shuca

Yup, same here. I'm really not looking forward to carrying heavy, 800-page hardcover books. *sigh*

This is really cool!!! Thanks for sharing, sayjo I recently got a backpack from focused space. I love their bags because they are really space efficient. Lots and lots of pockets, although they don't look like those backpacks that you'd take for hiking. I mean... just look at the picture below!! Backpacks tend to look less "professional" than other types of bags, but focused space has some backpacks with leather patches too and I think those are not too casual. I know I'll be commuting on a train so I really didn't want to do a tote or a messenger bag.

Yay! It makes me happy to know that I'm being resourceful/helpful to someone

Hey guys! So as April 15th approaches, I think a lot of us are having really difficult time deciding which school we should attend. We should all consider ourselves very, very fortunate that we are given options, but it's really hard to make a decision. It was so hard for me that there were times that I even wished I had been accepted to just one school. lol I already made a decision for myself and am VERY happy about it, but after I made my own decision, I found a good way to learn more about the programs and what we might be getting out of each school. I know there are a lot of people here who are in the same situation so I figured I'd share it with you guys Go to Indeed resume page for SLPs: http://www.indeed.com/resumes/speech-language-pathologist Right below the "Find Resumes" button, you'll see "advanced search" in small letters. Click on that. In "School name," type in the school that you're considering to attend. Make sure you select Master's degree right under it. Click "Find resume"!! This will (hopefully) pull out a bunch of online resumes of the people who graduated from the school you are considering. Most people list in their resumes where exactly they worked as a graduate clinician, as well as where they have been working after graduation. In the search section you might want to select 3-5 years or 6-10 years for years of experience, in order to narrow your search (each program changes over time so it's more helpful to find resumes of those who graduated more recently). Also, if there is a particular city in which you'd like to work after graduation, you can type in the city name in the original search field to find the alumni who work there, too. Of course, this method won't help you learn much about the "feel" of the school/program, and personally I found it very helpful to visit each school and talk to the current students & faculty, so I think you should visit each school in order to learn more about them. But in most cases campus visits won't tell you exactly where their graduates end up, and the method above will tell you just that. I think this method might help those who are especially career-driven. You need to keep in mind that the resumes you'll find are a small sample of their graduates, but I think it's still better than what you can find out by just talking to 2-3 people at open houses. It's worth a try if you guys are having a really hard time gathering concrete information about each program. Hope this helps you guys. Good luck!!

Emerson College MS in SLP (CSD) - Class of 2016 https://www.facebook.com/groups/834742819876310/

Some 2-year programs allow out-of-fielders without prereqs to apply, and they are given equal (well at least I think equal) consideration for admission as well. I myself applied to 2-year programs without any pre-requisites and I got accepted to two. Though I do think that lack of pre-requisites may have been one of the reasons why I didn't get accepted to other programs. nata25 - I am an out-of-field applicant as well. And like I said above, I had not taken any of the pre-requisite courses at the time of application. My GRE score is mediocre (definitely not bad, but not outstanding either). But I think I probably stood out a lot - I am not a native speaker of English and I grew up in a country where language that is VERY different from English is spoken. So considering my background, I think my mediocre GRE score probably didn't look that bad. (I had a perfect TOEFL score, too) I also have a master's degree in Linguistics (with a 4.0 GPA), which probably helped me demonstrate that I can be successful in grad school. I really hope you hear back from some of the other programs soon and sincerely hope that it's good news! Good luck!!

Ahhh that makes sense! Thanks for sharing your tips on this, sayjo and Papaya91!

How are you guys making Facebook groups?? I've tried several times but I get an error message saying I have to add people (invite my friends) in order to create a group. I got this message regardless of the privacy status of the group - whether it's closed or open.

So, SO happy for you, twinguy!!!!!! You have been so supportive to other applicants here and I've been secretly rooting for you! CONGRATS!!!

