phaedra
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Posts posted by phaedra
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I am in a similar situation as you. I do go to a university that's ranked in the top 30 of the world. I'm not sure if grad admissions take a college's ranking into account when assessing GPA? Can anyone answer this?
I wan't expecting them to pay attention to my undergrad school, but I go to an Ivy League school and almost all of the grad schools I applied to remarked specifically on this in interviews, phone calls, etc.: "You should be so prepared coming from XXX school," "The grad school course work should be easy for you coming from XXX," "We try to make exceptions for students with your background," etc. etc. So I do think big names stand out and they realize differences in difficulty of coursework between schools. However, my GPA is still pretty high, and I know they still are really GPA focused so I really can't answer your question with any certainty.
My recommendation would be to apply to the schools that would be more likely to appreciate a top undergrad school because they are one themselves, e.g. Northwestern, NYU, Columbia (though Columbia has a very low acceptance rate so maybe not that one). So more "snooty" schools lol, rather than the state ones. This was my plan when I was worried about coming out with a lower GPA. And then go rock the GRE! Good luck!
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Has anyone spoke with the financial aid and tuition offices at their future school and received little to no help?
When I called both schools I was accepted to to discuss how much tuition for the whole program would be, they lead me to their online websites.
It's just very frustrating trying to get a close to exact budget for the next two years without any help from these schools. I understand tuition will rise, but it infuriates me that they don't even have a sample budget for speech-language pathology students from the previous year.
Any suggestions on what to do?
Just needed to vent a little!
I also went through this, and found it very frustrating. It's not as easy as it seems to just look at the tuition webpage - because you need to know how many credits you take each semester because rates can differ based on that, and then the total credits, summer courses which are often at a different rate... one of my schools had mandatory J-Term (January term) courses also at another rate. I don't have any great suggestions as to what to do, other than to dig for information and calculate the total cost yourself. If a school could not give me an estimate, I tried to find a sample "course of study" for the program, and then calculated tuition and fees for each semester based on that.
I think it's a little sad when programs cannot provide an estimate of the total cost; it shows they are a little out of touch with their students' experience.
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I plan to apply for a graduate/research assistantship position at the school I'm going to (MGH), as they've said they'll send out the application in the summer. The position is about 6 hours per week which I think will be manageable. I think it will be much easier to have a job within the program, because they will be understanding of your need to be flexible for clinical placements and classes.
I did some weekend babysitting in undergrad and it was more trouble than it was worth. Getting references, sending out cover letters and resumes, interviewing with each family - only for them to have me to babysit one night every month or two, and they all petered out pretty quickly. I still babysit occasionally for people I know personally, but I won't know anyone where I'm going.
I also want to have my weekends and nights free in grad school because I'll probably be single by then and want to start dating again, and generally have a social life. I've also just worked so many part time jobs by now that pay so little - it just doesn't seem worth it anymore since I'm confident I get can get a good job after grad school in this field. I'd rather take out a few more thousand in loans than waste time at another $9/hour job. But I'm lucky enough that I won't have to take out many loans anyway.
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Thanks for the support everyone! I guess it's a bigger deal than I thought. I don't know how I missed this when I was researching where to apply. This is Worcester State for anyone who can't guess based off my signature, haha. I am wondering if the explanation is that these students finished the program later than expected, rather than just dropping out. Some schools include those students separately when they list their stats, but Worcester didn't have a column for that. The Praxis pass rates and employment rates are all spot-on, 100%.
What I also find strange is that the program is super-competitive numbers-wise, accepting only around 16% of people. So they get a fair number of applicants. Probably because it's super inexpensive. But I have not been able to find any chatter about it on here. Where are all the Worcester applicants??
I will report on what I here from the open house, for those who are curious and for any prospective applicants reading this forum.
Just in case anyone is reading this and wondering, I did end up asking about the graduation rate at the open house - the director seemed offended and didn't really want to give me an answer, but she did say that some students dropped out because they decided the field wasn't for them, others for personal reasons, and others because Worcester has strict clinical/academic requirements and some students were not up to par, so they had to be dismissed.
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Hey, I've some posts on here recently about Worcester that were... memorable.
