SLPgradstudent

I think they just started sending out the first round of acceptances, if that, they usually just do a few, in the past they've had like a month to respond but I know that the date ing general is april. 15th to make a decision. 

FINALLY rejected from Vanderbilt today! Talk about waiting!
It's ok though; I've already committed to another offer.
My application season is officially OVER

Hey y'all! 
As the national date approaches it seems like a lot of people finally decided where they wanted to go! 
1. Why did you choose the program you're going to? What really sold it for you? 
2. How many schools did you apply to
3. If you haven't decided, what is going to be the factor that pushes you to decide? 
So exciting to see where everyone is ending up. 
I still have yet to hear back from 2 schools and have been waitlisted, I only applied to schools in DC area because my husband matched to residency there so I wasn't able to move anywhere, otherwise I would have applied all over the place! 
 
My number one choice is UMD. Hoping to get off the waitlist there but at this point with how competitive it seems to be ill take an acceptance anywhere! 
 

Congrats on getting in to these great schools. Since they are all top notch and will provide equally excellent educational experiences, it really depends on what you want to do in the next 2-5 years.
Hopkins is a fantastic school, very short program so you can get in and out (if that's what you want). The city is lovely, people may warn you of safety concerns but the medical campus is really secure. The city as a whole has been through some positive changes over the past few years. Great place to live and friendly people, although nothing compared to Boston or NYC. Program wise, it's fantastic, and you'll find yourself at home with a majority of medical practitioners in the MPH program (and tons from overseas). It's an inspiring place to be, and you can meet some equally inspiring people. I generally found that faculty were friendly and accessible. Close to DC, so a lot of faculty do policy work as well. Career-wise for your husband, what's his field? Like you said, might be an issue. But DC is close by train, so that's also an option. And again, you'll be out in 11 months. Most people don't really stay in Baltimore unless they want to stick with the academic or research side. Most will relocate to other cities on the east coast like Boston or NYC, or move to DC for policy or NGO work. So in that sense, Harvard or Columbia may be better for you.
I cannot speak to the Harvard or Columbia programs, but I think Harvard will have equally large number of medical practitioners in the MPH program (if not the majority, unless they changed the admission requirements), whereas Columbia will have less. That's neither good nor bad, since you may get the chance to meet people from different fields with different training.
Since your husband may find better opportunities in Boston or NYC (plus more income to carry the weight for these expensive programs), I would lean towards those schools, unless you had a specific reason for wanting to go to Hopkins (eg faculty, research). Reputation wise, I'm not sure there's a practical distinction between graduating from Harvard versus Hopkins. Your husband's quality of life is important too, and I think you should consider those factors, especially when the options are equally great. Again, it really depends what you want to do in the next few years, where you want to work, if you want to work with specific faculty or research programs, etc.
Also, if I were you, I would also ask the admissions office for student contacts and also seek out your own contacts via LinkedIn - see if you can get them on the phone or Skype for an informational interview and ask about their experiences and satisfaction with the program, quality of life, cost of living, career opportunities, etc.

Hi Everyone!
I haven't been active here because I've been traveling to the everywhere.
I officially accepted Delaware's offer yesterday!
Woo! It's finally all over! 

Having worked in this type of setting, I agree 1000%.  ABA works, but it's hard work.

I fostered dogs all throughout my undergrad, and when I move to grad school I'm going to foster cats instead. Much less maintenance, and you don't have to worry about walking them and letting them out. Plus fostering is an amazing experience, highly recommended!

See, as far as I know, no one has received funding decisions yet for my program.  At least that's the impression I was under, given the information provided in the various emails since I was accepted.  We'll see, I guess!

It does seem somewhat questionable, ethically. But I get the sense that the programs want to avoid sending out too many acceptance letters, and, seeing as how funding can make or break someone's decision, they might decide to give funding to someone they haven't heard back from so that they can try to secure them in the cohort.
On the other hand, funding tends to be merit-based, or at least for UA it is, so a program probably wouldn't penalize you for responding too soon. I think?