I don't know much about Northwestern either, but I agree with sayjo... $100,000 extra in debt sounds a bit too ridiculous to me. (I wonder how they even fill an entire class every year with outrageous tuition like that?!) I'm not sure how long you plan on taking to repay that loan, but you should look at a loan calculator online and see how much you'll be accumulating on interest alone. The cost difference will actually be even more than $10,000. I personally think what's great about the profession as an SLP is that you need to keep educating yourself. ASHA requires you to have certain amount of professional development hours in order to stay certified, and because there is this requirement, there are abundant selections of courses/training you can take. I think it would be more worthwhile to have financial freedom after graduation and invest in quality continuing education. 2 years of grad school education isn't the only way to make yourself marketable in medical SLP. Also, do you have other life goals that are important to you? (marriage, kids, home ownership, location you want to live in, hobbies, traveling, etc.) Money will affect all of these goals you have, and how willing are you to possibly sacrifice those for getting "better" education? EDIT: Sorry, but after writing all of these I just realized that you didn't mention taking out a loan to pay for your education... Shouldn't have made that assumption. I know some people have parents/family members who are willing to help pay for the cost, or some people take the route of loan forgiveness etc.

I could not agree more! I think people have different priorities in lives, and the cost difference between the dream school vs. affordable school is just one of the many factors we need to consider. Yes, my career & education are both very important to me too, but I have a lot of other life goals too, and I'm at the stage in life where I need to consider them more seriously than others (read: I'm not fresh out of undergrad and if I want kids I can't wait that long). Like aucinema, I want to own a house someday, have kids, and I want to be able to provide my kids with good education & go traveling with my family occasionally without having to worry about my own loan repayment. I also want to continue to work while I raise my kids, and child care services in my state cost about $1200 to $2000, depending on the kid's age. And that's just for ONE kid. Being deeper in debt would make it considerably more difficult to accomplish my other goals, and I just didn't think it was worth it. I totally second aucinema that it is a highly personal choice and everyone here has different things to consider, but I agree it's a good idea to think about what other life goals you have besides career/education, how important they are to you (and your significant others), and how those goals might be affected by your choice on grad school. P.S. Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail sounds awesome!!!

I recently purchased an iPad mini for grad school, and even though the school hasn't started yet, I'm already glad I bought it. I'm currently taking a prerequisite, and I've been using my iPad to read an e-book version of the textbook (on the kindle app, not on iBook). I think they (Apple, Amazon Kindle app, and the publishers) did a great job with the e-textbook - it's easy to flip through a book and I like how I can easily take snapshots of important diagrams & figures etc. For instance, I can zoom in on one figure and take a screen shot, import the screen shot to an image editing app so I can erase some important terms within the figure, print it off (one side with the figure that has terms erased, the other side with the terms still there) and voila, you have your own flash card with a clear image. Doing this with a hardcover textbook would have been much more difficult & time consuming. The downside is that you can't sell your textbook back, but the e-books are usually cheaper than their hardcover versions and a lot of publishers have renting option for e-books too, so I think the final cost isn't that much different. Also I know I am going to be commuting on a train to go to my school, so I like how iPad allows me to carry books that would otherwise be very heavy. Speaking of the apps that I think will be useful for grad school, I have Evernote for note-taking, Noteshelf for PDF annotation and creating my own visual, and Recordium for recording sessions (Recordium is awesome because it lets you edit your audio recording too. You can trim, annotate, highlight, and tag different parts of your audio files). I would highly recommend buying an iPad (mini) but I wouldn't use that as a replacement of your laptop.

No problem. Good luck with your decision! I don't know much about NYU but they seem to have great reputation too. Must be hard deciding between them! I'm sure you'll be happy at either of them, though

Hey lisa19, Yeah I've read that too, but I personally think it's misleading. I've actually talked to the current students (and alumni), and professors. They all confirmed that first year students have pretty much the same schedule (meaning they all take the same courses), so all of the courses you take in the first year will have 50-60 students in it.

Hey lisa19! The cons that come to my mind for MGH are: * big class size (about 60 people in each class) * heavy literacy focus (obviously this depends on your interest and could be a pro too, but it seems like a lot of people going into MGH are expecting more medical focus and are often turned down by literacy focus in the first year). * longer (6 semester) program, so you don't get summers off. (Some program have summers off, which allows students to do external practicum in cities - or even countries - outside of Boston). Are you interested in medical SLP?? If so, MGH might seem very appealing, and yes, it IS a great program as far as the medical SLP goes. But you have to keep in mind that getting education/experience at MGH definitely doesn't guarantee a medical SLP job upon graduation. Medical jobs are hard to land even if you graduate from MGH too, so you'd have to be willing to relocate, or be willing to work at SNF rather than hospitals. If that's the route you are willing to take, then the education/experience you get elsewhere may very well be enough to land a medical job too. If you want to get the specialized education that MGH offers regardless of the job prospect, then yes MGH would be a great choice for you.

