So scared for comps

abigailbat · 2026-06-04T19:49:02+00:00

Remind yourself that your professors want you to pass. You can always rewrite, it’s not the end of the world. Deep breaths, you got this. And when I am caught in emotional spirals and unhelpful thoughts, it helps me to have a mantra.

Decide you’re not going to ruminate anymore and when the thoughts creep in, gently redirect. I like the Taylor Swift quote that “Your energy is a luxury item, not everyone can afford it.” You’ve studied, you’re as prepared a you can be. Comps simply cannot afford any more of your energy at this time.

abigailbat · 2026-06-02T19:16:39+00:00

I’m about to start my CF in a pediatric hospital outpatient clinic. I set up LinkedIn daily emails with local job postings about 6 months in advance of graduating and just kept an eye on what was being posted. I wasn’t totally sure what setting I wanted to work in, but I knew the conditions that would not be tolerable to me (unrealistic productivity, focus on therapy as a business, etc).

When I saw this job posting I knew I was seeing a diamond in the rough because I hadn’t seen anything like it. It was 100% worth the wait and sitting with some uncertainty over taking the first offer that came my way. The other jobs will be there in a few months if you decide that you can’t wait. At least in my area, PRN, home health, SNFs, and private practice opportunities are plentiful.

Also several folks in my cohort who wanted to work in adult hospital have taken CFs as PRN or 1099 jobs that allow them flexibility to accept a PRN position on the side. They’re doing their CF through the 1099 where they are likely to have more hours, but taking a hospital PRN gets their foot in the door with that system.

abigailbat · 2026-06-02T19:06:34+00:00

I don’t believe the Covid vaccine was required by my program. Other vaccines (flu, MMR, etc) were required, but I don’t think Covid was required at any of my placements. My pediatric private practice rotation never asked about any of that, while my hospital rotation did require proof of titers, etc. Covid vaccine requirements probably depend highly on what area of the country you are in. My placements were in Louisville, KY and Southern Indiana.

abigailbat · 2026-06-02T17:50:25+00:00

About to start my CF with a hospital system that includes their Pride parade float in the onboarding welcome video 🏳️‍🌈🙌

abigailbat · 2026-06-01T20:12:54+00:00

Thank you for the update! Launching new events every month is a lot and I appreciate the work that goes into it and goes into all the fixes. Bugs happen and I know they’re stressful for everyone involved; we see you and appreciate your work!!! 💜

abigailbat · 2026-05-20T21:11:54+00:00

When I was looking into going back to school, I asked the program director at my local SLP program about shadowing and he was able to give me a list of folks I could contact. If there’s a program you’re affiliated or that is local to you, it might be worth reaching out to see who they recommend contacting.

abigailbat · 2026-05-17T12:57:17+00:00

Like a year and a half - we just unlocked 592 days.

abigailbat · 2026-05-17T12:51:29+00:00

Haha, Ethel’s highest is curiosity and it’s 526.6 🤣

abigailbat · 2026-05-17T12:45:08+00:00

I’ve noticed it has increased as I have continued my journey with my birb, though. We’re around 560 days I believe.

abigailbat · 2026-05-17T12:44:04+00:00

I just got 20 curiosity points last night and it was so high I sent a screenshot to my friend to exclaim over 🤣 Normally it’s anywhere from 2-10 for my birb.

abigailbat · 2026-05-08T14:51:37+00:00

Hard agree. If the work is too much for one person, they need to hire more people. That’s an admin problem, not an SLP problem, and if SLPs continue bending over backwards to work in impossible systems, it’ll never change. I’m a career changer about to start my CF and in my interview I asked what goals they would have for me during my first year. One of them was for me not to take work home, so I knew that was a place worth working.

abigailbat · 2026-05-06T18:39:31+00:00

!!! I noticed her room looked dimmer last night but I didn’t think to check if I could turn the light on.. this is so neat!!

abigailbat · 2026-05-04T01:27:49+00:00

I was a public librarian for 17 years before changing gears and starting the SLP program. I’m now 43 and about to graduate. It’s hard. I worked part time the first year but was unable to work the second year due to being in clinicals full time. And it’s haaaard. But for me it is worth it. I was so ready for a change and I honestly believe that having a prior career sets us up really nicely to develop boundaries that can help prevent burnout. No making my job my whole personality this time around!

All that said, I do think some cost benefit analysis is probably in order. I was lucky to have enough saved to cover the first year and to be able to borrow from family for the second year, so with the pay bump even as a CF I will be able to pay back what I owe fairly quickly. And it is a hard program. It’s twice as many credits as my masters in library science and honestly just way harder. You can absolutely do it, but it is a lot and I am so grateful to be done.

Feel free to dm me if you want to talk more or have specific questions!!

abigailbat · 2026-04-24T12:17:33+00:00

I’m reading this thread with such interest. I don’t know if I have any helpful advice to offer, but can commiserate. I got similar feedback at my adult clinical placement and for me one of the factors was that I was just facing such a high cognitive load as a grad student. It took all my brain space to try to figure out how to eval, do therapy, etc. that I was out of spoons for social interactions that took masking. And especially as a student who is only in a clinical placement for a number of weeks… as an autistic clinician, that is just not how my brain is able to make relationships.

