Extracurriculars

Disclaimer: I applied to graduate school in 2010-2011, so the information on this blog related to admissions is from that year.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Many SLP programs require prospective students to submit a resume (or a description of activities outside of academic coursework) as part of their application. Below are some popular extracurriculars for students interested in speech-language pathology:

-Research (especially in communication sciences, linguistics, psychology, biology, or another SLP related field)
-Volunteer/work with children (in a school, summer camps, etc.)
-Volunteer/work with the elderly (nursing homes, assist speech pathologists in hospitals, etc.) 
-Intern with a speech pathologist
-Join the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association if your undergraduate university has a NSSLHA chapter (you can also join the national organization on the NSSLHA website)
-Internship programs, such as the Health Career Opportunity Program (http://rusk.med.nyu.edu/internship-opportunities).

I have found legitimate internship programs for undergraduates to be quite limited, but your university career center may have contacts in the community.This is not an exhaustive list. If you know of other good activities for SLP students, let me know so I can add to it!

Use Google to search for other opportunities. Call SLPs in your area and ask them if you can volunteer or help out in their offices. If your school does not have an NSSLHA chapter, consider starting one. Many universities help students find internships, so definitely contact your undergraduate career services center to see if they can assist you. SLP forums and message boards such as Speech and Language Pathology LiveJournal, Grad Café, and the SLP Jobs Message Board are helpful resources for extracurricular ideas. NSSLHA has published a book, “Communication Sciences Student Survival Guide”, which contains useful tips for graduate school applicants.

Whatever activities you choose to partake in, make sure to describe them well on your resume. The format of the resume is very important also. Go to your university career services center and have a career counselor go over your resume. I would recommend that at least one other person help you edit it (perhaps one of your recommenders or a professor).