There was some conversation about their graduation rate:
and here's some info from someone who attended an open house event:
Lol, OP, it was me who made those posts. Sorry bindlestiff, I accidentally downvoted your post and don't know how to undo it. I deleted my post about the open house because I wrote it right afterward when I was very frustrated and it was a bit rant-y, but overall I did not get a good feeling about the program. I would be happy to go into more details over PM. I think one important thing to keep in mind that I was not aware of when I applied (it is not advertised on the website, which only says "two full years including summers") is that you wouldn't graduate until Dec. 2017, even if you enter with all prereqs completed. So you have three more semesters than most schools - the short summer 2015, then summer 2017, and fall 2017.
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For others posting their decisions, what was the deciding factor(s) for you? Mind saying whether you're moving and how far away?
I already touched on my deciding factors, but yup, I'll be moving. Not very far at all - I'm living in Rhode Island for undergrad right now and my family is from southeastern Mass, but I'll be getting an apartment in/around Boston. Not nearly as exciting as your 8 hour move but still overwhelming for me to move to the city!
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- MGH Institute of Health Professions (MGH-IHP)
- MGH SLP 2017
- Closed group, I'm not the admin, but request to join
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/602558709878464/
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Going to try to revitalize this thread! I made my final decision today: MGH-IHP. Here's how my decision process went: I was accepted to 8 out of 10 schools. Three of them offered me a scholarship: MGH, University of Rhode Island, and University of New Hampshire. Worcester State was cheaper than those even without a scholarship. So I threw out the four most expensive (Northeastern, University of Vermont, University of Connecticut, and Southern Connecticut). I visited Worcester State and did not like the attitude of the director, and I decided to throw out UNH since URI was cheaper and closer. I really liked URI when I visited - everyone was friendly and it seemed very supportive. But I visited MGH today and was so impressed - it is just a higher quality program with more opportunities and felt much more organized than URI, and I like the location better. I felt that it would be worth the extra $20K it's going to cost me.
So, that's my decision. Very happy I made it this early and this easily. Anyone else?
- jettip, twinguy7 and bindlestiff
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Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of any schools that offer in-state tuition to out-of-state applicants?
Worcester State (in Mass) has one tuition rate for both in state and out of state - it's only about $14,800 total in tuition and fees for the program. However I just visited and got a bad vibe, so have crossed it off my list.
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I think you're completely right about the ranking, that was more of a personal view point that takes into consideration that research is a factor I probably consider more heavily than most. As mentioned above, I think it's a solid program. I guess essentially all programs theoretically SHOULD be really solid, even the lowest ranked program, because of the pretty stringent requirements ASHA has for accreditation. I think graduating from any program should give you pretty equal job placement opportunities based upon the fact all programs report almost 100% employment. Given that fact, I'd be completely lying to say there's not a bit of pure vanity in my wanting to go to a school that has a "high ranking". While I do think the rankings a rough but good idea of programs' strengths, the system used is pretty non scientific anyways. I'm pretty sure it just a survey sent out the professors, so it needs to be taken to a grain of salt.
I'm from New Jersey, so I applied to a lot of programs on the east coast, but I'm actually leaning more towards programs further away. So far, I've gotten good news from Northeastern, UConn, Hofstra (NJ), and Montclair (NJ), Utah State University, and Purdue (IN). I'm pretty sure it's between USU (just finishing my post bacc there) and Purdue for me. Northeastern and Hofstra are just a little too big and expensive for me, and Montclair is a little too close to home lol. UConn seemed interesting, but they basically said there is no chance of funding for students (from the department at least, no idea about outside sources) and (just from my personal correspondence) haven't seemed overly receptive to visits (ie, no open houses for admitted students, I emailed the director and got a nice but kindof distracted type of response). Still, it's probably a great program for some, but I have good fortune of being able to be a little picky with programs. (The deeper I get into this process, the more I realized how lucky/spoiled I've been with being accepted. The first two responses I got were rejections, and I panicked, but since then it's been very rewarding).
Haha, I think I'm so glad I had not idea how stressful this process was before I started it, else I might never have dared try to go through it. How about you? Wishing you the best!
I am also lucky enough to be picky so I've narrowed it down to the schools that gave me funding/were super cheap: MGH, University of Rhode Island and Worcester State. I'm from Mass and am in undergrad in RI right now and wanted to stay close. But can't decide whether I want a rural or urban environment. Even with funding there's still a $30,000 difference between MGH and Worcester, not including cost of living... The rankings also eat at me. I'm not sure how I can turn down a #25 school for a #154 or #181 even though I don't think I'm interested in research. I'm so torn...
