ROM

Thank you; I guess this was what I was trying to get clarified. I didn't know if there was some unspoken code about accepting admission without any funding. And by "all," in my case, it's just three. Should have been more specific. I still feel naughty for even asking the question!!!

I really would feel slimy and dishonest and probably really paranoid if I went the not-so-transparent route. Probably does happen, as evidenced by stories of people getting accepted off the WL last minute, but I have no legitimate reason to risk reputation by not taking the high road. There are other ways to make the decision easier, such as the ideas suggested above. Thanks for the input and being a moral compass. Now I feel dirty for even thinking about it!

Hmm perhaps this answers some of my questions... From another thread: http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS_Resolution.pdf

I'm sure this kind of thing happens pretty often...whether or not it's a "grave mistake" probably depends on the personalities of the admissions faculty more than it being a reflection of your true capabilities and potential. If it were me I'd probably leave it alone. It'd be kind of petty of them to waitlist you if you were otherwise qualified just because you made a typo. Professors should know how stressful it is to apply to many grad programs at once. Additionally, it might not have been as glaring as you think. Pointing out might hurt your case. What you might do is send an email to the right person expressing your enthusiasm for the program and ask something specific about the program (not "when am I going to find out about my spot on the waitlist/my admission"). Just make sure you get the school's name right this time. Wouldn't hurt to name it more than once (correctly), too. This way you prove you actually know where you were applying, that you want to be there, and if they really were that superficial, it might serve as an indirect way of making up for your mistake.

How "bad" is it to accept all your offers and not actually decide on which program you'll stick with till after you've REALLY had a chance to figure it out and visit campuses? This would mean first saying yes to all offers, then telling all but one school that you're really sorry and you made a huge mistake and actually, you won't be attending their program in the fall despite what you committed to earlier (and losing some money on tuition deposits, etc). Does this happen all the time? I don't know who I'm afraid of pissing off, but it can't be good to burn bridges before you've even made them in the world of academia. At the same time, I feel compelled to visit the campuses I am accepted to before I make a decision and I can't very well do that without missing class and spending a fortune on plane tickets before April 15 (and no one's offered to fly me out; these are all terminal MS programs). Were I to fake-accept all my offers, it'd definitely buy me some more time. I could visit in a month when it's most convenient for me. I don't know why I feel the need to prolong this horrible decision-making phase, but I just don't feel quite ready to kill off my other options yet. Of course there's the ethical line of thinking in which other really qualified people on wait-lists are dying to get in and I would just be prolonging the torture for them and messing up their plans. What if someone who's waitlisted at their 1st choice, which happens to be a school I accept and then later back out of, doesn't find out they're accepted till August, after they've already made lots of plans to go to another school? I'd be pissed if that were me. But then again, this is ALL ABOUT ME. In many ways this whole process is a selfish one. There's fierce competition. So is this type of move a seriously dirty trick? And should I care?

Nope!! It's making me totally crazy I have four very different options, three of which are equally attractive. I need to follow my own advice and just go with my gut. I know it's easier said than done.

I can't really speak to any of those programs, except I almost applied to UNC-Chapel Hill because it looked like a great program (just didn't want to move across the country). My best advice would be to visit campuses if possible, and talk to as many current students and alumni as you possibly can in each program. Use google, facebook to track down students. I've had tremendous success getting helpful information from students in the programs I'm considering by facebook stalking and sending messages. They've all been really eager to tell me honestly what they think of their programs. I'm also in the same boat, and have been agonizing for almost a month now about making the decision between a few schools. Some days I'm totally sold on one school...then something happens and I change my mind and am convinced another one would be better. To paraphrase some advice a good friend gave me about this decision.... Sometimes, the more you think about it, the harder the choice becomes. You can find positives and negatives for every side. Often it is better to ignore your thoughts, and pay more attention to what you feel. In other words, pay attention to the "energy" you feel surrounding a particular choice. How does it make you feel -- excited, anxious, indifferent, happy, sad, etc. Try and find a choice that makes you feel the best...cuz when you constantly think, you can rationalize anything. And keep in mind how lucky we are to be in a position where we have options; and if making this kind of decision is super hard, it probably means that all the places are similarly good and no matter what you'll pick, it'll end up favorably in the end. Good luck!

