LuxAurorae

That is such a relief to hear! Do you know if your friend from Florida is working or planning to work with kids or adults? Thanks so much!

Now that we've all heard back from schools and made our decisions, I was wondering if there is anyone who is from NY and is choosing to go to grad school out of state. If you did, are you planning to go back to NY right away or are you okay with being out of state for an additional 2 years after your program? If you chose to go, what were your reasons? I've heard horror stories about getting the tssld in NY and was hoping it was unfounded!

The galaxy tab vs the galaxy note are different in that there is no stylus for the tab. The ipad apps (notability and iannotate) aren't available on the samsung devices but there are good android apps for note taking and annotation which you can download. For the ones I mentioned, I had the ipad specifically in mind because I actually had a really hard time making the ipad a productive device before I knew about those two apps. For androids, Ezpdf is a good one for document annotation. So is adobe reader (free). Polaris office is good for Microsoft office compatibility and can be marked up too, so it's a good note taking option if you have a keyboard for your tablet. There are free options for those apps, but they're really just worth paying for to get all the features. I also use google docs a lot to take notes and everything is searchable. I'm not sure how necessary the stylus is for note taking because I managed on the ipad even without one, so even though the tab doesn't have one, you can still easily use it for note taking. I don't think it would be worth it to buy a new device, unless the display isn't sharp enough to your liking. I really like the note 10.1 (with the stylus). But even without considering the stylus, I have fewer compatibility issues than I did with the ipad. It's such a huge change. Back when I was using the ipad, I always had to first save the power points onto google drive, or some other cloud service before I could access it on my ipad. The ipad always had issues accessing files directly from my school's website. To be honest, if my mom hadn't had the ipad lying around that she wasn't using, it wouldn't have been my first choice. Actually, I had an anatomy class with lots of pictures in the power points, and half the time I couldn't see the images on the ipad. But, the ipad does have way more SLP apps. If you have a device, I don't think it's worth it to get another one yet. Play around with it and see if it'll suffice. I think productivity really depends on the kinds of apps you can find. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions!

Notability has a recording option within the app if you're interested. I love Notability! I used to type up my notes and mark up powerpoints on it too. I say "used to" only because I recently switched to another tablet, but Notability alone actually made the switch very hard.

I don't really know either. I have the same issue.

I got it already! I'm waiting for it to be delivered. I probably could have waited for grad school (you might want to if you're getting it specifically for grad school, esp with how fast technology changes), but honestly, I wanted a new tablet since the beginning of this semester and with the amount of time I spent on my old iPad, I thought it would be worth it. The nice thing about the iPad Air is that there are tons of SLP apps on it, but in the end, I wanted a tablet for better note taking. I figured that if I really want to use those SLP apps, I still have my old iPad. And if I want something for those apps in the future, hopefully I'll be making money to be able to just get an iPad then. For now, I'm going to buy a device for what I need now. I'm going to try to stay super organized and keep digital copies of my notes whenever possible. I remember going through papers from old classes and seeing so much stuff I wanted to keep but not having any space for it. Really hoping this saves paper and space! I'm excited! You can't go wrong with the iPad Air though, especially if you use notability (to take class notes and record lectures) and iannotate (for research articles, pdfs, etc) [both paid apps]...but the galaxy note has the potential to be even better because there are tons of times where trying to position things exactly on the pdf was really annoying and time consuming. The note is awesome for handwritten stuff and comes with a default note taking program. I'm not sure how good the galaxy note is for note taking compared to the iPad Air yet, but it seems like it was created specifically for that purpose...and for artists and engineers. It seems more flexible to me...if I want to draw diagrams on top of pdfs, powerpoints, etc...or if I want to just draw, I'd have that freedom. I don't really know though...this is a bit of speculation on my part since I've never really gotten to use a galaxy note. (But I've spent way too much time reading up on iPad air vs GS note!) Do you own an iPad now?

Not sure about SLP programs, but I think it would be good to get a laptop/computer if you don't have one already. (Although maybe the Surface RT can count as a laptop since it runs on windows.) As for the tablet, I'm getting a galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition I had wanted an iPad air since the moment it came out because I wasn't happy with the display on my old iPad, but when I was finally ready to commit to buying it, I found out that there was an awesome tablet for hand drawn notes / figures / annotations. It seemed like the perfect note taking device. Not sure how it actually is in terms of performance, but I'm excited to find out! I'll let you know how it goes

You are all such an impressive bunch! I wish I could play multiple instruments and speak multiple languages! My mom plays the Guzheng. (It's interesting how all Chinese words are translated phonetically based off of Mandarin..which is probably annoying for exclusively Cantonese speakers. My mom speaks Cantonese but my grandma used to speak Mandarin to me. When I first read that question, I immediately started thinking in Cantonese but had to translate to Mandarin. It's "goo-tzun" in Cantonese.) I've always wanted to be fluent in at least 3 languages. I want to learn Korean and Spanish too but it's too hard without an actual class and lately, I've had no time I feel like I won't be able to actually do it until I'm done with grad school and out working. So many ambitions and so little time! I don't think I'm interested in SLP because of music, but I do think that I might like phonetics because I like music. And I do appreciate the foundation music has given me in distinguishing sounds of a new language.

