If you want to be a speech pathologist one day, you're required to have a master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. The problem is that it's extraordinarily difficult to be accepted into a graduate program.
There's a high demand from students wanting to learn speech pathology, but a low supply of educators to do it. Even if you had a 3.8 GPA in college, were the captain of a sports team, and had a rich extracurricular life, you're not guaranteed a spot. The normal anxiety college students feel about graduation gets amplified, as they wonder if they're really good enough, or smart enough, to pursue this field.
But as senior Paulina Rein describes below, engaging in the process is the best way to cope with the uncertainty:
All college seniors reach a point where they question if their education was what they expected, and if they will end up doing something they love in the future with their degree.
At the beginning of this semester I texted my assistant coach, Ryan Maloney and asked him to meet me in the library to talk about my future. Ryan had listened to me freak out about applying to graduate school to get my Masters in Communication Sciences and Disorders for almost two years. Ryan and I were now sitting on the uncomfortable couches in the library discussing whether or not I would like going into this field.
I had always known that I wanted to work with other people, and speech therapy seemed like the perfect fit. I would be able to work with adults or children, and could choose so many different environments to work in. So many others told me that this was a great field to go into, but uncertain thoughts continued to clog my mind and made me question during my senior year if this was something I wanted to pursue. Then I realized the only problem was that I was stressing over thoughts I shouldn't be.
Some of the thoughts I had were:
- Am I intelligent enough to go to graduate school for speech language pathology?
- Will I even get into a graduate program?
- What will I do if I do not get into a program?
After sitting with Ryan he pretty much told me to do what I thought was right, but also informed me that I had not yet applied to any programs, so I could not be having these negative thoughts before I even applied anywhere. I pushed off applying for a couple more weeks, but when I sat down to write my letter of intent I was more confident in myself. I blocked out the thoughts about not getting into a school, or that my GRE scores were not what I wished they were. I just wrote about my passion to become a speech language pathologist. After I was done with the nine applications, it was time to wait.
The waiting process was very stressful. I was finding out that other girls in my major were hearing back from the schools they had applied to, while I had not heard anything. Finally one day I received an e-mail from the College of Saint Rose, asking me to sign up for an interview. I immediately called my mom, signed up for a spot, and we planned a day to go shopping for a professional outfit.
On the way to the interview I kept looking at my notebook filled with practice interview questions, but quickly realized I just needed to walk into the interview confident, friendly and be the Paulina I know I am. After the interview there was only more waiting. I was hearing back from other schools as well, getting wait-listed or denied. Then finally while I was laying by the pool in Mexico during spring break I got an email informing me that I was accepted into The College of Saint Rose. The amount of relief that went through my body was unreal.
Now it is two weeks until I graduate from Fredonia, and start my new journey. I am beyond excited, but still cannot believe where the time has gone. Some of my greatest memories were made in the last four years, with people who have become like my family. I keep thinking about how I am leaving a place that I am so familiar and comfortable with, along with leaving my best friends. But it is called growing up.
Looking back on these last four years I have learned that college is where you find your true self. You face adversity and find new ways to overcome it, you make friends and lose friends, and you also learn how you will survive once the time of graduation actually comes. I was nervous about my future, but hard work, advice from others, and Fredonia itself has helped me realize that I will be successful with whatever I do.