Job/Graduate School Application Report

Sacred Heart University Grad School application Report

 I. Introduction:

1.    Provide a brief description of the type of job/graduate programs that you are you searching for after college.

I am searching for graduate programs in speech-language pathology, or communication sciences and disorders that result in the ability for me to sit for the praxis examination for speech language pathology, and allow me to obtain Speech Pathology Licensure and Certified Clinical Competence in Speech Language Pathology.

2.    How did you decide on this career path?

About a year ago, I was a dietetics major and found that while I loved the major and the subject, I could not find any careers on websites like indeed that interested me in the field. I met with many registered dietitians and those with degrees in nutrition to see what they had done with their degree, and could not find anything that really interested me, or any jobs that were really that appealing. At the time, my roommate who was a family and child studies major was completing the class Field Experiences in Family and Child Studies where she was shadowing a speech and language pathologist in her hometown in south jersey. I had never heard of speech language pathology, and was interested in learning more about what speech pathologists do and the populations they work with. I started searching on the internet and watching YouTube Videos to see what this career path was like. Then I researched speech pathologists in the area and was able to set up several times and days to shadow a Speech Pathologist in New York City at a pediatric clinic named Chatty Child. As soon as I started shadowing I realized that this was definitely what I wanted to do, because I saw how much of a difference it made in the lives of these kids and how gaining an ability to communicate changed their lives.

3.    How do you think your personal and educational accomplishments have led you to this career path?

I really do not think that my educational accomplishments lead me to this career path, since I was set on becoming a registered dietitian prior to even having any knowledge of what speech language pathology was. My personal accomplishments helped to lead me to this career path because I have always been very passionate about children, and have wanted to work with children my whole life. I have done a lot of volunteer work with children at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, Head Start, Pre-K’s and in Nicaragua. Since I was always looking for ways to help children, I think that this helped to lead to my interest and desire to join this career.

II. Job Search/Career Fair Information/Grad School

Answer the following set of questions

1.    Where did you apply, or what career fair did you attend -- give as much information as you have.

I did not attend a career fair, I applied to five graduate schools. I applied to Temple University, University of Connecticut, Nazareth College of Rochester New York, University of Virginia and Sacred Heart University. Originally I was going to apply to 13 schools so that I had a lot of options, but most of the schools required two applications; one to CSDCAS the centralized application service and another directly to the graduate school. Since these applications were at least 75 dollars each, I decided to narrow down my list of schools to apply to.

2.    Name of organization, business etc., career fair and website is applicable.

The name of the school I applied to is Sacred Heart University, and their website is http://www.sacredheart.edu/.

3.    How did you find this job opening, grad program or career fair (i.e. the on-line, career services at MSU, word of mouth, etc.

I discovered the speech pathology program at Sacred Heart University through a coworker. She was a senior and had been applying to speech pathology grad programs when I was a junior and she applied, got accepted to and chose to attend Sacred Heart University.

4.    Provide job announcement, link to graduate program website, or career fair announcement/e-mail.

The link to the graduate program in speech language pathology is here: http://www.sacredheart.edu/academics/collegeofhealthprofessions/academicprograms/speech-languagepathology/graduateprogram/

5.    How did you submit your application (on-line, snail mail, in person etc.).

I submitted the application for the Graduate program at Sacred Heart through Sacred Heart University’s website.

6.    List all the materials required for job application (resume, cover letter, description of qualifications, proof of educational attainment, GRE scores, Analogy test, transcript, letter of recommendations etc.).

I completed a graduate school application not a job application.

7.    If you attended a career fair, who did you speak with and did you think there were organization there that matched your job goals?

I did not attend a career fair simply because I knew I was going to go directly into graduate school for speech pathology. I did however utilize the American speech and hearing association website to try and find programs that matched what I was looking for and that I could meet the requirements for.

8.    If you applied to a graduate school what materials did you have to submit (letter of application, transcripts, resume, letter(s) of references. Whom did you ask to write these (i.e. professor, personal reference?) and how many did you need.

The materials that were required for an application to be considered complete were GRE scores, passing praxis core scores or a praxis core waiver, resume, two letters of recommendation, and a personal statement detailing your personal and professional goals and describing your interest in the program as well as speech language pathology in general.