I've been having a really hard time deciding between Emerson and MGH too, but I think I'm pretty much set on Emerson now! I'm really excited For those of you struggling to make a decision, here's what helped me: Making a "who's the winner" list, rather than a regular pro/con list for each school. This is what I did: (1) Make a list of factors you need to consider in order to make the decision (tuition, external placement sites, job prospect, classes offered, special interest, research opportunities, particular professor you want to work with, etc.) (2) Arrange the factors in the order of importance to you. (3) Decide which school is the winner in each category. (4) Look over the list and see which school wins in more categories, especially in the categories that are placed at the top (=more important factors to you). I think those of us who are having a difficult time deciding are struggling because we're lucky enough to have options that all seem great to you, but none of the programs is a clear winner in EVERY aspect (let's face it - if there's a school that is perfect in every way, we would not be thinking this hard). So comparing pro/con list didn't really help me, because whenever I'm looking at School A's pro, School A will look appealing to me. But then if I start looking at the pro of School B and then glance at School A's cons, suddenly School B will start looking like a better choice. It's great to hear other people's opinions and share our thoughts, but you need to figure out what matters to YOU the most, and which school is better in each of those factors. This worked for me (at least) and I'm pretty confident about my decision now. I'll probably be accepting the offer at Emerson within the next few days . Good luck!!

Hi AMKersh and Nala!! Good to meet you guys here. Ahhhhhh, last night when I went to bed I was 80% sure I wanted to go to Emerson and this morning after rereading my pro/con list and you guys' posts, I'm starting to feel unsure again!!! Seriously I can't believe this. I've never been this indecisive before. I usually know exactly what I want, and I'm the kind of person who is determined and will go her way no matter what - even if other people tell me not to. lol The fact that I'm having such a hard time deciding shows how great of programs they both are, and it means I'll probably be very happy and satisfied whichever I choose. If this much of logical thinking isn't helping me, I'm starting to think that it'll come down to how I "feel" at the accepted students events. Like, do I feel good here? Do I get along with other accepted students? etc. I guess I'm lucky I'll be able to attend both of the events! Looking forward to seeing you guys there

Thank you for your input, @ladyinwaiting! Your comment definitely eased my concern about Emerson not being heavily medical focused. I just don't see myself working as a school SLP... but I'm an out-of-field applicant and I admit I don't have much exposure to either of the subfields at this point, so like you guys said, a more balanced program like Emerson might be good - and especially because my background is not in CSD, being in an extremely supportive environment like Emerson would definitely be good for me. I totally agree with what you said about Emerson in that regard; everyone really does make you feel like you have a big family there. I didn't know MGH had that many people who are not necessarily interested in medical SLP! Thanks for sharing that info. By the way, I see you are accepted to Emerson & MGH too, but from your previous posts I got the impression you are debating between MGH and NYMC, but Emerson isn't really on your current list of consideration (correct me if I'm misinterpreting your posts!) If I'm right in assuming this, would you mind sharing your thoughts on Emerson?? Is it because you are pretty sure you want to do medical SLP and you want the experience offered by MGH? Are there any other reasons?? Your candid opinion is appreciated I'm just trying to hear as many people's opinions as possible. By the way I sent you a private message too, so check that when you have time

That's interesting, LuxAurorae! The interviewers at BU told me the exact same thing. They said they were impressed by my application and I am a strong candidate - and then I got waitlisted there too!! Initially it was hard for me to take that waitlist because of what they told me at the interview and I really felt like the interview went well. Now I'm wondering if it was something they just said to everyone (since I'm sure most people interviewed at BU are strong candidates anyway). I'm also accepted to MGH and Emerson -- this really makes me wonder what the adcom are looking for! Even after acceptances, it is still a mystery to me... I don't really know what they liked about me, and what other schools didn't like. @argslp As I said above, I have no idea how this application works!! I'm rejected by 3 schools and waitlisted at one, but I got accepted to two of my absolute top choices. I really think it's more of a matching game. You are a strong candidate, so if some schools don't accept you that just means you and the school weren't a good fit, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with your application. I'm sure you'll hear good news from other schools soon and those schools will be great fit for you!

