Should I go to school for speech pathology?
March 15, 2016 7:59 PM   Subscribe

Hello. I am currently a 23 year old female. I am currently considering going back to school (I have an Associate's) for speech pathology (which requires a Master's) but am very tentative considering my current situation and how hard it is to get into the Master's program. Thoughts?

So. I went to community college right out of high school on an A+ scholarship. Due to being directionless I didn't try too hard (also was struggling with mental health [depression]) and graduated after 3 years with a General Transfer Associate's with a 2.66 GPA :/. I owe no money for that education though, so that's great.

During this time I worked at a sandwich shop and then a coffee shop, where I currently work. I have been thinking and planning what my next move will be. I have been applying off and on for data entry and customer service rep positions to no avail. I am not excited about these jobs at all. I just really need to get out of food service due to some health issues (hip arthritis, need a stable schedule).

About a year ago I heard about a career in speech pathology. I had been keeping my ears and mind open to considering careers I could be interested in. It sounded really interesting, like something I would really like and be good at possibly. I had actually taken some career tests in college and it was the top rated career for me on one of the tests. It is also recommended for my Myers Briggs personality type (INFP). I really looked into it and scheduled an informational interview with a lady who owned her own clinic. I also shadowed a speech pathologist in a rehab center. I really liked what I saw and heard. I researched schools in my state and ranked them all according to cost and such.

I have been going back and forth between going for it and not. I put it on the back burner for a while. Recently while having a talk with my sister, she encouraged me to just go for it. So, I applied to the school I had looked into (it's a state school an hour and a half south) and got accepted (it's easy of course). I actually already applied to live in the dorms on a bit of a whim (it's 1.5 hours away). I'm really excited to go back to college and finally move out (home environment is a bit toxic to me... family issues). I'm excited to have a direction and to be pursuing an education and career that I can put my heart into.

But, I keep wondering if this is a good thing for me to pursue. I've looked up a lot of stuff online and I've seen that it's extremely hard to get into a Master's program. You need a bachelor's degree in communication sciences and disorders (which I would get) or to take the prereq's at least. You need at least a 3.0 but even people who have 3.8+ are not accepted. Having a lot of volunteer and work experience is needed and you really have to stand out. It seems that a lot of people don't get in, and then you're left with an almost useless bachelor's degree and debt until you apply again the next year. With my pretty low grades in community college I would probably need to retake 5-6 classes. I'm not sure if I'm as smart as the other people pursuing this career. In high school I had probably a 2.5 GPA my first two years, when I didn't try, but my last two years I had a 4.0 because I decided to put forth the effort.

I'm also scared to go into debt. A third of my education next year if I go will be paid for by grants. I applied for a few scholarships and am planning on applying for more. I calculated that I would be about $40,000 in debt at the end of my schooling I think (depends if I feel I can work and still do well in school, and tuition rates of the grad school). I just don't know what to do. I feel a drive in me to just go for it, and I totally would if I wasn't scared that I might be in a situation where I couldn't get into a Master's program.

Does anyone have any insight or advice or know anything about speech pathology?
posted by anon1129 to Education (12 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Also, the career prospects for Speech are great. I've heard it's very easy to find a job, most colleges post that 100% of graduates found employment quickly. You can work in a lot of settings such as schools, clinics, hospitals, private practice. I'm not worried about finding a job if I got the degree. You typically start out at about $55,000 a year.
posted by anon1129 at 8:10 PM on March 15, 2016


SLP's are in high demand! You are young ... go for it!
posted by OkTwigs at 8:12 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


I would go for it. It's a good career and you're passionate about it. Look for a very part time job or volunteer gig that's related for experience. I bet you enjoy that as well. Now that you're motivated and have clear direction, I bet you can pull a 3.5 relatoverly easily. Good luck!
posted by Kalmya at 8:15 PM on March 15, 2016


As you know, it's a great career with lots of opportunity. Everyone I graduated with ~3 years ago is working, and almost all are in their dream environment (hospital, school, etc).

The programs are definitely competitive, but I think one things that gets overlooked is that the admissions are a lot of the same people applying for the same programs, so 100 people applying for 18 slots at School A and 100 people applying for 20 slots at School B doesn't mean 200 people are competing for 38 slots--it's closer to 100 people applying for 38 slots. I know a lot of people in my program who were waitlisted and then got in as others made final decisions about where to go.

If you're interested, the industry publication recently had an issue on the reasons for the bottleneck in programs
http://leader.pubs.asha.org/issue.aspx#issueid=931889

And even though entry is competitive, once you are in the program, there is a decent amount of support. The school is investing a lot in you and doesn't want to lose you.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 8:30 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


You wake up five years from now. What would your dream day look like? What would you like to make money doing? You seem excited about this to me. I'm in the thumbs-up column.
posted by thebrokedown at 8:33 PM on March 15, 2016


Three years ago I was 21 and making sandwiches for a living and deciding what I wanted to do with my life. Now I'm 24 and making sandwiches for a living and have a job interview tomorrow for the same position I was considering three years ago. I'm so excited for this opportunity, and also so amused at myself for postponing the pursuit of what was, in hindsight, an obvious path for me.