Holy moly! That's awesome. Sorry, I don't know anything about Purdue, but I've only heard terrific things about the MedSLP at UW from current students in the program. Again, I know nothing about Purdue, but UW does have a hospital and an excellent medical school -- that was a big draw for me. I'm also trying to decide between UW MedSLP and other places. But the money is certainly a factor. Did UW offer you money in the same letter as your decision, or was it something that came later? I'm planning on talking to the department about funding when they're back from spring break this week and am deciding on the best way to go about it...

We've talked plenty about the situation...good conversations, teary conversations, a little bit of yelling, laughter. He does seem to understand that if going to the top-5 school in the place he'd rather not be translates to me making more money and getting a job in a situation I prefer and opening up better prospects for further education beyond the masters than the lower-tier school would, then that seems like the logical choice. But his attitude is still "I'll do it but I'm not gonna like it." Which makes me feel guilty. It's kind of shitty. I think the trick is for me to a.) get some more evidence that the difference between school A and school B really DOES translate to significant differences in my future career, but in reality maybe it doesn't truly matter. Part of the problem is the vast assortment of unknowns about a program that can never really become clear until one takes the plunge (and then of course has no way to judge the path not taken). And b.) I should find some sort of factor that would really shift his perspective about the place we'd live in when I accept the better school's offer. Maybe I am not playing it up enough. The worst case scenario for me would be to accept the not-as-good school, but then realize it was a huge mistake and resent my boyfriend for it. Yet equally as bad is picking the better school and having our relationship fall apart, or at least be strained. I totally agree with fuzzylogician's point about the best work-home balance. le sigh. Thanks for everyone's input, it helps to see some other perspectives.

I'm sure this must come up frequently. I feel smooshed between a rock and a hard place. Boyfriend of 7 years has uprooted his life to come do a post-bac year with me in a part of the country he dislikes very much. I've now been accepted to masters programs for fall near here, back where we're from and where he wants to go back to, and a couple of other places in the country. I should really go to the best program I got into, which is not somewhere he wants to live. (He works for himself & from home, and therefore can technically work anywhere. I am grateful for that fact, but also don't want to abuse it.) I feel really guilty for dragging him somewhere he is so miserable. And I can't believe I'm in the position again where I have to choose between what's best for me and what's best for our relationship. We'll be getting married when I'm done with my masters program, so this isn't some trivial fling I should disregard. My decision about location for my masters program is crucial both to the success of our relationship, and to my career. Unfortunately they're opposite scenarios. What's the best way to deal with a stubborn significant other when it comes to making grad school decisions?? I've definitely heard the "if he really loves you, he'll understand..." argument. And it's true, but I also don't want to suffer through another 2 years of bullshit relationship drama because he hates where we are; especially not while attempting a rigorous masters program.

I haven't visited SDSU's campus, no. I plan on it before the April 15 deadline, though! That's nice to hear that your boss recommends the program. One thing I'm worried about is the CSU's budget crisis. Is the program at SDSU even going to exist in the next 2 years?? I have no evidence to substantiate my worrying but it's something I need to get some answers on. It's not a good sign that they've closed off classes in ASL to undergrads. They do have a brand new facility, though. Seems like there's always money for new buildings... I have a couple friends who also got rejected from SF State. I heard they had 500 applicants; one friend who called said the lady she talked to said that basically if you didn't have a 4.0 they didn't even look at your app (not even a 3.9). Jeez!! Do you know anything about funding at SDSU?