Hey everyone, I've seen a lot of people ask about facebook pages for schools both in this forum and on the results page, so I figured it was about time to make everyone's lives easier and compile them! If you know the facebook group for a school you are attending, are considering attending, or that you see on the results page, feel free to add it here 
 
University of Wisconsin, Whitewater https://www.facebook.com/groups/618086841671966/
University of South Carolina (Columbia) https://www.facebook.com/groups/UniversityofSouthCarolinaSLP2018/
University of Maryland https://www.facebook.com/groups/1705407893063905/
University of Central Florida https://m.facebook.com/groups/202133860145927
West Virginia University https://www.facebook.com/groups/203463806681664
Northern Arizona University (Summers Only) https://www.facebook.com/groups/246565302358048/
Pacific University (Oregon) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1000930926653703/

I think its too early for you to be thinking about your life choices. ALOT of people get off the waitlist and being waitlisted to 7 schools is really promising. I think you're doing everything right, I am 28, I thought I wanted to go to med school then didn't like that then thought maybe PA school but now and now I found SLP and I wonder why I ever wanted to do anything else!
People reapply up to 3 times, I think its still early and I hope that you get in somewhere! Everyone has a journey they have gone through to get here and you're not old at all! 
 

First of all, you are not too old to be entering this field.  I am 29, turning 30 this year, and I'll be starting in the fall.  So I've got a few years on you.    Also, a lot of the people I did my 2nd bachelor's with are switching careers, have families, are in their 30s, 40s, or even 50s.  If this is what you love, what you really want to do, then don't give up.  Also, my stats are in my signature, I don't have a stellar cumulative GPA either.  I agree with @Rorororosy & @SLPCeli, you're a competitive candidate with a good shot of getting in.  If you don't get in this year for some reason, I would give it at least one more round of applications.  Take a GRE prep class, spend the year boosting the aspects of your application that you aren't satisfied with yet.
Also, I worked at a therapeutic riding camp too!

First of all, you are not too old to be entering this field.  I am 29, turning 30 this year, and I'll be starting in the fall.  So I've got a few years on you.    Also, a lot of the people I did my 2nd bachelor's with are switching careers, have families, are in their 30s, 40s, or even 50s.  If this is what you love, what you really want to do, then don't give up.  Also, my stats are in my signature, I don't have a stellar cumulative GPA either.  I agree with @Rorororosy & @SLPCeli, you're a competitive candidate with a good shot of getting in.  If you don't get in this year for some reason, I would give it at least one more round of applications.  Take a GRE prep class, spend the year boosting the aspects of your application that you aren't satisfied with yet.
Also, I worked at a therapeutic riding camp too!

Nursing programs are actually facing very similar issues. You can have better pay and hours being a nurse rather than a professor, so people are tending to stay on the professional side.
Ironically, I think more people would be eager to be professors if they didn't have to worry about paying back their student loans.

@copaceticbroad Yes, professors in this field generally do need PhDs, according to the Standards for Accreditation.
http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/Accreditation-Standards-Graduate-Programs.pdf
This is for graduate programs, not undergraduate programs, but graduate programs need to have sufficient faculty with doctoral degrees in order to be accredited by ASHA.
2.1 All faculty members, including all individuals providing clinical education, are qualified and competent by virtue of their education, experience, and professional credentials to provide academic and clinical education assigned by the program.

...Academic content is to be taught by doctoral-level faculty except where there is a compelling rationale for instruction by an individual with other professional qualifications that satisfy institutional policy.
  2.2 The number of full-time doctoral-level faculty in speech-language pathology, audiology,and speech, language, and hearing sciences and other full-and part-time faculty is sufficient to meet the teaching, research, and service needs of the program and the expectations of the institution. The institution provides stable support and resources for the program's faculty.

