Yeah, I think we may be in similar situations.  Currently, I'm in the post-bac program at University of Washington, and won't be finished until the last week of August basically, so it will be quite a dramatic transition to finish finals and then quickly move to Austin.  Honestly, i don't know too much about the UT program except for it's bilingual certification.  I remember being interested in their research and lab in fluency.  I haven't been able to visit either school, so I've just been trying to glean what i can from their websites; University of Oregon has a brand new Speech therapy clinic, and they have mandatory practicums for school and medical environments with a straightforward approach to clinical training.  For the University of Texas, I can't quite paint the picture in my mind based on their website information.  I haven't visited either school and won't have a chance to.   
  
Are you a currently a student at PSU?  What type of research are you interested in? 
  
Thank you and good luck to you also! 
  
 
  
You also bring up a good point about research and rankings.  I'm leaning more on the clinical focus, though you never know when lightning may strike and you start to feel super interested in a particular aspect.  Thank you for your response!