#class of 18

1. You no longer have to compete with your classmates. YOU MADE IT! Grades are not a reflection of your self-worth. There is not dean's list, honor roll or other grade based achievement in grad school. You pass or fail. So leave the competition at the door because you are all on this crazy adventure together.

2. Buy a laminator! Also, laminating pouches can be found relatively cheaply on Amazon. Something to keep it mind is that even free resources add up because of the cost of ink and laminating pouches so try to share materials as much as possible.

3. Find one person to be your go-to person. Don't worry if you aren't friends with everyone.

4. Find a healthy stress outlet. For me, it has been blogging my experiences, but you have to find something that works for you.

5. Drinking wine while writing reports is expected/normal.

6. Utilize online resources such as teachers pay teachers and other SLP blogs.

7. You will get some form of SLP ID that can help you get teacher discounts at places like Staples, half priced books and even barns and nobles. USE IT!

8. Use technology to help you such as therapy apps, Evernote, Dropbox, Wunderlist and so much more.

9. Stay on top of your clock hours during the semester and make copies of everything! Also, try to organize materials as you make/get them so you don't end up with a giant project later on.

10. Grad school is hard!! You will probably cry, laugh hysterically, have at least one nervous breakdown due to stress overload and be pushed to your breaking point, but YOU CAN DO IT! You can and will survive and at the end of the day become an M.S., SLP-CCC.

WELL GUESS WHAT DAD