Speech Pathologist

So, to be a Speech Language Pathologist, a certified Speech Language Pathologist, you have to get your Master's Degree. So whether you go from undergrad straight to graduate school, if you are able to be accepted, awesome. If you don't get accepted the first time, I always suggest what can you do to make yourself stand out to other people who are also applying. So, if you're interested in working with students with autism, well see if you can get in a classroom and be an instructional aid, or observe a speech language pathologist and gain experience that way. A lot of learning happens on the spot, in the moment when you're with students and things like that. So I always suggest, I always say, I feel like a broken record. Go out of your comfort zone. Ask those questions. See if you can observe somebody. See if you can work in a school in some shape or form and see a speech therapist in action. Because, if you don't, those opportunities aren't gonna just come to you. So I always say go out of your comfort zone, ask the questions, set yourself apart from other students. I think too, I also recommend if they're still in undergraduate to see if they can gain experience in research. Because that is a big part of graduate school. And if you have a leg up, if you kinda know the process of doing a research project and writing a report, then that's going to set you apart from somebody who hasn't had that opportunity. But a lot of it too is, when I was in grad school, having the opportunity to actually work with kids and provide therapy. Just having somebody supervise me and provide me with feedback I think was also key too. So I think about Penn State often, and all the experiences that it has given me.