I realize we are hijacking this Northeastern thread right now, so I'll stop there... good luck to you!
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Hope that helps people, just my personal impressions, please correct me if anything is wrong.
Thanks for the insight! I would just say the ranking is relatively high at #52 rather than "lower mid level"... but I guess that depends on what schools you're comparing it to, as the other Boston schools are higher.
What other schools are you considering, Lyra?
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To the people who heard back from and were accepted to Worcester State... When did you hear back?? I applied here as well and have not heard from them yet! I am getting very antsy since I saw a few others post on the result page about hearing back from them as well. I was also unaware about the graduation rate... hmm.
I received my acceptance via email on March 3.
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Just saw on the portal that I was accepted! Yay!
Has anyone heard about funding or know how the process works there?
When I asked over email, Dr. O'Neil said funding decisions would start late March/early April and continue throughout the summer. However, when I visited at the open house last weekend, she basically said that they only give funding to people once they have committed to going there. So, perhaps if you accept the offer by late March, you could hear as early as then. One of the grad students there said she heard in the summer that she would receive a scholarship. Dr. O'Neil said they don't want to give scholarships to people who will end up turning down the offer since that money is "wasted" (I think this philosophy is a little silly, as you could just redistribute the money). She said that Northeastern is not unusual in this and a lot of grad programs do it this way (which I personally haven't found that to be the case at least for the schools I applied to). She also stressed that they spread the money around by giving small amounts of money to a larger amount of people (maybe 25% of the class? I don't remember), rather than large amounts to only a few people.
This is for the departmental scholarships. I think it may be possible to hear about a scholarship from the general graduate school (I know there are some available) before committing, though I don't know for sure. However, I basically have crossed Northeastern off my list, because while I think it is a great program, I've gotten funding elsewhere, so I don't think it would make much sense to take a gamble on it.
Anyone else who was at the open house, please chime in if I've made an error, I was a little confused by it all!
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Phaedra, thank you so much for your response. Congratulations on all your acceptances!
My fingers and toes are crossed at this point. I knew when I applied that the program is competitive and very small. I've heard really good things about it and know someone who just graduated that absolutely loved it.She said everyone is so supportive and helpful. I really have my heart set on it. If I don't get in this round I will definitely reapply. I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because I would have to take pretty much all the pre-reqs since I wasn't a COMD major in undergrad. On the other hand, I have a strong GPA and I'm about to complete another master's degree in May. At the end of the day I'm just hoping for the best!
I hope you make the right decision for you. I've heard/read great things about MGH. You just have to weigh all the pros and cons and do what makes sense for your situation.
Thank you! Do you have any other specific feedback on the program from your friend? Was URI the only school you applied to?
My undergrad major is not COMD either, but I took all the prereqs before I applied. They do seem accommodating to non-major students.
Good luck!
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Hi everyone,
This is my first post. I discovered this forum right around applications were due and have been lurking for a while.
I applied to URI for fall 2015 and am waiting to hear back. I saw on the results page some people have been accepted. While I am happy for them, it makes me anxious since I have yet to hear anything myself!
I was wondering if anyone else that applied to URI might have feedback or any information at all. I would be so grateful.
I found out I was accepted to URI on Saturday. In the email they asked whether I had already committed to another school, so that they could offer the spot to someone else if that was the case. So I think there is still a chance for you to get in. The program is very small (15 students per class) so my guess is that they have to be more cautious than other schools in how many people they accept. If a school that is aiming for 60 students per class gets 5 more people accepting their offer than they expected, it's not the end of the world, but if a school aims for a class size of 15 students and they get 5 extra accepting, it would be more difficult for them to accommodate them. So I have a hunch URI is giving out acceptances in waves.
I am pretty evenly divided between URI and MGH right now, as I got scholarships at both. URI would be cheaper (inclusing cost of living) and closer to where I live now, and the small class size is a plus, but MGH is more prestigious and everyone is telling me I should go there. So I'm pretty split right now. I am visiting both next week and have to see which environment, both inside the school and suburb vs. city, I like better.
I will say that the department chair at URI has been EXTREMELY friendly and helpful: very responsive with email, has answered all my questions on the phone and set up a personal visit with me at the school. So it really seems like a great program that will be very supportive.
Good luck, hope you hear good news!