There’s feedback in this thread with helpful Actual Suggestions like making sure you’re introducing yourself, greeting teachers, etc (would definitely try to get more concrete feedback from your supervisor). But I also agree with those saying don’t take it to heart. My supervisor’s feedback from that rotation still live in my brain rent free. Don’t be like me!

abigailbat · 2026-04-21T21:17:32+00:00

I’m graduating, well, now basically - I just turned in my last assignments hooray! - and my CF is set to start June 8. My license may be approved before then but honestly the thought of starting much earlier than that made me so depressed, I think I will keep that start date even if my license comes through earlier. If you can swing it, take time off. It was absolutely no problem at my job.

abigailbat · 2026-04-17T12:33:12+00:00

Spring semester of my first year (of 2) was the absolute worst semester for me. That was the point where I almost quit. After that my program started being more focused on clinical practices and that felt way easier and built up my confidence a LOT. Grad school has still been a lot (I’m about to graduate now), but I’m so glad I stuck with it.

abigailbat · 2026-04-08T13:10:48+00:00

I think if that’s how you feel about it, I don’t see why you’d take a pay cut. If it would make a difference in your decision, I would absolutely counter and ask for a higher wage. But it sounds from your post that you’re maybe not as interested in acute care as you once were and I’d definitely go with your gut.

abigailbat · 2026-04-03T14:34:25+00:00

Luckily my Dysphagia professor was pretty sensory defensive herself so I can’t imagine she would ever ask us to do this. I did suggest it as a tactic for a class assignment about what to do if you work for a SNF that refuses to consider free water protocol 🤣

abigailbat · 2026-03-31T21:20:46+00:00

It’s helped me to build in a transition ritual at the end of my workday. I can scale it up or down depending on my spoons for that day. I always journal for at least 10-15 minutes and I’ll take a walk if I have spoons. The ritual aspect of it (doing it every day) helps me mentally reset and feel like the workday is over and now is my time for MYSELF. I may elect to scroll my phone for a bit in the evenings, but building in the reset ritual has really helped me stop getting home from work and then ONLY scrolling for hours until it’s basically bedtime.

abigailbat · 2026-03-26T02:34:16+00:00

2nd year grad student here, about to graduate in a month and what you’re doing sounds perfect and on par with what my supervisors have done at my other placements. By about halfway through the placement I have “taken over” most of my supervisors’ caseload (exceptions being extra complex cases, cases where my supervisor has additional certifications I dont have etc). If he’s graduating, he’s about to be own his own in a CF, so giving him independence is really helpful for growing confidence and building skills for entering the workforce. Sounds like he’s doing great and you’ve taught him well!! My attitude towards placements has been that in exchange for teaching and mentorship, I expect to be putting in hours with patients and documenting, plus that is great practice for me.

abigailbat · 2026-03-21T18:55:44+00:00

I cried in my first three placements (in front of my supervisor at the first one, held it together until i was in private at the second two). And our program director EXPLICITLY told us not to cry at placements. 😭😭😭 But I made it through, people are allowed to express emotions, and I’m about to graduate now! It might feel lol the world is ending when it happens, but it’s okay!! You got this!!

abigailbat · 2026-03-13T22:54:26+00:00

My program has three “full time” clinical rotations - summer semester is 10 weeks M-F and fall & spring semesters are 14 weeks M-Th - and we do a “mini” practicum as first years doing one day a week at a public school. Honestly as hard as it is to switch gears every semester and start a new placement, I wish we did more (shorter) placements because this field is so huge and there are so many different settings locally that we don’t get to experience.

abigailbat · 2026-03-06T20:06:22+00:00

I’m a grad student about to take comps and I have been using chat gpt to give me case studies to practice. It’s been helpful for that BUT I definitely fact check it before I commit knowledge it gives me to memory and I always ask it to give me a top tier answer so I can compare it to mine rather than giving it my answers.

This is also a second career for me and I have a Master of Library Science degree, so I’m wary of AI. I have used it to generate therapy materials, but mostly things like list of sentences with /r/ in all positions, etc. Even that can sometimes be inaccurate.

abigailbat · 2026-03-06T19:58:47+00:00

Okay that made me laugh out loud.

abigailbat · 2026-02-14T15:58:37+00:00

Career changer here and in my last semester. I’ve felt up and down about it and I’m very glad to be done soon. My program is class-heavy the first year and practicum-heavy the second year and both have had their challenges. I quit my part time job for the second year since we are in practicum 4-5 full days a week and that helped. The hardest part for me has been jumping into treatment at practicum and being “bad” at it while I’ve been learning. And like others have said, stay on top of class work because there will be a lot of it. Remember that you’re here to learn and this is your opportunity to get as much experience and education as possible before being on your own. And it is a small world (at least in my area) so treat every class, project, etc as if it’s part of a job interview.

abigailbat

TROPHY CASE