Jiyun Daisy Choi has been accepted into UBC’s Master of Science program in speech-language pathology. It was Daisy’s first attempt at applying to a graduate program. Daisy was selected as a Student Speaker to deliver a speech during her convocation ceremony. You can view Daisy’s convocation address using this link.  

"I cultivated a diverse range of volunteering experiences, from working at private clinics and events with both neurotypical and neurodivergent kids to long-term positions working with adults and seniors with aphasia."

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) included a feature profile of Daisy for their 2024 Convocation News Series. Daisy described her overall journey at SFU in the story, which you can read here.

What is your best advice for a student aiming at SLP admission?

The best thing to make your application stand out is to be specific and focus on the practical ways in which your experience and skills will benefit those seeking SLP services. For example, I would prefer to work with adults rather than kids. So I made sure to highlight the gaps in adult-oriented rehabilitative SLP services (as described to me by actual stroke survivors and their families) that I would be aiming to address as a clinician and researcher.

I also ensured I could emphasize my extensive research experience and specialized experiences, including working as a TA for a lower-division Linguistics course, by relating the skills I gained from those positions to my future as a clinician. It’s important to convince the admissions panel that you already have a clear idea about the concrete ways that you can benefit the field, as well as the communities seeking SLP services.

Which Linguistics course had the most impact on your successful application?

I think that the course that had the most impact was Phonology (LING 800). Any course about phonology and phonetics is of course relevant and helpful, but I think that taking this course helped me show the admissions panel that I’m capable of taking on a relatively heavy, graduate-level course load while juggling my other responsibilities.

Was there a Linguistics instructor who was instrumental to your success?

I definitely need to give a shout out to Dr. Henny Yeung and Dr. Ashley Farris-Trimble. Not only were they great instructors in courses that are extremely relevant to the SLP career, but they were also amazing supervisors during my time as a Research Assistant in their labs (the Language Learning and Development Lab and Phonological Processing Lab, respectively).

Tell us about the undergraduate awards and recognitions you have earned.

I was named on the Dean’s Honour Roll on multiple occasions throughout my undergraduate career. I received a Prix d’excellence from the French Department, having pursued a double major in French and Linguistics. More recently, I was able to work full-time as a Research Assistant in the Language Learning and Development Lab while being funded by an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award. I’m also fortunate to have been offered an entrance scholarship from UBC to cover my first year’s tuition.

Describe your most significant SLP-related volunteer experiences.

Volunteer or extracurricular work is crucial not only to gain hands-on experience, but also to show on paper how much of your time and resources you're willing to spend to do so. I was fortunate to secure many volunteering opportunities through multiple rounds of cold-emailing.

From the beginning, I cultivated a diverse range of volunteering experiences, from working at private clinics and events with both neurotypical and neurodivergent kids to long-term positions working with adults and seniors with aphasia, a language disorder. I was actually having a tough time finding long-term work with kids, so I supplemented that gap in my resume with multiple short-term opportunities with kids, such as working a few days at a summer research camp at SFU.

The extra effort to show continuous commitment to serving different communities and populations really paid off in the end. If anyone is looking specifically for work with adults and seniors, I highly recommend contacting the Stroke Recovery Association of BC (SRABC) for a truly fulfilling volunteer experience as a ​​Communication Facilitator that you can easily do over Zoom. I’ve worked with them for over two years and they offer excellent opportunities.