III. Job Search/Grad School/Career Fair Follow-up

1.    After you submitted your application(s) have you followed up in any way (e-mail, phone call)?

After submitting the application I followed up to make sure that all of the application materials had been received.

2.    Have you heard anything from the organization/university you applied to or have you had any communication from organizations you visited at career fair?

I heard from them about a month after submitting the application, they wanted me to come for an interview for the Speech Pathology Masters program.

3.    Have they asked for more information and how did they contact you?

Sacred Heart University did not ask for any additional information.

4.    Have you received an interview…phone or in-person or by Skype?

I received an in person interview which was an interview that took place in person on their health sciences campus.  

5.    If you had an interview, where was the interview?

The interview took place at Sacred Heart University on their health sciences campus in Trumbull CT.

6.    Was it a group or an individual interview?

The interview process consisted of two individual interviews by two different faculty members, and a group problem based learning activity.

7.    Who interviewed you (name and position)?

I do not remember the exact names of the two people I was interviewed by.

8.    Provide a brief description of how you thought the interview went: was it positive/negative/neutral? Do you think you had a good interview etc., why or why not? How might you improve your performance on your next interview?

The interviews went well, it was very short quick and to the point. I think that I had a good interview since they seemed interested in me, and I had a good amount of questions about the graduate program and some of the abroad experience that they offer. I would improve my interview performance by practicing questions more and doing mock interviews so that I would feel less nervous and anxious during interviews.

9.    Was the interviewer and questions asked what you expected, why or why not?

The interview questions were a little different from what I expected, and asked questions about my opinion of the importance of science and research. I was expecting more questions about why I think I would be a good fit for the program, why I would want to attend sacred heart and what my plans for the future are.

10. What was the outcome of the interview? Describe whether you heard nothing or were rejected and how was that communicated? Or were you asked to attend a second interview or offered the job? Did they offer the job in the interview or in a follow up meeting, e-mail etc. For graduate school did you get accepted or not? How were you notified?

The outcome of the interview was that I got offered admission to the graduate program in Speech Language Pathology. I was notified through email and through a phone call by the head of the program.

11. If offered the job, what is the current status: did you accept the position/place in graduate school, why or why not? Did you negotiate for salary? What is the title of your new position? When do you start?

I accepted the admissions offer and the graduate assistant ship that I was offered. I start the program this August 29^th.

12.  Please provide any additional comments or information you think are relevant.

I am overjoyed to have been accepted into the Masters of speech pathology at sacred heart university. This is the first step towards me achieving my dreams. 

Temple University Graduate School Application Report

 I. Introduction:

1.     Provide a brief description of the type of job/graduate programs that you are you searching for after college. (If there is more than one discuss them all

I am looking for graduate programs in Speech Language Pathology, or in Communication Sciences and disorders that allow me to become a speech language pathologist get my certificate of clinical competence, and sit for the Speech Pathology Praxis and get licensed.

2.     How did you decide on this career path?

About a year ago, I was a dietetics major and found that while I loved the major and the subject, I could not find any careers on websites like indeed that interested me in the field. I met with many registered dietitians and those with degrees in nutrition to see what they had done with their degree, and could not find anything that really interested me, or any jobs that were really that appealing. At the time, my roommate who was a family and child studies major was completing the class Field Experiences in Family and Child Studies where she was shadowing a speech and language pathologist in her hometown in south jersey. I had never heard of speech language pathology, and was interested in learning more about what speech pathologists do and the populations they work with. I started searching on the internet and watching YouTube Videos to see what this career path was like. Then I researched speech pathologists in the area and was able to set up several times and days to shadow a Speech Pathologist in New York City at a pediatric clinic named Chatty Child. As soon as I started shadowing I realized that this was definitely what I wanted to do, because I saw how much of a difference it made in the lives of these kids and how gaining an ability to communicate changed their lives.

3.     How do you think your personal and educational accomplishments have led you to this career path?

My personal accomplishments helped to lead me to this career path because I have always been very passionate about children, and have wanted to work with children my whole life. I have done a lot of volunteer work with children at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, Head Start, Pre-K’s and in Nicaragua. Since I was always looking for ways to help children, I think that this helped to lead to my interest and desire to join this career.

