[University of Arizona Fall 2016 Season]

Also, do you have any insights into how the recent and ongoing reduction in state funding for higher education in AZ has affected UA and the program?

[University of Arizona Fall 2016 Season]

How much do you and your peers pay for housing?

[Does School Ranking Really Matter?]

6 hours ago, Rorororosy said:

Your externship matters, the rotations you do matter and what you get yourself into. A degree will be a degree, its about networking and making sure you have the adequate experience, you'll just have to work a bit harder to make those connections but it can be done. I would say ranking matters if you're planning on getting a PhD. Otherwise you're going to get a job, its just like any degree. If you're pursuing a higher education it matters, otherwise your experience , your interview where you worked will matter. 

With regard to getting a PhD, I can offer my story. I went to a low-ranked school for my masters but I've been accepted to two top-5 speech-language-hearing sciences PhD programs. I think what made the difference for me were the strong connections I had with professors writing me letters and the fact that I wrote a thesis. So, don't despair if you plan on academia but pursue a masters at less prestigious institution. 

[How do you decide between programs?]

56 minutes ago, pterosaur said:

@glueear - does advisor's years of research count entirely as a pro or con? I've heard that a younger professor will devote more time to their students and focus on really getting publications out moreso than an older professor - you'll get more attention from them. Interesting list, though! I'll keep those things in mind.

Both of the advisors I am considering have a lot of experience - they both are full professors with at least 10 years post-PhD experience. The more experienced one has about eight years on the other, though, and I looked at that extra eight years as a measure of the size of their networks, and, indeed, it seemed to correlate with their students' end placements and performance. So, neither is 'young' but both seem to still have passion for their field and had current students who said they felt supported and attended to. In the end, the bulk of my decision is coming down to my judgments about their research programs - their cohesiveness, fit with my interests, use of interesting methods with a lot of room to grow, etc. - and the results of previous students because everything else was so evenly matched. Take this advice with a grain of salt, though: I might end up regretting my choice... we'll see!

[How do you decide between programs?]

I'm in the same position you are, having been admitted to four programs but only seriously considering two. Being a fan of tables, I made a pro-con chart that considers:

• location, including distance from friends/family
• cost of living
• availability/cost of housing near campus
• program ranking
• school ranking
• outcomes of conversations with current students
• how well advisors' methods match my research interests
• my impression of how well-defined and cumulative the advisors' lines of research are
• advisors' years of experience, number of publications/citations
• number of students advisor has had in the past, including their outcomes (types of institutions they end up at, # of publications / year, # citations / year after graduation)
• funding
• my impression of advisors' personalities
• overall culture of the program

With that chart in hand, what was a difficult and anxious decision now seems obvious!

[Keep A Word Drop A Word]

Tap root

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Crab people

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Red rockets

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Clean freak

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[Tell me why!]

Despite it being a lot of tough work, writing my master's thesis was academically one of my favorite experiences. I really enjoyed seeing it all come together and found it a remarkable feeling to be able to talk confidently about a subject and to have some information of my own to contribute. After graduating, I found work as a speech/language pathologist, and, although I do like my job, I quite miss the excitement of learning something new. Also, clinical practice is somewhat less quantitatively exact than I'm comfortable with and I'm eager to take a turn back to clearly defined problems and objective data.