During the last three years, I've had experiences I wouldn't trade; I've traveled, lived somewhere entirely new, made friends, and learned about myself. However, I've come to the same conclusion about my goals that I was leaning toward when I graduated from college. The field I'm trying to break into made me feel excited, curious, and like my best self. It sounds like you feel the same way about this opportunity - I think you should seize it, but also that if you decide not to do it right now, you'll find something else or come back to this in the next few years.
posted by papayaninja at 8:51 PM on March 15, 2016


Don't feel too shackled by your previous academic efforts, and don't sell yourself short.

I'm not sure if I'm as smart as the other people pursuing this career.
- Everyone feels this way, but I think you'd do best to throw out this emotion. For most fields, being "smart" isn't something you're born with. It seems that way when you look around at other people who seem like they're getting through things effortlessly but, you realize its more just a combination of motivation, luck, enthusiasm and work ethic/technique. It sounds like you have 3 already, and 1 and 4 often follow.

My advice would be to go for it but talk to everybody above you, below you, admin people, and try and understand not just the next step, but two or three steps ahead of you.
posted by cacofonie at 9:06 PM on March 15, 2016 [2 favorites]


Is there any way that you can observe/sit in a few speech and hearing science classes or go down for the day and observe the University clinic, talk to some of the students, etc. just so you can get more exposure to the field? Then if it's still something you think you would enjoy, I would highly recommend trying to volunteer in some capacity - in a hospital, private clinic, school, etc. The more exposure you have to the field, and the more experience in the settings that you want to pursue (e.g. working with adults in a medical setting versus working with children in a school) - this will definitely give you a leg up in the admissions process. In addition, once you get in grad school - keep volunteering and observing if you can! I can't emphasize enough the importance of getting lots and lots of exposure and experience in the field outside of classroom work.

This is coming from a Speech Pathologist who is often involved in interviews and selection of graduate students applying for summer internships and clinical fellowships - it really helps to get a wide variety of experiences and exposure to the field, and it also highlights your enthusiasm and dedication to the field.
posted by canda at 10:02 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]


A career in health care is a no-brainier IMHO. Remember, with boomers retiring en masse there will be an enormous demand in all fields not just health care. Also, if you have an opportunity to work in a field you actually enjoy, well, that beats working if you get what I'm saying. I went back to school at 50 after a Worker's Comp (back) injury in my previous job (factory work - actual labor lol). Went to work in the medical field, medical social worker and loved it. Again, I often found myself saying, sure beats working because I loved it. Two years of grad school loans, paid off fairly quickly. Was very fortunate. Transferable skills that you can take anywhere too.
posted by WinstonJulia at 10:07 PM on March 15, 2016


Don't worry about being smart - speech therapy (I'm in the UK) needs some level of being smart, but also a lot of other skills that your previous academic work may not have tapped.

The only other thing you might want to consider is what setting you want to work in. I'm a member of quite a few medical dysphagia groups on social media and while the comments about it being a great job market are true for many settings, if you have specific ideas about working in a hospital it can be a lot harder. This seems especially true for your first post-qualification job.
posted by kadia_a at 12:00 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I recommend that you go for it. Big time.

Keep looking for grants and scholarships. But also look for call center work that you can do on the swing shift. Or the night shift at a hotel, or security guard duty. Many large corporations will contribute $6,250 toward your undergrad education under their Tuition Assistance Program. This is how I got my undergrad and my Masters. So between the $6,250 and the money you make from your job, you can pay as you go. I did this. I worked at the phone company from 1:00 to 9:00. Worked out great for me. Look at utilities, financial institutions, etc.

My undergrad grades were underwhelming. Can you say 2.0? It's not really important and it didn't keep me out of grad school. You can blow out you GRE scores. You can get stellar grades in the classwork that applies to your field. You can get some nifty internships. You can get great grades at University. You can have fantastic recommendations.

Getting into a debt, with as much mitigation as possible, (applying for grants and scholarships, working, attending a State school, etc.) Is a SMART use of debt, especially if it leads to an opportunity to earn a Masters and enter a field that allows you to earn enough to pay off the debt in a reasonable amount of time. Getting into debt for a private, expensive university, without having a plan, without knowing what you'll do with your degree...that's not a smart use of debt, and it doesn't describe YOUR plan.

So I give you my blessings and good wishes!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:26 AM on March 16, 2016


School SLP here. Love my job! You may want to look into SLPA programs as well. The earning potential is clearly not as high as an SLPs but the programs are much shorter and will result in less debt. Multiple SLPAs in my district have gone back to school to become SLPs and they are awesome because they have so much experience doing therapy heading into their SLP program.
posted by scrubbles at 9:56 PM on March 16, 2016


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