If you have a 3.4 or under and got into a program this cycle, pleaseeee share if you feel comfortable doing so! (I looked at the megathread but hard to find many posts with lower GPAs)
Sincerely, A very nervous undergrad applying next cycle with a low gpa
I’m currently in a Speech-Language Pathology graduate program and just got an email about our Summer 2026 externships that honestly left me feeling blindsided and frustrated.
Apparently, due to “limited site availability,” a group of us were unable to secure traditional external placements for our final externship semester. Instead, the school is placing us internally at the university’s Speech and Hearing Center in what they’re calling a “reimagined summer externship program.”
On paper, they’re saying this fulfills graduation requirements and gives us “broad-based” experience. But a lot of us expected actual external placements in schools, hospitals, private practices, etc. — especially because this is supposed to prepare us for employment after graduation.
What’s making this harder is:
We weren’t really given a choice
It feels like the burden of placement shortages is falling entirely on students
Some of us are worried employers may view an in-house university clinic differently than a true externship placement
We’re basically being told this is happening after months of waiting and uncertainty
I understand placements can be difficult to secure, and I know this may not be entirely the program’s fault. But after investing so much time, money, and effort into grad school, it’s hard not to feel disappointed that our final externship experience is being completely restructured at the last minute.
Has anyone else in SLP, counseling, nursing, social work, OT/PT, etc. dealt with something similar? Did it affect job prospects or clinical preparedness afterward?
In my practicum if you get two failing grades (below a B) in the same course level (in my case 502 and 503 are in the same course level) you fail out of the ENTIRE program
My supervisor said I was doing good. They told me I needed to get 3s 4s and 5s to pass. But I ended up with a C as my final grade. Not a B. A C. And I already got a D in 503.
In 503 I knew I wouldn’t pass. They told me in advance I would fail. But in this practicum my supervisor told me I would pass that’d I’d be fine…but I didn’t in the end apparently I’m gonna fail
I have research experience and currently work as a bilingual SLPA. I was denied from 8 schools and accepted into one online program with a 88k tuition and that’s with a scholarship. What should I do?
I honestly would not recommend this program.
I want to start by saying that the staff themselves are generally very kind and supportive, the residency weekends can be fun (although exhausting since they’re 3 full days each trimester), and the classes themselves are interesting. That said, the program overall feels extremely disorganized at times, and things often become way more confusing and stressful than they need to be because of communication issues and lack of clarity.
The biggest issue for my cohort has been the lack of hands-on experience. Compared to other SLP programs, it honestly feels like we are getting very little clinical exposure despite paying significantly more tuition. Friends of mine in other programs around the country are already working in on-campus clinics, administering assessments, running group therapy, and getting multiple externship experiences in hospitals, schools, and private practices. Meanwhile, so far we’ve only had one telehealth client in the pro bono clinic twice a week for 45 minutes (and that’s assuming the client didn’t cancel).
For this summer, we were told there are not enough placements for everyone. Some students, including me, were assigned Simucase instead of actual placements. A few classmates got an in-person placement, but some are literally only one week long, and the rest of the summer is still “to be determined.” It’s incredibly frustrating considering how much money we are paying for the school to coordinate these experiences.
I do have a placement secured for Spring 2027, but that doesn’t help with this summer or this upcoming fall. At this point, I genuinely feel like I’m lacking major hands-on experience compared to students in other programs. One of my friends will be splitting her summer between a hospital placement and a private practice, while I’m spending most of mine doing simulations. Simucase is helpful as a supplement, but everyone knows it is not the same as real clinical experience.
At the end of the day, being nice and supportive only goes so far. I’m paying for an education and for clinical preparation, and right now I honestly do not feel like the cost matches what we’re receiving. I’ll get my master’s degree and move forward, but I’m genuinely nervous about entering the field feeling underprepared outside of the school setting. I also worry that I’m not getting enough exposure to different areas of SLP to even know what populations or settings I may ultimately enjoy working in.
