Since I knew I wanted to go to graduate school since my sophomore year, I made sure to keep my grades up. I worked with my undergraduate advisor to plan classes that would expose me more to the literacy and language aspects of education. I also took time to observe the SLP at the school where I student taught and I observed the cochlear implant preschool downtown. I volunteered at my university's literacy center, writing rally, and reading program. All of these things allowed me to have a solid resume for applications.
Taking the GRE was a bit difficult. The first time that I took it (in the fall of my senior year), my advisor told me that my math score would not even be looked at. Being horrible at math, I took her advice to heart and did not even try on the math section. Unfortunately, her advice was not true. So I signed up to take the test again this past fall. Thankfully, I worked really hard on studying for the verbal section the first time I took the test, so I didn't have to study for the second time. My test score total was a little above average; my math was below average and the verbal and writing sections were far above average.
I began writing my letter of intent/statement of purpose in September. I wanted to make sure to incorporate what I was learning in my classes and have a long time to edit it. By the time I turned in my applications, I was really proud of my letter. I made sure to tweak it a bit for each school that I applied to in order to let the admission's committee know I really wanted to get into their program.
For letters of recommendation: if you are like me and have just recently met your professors for COMD, make sure that you make a good impression within the first few weeks of school. It is important that admission committees to see that professors in the field think you have potential. Since I didn't know the two professors I asked very well, I also asked for two letters of recommendation from my professors from undergrad. I think this helped the committees see me as a well-rounded candidate.
The hardest part of this process was the waiting period. I sent my applications in before spring semester started and didn't hear from my first school until the middle of March.
Tips
- Start the application process early
- Get to know your professors really well so that you can get good letters of recommendation (and because they are honestly great people to talk to)
- Volunteer with kids, adults, geriatrics, and everyone else! Just interact with your community and find a way to tie it into SLP in your letter of intent
- Do not go on gradcafe.com-- it is so addicting and makes application anxiety worse
- Keep your grades up! I think this is the most important part of applying to graduate school. As the head of my department said, "Good for you for doing extra-curriculars. But if you don't have the grades to match, then that stuff is just extra fluff."
- Don't be afraid to retake the GRE. But also, honestly evaluate your performance on the test. Unless there is a major reason that you did poorly (illness, family emergency, didn't study the right material, etc), don't bother retaking it. I seriously have not seen GRE scores independently affect acceptance
- Cater each letter of intent to each school you apply to
- Create spreadsheets to analyze the details at each school-- once you get acceptances, there is not much time to make decisions. For instance, I received an acceptance today and only have a week to decide if I will attend. It is important to know the facts so that emotion won't completely influence your choice.
- Do not over- or under-apply. In my opinion, it is very extreme to apply to 10 schools. Not only is this expensive but, most likely, these are not all schools that you would attend if given the chance. Only apply to schools you would be proud and excited to attend. On the other hand, don't under-apply. Don't place all your hope on 1 or 2 schools because chances are that you might not get in. I applied to 5 schools and think that I could have gotten away with 4. There is one school that I applied to and I knew I wouldn't go there. Don't make my mistake.
- Most of all-- take a deep breath and know that things will work out no matter what
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