An Announcement

Most of you know that I’ve been going through the process of applying to grad school. It was daunting and terrifying and at many points I was discouraged. I felt like I had done enough throughout my undergraduate career, I was involved in ALL of the things, I worked hard, and above all else I loved my future career. I stumbled upon speech pathology (you can read about how that happened) but I’ve loved it ever since and I felt like that was exactly the career for me.

Throughout March and April I began to hear back from schools. Most of it was negative. I went into this knowing there was a chance I would not be going to grad school in the fall. Applying to graduate school for speech-language pathology is extremely competitive. It was hard seeing my friends get accepted because although I felt SO happy for them and so proud of them, I was also extremely discouraged in myself. I applied to 9 schools and at the beginning of April I had been rejected at 3 and waitlisted at 3. My optimism was fading. I became silent on the blog because I felt like I was failing. I had all of these plans to teach new SLPs how to get into grad school and how to be successful but I couldn’t even get in myself.

On April 11th at 11:05 AM I received an email telling me I had been accepted into the University of Delaware. I was in the TECH center working on some things before my 12:00 class and my jaw immediately dropped. I stood up, looking around for someone to tell for 5 seconds before I realized I knew no one around me and I’d need to call someone. I first called my mom who didn’t answer, then my dad who didn’t answer, then my mom again to no avail. Finally, my dad picked up and he assumed there was something wrong. I never call him while he’s at work. I managed to get out “Dad… I got into Delaware”. My mind was racing, my hands were shaking, and but mostlyย I kept thinking “I’m going to be an SLP… this is really happening!”

I wanted to write this post to not only let you all know this exciting news, but to also be a source of encouragement and hope to anyone who feels like they’re not good enough or they’re not going to reach their goals. It’s hard to have faith in the toughย times when it seems like nothing is going your way. If you know you’re meant to do something, never lose hope and always believe in yourself.

Soooo, with that being said, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be blogging about this journey (of course) and to anyone who wants to follow along with my grad school journey more closely (future SLPs I’m talking to you!) you can follow my new Instagram: @speechwithkaylaย where I’ll be posting more SLP specific pictures of my grad school life. Don’t worry, I’ll still be active on my blog Instagram!

Finally, I want to thank you all for being there with me throughout this journey and for commenting words of encouragement and well wishes. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by such amazing people within this blog community.

Grad school… here I come!

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33 Comments

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:27 pm

      Yes it will! I’m very excited. Thanks Madison!

  1. April 21, 2017 / 2:19 pm

    Congratulations, Kayla! I know how competitive SLP schools are, and I’m so glad you got some good news!

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:27 pm

      Thanks Megan! It was honestly terrifying but I’m glad it’s over haha

  2. Sara @ College Compass
    April 21, 2017 / 2:42 pm

    I am so proud of you! This warmed my heart. You deserve all this success and more. Can’t wait to follow along.

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:27 pm

      Thank you Sara, that means so much to me. ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. April 21, 2017 / 2:53 pm

    Congratulatons, Kayla! I’m so proud of you! Can’t wait to follow along. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:26 pm

      Thanks Samantha! I can’t wait to get started ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Ariana
    April 21, 2017 / 9:13 pm

    YAY Kayla!!!! That’s amazing, congratulations!!!

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:26 pm

      Thanks Ariana! I’m so excited and relieved!

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:26 pm

      Thank you! I hope I don’t disappoint!

  5. Erin N
    April 22, 2017 / 1:16 pm

    This is so exciting! Congrats! I completely understand how stressful the grad school application experience is.

    Erin

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:26 pm

      It’s the worst! So glad it’s over and I can finally breathe/relax haha. Thanks Erin!

  6. April 23, 2017 / 9:57 pm

    Congratulations!!! This is so exciting to hear. Can’t wait to follow this new chapter of your life. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:25 pm

      Thank you Tatyana! Can’t wait to share it with all of you ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. April 24, 2017 / 10:05 am

    Congrats Kayla!! That’s so wonderful – so excited to follow your journey to becoming a SLP!
    – katrina // Yours Truly, Katrina

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:25 pm

      Thanks Katrina, that means so much to me!

  8. April 28, 2017 / 11:49 am

    Congrats! So happy for you, hard work really does pay off in the end!! You’re going to do bigger and better things now โ˜บ๏ธ
    -Xo, Natalia

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:25 pm

      Thanks Natalia! I sure hope so ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Mariah Campbell
    May 1, 2017 / 1:26 am

    Congrats!!!

  10. Elena Calderon
    May 2, 2017 / 11:32 pm

    Hi Kayla,

    Thanks for sharing your journey on applying to grad schools! I had a very similar experience on applying to SLP grad school. I applied to 9 schools got rejected from 7 schools, waitlisted by one and finally heard back and got accepted to one of my top choices! It was such a crazy, faith-testing experience and I am glad to know others have had good outcomes as well!! Congratulations on getting accepting into school!! I will be attending Texas Tech University and starting a practicum in June!! Good luck on your journey!!

    • May 6, 2017 / 7:25 pm

      That’s so exciting! Thanks for sharing your experience Elena! I’m very happy with the way things turned out and I’m glad you are too ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. Melissa Manning
    May 7, 2017 / 1:16 pm

    Just saw this and wanted to say congrats! It’s exciting to know that getting into SLP grad school is possible. XD hopefully I’ll have similar luck within the next year!
    xoxo, Melissa
    melissa-manning.com ๐Ÿ™‚

    • May 9, 2017 / 8:49 pm

      Thank you so much Melissa! It’s definitely possible, just have to keep the faith. I’ll be posting more helpful tips over the summer so be on the lookout for those! I have a few posts planned that I definitely want to share with you all ๐Ÿ™‚

      • Melissa Manning
        May 31, 2017 / 4:54 pm

        Sounds good! I’ll be on the lookout ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Martha A. Johnson Olvera
    June 5, 2017 / 12:53 pm

    Kayla Congrats! I would love to read a post for GRE prep suggestions and tips. Hopefully Ill have similar luck next year! <3 Best of luck!

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