I know the externship team is likely doing the best they can, and I don’t think any of this is intentional. But it really feels like the program is accepting far more students than they currently have placement opportunities for, and the students are the ones dealing with the consequences of that. I’m sharing this because I wish someone had been honest with me before I enrolled, and I know many people in my cohort feel the exact same way
Hello all! I have been accepted into a graduate program for a Masters in SLP for Fall 2027. This means I have a whole year before attending school. I have been taking online leveling courses the past year and have completed the necessary courses for my graduate program. I am now looking for a job to bridge the gap between now and my graduate program start date of August 2027. I would prefer a field that is related to SLP that will still look good on my resume to my future professors, as well as a similar field that keeps my mind sharp regarding what I have just studied in leveling courses.
What are some similar fields of work aside from working as an SLP that I can feasibly apply to and work as within a year? I was considering getting certified in my state as an SLPa. Is this a reasonable goal? (I live in GA where ASHA certification is not required). I have also worked as an RBT and wouldn't mind doing that again for a year or so. Finally, I have worked as a long-term substitute teacher for general education and special education. I am open to other fields that are similar to SLP/therapeutic roles!
Any advice on short-term jobs is appreciated! Thank you!
I’m dealing with a bit of a dilemma and could really use some guidance. I’m currently working as an SLPA in Tampa, making $22/hour, and commuting about 31 miles each way (62 miles total daily). I’ve noticed that similar SLPA positions closer to me are paying between $25–$32/hour, and I’m also bilingual, which I know adds value.
I recently applied to graduate school and was only accepted into 1 out of 8 programs (Yeshiva University in NYC). The issue is that it is very expensive online program—even after receiving a scholarship, tuition would still be around $77,000. I currently have about $10,000 saved, and I’m actively looking for a higher-paying SLPA job. I’m also considering picking up a second job using my CNA license to help offset future loan payments.
Right now, I’m trying to decide between a few options:
Should I attend this program part-time or full-time?
Should I wait, improve my application, and reapply to more affordable programs?
Or should I move forward with this program and commit to paying off the debt as aggressively as possible?
For context, my cumulative GPA is 2.99, and I’ve already had nova decline my application because of it. On the plus side, the program I got into is online, I live at home (so I don’t pay rent), and my dad has offered to help financially (around $10,000).
I feel really stuck, I don’t want to take on that level of debt, but I also don’t want to miss my opportunity to move forward in my career. I’d really appreciate any advice or perspective.
To a certain degree, I can't be too upset with it because there's a good chunk of the girls that are between the ages of like 22 to 23. There's like two 21 year olds. Maybe three or four 25-year-olds. A good quarter of 27 and 28-year-olds. And I don't know. It's very much like high school. There'll be birthday parties and hangouts where half the cohort is invited. One of my friends was put into a group project with two other people and these two girls are part of the "mean girl" clique. It's hard to explain because these girls aren't openly mean, but they have that sort of energy where it's like "we only like talking to each other and no one else". And anyway, they ended up freezing her out the group project and complaining to the professors that she wasn't doing any of the work. There was a celebration couple weeks ago a little less than half the cohort was invited. It's very clear that the people invited were popular. Entire groups (the less popular ones) weren't invited.
hi everyone! I recently committed to an SLP grad program that begins in fall 2026. I am super excited, but the school I’m going to is an hour away from my house. I am really debating if I should live there in graduate housing on campus or if I should commute an hour each day. commuting would obviously save me money, but I am also so nervous to have to drive two hours each day five days a week on top of SLP grad school. has anyone else done this before and how bad is it really? It would just be for my first year because the second year can be remote and the placements can be close to my house.
Hi everyone—looking for some honest advice and perspective.
I’ve been a teacher for 20 years and was just accepted into the FSU Bridge program, which I’m really excited about. But now that I’m learning more about how demanding SLP grad school is, I’m starting to feel overwhelmed and honestly a bit scared.
I earned my master’s in Reading Education about 10 years ago. It was challenging, but also really rewarding. Still, I can’t help wondering if this is different now that I’m older. I’m so tired after a day of teaching my ESE kids now. I’m worried I won’t be able to balance work, school, home life.
For those who’ve gone this route:
- Is 49 too late to take this on?
- Is it realistic to work full-time while in an SLP master’s program?
