I found Treasyri’s blog TheSpeechMentor in one of my Google binge sessions in which I read everything (Yes, that’s a hyperbole) on the internet about Speech Language Pathology. I came across a post in which she talks about ways she tried to boost her application to graduate school.
I was so excited by the post, that I emailed Treasyri and asked if we could talk. She responded with a gracious yes, and we set up a Google Hangout session where we talked for almost an hour and a half about her journey from a music minor to earning her CCC’s.
Actually, we talked about SO MANY different things that it was hard to narrow down our conversation and structure it into a blog post… but I KNOW her advice and thoughts are valuable, so I really wanted to share them with you.
Here are some of the main topics we covered so you can jump to what you need:
- Treasyri’s Journey to Graduate School
- Overcoming a Low(er) GPA
- Being Flexible
- Letters of Recommendation
First Topic: Getting Into Grad School
If you’re on you are on your second or third round of grad school applications (or you’re just really nervous about your first round), you’ll definitely be interested in Treasyri’s story. At one point she said, “It took me two years and 10 applications to get into grad school. It truly was a journey.”
Round 1: Finishing Undergrad
” I graduated from Western Michigan University with a 3.22 GPA – which by no means is terrible but you might as well be god-awful for SLP…” Treasyri told me. We talked about being young and naive about the realities of applying to SLP school (or grad school in general) thinking you can be nonstrategic and balance out significant weaknesses: “I was president of my sorority. I’m bilingual. I do all this other stuff. I am a minority – all of those things that you think will help give you a well-rounded application… but one of the most disappointing things is that it really doesn’t matter,” she told me about her own experience. I shared with Treasyri that it reminded me of so many emails I exchanged with faculty that all came down to: The first things we look at are GPA and GRE scores.
After four applications, Treasyri didn’t get into grad school after this first round. “It was really devastating,” she said during the interview. I can certainly imagine the hurt!
Not the type to give up, Treasyri decided to take some time to 1) recuperate after the rigors of undergrad and 2) build some “identity capital” to help her applications stand out.
Round 2: Moving to France
The disappointment of not getting into grad school combined with the exhaustion one feels upon finishing undergrad, Treasyri decided to make a change. She sold all of her furniture and bought a one way ticket to France!
The French Ministry of Education sponsors a program in which U.S. Americans can go to France to teach English language in public schools. Since Treasyri already spoke French, she decided it would be the perfect opportunity to spend a year abroad while also enriching her language teaching skills. She worked alongside French teachers, worked with pullout groups, and got to learn a lot about language teaching. I was really encouraged by this because I am currently an English Language Arts teacher in Mexico!
While abroad, Treasyri applied to a few more schools. Unfortunately, still no acceptance. She did report that she was “waitlisted at Temple University and at Eastern Michigan University… so it was a little bit warmer.” But still not enough.
Unable to stay in France for another year but not yet in graduate school, Treasyri made another trans-atlantic move…
Round 3: Working as an SLPA in “the middle of nowhere”
“What can I do with my bachelors?” Treasyri asked herself upon returning to the US. She then “started put her resume on sites for being an SLPA,” and luckily she “got a hit.” She was recruited to work at a school for children with special needs in Winterhaven, Florida! Despite being, as Treaysyri jokingly put it, “in the middle of nowhere… where the WalMart is the biggest thing in the town,” she took the job and drove 23 hours from her home base in Michigan to take the job.
At this point, I just want to comment that despite not being in some place as exotic as France or as comfortable as one’s home, Treasyri took the job and made the best of it. I find this so encouraging and inspiring. This was a theme that came up over and over again in the interview, you’ve got to be flexible and take whatever chance comes your way.
The job was a huge success. The school used a co-teaching model where she worked alongside the teacher to deliver therapy. She says, “that was really honestly my first full-time job delivering therapy to students.” Treasyri went on to tell me about the difference between undergrad practicum and her work as an SLPA. “I really got to see what being a SLP would really be like, and I got see what I did know and what I didn’t know.” This was a huge inspiration to improve her applications.
Her major focus was retaking classes that she had earned C’s in. 3 more applications later… and she still didn’t get in. With a total of 9 rejections under her belt and several hundreds of dollars in application costs out of her pocket, Treasyri took a new approach…
Round 4: Becoming a Smarter Applicant
Treasyri called the schools that she didn’t get into and she asked: “I was just wondering if you could give me some insight into what I could have done better?” The schools gave her information about applicant averages and responded that it “ultimately came down to the numbers,” and with 50 spots for 400 applicants… not everyone can get in.
She asked specifically about the classes she had retaken, and she got some really important advice that boiled down to: If we have 50 people who earned the GPA without retaking classes… they’re ahead on the list of people who earned the GPA with retaking classes.
“For the first time, that is when I realized I should have had these types of conversations before I even applied to schools. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have spent four to five thousand dollars retaking classes… That’s when I became a smarter applicant.