II. Job Search/Career Fair Information/Grad School

1.     Where did you apply, or what career fair did you attend -- give as much information as you have.

I applied to several schools, but for this specific application I will be talking about my application to Temple University’s Master’s program in Speech Pathology.

2.     Name of organization, business etc., career fair and website is applicable.

The name of the school is Temple University, and their speech language pathology master’s program is from their department of health sciences. The website with more information about their graduate program is: https://cph.temple.edu/commsci/programs-offered/graduate/speech-language-hearing-ma

3.     How did you find this job opening, grad program or career fair (i.e. the on-line, career services at MSU, word of mouth, etc.

I found out about Temple University’s Master’s program in Speech Pathology through their website, and also through my love of Philadelphia, and desire to go to graduate school in the Philadelphia area.

4.     Provide job announcement, link to graduate program website, or career fair announcement/e-mail.

The link to the graduate program website which I also listed above is https://cph.temple.edu/commsci/programs-offered/graduate/speech-language-hearing-ma.

5.     How did you submit your application (on-line, snail mail, in person etc.).

I submitted my application for Temple’s graduate program in speech pathology through their website which requires that you submit a supplemental application, and through CSDCAS, the speech pathology centralized application service. This school required submission of two applications.

6.     List all the materials required for job application (resume, cover letter, description of qualifications, proof of educational attainment, GRE scores, Analogy test, transcript, letter of recommendations etc.).

I did not apply for a job, I applied to graduate schools.

7.     If you attended a career fair, who did you speak with and did you think there were organization there that matched your job goals?

I did not attend a career fair.

8.     If you applied to a graduate school what materials did you have to submit (letter of application, transcripts, resume, letter(s) of references. Whom did you ask to write these (i.e. professor, personal reference?) and how many did you need.

The materials required for this college application were GRE scores about the 50^th percentile, official transcripts, three letters of recommendation submitted to the speech pathology centralized application service, a personal statement, and application fees for both applications. I had one of my American Sign Language teachers write a recommendation as well as a teacher from a public health class I took and a family and child studies class I took.

III. Job Search/Grad School/Career Fair Follow-up

1.     After you submitted your application(s) have you followed up in any way (e-mail, phone call)?

Since Temple was my first choice school I followed up multiple times to make sure that all of my application materials had been received. I followed up through emails and phone calls.

2.     Have you heard anything from the organization/university you applied to or have you had any communication from organizations you visited at career fair?

I heard from Temple pretty early, they sent emails encouraging all of the students who applied to attend information sessions, so I made sure to attend that.

3.     Have they asked for more information and how did they contact you?

Temple contacted me through email and posted updates about your admissions status and you application status on their website Temple University Owl Portal. They did not ask for any more information from me after I submitted my application.

4.     Have you received an interview…phone or in-person or by Skype?

I did not receive an interview from Temple University.

5.     If you had an interview, where was the interview?

I did not have an interview for Temple University.

6.     Was it a group or an individual interview?

N/A

7.     Who interviewed you (name and position)?

N/A

8.     Provide a brief description of how you thought the interview went: was it positive/negative/neutral? Do you think you had a good interview etc., why or why not? How might you improve your performance on your next interview?

N/A

9.     Was the interviewer and questions asked what you expected, why or why not?

N/A

10.  What was the outcome of the interview? Describe whether you heard nothing or were rejected and how was that communicated? Or were you asked to attend a second interview or offered the job? Did they offer the job in the interview or in a follow up meeting, e-mail etc. For graduate school did you get accepted or not? How were you notified?

I did not receive an interview for Temple University. However in early March I began obsessively checking the temple university owl portal hoping to receive an acceptance letter in early March. Unfortunately they posted a notification telling me that I had been denied admission to the master’s program in early March instead.

11.  If offered the job, what is the current status: did you accept the position/place in graduate school, why or why not? Did you negotiate for salary? What is the title of your new position? When do you start?

N/A

12.  Please provide any additional comments or information you think are relevant.

No additional comments.