Advice needed!! Speech and Language Therapy (pre-registration)

Hi!

I am writing this thread as I would love to get into contact with those who are currently or have recently graduated in Speech and Language Therapy either as an undergraduate or a post-graduate degree.

I am about to go into my final year of under-graduate study in Modern Languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan), but I recently came across the 2 year accelerated masters programme in Speech Therapy, I know it is a big change from MFL, but I feel very interested in SLT course and would love to get to know more about it and have a few questions:

Why did you choose to study Speech Therapy?
What is your favourite thing about the course and job?
What is your least favourite thing about the course and job?
What funding (apart from student loans) was available to you?
What previous experience did your course require/ did you have prior to your studies?
What were the placements like?
What would you like to specialise in?

For those that did an undergraduate degree in another subject,
What was your undergraduate degree in and why did you decide to change?
How intense is the two-year course? Is it possible to work a part-time job, for example, on the side?

Finally, do you think universities would be less likely to consider my application as my undergraduate degree is not healthcare/ science related? I have plenty transferable skills from working with young children, and also have a BTEC diploma in health and social care.

That’s basically it, but please don’t feel like you need to answer every question. If there’s anyone that would be willing to talk to me one-to-one about the course, please let me know as I have many more questions to ask!

Thanks!

For background - I graduated last year and I've been working as a SLT a year, about to move up from my original band 5 job to a band 6 role in my team.
Why did you choose to study Speech Therapy?
I started life as a primary teacher, took a career break as I had my own children and one of my children didn't develop clear speech - which sparked the interest
What is your favourite thing about the course and job?
The problem solving aspect of it - I also (and this one varies because the subject caused us a LOT of pain while learning) liked phonetics and linguistics!
What is your least favourite thing about the course and job?
Lack of resources, referrals to other disciplines being bounced, referrals that aren't really SLT getting sent to us for lack of anywhere else to go to.
What funding (apart from student loans) was available to you?
You can get student finance because it's an allied healthcare degree, also I got the NHS training bursary and the element for dependent children as well.
What previous experience did your course require/ did you have prior to your studies?
I had a lot as a parent of a child with communication difficulties, plus previously teaching - others had less.
What were the placements like?
Varied - one I hated, one I loved - ended up working for one of the services I did a placement at and I still talk to my placement clinician from that one now!
What would you like to specialise in?
I work in adult learning disabilities.

Hey would I be able to ask a question?
I am currently looking at the pre reg MSC masters in speech and language therapy and I am very interested. Due to family commitments, I wondered if the placements are Monday to Friday on this course and also is your job role Monday to Friday, if you don't mind me asking? Is this typical for speech and language therapists?

My placements were generally 2-3 days of the week (I had to extend one placement as they couldn't source enough placement days at the time because everything was screwed up with Covid). They could have been anything up to 9-5, however mine tended to be in schools or community and so were more 8 - 4 type arrangements.
Now I've been working a couple of years - I tend to do 8:30-4:30 as my official hours - but it's very flexible in the role I'm in (I work in community and essentially manage my own diary) and if I work late on a given day - I'm fine to take it back another day, or use it when I need to for the kids' school stuff or similar. Because of the nature of my role - I do a lot of dysphagia mealtime assessments and they tend to be actual mealtimes (not like on the wards where you can show up randomly with a pot of rice pudding and a banana) - so you only have 5 lunchtimes in a week and some people you have to go out later in the day to see at tea times - like tomorrow where I know I have a late mealtime assessment so I'll take the time back later. Most of my team have kids so get it.

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate it . Can I ask is that 8:30-4:30 Monday to Friday? Sorry just to double confirm