and it is actually by design. It is good to get exposure to schools with strengths different from where the undergraduate degree was obtained. The field as an undergraduate is very broad. By the time a student enters graduate school they MAY have an idea of the areas they would like to study more in depth. A student can then look for a school with professors stronger in those areas. Just as with undergraduate schools, a student must apply to more than one or two.</p>
<p>I can tell you that the program is known for being difficult and many students who start out in the program leave at or before the second year. They often transfer to Early Childhood Ed, Special Ed or Psyc.</p>
<p>Your D should try to observe a SLP working in various settings to try to determine if it really is her passion. If she is a solid A with an occasional B student she shouldn’t be afraid to go to a school without the guarantee of admittance into grad school. If she is a B student with an occasional C she might want the guarantee. </p>
<p>Maybe because my kids are college aged, but I feel like there are a ton of women going into the field right now. There has been a shortage of SLP’s for years, but with funds getting tighter all the time, this is an area where cuts will come, and have been coming. Medicare is making changes and schools are expecting larger caseloads in less time with less materials. Too often it becomes a situation where quantity wins out over quality. It takes all the fun out of it when it can’t be done right.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything yet about the scores needed today to get into a good graduate program. If a student is interested in working as an SLP for life then the need for a big name graduate program is not imperative. However, if she might want to teach at the college level someday a variety of programs in her background might be preferred.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your D.</p>
<p>I’m an SLP and agree with the information posted here. Anyone entering the program should plan on having outstanding grades and being willing to apply to numerous grad schools. Personally, the career has been worth the effort though.</p>
<p>Washington State University and Eastern Washington University have a great joint program in Speech Pathology. I really recommend it. The faculty members are also very knowledgable and helpful.</p>
<p>To anyone who is interested in the speech pathology or audiology fields, I would suggest going to the American Speech Language Hearing Association website. There is a section there for prospective students that really is excellent. In addition, there is a list of all the ASHA accredited masters programs. The information is easy to read and plentiful. </p>
<p>I’m also a speech pathologist with a 37 year career in the field. The field continually changes and there is ample opportunity for professional growth and change within the same field. In addition, the different job locations and flexibility with work hours makes this an excellent choice for many folks. </p>
<p>As noted, any student entering this field should plan to get excellent grades in undergrad school AND take the required prerequisite courses for admissions to the masters program. The masters programs are very competitive. In fact, some undergrad programs will not allow you to declare as a speech major undergrad unless you meet and maintain a certain GPA (both my bachelors and masters programs did this).</p>
<p>Good luck to anyone who wishes to pursue this field. It’s great.</p>