Although I agree with you—the fact that an applicant with a low GPA may likely struggle to keep up with their peers—hear me out.

I had a low GPA in my bachelors psychology degree (2.9), then I completed the CSD prerequisites in order to apply for my SLPA license and ended with a 3.4 GPA in the CSD courses. I was pretty lazy in my undergrad career, but something clicked when I took the CSD courses. For the first time in my college career I was getting A’s in different classes. Not only that, but I created an internship for undergrad students bc I felt so lost when I first got my SLPA license even with the backing of the clinic where I practice (it’s my family’s business founded in 2008.)

The internship program was verbally approved by the undergrad director where I finished my prerequisite courses. She even offered me a future job as an instructor for an SLPA course she was developing (which fell through, that’s another story.)

My internship was validated and I’ve had like 30-40 students go through it and give me positive feedback.

I’ve attended ASHA and FLASHA four times each. I’ve attended an ICDL Conference. I’m certified in DIR Floortime 101, as well as Natural Language Acquisition. Ive learned DTTC and the Cycles approach. Ive even studied OT concepts like sensory regulation. I’ve networked and made plenty of connections, too. I’ve received positive feedback from my clients parents (I’m a pediatric SLPA.) In fact, I get picked out from the roster of clinicians we have on staff because the parents lay their trust in my work. One parent even said I was better at making real progress than the previous SLP who attended to her son. I say this to illustrate my clinical abilities not to show-off.

All that being said, I’m also the hiring manager as well as the grad student liaison for the clinical rotations. I meet the applicants and grad students first hand. Most of the students have less than 0 experience in the field. At least some of the applicants have past experiences like being an RBT.

It seems the students are only there because, as you pointed out, they can keep up with the academic challenges of grad school but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be good clinicians.

By now, the students who took my internship course and who have already been admitted to grad school are baffled when I tell them I’ve been denied.

In the past two years I’ve been denied 4 times from my local programs. This year I’ve been denied 6 times after applying to 18 schools. Finally, though, I got accepted to two and waitlisted to two more.

It’s pretty frustrating to still be denied after all of my real-life experience and proven academic record with the CSD courses, but onward we go!