Graduate / Does it grab you? Speech Pathology Grad School personal Statement [2]

Hello!
I have completed my first grad school personal statement. I have heard a lot of different opinions on how to write one of these and how to grab the admission board's interest. Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!

The following is the prompt:
Please write an integrated essay providing a response to each of the following questions:
- What are your goals for graduate study and your future career?
- In what ways do your academic background and your professional experiences provide evidence of your potential for success in the program you selected and in your eventual career? Please give specific examples of relevant coursework and/or experience.

- Is there any further information we should consider in assessing your candidacy?
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Mother Teresa once said, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I do not want to be a speech pathologist so that I can save the world; that would be unrealistic. I want to be a speech pathologist because I believe in celebrating small gains, in helping others little by little, and that by improving someone else's quality of life I am enriching my own. Initially, I chose the field of speech-language pathology simply because I found the introductory courses to be interesting. It was not until I began working with a child with a profound speech disability that I truly found inspiration and my passion for this field.

In the summer prior to my senior year of college, I was hired by a family to be a caregiver for their two non-verbal children with special needs. The mother, Stephanie, suffered a left-brain stroke only a few months before I began working with them and she needed a lot of assistance with daily life tasks as well as with caring for her children. I will always remember the first summer that I worked with Stephanie's son, Maxwell. He demonstrated much higher receptive than expressive abilities and very obviously wanted to communicate his wants and needs. However, the AAC device (Springboard Lite) that the school had sent home with him was only programmed for school purposes and he had minimal interest in using it. After obtaining a copy of the instruction manual, I chose a few of Maxwell's favorite home activities to add to his speech options. To this day I am in awe of what a fantastic difference it made to him just to be able to tell us he wanted to play on the trampoline. We spent the beginning and end of almost every day that summer on the trampoline and by the time Maxwell was starting school again, I had added a variety of different options to his device. In his first week back to school Maxwell's classroom teacher even reported that he was using his device to speak out of turn in class, announcing, "I feel sad. I want to go outside," something that would never have happened in previous years. I certainly do not credit myself with all of Maxwell's progress, but to know that I had something to do with it is exhilarating.

I believe that the rigorous program in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland has prepared me well for the challenges of graduate school and beyond. In addition to taking the required classes, I added several excellent elective courses within the program. I was also fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the LEAP (Language-Learning Early-Advantage Program) preschool, in which I created and taught my own communication-focused lesson plans and observed the graduate students delivering therapy. After graduation, I went back to work with Maxwell and his family. During this time, I had the opportunity to observe the work of many speech-language pathologists and related professionals. I attended IEP meetings, corresponded with Maxwell's SLP, sat in on his sister's outpatient rehabilitation following a thalamic stroke as well as her swallow study at John's Hopkins, and I even accompanied the children to their neurology appointments with the prestigious Dr. Ben Carson. Not only have these experiences helped to prepare me to take on the rigors of a graduate level program, they have given me the desire to learn about everything else that this field has to offer.

Until this year, I have not been in a position to pursue graduate study due to personal and financial challenges, but this interim has not dampened my resolve to become a speech-language pathologist. As a graduate student, I am eager to expand on my experiences and work in a variety of settings, including participation in research. It is my greatest ambition to become a competent, well-rounded, versatile speech pathologist and I know that Montclair will help me to achieve that. While it is certainly true that Montclair has a lot to offer me, I am also confident that I can be an asset to the graduate program in Communication Sciences and Disorders. My undergraduate education at the University of Maryland and my work experiences have provided me with both the preparation and the passion that it takes to be successful in the field of speech pathology. I have experienced the satisfaction that comes from helping others learn to communicate and I know beyond a doubt that it is what I want to do with my life.