T. Crawford, MA CCC-SLP

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

Everyone opposed my career plans because they had no idea what a speech language pathologist did! When I found out about the career, I was 17. I went to a college information session at Emerson College in Boston, Mass. and the speaker that day was a speech language pathologist. The best statement I walked away with, that I can remember, was that science and art combined together in the soup of what we consider communication, is the beautiful synergy of the field. I yearned to be part of the field where I could combine my desire to help people improve their quality of life merged together with my interest in science. I had a college "advisor" in high school and parents who opposed my laser focus on only applying to undergraduate programs that had speech language pathology as a major. I was told "that is too narrow", "you won't know if you will get in", "don't you have to go to graduate school for that, that's more money", "you cannot guarantee entry to grad school". I even had people including the "advisor" purposely encouraging me to "apply to something easier such as Drama & Speech"---verbatim quote (and memorizing monologues and portraying a character on stage is NOT easy!). I listened to NO ONE. I knew what I wanted to do and I am extremely happy with my career. I got into 9 schools and never looked back!