I recently got an email, asking about how to best prepare for SLP graduate school. I thought it was a great question and thought I’d share some of my advice in a post!
1) My best and primary advice isn’t very helpful, but do NOTHING. Rest your brain. Enjoy your summer. Spend time with those you love. You won’t have much time to do these things in the coming months!
2) Get organized. Everybody has a system that works best for them. Get this system prepared and ready BEFORE day 1. I like to keep everything in 1 binder, with tabs for each class. Have this all ready right away. Buy extras of things like notecards, looseleaf paper, printer paper, pens, etc… You do not want to run out of essentials in the middle of a stressful weekend! This also means get fully moved in. If you’re moving across the country or across the state, make sure everything is how you want it to be when classes start. Otherwise that box of miscellaneous materials might be there all year!
3) If you are interesting (feel no pressure), do a very basic review of material. Brush up on IPA, reread some short study guides you made in undergrad. I liked doing this just to get my frame of thought back to speech.
4) Get familiar with online resources. Play around on Teachers Pay Teachers. You can see my store here. Check out my blog’s Online Resource Page or my Resources by Diagnosis page. Start bookmarking your favorite SLP blogs and websites! You will master finding things online during graduate school, but I think it’s a good idea to become familiar with these things now!
5) Ask questions! If you are curious about anything, email/call the contact person at your school! Don’t feel the need to wait until day 1 to find out!
6) Don’t stress! Seriously you will get through grad school! There is a reason they let you in! It’s incredibly competitive to get in, and you wouldn’t have been accepted if you couldn’t get through the coursework. Relax, and begin to worry more about learning your future career instead of accumulating an A in every single class. The A’s will come. Learn as much as you can and enjoy the process! Grad school can seem like it’s going by slowly, but imagine having your own speech room and realize the value of every morsel of information you’re gaining each and every day in the classroom!
7) Find humor in your situation. I love reading SLP grad student jokes! It makes me feel less alone in those stressful nights!
8) Prepare to enjoy yourself, at least a little! Your clients will be amazing. Your classes will be interesting (at least much more than undergrad classes…). Your classmates will rock. You will leave graduate school with memories! Enjoy these years!
If you have any other questions, email me at speechymusings@gmail.com or leave a comment below! I have FOUR MORE POSTS on this topic coming up! See below and stay tuned!
Five Fun Sites for SLP Graduate Students
Top Five Blogs to Follow for SLP Graduate Students
Top Five Products for SLP Graduate Students
Top Five Resource Websites for SLP Graduate Students
Advice for SLP Graduate Students
As always, thanks for reading!
You are amazing!! Thank you so much!!
Aww you made my day!! That makes YOU amazing!! Thanks for reading and thanks for the question! You were my inspiration! 🙂
Thank you so much for making this list!! I have yet to see a posting like this so THANK YOU!! This makes me feel a lot more relaxed about starting school in the fall. I will definitely be checking out all your other SLP grad student posts!!
Yay! Great to hear, Megan! You’ll definitely rock it in the fall! DO NOT worry 🙂
I just came across your blog and love it! I want to thank you for this post. I’m anxiously awaiting to start grad school and this is exactly what I was looking for to ease some of my anxiety!
Great, Emily! Glad it helped! If you have any more questions feel free to email me. Otherwise, I’ll be posting on the subject all week! 🙂
I love this! I’ll be starting grad school in the fall and while I’m excited, I don’t know what to do with myself this summer besides wait anxiously and work. Your blog will be such a great resource for me!
Thank you!! I appreciate that! Good luck with school 🙂
I just got accepted yesterday to grad school! I have a mix of emotion right now, from being excited to being nervous! Your blog is already helping me out!
Hooray!! Congrats!! You will be amazing! Good luck 🙂