First, she typed up a list of her strengths and weaknesses in what she calls her “snapshot.” Then, she took this list to schools and met with professors and chairpeople via phone and school visits. She told me that they’ll “tell you everything you need to know… you just have to know how to ask the question.”
Basically, don’t ask “Are you going to let me in?” or “What are my chances?” Ask things like, “Do you think I’m a strong applicant?” and “How can I improve this?” or “How do I stack up against your typically accepted student?” After these incredibly insightful interviews, Treasyri took action.
She redrafted her personal statements and spent the money she had been using on retaking classes and put it towards a a Kaplan GRE prep course. She boosted her scores and…*drumroll*… got into a graduate program!
Just to summarize and review the major steps Treasyri had to take to get into graduate school, I’ve made up this little flow chart:
Overcoming Low(er) GPA
During our conversation, Treasyri mentioned a few times how her 3.22 GPA (and not knowing how to handle it) was probably part of what kept her out of graduate school for so long. We all know that 3.22 is a decent GPA. And we all know that SLP programs are so competitive that it’s not very competitive.
I’ve summarized some of her best thoughts on the topic for you here. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt…
- On retaking classes: Treasyri found after a few conversations with graduate schools that this wasn’t the best option for her. When she asked an SLP professor at one potential school, “What can I do to grow my GPA?” she answered, “I’ll be honest: nothing.”
- GPA In Personal Statements: This same professor suggested touching on a lower GPA in a personal statement. There are kind of 2 ways to do this
- One, explain how you have learned and grown and supplemented your knowledge through experience (like working as an SLPA in Tresyri’s case).
- Two, if it is the case, explain why you might have been going through a hard time (you’re a single mom or because your mother died). You’re not offering an excuse here, you’re explaining how your GPA doesn’t show the whole picture about who you are.
Being Flexible:
I’ve heard from many different people that they absolutely cannot do _____ (insert here: teach abroad, move to Florida for SLPA Experience, pay for a GRE prep course, apply to out of state schools, etc) because of something in their lives. And I asked Treasyri about this and the advice she would give.
Treasyri: “That is the thing that keeps people out of graduate school is inflexibility. At some point you will have to sit down and decide how badly do you want this and what are you willing to sacrifice to do it.” She went on to add, “The first thing you have to do is understand that at some point in your professional journey, you will have to be uncomfortable. You just will.”
I thought that was such a powerful and true answer! Growth of any kind requires some growing pains and a lot of discomfort.
“When I came back [from France} I thought I could find I job and regroup and reapply…The job that came to me was in Florida. Did I want to move to Florida? No. Hell no. I’m a city girl. I’m from Detroit. I was just romping around Paris. Now I am in a little place where the biggest thing in the place is the Walmart. It’s the home of Florida’s natural orange juice factory. Are you kidding me? I had no money. I had no furniture. I slept on an air mattress for three months until I could afford a bed. But if you get your shot, you have to decide… and some people really are not willing… and that’s just the world we live in. The reality is, “what are you going to sacrifice?”
Treasyri went on to tell me about other girls she worked with while she was an SLPA. Treasyri wanted a school in a big city. One girl had an important relationship and she wasn’t willing to apply to out-of-area schools. Another girl didn’t want to leave her family that was nearby. At the end of the day, the last girl got into a school in another state and had to leave her family. Treasyri got into graduate school in a small port town. Both of them went and are SLP’s today. The third girl, “guess what… years later she is not a Speech Pathologist.”
I think the best way to wrap it up was with a super funny and very trueanalogy that Treasyri made. “It’s like a relationship. If the guy has to be 6 foot 6, master’s degree, six-figure salary, blue eyes… you might not have a man… unlike TV, you can’t be the overweight fat man going with the super hot wife. Sometimes you might have to find the no-name school in the little backwoods of somewhere that will see you and see your potential and want to make an investment in you. And you do your time. I went to the school that let me in and I got my little piece of paper, and I’m doing what I love today.”
Letter of Recommendations
Letters of Recommendation are another area which lots of people have question about, and so I picked Treasyri’s brain about it.
“Your Letter of Recommendation starts on day one of class…When you come into class, teachers do not remember what your grades were. They remember your professionalism. They remember your respect. They remember if you were texting in class. They remember if you’re the person on your computer (even if you’re taking notes). They remember if you were late. You have to really cultivate a relationship.”
Everything Else
We went on to talk about everything. Treasyri shared with me how she struggled with test anxiety as an undergrad and how overcoming this actually helped her build relationships with professors who continue to mentor her today. I explain to Treasyri my own background and where I’m at in this journey. She shared with me some of her mindset shifts from undergrad to graduate school that helped her to maintain a 4.0 in grad school.
Overall, it was a blast to speak with Treasyri and she gave me so many things to think about! I’ve shared a lot of her advice and thoughts with you here. I really hope they’re helpful.
If you’d like to learn more about Treasyri, check out her blog: TheSpeechMentor or check her out on Facebook.
Thanks again Treasyri!