I'm totally in the same boat with you! I'm somewhat more interested in medical SLP, but I'm not ruling out school-based SLP either. That's one reason why I'm having a hard time deciding on MGH, actually. If I were very passionate about medical SLP, I think MGH would be a no-brainer, regardless of the cost. But since I'm only "kind of" interested in medical SLP, I'm having a hard time justifying the extra $20K. BUT I completely agree with you that I wouldn't want to pass up the medical opportunities at MGH, either. --- By the way, do you think most of the people deciding to go to MGH would actually be strongly interested in medical setting?? If that's the case, I feel like there might be some level of competition among the students. Since MGH is a longer program, students will be graduating at the end of the summer and if most of them are applying for medical SLP jobs (and there aren't that many medical CF jobs to begin with), then I think competition is bound to happen. If I go to Emerson (where not everyone is focused on medical SLP) and look for a job at the beginning of the summer, I feel like I may be able to avoid competition. Do you guys think I have a valid point here?? Personally, I really don't want to be in a competitive environment (which is why I find Emerson's supportive environment very appealing, too) so that's one thing I'm concerned about...

Hey guys! Awesome thread. I'm the girl who started the other thread comparing Boston schools () Thanks for sharing your insights into MGH (and other schools). It's been very helpful reading what you guys think. I've been talking to my friends too but like ladyinwaiting said, people who don't know about the field usually see the tuition as the deciding factor and they didn't really understand my dilemma :T I'm accepted to MGH and Emerson, and I can totally understand what ladyinwaiting said about picking a school out of a hat! I am so torn between them and really confused. I almost wish someone could just tell me which one to choose! haha As of now, I'm leaning toward MGH but who knows what I'll be thinking at the end of the day... I seriously keep going back and fourth between them every day. I'm with lisa19 and I feel intimidated by credit number at MGH too. Emerson has fewer credits required, AND it has such supportive environment that I feel like I would have a much less stressful, happy life as a grad student at Emerson. Everyone at Emerson keeps raving about how helpful everyone (including their classmates) is. I've been to their Open House and I could tell that it wasn't something that they are just saying - I definitely felt that warm cooperativeness among the students and faculty while I was there. But I'm interested in medical SLP too, so what MGH can offer is too hard to give up, even after taking the cost into consideration.

I highly doubt that they'll rescind their offer, but is the class one of the prerequisites for FSU? If so, you should check to see if they accept a C for prerequisite. Worst case scenario, you'll be retaking the course this summer. Even if it's not a prerequisite, if I were you, I'd get in touch with the admissions office to talk about the conditions of admission and make sure a you are still in a good standing. Just be honest and explain what happened; I think it's a very easy mistake to make, and I'm fairly confident they'll be forgiving. I'm giving you the biggest hugs!!!!!

Thanks, vsa10002!!

Wow thanks for that information!! Where did you see this catalog?? I've been looking for it everywhere and I can't find it. If you can share the link to it, that'd be great! What you said makes me feel assured that although MGH requires a lot more credits, they are trying to make it less stressful for the students.

I'm still not sure which school I should go... I really like both programs, and it seems like their strengths are in different areas so it's really hard to make the decision I hope the Open House will help me but I have a feeling I'll be all like, "wow both programs were so cool I liked then both!!" and I'll be even more confused lol. For those who are worried about how rigorous MGH will be, I have a few points to add. First, I think grad school will be pretty intensive no matter which program you decide to attend. I have a masters degree in something else already, and I can say from my experience that grad school is SO much harder than undergrad. That being said, I'm sure there will be some programs that are tougher than others. Looking at the number of credits required is one way to compare the programs, but there are other factors you can consider. First thing that comes to mind is the minimum grades required for graduation. BU requires minimum GPA of 3.0 (which is equivalent of B ) for students to stay in the program, and you can’t have more than 8 credits of C or C+. MGH also requires a minimum GPA of 3.0, but they don’t have a set number of Cs you can earn. Even if you get Cs in multiple courses, as long as your cumulative GPA is over 3, you are safe. Of course, you should strive to do well in classes regardless of these policies, but I think MGH’s leniency takes a lot of pressure off the students’ shoulders. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any official information about this on Emerson’s program, but one of the current students told me that their passing grade is B. I’m not sure if she meant we just need to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0, or if we actually have to have grades better than B in all of the classes. What makes a program rigorous depends on a lot of other factors: how the classes are structured, how willing the professors are to help their students, how much of collaboration there will be between students, how flexible the professors are about deadlines, etc. So while I can totally understand people’s concern about how intensive MGH will be, I feel like you can’t really say it’ll be harder than others just based on the number of credits required. All of that said, I totally understand where you guys are coming from - I mean, after all this logical thinking I’ve done, I am still concerned that MGH will be too hard for me, too lol.