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Excuse my ignorance, but how would one know which schools even offer funding? Is it typically only private schools or big name schools? Or would even state schools have some fellowship/scholarship funding available? (applying this Fall)
I think private schools more often have scholarships - I know the 4 I applied to do (MGH, Northeastern, BU and Emerson, though I didn't get it at all of them), but state schools do too - I got substantial scholarships at 2 (as an out-of state student). There have been two state schools that have told me point-blank that they have no departmental merit scholarships due to budget issues (however the general graduate college may still give very small scholarships). I have also been offered graduate research assistantships at several state schools.
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Wow congrats! I also was accepted a few weeks ago but no word on funding today. I was hoping I would get something because it is a very expensive program. I did get funding from Emerson though so I am still happy about that! Also I understand your wanting to go to MGH! That is my dream school but unfortunately it is out of my budget unless I got a scholarship. It is an amazing program! I am sure you will have a ton of success no matter which school you choose though!
Thanks and congratulations on your acceptances and funding at Emerson! Funny how our acceptances/funding are kind of flip-flopped, haha - I didn't even get into Emerson! I guess the schools are all looking for different things.
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Two questions:
1. Has anyone else gotten waitlisted at Emerson? I feel like I'm the only one I've seen so far
2. Does anyone know anything about how the waitlist has been in previous years and whether people have been accepted off of it? It's my top choice and I just want to know whether I have reason to hope or not
Thanks guys
No idea how many people are accepted off the waitlist, but I'm also on it. It seems pretty long to me, based on the number of posts on the results forum. It also seems to me that everyone who interviewed at least got waitlisted. I accepted my spot on the waitlist for now, but I think I'll be declining it soon, as I have gotten funding at some other schools, so it wouldn't really make sense for me to go to Emerson even if I got in. Good luck!
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Hi! I was accepted to UNH a couple weeks ago and received an email today that I would be receiving a 50% scholarship (full tuition for the first year). Very excited and grateful. However, I'm just not sure if I want to live up there. I also got into MGH with a scholarship and was really leaning toward there. But I think I will go visit UNH on my spring break. What about you?
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So I know that there's been a first wave of Emerson acceptances already but I haven't heard anything (and I interviewed back in February). Does anyone know whether this is a good or bad sign?
Someone on the results page said they called Emerson and they said all the acceptances have been handed out, and now they are deciding who is on the waitlist and who is rejected. So we take that to be true, then we're out of luck. But some rejections have gone out already, and no waitlists have shown up on the results - so we may be getting waitlisted.
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I agree, as you know I haven't decided for sure yet but would like to join.
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No idea. I didn't have the stats to award me one, so I didn't even ask. I would email Dr. O'Neil. She is almost frighteningly responsive (she responded to me late at night on a Saturday when I had questions before attending). But I say go where the money is. Especially if you like MGH equally.
Okay thanks, I'll contact her.
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Hi AlreadySLP,
Thanks so much for the detailed information. I was wondering if you knew how scholarships work at Northeastern. Are there any offered at all? How common are they and how much are they typically for? Do students find out at the time of admission, or after?
I was offered a large scholarship at MGH, so unless Northeastern offers a similar one, I will most likely not be going, even though it seems like a great program.
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same here hahaha. MGH gave me alot of problems anyway and its too expensive for me as well! hahah.
Could you elaborate on what problems MGH gave you? I am strongly considering going there now and am curious. Thank you.
Getting into graduate school with a low gpa
in Speech-Language Pathology Forum
Posted
Well, in my personal experience, my classes at my undergrad have been more rigorous than the prereqs for speech I took elsewhere. Based purely on my grades - I got a 100% average in every speech prereq I took with not a huge amount of effort. One reason why there may seem to be grade inflation in Ivies is that the academic caliber of students there is higher overall. If all students are performing at such a high level, one school is that they all deserve As, rather than scaling down the A- students to a C to make a perfect curve.
But you're right, it is not easy to compare classes between universities, and many non-Ivies have similar, if not harder, classes but do not have the same reputation. It is not a perfect science by any means. So I agree that LORs and SOPs are helpful, but those are hard to directly compare too as you cannot quantify them. And I think most LORs are pretty positive.
So that's where the GRE comes in - to compare academic skills in students whose undergrad schools may differ in grading/rigor. Of course the GRE has its problems as well, but overall I think it is an important "equalizer."