- Did anyone make a similar career change later in life?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences—both the good and the hard parts. Thank you!
Basically in the question. Am I walking into a bad situation here wanting to transition to SLP and have a career that has life/health balance?
EDIT: I appreciate all your honestly. I’m definitely sad and surprised to hear that SLP sounds so incompatible with my health and not too sure what to do now. I felt like it was something I was frequently told was a good job for career/life balance and job satisfaction but now I’ve read deeper into this forum and realized it sound exactly the opposite! It sounds like there’s a miscommunication between actual SLPs who all hate their jobs and are sick because of it and what job satisfaction data is saying. 😔
Has anyone been an SLPA while going to grad school? I got accepted into an online program and the observations/clinical aren’t until the end
Anybody that took the praxis early in April with the score release date of 5/8 have them available yet on the ETS website? I checked now after 5 pm EST and there is still nothing posted
I’ll be applying this fall for my masters, so I’m starting to get some of my basic stuff in CSDCAS. I realized after looking at my transcript again that I ended up getting a B- and not a B like I thought. Is this going to give me a lot of issues when applying ?? It’s not an intro course to physics either, and it had a lab. I’m really regretting not taking an easier one
For some context, I have a bachelor's in psychology so I still need to do leveling courses and I'm already $29,175 in debt. I won a 10k scholarship but used 5k to pay off loans. I want to use the remaining 5k on my leveling courses or grad school. I just don't want to go into further debt. Does anyone have any cheap SLP schools for me to apply to for my leveling courses and the actual masters? Also, any tips on how to get funding? Also I live in Georgia.
It just seems so expensive to get in this field from what I've seen. I'm interested in online SLP programs but they all are so expensive it's crazy. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.
Hi! Need some honest opinions
I’m an incoming international MS CSD student at Emerson, I do have a CSD background and lots of clinical experience. but might have to do my 25 observation hours through Emerson’s clinic since my prior experience abroad probably won’t count (my hours weren’t signed by an ASHA-certified supervisor).
That would make me an August grad instead of graduating with the majority of my cohort in May.
Has anyone been in a similar spot? Did graduating a little later actually matter, or did it end up being no big deal?
Would love to hear real experiences.
Thanks!!
I’m Florida based and recently finished my bachelors in psychology. I intend on bridging and going to a grad school for SLP. Unfortunately I might end up back at a fire department doing 24 hour shifts with 3 days off in between.
Does anyone know of good programs that are truly asynchronous or have flexible class days. How was participation counted in your classes and what class schedules did you have?
I see many people work throughout their programs but they’re available after 5 every night for synchronous online classes. I would be missing some classes for work. Is this just something that can’t be done?
Did anyone get any type of scholarship for grad school? I know I will more than likely have to take out loans but I already owe so much from undergrad.
Hi, so sorry if this is a silly question, but I was hoping to gain some clarity on semantics in the field. I’m writing my essays now for SLP masters programs.
I assume that when you work in school settings, you refer to the people you work with as “students.” And in a medical setting as “patients.” If we are unclear of what population or setting we want to work with (and are planning to use the clinical field placements to help ascertain that), what is the right umbrella term to use? Is it “clients” or is that too business-sounding?
Thanks all
This past week, I had my graduation from my SLP grad program— we walked, passed our finals, and everything. This should be an exciting time, right? NOT! It’s actually the worst because why did the department chair send us an email AFTER we completed all of our required things (comps, finals, classes, graduation, etc) saying we would be receiving an email to tell us if we would graduate or not because they have not yet graded our comprehensive exams. Excuse my French, but I’m a little p!ssed off because I had my entire family fly across the country to attend graduation, accepted a job that I’m supposed to start next month, only to not officially know if I even passed comps yet (If we don’t pass they said we would have to wait until the next semester to take it again which is at the end of the summer!!). However, they allowed other people to take the comps early and graded theirs, but the rest of us who had to wait until the regular exam day have to wait.
I just came here to rant about how messed up it is that they would have us go through all of the festivities, celebrating with our families and ACCEPTING JOBS if we don’t even know if our degrees will be conferred yet. Smh!!!