...This number must include research-qualified faculty (e.g., PhDs). The program must document that the number of doctoral-level and other faculty is sufficient to offer the breadth and depth of the curriculum, including its scientific and research components, so that students can complete the requirements within a reasonable time period and achieve the expected knowledge and skills. In order for a program to be accredited by ASHA, they need to have doctoral faculty, and clinical doctorates do not meet the qualifications either. A PhD in another field is sometimes sufficient it seems, however. Some classes can be taught by professors without doctoral degrees, and ASHA doesn't regulate undergraduate/prereq instruction. The small number of programs is affected by the need to have sufficient PhD faculty on staff to get an accredited program, and there's a decent shortage of PhDs in our field. So yes, according to ASHA, you do need a PhD to teach this material. PhD faculty are experts in their fields. They're (regrettably) not always the best actual teachers, but they have a depth of knowledge about their fields/areas of study that others don't, even practicing SLPs.
One program I was accepted to last year was cited for non-compliance by ASHA for not having enough PhD faculty, and they were at risk of being put on probation for it because of the high number of graduate classes being taught by non-doctoral faculty. In my graduate program, all of my classes are taught by those with PhDs, except the ones that are directly about practicing, such as our on-campus practicums, and classes about providing services in the various environments.
Short version: Yes, the number of SLP graduate programs is directly affected by the number of PhDs in the field, and ASHA takes their standards for accreditation very seriously.

I'm going to UMD!  GWU is a wonderful program, but more expensive than UMD since I have in-state tuition.  I accepted my offer to UMD right away.  It's my dream school, and I am so excited to start this fall!

I'm really hoping that we'll hear back about funding this week!  It doesn't affect my decision, but I know a lot of people won't be able to make a decision until they know what the funding offer is.  I hope you get a great funding package from Dallas so you can have an easy decision!

You make a good point @Jolie717.  But I think we're far from becoming oversaturated.  It's nice for us now, since we've gotten into grad school and are on the way to those widely available jobs.  But I've heard many stories about way too heavy caseloads, and I think it's important to consider the needs of the populations we serve.  If they don't have access to services because there weren't enough SLPs to hire one for that area, they miss out.  Don't you think that's unfair to that child, or that stroke patient, etc.?  I think we can find a balance, and there's a way to let more SLPs enter the field without becoming completely oversaturated.  Because of the circumstances that have created this problem, I think we're a long ways off from creating the opposite problem.  There are too many factors involved.  What do you think?

This is the meatiest, most interesting discussion I've ever seen on Grad Cafe. I'm so proud of us.
In all seriousness, though, I think there does need to be a balance between increasing the number of schools providing the MA-SLP and oversaturating the field. SLP already has a reputation for being a stable, relatively well-paying career that people can transition into, which is one of the reasons I'm here in the first place. If you think about other fields where that have had this reputation - law is the first that comes to mind - a sudden and sharp increase in the number of schools didn't only devalue the degree. Suddenly there were lots of lawyers with limited experience, student debt, and poor preparation for the field, which is not a good combination. I think the fact that schools are focusing on providing quality education to future clinicians is a good thing. I do hope that programs are able to grow in the next couple of years, but only if that doesn't compromise the level of education that people are receiving, because, like @SLPgradstudent said, we need to consider the needs of the patients.

It's crazy how every year, grad school entrance is so insanely competitive and schools know that, and yet, the next year, they're overwhelmed/unprepared by how many applications they receive.  This year doesn't seem to be the exception, it seems to be the trend.  I think we should all commit, once we're all SLPs, to working to solve this problem we have of such a tiny bottleneck, for such an important field.  The need exists, the jobs exist, the grad school spots do not.  If we don't change things, who will, right?  (Or is this just my lack of sleep talking?)

I guess we will have to agree to disagree.  I can only say that my experience in UW-Eau Claire's online graduate program in CSD has been a fabulous experience, and I encourage others to give online learning respectful consideration.  It may not be for every student, but for those who cannot attend traditional, residential programs in CSD, it is an option.

Donald Trump, is that you?

You hit everything on the head!

Officially got my last letter, where I was wait listed to BGSU. But I went to Ohio University's accepted graduate student info session yesterday and was completely blown away. I really thought I would attempt Kent, but on Monday I will be sending in my acceptance agreement to Ohio University so I hope that helps anyone else on wait lists for BWU, KSU, or BGSU! So excited

It's crazy how every year, grad school entrance is so insanely competitive and schools know that, and yet, the next year, they're overwhelmed/unprepared by how many applications they receive.  This year doesn't seem to be the exception, it seems to be the trend.  I think we should all commit, once we're all SLPs, to working to solve this problem we have of such a tiny bottleneck, for such an important field.  The need exists, the jobs exist, the grad school spots do not.  If we don't change things, who will, right?  (Or is this just my lack of sleep talking?)