SpeechieM

Haha hang on I'm going to message you about this!

I'm in the exact position. I got into a pretty prestigious program (NYU) after accepting a much cheaper in state school. But I ended up deciding to stay with the cheaper school because I really did feel like my education there would be great and I couldn't value my experience at NYU at another $30-$40k. To me I'd rather be able to buy a house one day than say I went to NYU and be in debt for the rest of my life. But thats a personal call to make. Whatever feels right, go with your instinct!

I received an offer from NYU off the wait list on April 20th but I just rejected it for financial reasons (hitting that decline button was incredibly painful). Hopefully someone else benefits from it though!

@courtney1I heard they are going to the waitlist this year! I decided to attend and they haven't sent out info abut GA positions because they're finalizing from the waitlist first (so I've heard), good luck!

I think it's really up to you. Money has definitely played a huge role in my decision to attend Montclair but I don't feel like I'm settling at all. It's a great school with a fantastic clinic and I don't think any of us will struggle finding a job. I actually got off the waitlist for NYU this week but going from a 40k tuition to 85k isn't justifiable to me so I think I'm going to have to (painfully) reject my offer there and stick with my decision of Montclair.

Everyone was really friendly throughout the whole process! I feel like they do look at everyones application holistically but I don't really have any evidence to back that up other than the fact that they actually reserve about half of their acceptances for out of fielders or those "without a background". I also disagree that you're not a strong candidate, I think based on what you've told us you are a very strong candidate with great experience! If you want reference, I'm going in with a Speech background and my GPA is 3.86 and my GRE scores were 154V 152Q. Although it's not as high ranked as Pitt, I actually decided to attend Montclair if that says anything about how much I like the program!

I'm not sure if you've thought about the financial aspect of your applications yet but applying to 18 schools is going to be INCREDIBLY expensive (each application ranges from ~$60-120). I really recommend you go through your list and start trying to picture yourself at each of the schools. I was able to eliminate a lot of choices by only applying to schools that I could ACTUALLY see myself attending. Maybe start scheduling visits and tours. Trust me you're not going to want to write 18 different essays and go through the process that many times, even if some are on CSDCAS. Also, out of the schools you listed I applied to Columbia, NYU, Montclair, and the University of Pittsburgh so if you want any specific info on those schools and how the process was, let me know (I was accepted to University of Pittsburgh and Montclair, waitlisted to NYU, and rejected to Columbia).

Montclair State University: https://www.facebook.com/groups/518557068323955/

Here's the group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/518557068323955/

Are there any areas that surround the Bloomfield Montclair area that we should avoid? I know its fairly close to Newark so I want to make sure I'm not looking in any bad areas

@rzilby @slp594 I'm going to try to make the facebook group but I think I need to have at least more than one person to add to make it. If you guys want to private message me a link to your facebook I'll add you so I can try to make the group!

I was at the tour too! I will also be moving to the Montclair area instead of commuting. My house is about an hour from the campus but I think commuting would drive me crazy. I can't really provide any info on housing but I've also been struggling to find apartments in the area that are reasonably priced.. many are over 2k/month for a 2 bedroom. Montclair is so expensive

So does anyone know what the next steps are? I got my confirmation letter that they received my deposit and it said the same thing as the acceptance letter about looking at the Montclair website for information about what to do next but I don't see much info

I was accepted to Montclair but they didn't indicate to accepted students either how many applied or were placed on the waitlist. Based on ASHA EdFind they generally get about 500 applications and give about 60 offers for a target of 34 spots. I know this isn't super helpful but those are general admissions statistics in case you haven't seen them yet! I hope you end up getting an offer from them!! Good luck!!

Yes my undergrad is in CSD. I'm still not sure if that hurt or help me in the process. The best advice I can give is for you to just put your all into your application. Study a lot for the GREs cause if it does nothing else, higher scores will help you get funding (thats what most merit scholarships are based off of). Although I am disappointed that I didn't get into every school I applied to, I know that I really did everything I could to make the strongest application possible for myself. So I have no regrets and I am very excited to attend the school I ended up choosing!! I think if you approach it with the same attitude you'll end up somewhere