SLP2013

I'm happy to give my thoughts about the BU open house although I should probably preface this by saying that I had decided upon BU before attending the open house. I had to been to all of the other Boston area open houses and found all of them very different. I think each program draws a different type of person but I can say why I loved BUs open house. Friday night was the reception with wine and appetizers. Many of the professors I had read about on the website were there. They were so incredibly intelligent but so personable. Every person I met introduced themselves by their first name and asked me about myself. The current students were all very well spoken but so personable which is where I think the school departed from others. BUs open house was also set up in a way that Friday was very laid back and Saturday was very scheduled. Saturday was breakfast, then a PowerPoint overview of the staff and perks of the program. There was also a brief q and a with an alum of the program as well as a panel with each current student touching on aspects of the program (like starting with a background vs without a background, coming from far away, doing a thesis etc.) I think one of the most interesting myths about BU that was debunked for me was that while there are sooooo many cool research studies going on there, you don't have to participate in research. Mst students 90% chose to do comps over a thesis this year. Another major divergence was having one in house semester and 3 external placements. The last two hours was broken down by visiting every single one of the research labs on campus. They were almost always led by the professor whose lab it was. There was also a client there telling us about what our experience with taking fluency will be like. It was very refreshing to move around a lot. It was a wonderful way to get a tour of the building while meeting all of the faculty and hear about the centers (aphasia center etc) as well as research labs. Hope that helps!

I officially declined my other offers at Boston area schools today. It feels great to have a made a decision. Ultimately, I took a leap of faith and went with my gut. Finances did make it easier to decline MGH though. Ultimately at the end of the day, I realized that my indecisiveness was clearly just a sign that I would have been happy at any of the Boston area schools. Looking forward to meeting many of you at BU's open house! Best of luck weighing all your options!

I declined my offers at MGH, Emerson, and Northeastern. Hope that helps some of you on waitlists to hear back soon! Officially attending Boston University next year! Yayyyyyy

I also, am between Emerson and BU. MGH's costs was too high in comparison when factoring in my assistantship from BU. I did attend MGH's open house and thought their facilities were amazing and the current students were all very knowledgeable, professional, and friendly. The faculty was also very friendly and were definitely leaders in their fields. The main reason I will not be attending aside from cost, is that I'm not very medically focused (yes even as cool as their sim lab was). Ideally I'd like to study pediatrics and while MGH offered great class offerings, as well as specialty tracks, I can't justify the extra cost for MGH based on what they could offer. In terms of Emerson and BU, I find myself going back and forth. At BU interview day, I did have the opportunity to speak with many of the BU current students and found that they were all very happy and spoke of the numerous opportunities for external placements. I found that MGH and BU had similiar opportunities for external clinical placements. Emerson it seems has a lot of externships as well but I found it odd that they chose not to name drop any of the opportunities. It seems like there's a lot of connections to schools, but that they may be lacking in medical placements. I think that all of the Boston area schools offer similiar things (since they're also so similiar in rank) and unfortunately I feel like my decision is going to come down to holistic feels to the schools. At the risk of sounding incredibly cliche, I think that many of our decisions will come down to "feel" which will obviously differ based on whats best for each person. I'm currently leaning very much toward BU. As Kozo said above, I also enjoyed the interdisciplanry approach that BU has (which MGH is currently developing as well). I fear that at Emerson, I will not gain as many experiences since aside from CDIS, they offer creating writing, journalism, and theatre.

Thanks for all the info! I really appreciate it! Congrats again on your scholarships!

Congrats on the Emerson scholarships! My portal hasn't changed for better or for worse. I'm hoping they they'll change soon and notify once they've given them out so I can make a decision! I can't believe some people haven't even found out whether they were accepted or not! If you guys don't mind me asking, are the scholarships looking like full tuition or half tuition or something smaller?

I just saw that Emerson's online application portal has changed their merit scholarship section to say "The Admission committee is currently making decisions regarding Fellowship awards for Communication Disorders. Students will be informed in this space as decisions are made." Has anyone been offered one? Hoping to hear about funding from them soon so I can make a decision about a program! Best of luck to those of you still waiting

BU is my top choice... I was given a merit scholarship which definitely helps to swallow the cost of their tuition. I'm so excited to get my packet from there.. I keep checking the mail every day! I also live in Boston so hopefully it came today Thanks for all the info! I hope to see all of you/meet you at the open house

I also haven't gotten anything yet. I sent an e-mail to Michelle Mentis for an update on when packages will be mailed. I'll let you all know if I get any reponse...

Has anyone accepted at Emerson heard anything about funding yet?

Sorry I meant letter in the mail. You'll be getting a letter soon in th next couple of days. I actually live in Boston so I'm sure my letter got here really quickly. I'm not sure if all the letters have the same 3/29 deadline or if they're choosing a date a few weeks from the day they accepted you. I'm sure they will be pushing that deadline back as time goes by

Hi all. Thought I'd update you.... After the decision is posted in applyyourself, they mailed an email with details not included in the original letter. My decision has to be made there by 3/29. I'm assuming since they overfilled their incoming class last year that they're sending them in batches and seeing how many accept and decline. I will be declining their offer and will mail it in soon. Hopefully some of you will hear back soon.

Thank you so much Kozo! God forbid I show any sort of patience with this process lol! I keep getting worried that my mail just isn't getting delivered... The open house looks great. I've taken a number of pre-requisites at BU and have always enjoyed the classes as well as the professors teaching them... I can't wait for open house

I've been working in autism research for the past few years as a research assistant. I was lucky enough to be trained on various assessment measures and gain a ton of experience with special populations. PM me if you're interested in hearing more.. Keep your head up! I know this process is incredibly hard

Thanks so much Jackie! That's super helpful.... I hope the wait list clears out for you!