I play piano and I love, love, LOVE to sing! I've been playing for a long time, have performed at a number of places (for classical) though now I don't play that often. I tried to learn the guitar for a little and then stopped. Sometimes I'll get together with one of my friends who is also musically inclined and we'll record songs. My mom also plays an instrument...she plays one of those traditional Chinese instruments and she used to win competitions and stuff. I'm sort of bilingual. Haha. My vocabulary is really lacking, and I'm definitely not as good as I was before, but I used to think in Chinese as a child. Throw me back in my home city/country for a month and I should be able to regain fluency to the level of an almost native in the language I think it would be soo much fun to incorporate music into therapy xD. Have you heard of MIT (Melodic Intonation Therapy)? It's used for aphasia patients and makes use of the still intact right hemisphere (prosody). I'd imagine that beyond just very basic tones and general rhythm, it might be hard to use music with someone with less of a music background because they wouldn't be able to distinguish across as many different tones. I wonder if such studies would be more effective on those with musical training or greater musical exposure.

Hey. I'm super excited about MGH. But I'm in a bit of a dreamschool vs cheap local program dilemma. The local program is well respected within the city, but obviously, I wouldn't have access to all the awesome medical placements I would from MGH, though I would still have a guaranteed hospital placement. There is also the extra cost of moving to another city and the fact that I would have to leave my bf for at least 2 years, probably 3 (including the CF because a medical cf in my state seems doubtful). I'm still leaning heavily towards MGH though. There doesn't seem to be many GA positions available though...

I'm having the same dilemma! The local program is well respected, but it is focused on children and I want to do medical SLP. There aren't that many options for medical clinical placements here, but I may be able to do an externship at a hospital placement because I volunteered there. Of course, it wouldn't be the same extent of medical experiences, but I'd have something and I would be at around 60-80k less debt...

Hey laurenrose, I'm planning to bring a parent. I thought about it too and wondered if it'd be weird. But I think in the end, I'd want my mom to see the program. There's a possibility I'd be spending two years there after all. I think it should be fine. I actually wouldn't even have thought of it if it hadn't been mentioned, but the fact that it was specifically shows that it should be okay. I'm expecting to see other parents there too (though I'm not sure if there will be many others there). Does anyone know anything about how supportive MGH is (in terms of faculty and other students)? I don't think it'll be competitive. I talked to some of the students there and they seemed to be friends. They were friendly enough. I don't think it'll be any more competitive than the next program. I'm actually afraid of that too, but seeing so many people's concern about that from those who have been accepted makes me feel like that won't be the case. After all, we're the ones (the accepted students) that determine whether it's going to be competitive or not. And if we're having these concerns now, it seems like none of us will want that kind of environment. Hopefully. There's no point in the competition anyway...I think grad school will be tough for all of us and we'd all want to have supportive classmates. We'd get placements either way, and grades aren't as important as our experiences...which we'll get. I know that MGH has a medical reputation to it, but I feel like that, in part, has to do with this forum that I started asking specifically about the medical aspects of the program. Keep in mind that MGH has other specialty tracks. I'm interested in medical speech which is why I'm drawn to this program, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't have other things that draw other types of students to them. Medical slp is just one aspect of the program. Took this from the website. They have these specialty tracks too Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorders Autism Spectrum Disorders Medical Speech-Language Pathology Reading Disorders Voice Disorders I think MGH offers a lot. If you have a particular interest in any of these tracks, there's value in going to MGH also. Also, I've heard time and time again that it isn't as medical as people make it out to be. They're more balanced than that. Going for medical slp, you have to keep that in mind too. I've heard there's a lot of focus on literacy in the first year.

Hey, I'm not too sure about the literacy focus at MGH either. I guess I really don't mind but I also prefer adult neurogenic, voice and fluency over literacy. I have a very strong interest in medical slp, but I don't want to rule out pediatrics yet. ...Back to square one. I really like the actual courses offered at NYMC - they seem to be heavy on the medical stuff and their classes are very practical in terms of management of patients, use of instrumentation, and applications but they don't offer any clinical sites at any general hospitals. MGH seems to have a greater balance (which is good in that I'll get to see some of the school stuff too) but actually I feel like I might be better prepared for medical at NYMC. But at the same time, I don't want to rule out the school setting if I do end up having an interest in it. What if I go to such a medically focused program only to find out that I'd prefer the school setting (Although, at this point, I think I'm about 80% sure about medical speech). I've heard that NYMC students might have trouble finding school work (i don't know how true this is since I heard this second hand). But since medical slp is so hard to get into, I feel like I need really great placements and good classes. MGH can offer those placements but maybe not as many of the classes... I think for me, what it's now coming down to is whether the classes are more important to me or the placements...and of those, which is more important in terms of getting hired. I think I'd have less of a hard time choosing if I had more balanced preferences.

I don't know but they'll probably provide more information during the accepted student's open house. BTW, something I thought I should mention in case people are reading this and not actually posting...While MGH does have great affiliations, many of those affiliations can also be found in other Boston schools. It's not that those affiliations are exclusive to MGH, in case you guys are getting the wrong idea. Also, MGH is not as medically focused as many might think but they offer a specialty track in medical slp. Just like they offer specialty tracks in voice, autism, among others.

Hey, thanks a bunch! I also found something about interstate reciprocity. There was apparently an existing post about it already. Sorry! Here's the link if any of you are interested.