moosemoose

Google WRGP and check out their website, there are a number of schools that offer in-state tuition to students from the western region. This won't be much help to anyone from the midwest or back east, however.

The deadline is April 15th.

While I'm sure it's somewhat different with a graduate program, I went to a school with a quarter-based system for undergrad and loved it. If I didn't like a particular class I wasn't stuck with it as long. I never felt overwhelmed by the pace. This honestly wasn't something I even thought to consider when choosing a graduate program.

I'm most likely going to accept my offer, just have to psych myself up to actually pull the trigger and do it. Sorry I couldn't give you better news! I'd be surprised if no one declined, though, so I wouldn't give up hope yet.

I got an email a while ago from Utah State University about their Listening and Spoken Language program; I'm not sure if it's an optional emphasis for SLP graduate students or if they've separated it into a separate degree program. Here's the website: http://www.lsl.usu.edu/ If you poke around there you should be able to find some more information. Hope this helps!

Thanks ruby, I sent you a PM

So how was the open house? Did you get a chance to check out the town at all while you were there?

Congrats, so happy for you!

I did apply to SDSU and CSU Chico, but I pretty much felt like most of the CA public schools (wasn't interested in private school tuition) would be a waste of application fees given how absurdly competitive they seem to be. Between looking at number of applicants vs number accepted and hearing that a number of the CSU's seem to heavily favor their own undergraduates in the admissions process, I decided it would be better for me to focus my energy elsewhere. I'm also interested in settling outside of California in the long run, so that played into it as well.

Assuming you're a California resident, there are a number of schools that you'd be eligible for in-state tuition at through the WRGP program. Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Utah State, CU Boulder, University of Northern Colorado, and maybe a few others I'm forgetting offer it to students coming for SLP master's programs. Definitely something worth looking into; the ability to get in-state tuition had a huge influence on where I applied (as my signature shows, lol).

I interviewed with them yesterday and was also a little bemused that they're doing these so close to the deadline.

I would think the loss of a year of career earnings would negate any money you'd be able to save up in a year of working.

I don't have any experience with Longwood, but I believe USU is currently $290 per credit hour for out-of-state online students.

If your undergrad is already in CSD, or you have already taken all of the commonly required CSD prerequisites, I don't know that a post-bac would be much good. As far as improving your writing score goes, I cannot recommend Magoosh enough. It's an online prep service that I used, and I feel that it really helped me with the writing portion especially. It essentially teaches you the framework of how to structure the essays in the way the GRE graders are looking for. On my test day it was so easy to just read the prompt, come up with 3/4 main points, and plug them into the framework Magoosh teaches.

I'd be interested to hear what current students have to say about the program regarding their clinical placements and whether they feel prepared/competent by the end of the program. Have fun!

Yeah, I've been talking to admissions & financial aid about this. Worried I'm making something of a nuisance of myself at this point to be honest! A financial aid counselor told me today that I'm eligible for loans so it shouldn't be a problem. I'm just having trouble shaking this paranoia about committing to the program without having officially been authorized for/awarded loans beforehand. I've seen a few other people mention that their schools don't offer any aid until after you've accepted their offer, so I guess it's not totally out of the ordinary. Just makes me really nervous!

It looks like graduate students are eligible for Perkins loans (up to a maximum of $8,000 per year), but I don't know how common it is for them to be awarded. I think most people are offered federal direct loans, which can be forgiven under the PSLF program Loonybean mentioned. I've got my own funding/aid question that I thought I'd throw out there: What does everyone think about accepting an offer of admission before being awarded any financial aid? I just learned that one of the schools I've been accepted to only awards aid to those who have accepted the offer of admission and are classified as fully matriculated students. This is in contrast to another of my schools which offered me admission and then followed up a few weeks later with information about the federal loans I'm being offered for the year. As far as I can tell there's really not a situation in which you wouldn't be offered federal loans given you meet the basic requirements, but I'm really having a hard time with the idea of essentially accepting the offer in blind faith without being 100% sure that I'll be able to pay for it. To make matters worse, they don't announce funding until late April, after the April 15th deadline for accepting offers has passed. I'm just getting hung up on this worst case scenario where I accept the offer, the April 15th deadline passes, and then for some reason am NOT offered any loans and am left up a creek without a paddle. Thoughts? Reassurances? Would it be crazy to accept an offer without hearing about loan money first?

How expensive is "extremely expensive?" I would try and come up with an estimate of your total cost for each program, including tuition, rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, healthcare, etc. Then look at what the monthly payments on that kind of debt are (I used this website: https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action ) Depending on what area of the field (medical vs schools) you want to go into, do you think those are payments you can handle for the next ~10 years? If yes, then go for it! If no, I'd maybe take another look at the more affordable option. I used this method to rule out Ithaca College for myself; while I was very interested in their program I just wasn't comfortable with the amount of debt I would have to take on given that I plan to work in the public school system. Hope you find this helpful!

Sounds good! Better to be slightly over-dressed than under-dressed, in my opinion.

I might want to grill you about the open house! I wish I could go, but I'd be traveling from several states away and ultimately feel like the cost of gas/lodging/etc just doesn't make sense given upcoming moving expenses. I'd mostly be interested to see the general vibe of the program, what the facilities are like, and to talk to current students and professors about whether the program is more clinical/practical or research/theoretical in focus. Also curious about opportunities for elective courses and how clinical placements work; I've heard that some students end up doing placements a ways away from Logan because of a lack of local sites.

I'm going to be living by myself. I really value having my own space where I don't have to worry about someone's dirty dishes in the sink, can lounge around in my pajamas all weekend if desired, etc. I know some people like having roommates for the financial benefits or to prevent feeling too isolated. Have you lived on your own before?

I was accepted and will mostly like be attending, barring an offer of significant funding from another school. Would love to talk to anyone else who plans on attending! Good luck with the wait list pbschutte, I'm sure there are some people who were accepted who will end up going to other schools so you might have a good chance!

Seems like funding/cost of tuition is a big thing for everyone. Would be nice if that was something we didn't have to worry about and could instead choose based solely on the merits of the programs!

I feel you! Private school tuition is crazy. I'd never even thought about study abroad for SLP! What kinds of places would you be able to go? Would you be taking courses at a foreign university or doing practica?

I haven't, never even been to Utah in fact. In general I much prefer suburbs/rural areas to large cities, so I feel like Logan might be a better fit for me than a big city like San Diego. If you're from Utah, do you know anything about the reputation of the program? I definitely feel like squeezing in whatever visits you can would be worthwhile, sometimes things are completely different from how they sound on paper!