I'm so glad you made this thread! I'm accepted to SDSU and didn't apply to any other CSUs. What I know about SF State: Very much school-centered. I don't particularly want to work in special ed classrooms or public schools, and from the alumni I've talked to, that is the main focus of this program. GREAT place if that's what you want! I also didn't apply because living in/parking in the city/near SF State is a PITA (I am from the Bay Area). But you can't get much better than SF in terms of places to be spending your time (in my opinion!). CSU East Bay: I didn't apply here simply because I wouldn't want to live in Hayward or commute to it. Don't know much more about it. I don't know much more about the other CSU programs. One thing I noticed in my search is that many of them don't even want your GRE scores. Great for people who didn't take them or did poorly -- but also seems curious to me. Why??? My general take on all of the state schools is that, as a whole (not just SLP masters programs), they were put into place to make higher education more accessible to more Californians. Which is AWESOME. But at the same time, budgets are being cut and the state is broke. Most of them don't offer the PhD-level in our field and therefore (in general) don't attract the same type of faculty & research, and for that reason and the fact that USNews and other ranking organizations gear their findings toward valuing research & publication over quality teaching & service training, these schools don't have well-known reputations. Frankly it's really disappointing to me that there are no top-ranked SLP programs in CA. But it doesn't necessarily mean the schools aren't any good if they're not "ranked." The faculty at such schools (like most of the CSUs) may have more time for their students and provide better education than at a school that has a "publish or perish" culture (like many of the top-ranked schools with research faculty). I don't know. Just a theory. Basically those rankings totally confuse me and I don't know what to truly make of them. I applied to SDSU because I have CA residency and felt I should apply to at least one in-state school, and San Diego was the most appealing to me in terms of location and program offerings. They've got a bilingual certificate program (many other CSUs probably do, too; I know CSU Long Beach does as well), a brand new facility, and faculty who do research in areas I'm interested in. Yet, according to rankings, SDSU doesn't even make it on the list. So who knows. I was told there were over 350 applicants this cycle, so it's clearly pretty competitive. Sorry, this wasn't too informative regarding specifics of different CA programs...my dilemma now is more whether or not to go to a particular CSU program, not which one. The good thing is, no matter where you go in-state, in two years after graduation you'll definitely be able to get a job! Good luck to everyone applying to CA schools!!

Any more up-to-date 2010 SD info? It's between SD (SDSU) or Seattle (UW) for me. I grew up in Cardiff but haven't been back since I was 8, so I don't really know what it's like to live there as an adult! I'd appreciate any more opinions on housing near / commuting to SDSU.

Ha!--love it. Thanks for the advice Tulip, makes sense. I haven't made the decision yet but more and more it looks like SD. Not looking forward to that big -GULP- when I give up my spot at UW, though... Can anyone point me in the direction of finding general info about departmental funding in our field? I know each field is different, but what's it like for speechies? None of my acceptance letters (or rather, e-mail notifications of acceptance, not the official graduate school acceptance letter, which I haven't received yet) included any info about funding (e.g. TA-ships and the like). All I know is with SDSU I was accepted with "classified" status which apparently means high priority for being offered TA positions. But nothing concrete. Should I contact departments and say, "you know I'd really like to come to your school...is there anything you can do for me? *wink wink*" except not like that at all and way more appropriately. Or, is it just that masters programs in slp don't offer funding? Or does it completely depend on the school, and private/public status?

So glad I found this website, and this thread. Here's my situation: Accepted: Univ of Washington (MedSLP), Western Washington U, San Diego State Univ Waiting: CU Boulder, U of the Pacific I think it will be between UW and SDSU. I'm having a hell of a time deciding, there are so many factors. UW is a more prestigious program, but is way more expensive and crappy weather (though I do love Seattle). SDSU is cheaper for me and I love SD, and they offer the bilingual certification which I,d want to do, but I know nothing about the facilities or faculty (I plan on visiting before April 15). Advice?? Opinions? Has anyone been able to get in touch with alumni or current students at either of these programs?