racoomelon

This almost sucks as much as waiting to hear back about acceptance! They have to notify us relatively soon, I'd think. The deadline to accept or decline admission offers is coming up, so I feel like any funding offers after March is going to be pushing it.

I think another big thing to consider after you've graduated and have those lovely loans to pay off is cost of living. The town I'm in has a super low cost of living, so living here on a salary of 52k and paying off a loan would be more reasonable than, say, living on the East Coast and trying to do it.

I'm living in Tucson right now! The house my two roommates and I live in is 450 a month, but ~500 or so with utilities. Our house is fully furnished and we live by the major bike lane that leads directly to campus. I lived about 30 minutes driving from campus my sophomore year and the rent was around 380 for a four bed / four bath, full furnished apartment (that was hell to deal with). We only paid for internet and electricity there. Then during my junior year I lived within walking distance of campus. We had a two bed / 2.5 bath condo that was fully furnished (a trend you might be noticing) and paid for electricity and internet. It was $400 for each of us, but we were two to a bedroom. So I would say that was by far the most expensive housing-- if we weren't willing to share a bedroom it would have been ridiculously pricey.

@Curlylets I don't think you'll have a problem finding a job, but someone else might have a different opinion. From what I've seen, most schools report a 100% hiring rate out of the program and a lot of schools need SLPs. There are a few loan forgiveness options for rural or Title I school districts because these districts have such a hard time finding SLPs to employ.

I already asked a few questions, but I thought I'd put them out here so other people can benefit! (I also had some additional questions that I've thought of, so I have ulterior motives.) Sorry in advance for the slew of questions! 1) What are the funding opportunities like and do they offer very many? Do they typically offer MS students TA positions or GA positions? Also, if I were to find a GA position with another department (like the bookstore), would I feasibly be able to put in 20 or so hours for that position? 2) I expressed an interest in phonological disorders in children as well as bilingual language acquisition, which I'm still very interested in. However, I also enjoy learning about neurogenic language disorders and I might work better with adults than with kids. Is it possible for me to get placements in both areas? 3) How big of a role do faculty advisors play? If I chose one who has different research interests than my own, should I switch to a professor whose interests line up with mine? 4) This is along the lines of #1, but are you able to work part-time in this program? And if so, how many hours would you say you're able to put in? And I think that's it!

Is anyone else waiting to hear back about funding for one of their programs?

One of my professors recommend that I take audiology over the summer (due to pre req restrictions, I wasn't able to take it as an out of field undergrad). I was also hoping to take a basic chemistry course at a community college this summer. For those of you who have taken the online audiology course, do you think that taking both at the same time would be a bad idea?

Ah! Okay, that makes me feel better. Some of the programs make it seem like it's physically impossible to work a job while you're in them.

I got an email saying I got into the program at University of Arizona!!!

Is anyone else looking at estimates for attendance and internally sobbing / laughing hysterically? Add in cost of living and I'm not sure that I'll have any spare money once the program starts. Plus, I'm pretty sure it would be next to impossible to work while completing the MS program. My mom was right about saving for grad school (I still do not regret my impulse purchases... yet ). I know SLPs make decent money, but I'm wondering when the loan becomes too big of a loan-- if that makes any sense. I have one program that's going to be super cheap, even with the ridiculous cost of living for the area, but it's not my favorite school. And my top program choice (that I have yet to hear back from) could potentially be the most expensive program. Thoughts?

If it's any help, Arizona isn't going to respond until the end of this week at the earliest! They're still working through applications.

That's a good point. It's hard to keep that in mind, but it does put a more positive spin on things!

Right? It's not like we're stressed enough-- notifying the applicants in waves seems like a cruel and unusual punishment.

They're probably still going through applicants or something! I bet they're going to wait to send out a mass email until they've finished the decisions. I wouldn't worry about it!

A few people were posting on the results board about getting into UT.

I got an email from UNM today! I need to ask them about in-state tuition or the possibility thereof. Is there a polite way to do this? (Also, this good news came at a price-- I just found out the house my roommates and I are renting has termites. So I have a lot of mixed feelings right now, but can safely say I'm glad I got into UNM AND we don't have a scorpion infestation.)

This is just a personal anecdote that might be of interest. One of my professors mentioned that most programs want to increase diversity (some even have boards or committees dedicated to outreach towards minorities). But-- and I don't understand all of this or know the particulars-- she told my class that in our state (AZ), universities aren't supposed to look at ethnicity or race during application processes. The state doesn't follow affirmative action, so they prevent it by telling admissions that they aren't allowed to look at race/ethnicity when choosing candidates. Again, I don't know if this is actually the case or if I misunderstood her (though I doubt it's the latter). I know I had to fill out my ethnicity on the application for the two Arizona schools I applied to. But Arizona is well-known for doing things along the lines of what my professor described, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do have some rule like that in place. I just thought that might be interesting!

I think Redlands sends out admission decisions the last week of March. At least that's what they did last year. So I wouldn't expect anything for another week or two.

UNM sent out interviews a few weeks ago, and the program director told me they're sending out admissions decisions later this week. I don't know about the other two, though!

I think @speechie94 means more that some of the people accepted are well below average-- low enough that you wouldn't expect the school to accept them. I kind of take it as they have something else that compensates for the score. It seems like most schools have a cut-off for GPA and GRE, but it varies by school and it's possible that the applicants were able to slip past the cut-off because they evened out in some other area (e.g., they got a 145 Q but a 167 V). That might be enough for the schools not to immediately overlook them. I'm still surprised when I look on ASHA and see low scores of any sort for a program with low acceptance rates -- that doesn't add up to me.

For those of you interested in the program at University of New Mexico, I emailed them to see when they'll send out results. Pearl told me offers should be made sometime next week. I'm still waiting to hear back from Denise at Arizona!

@Gingiestrong @slptobe92 Thanks! I went ahead and emailed them. I don't know if they'll respond very quickly, but I feel better now! I wonder if there are just that many applicants this year. It seems like a ton of the schools are way behind schedule.

Guys, is it rude to email the program director to ask when we can expect to hear back? The program I'm interested in (Arizona) sent out an email last week letting us know that they were running behind, but I'm not sure how behind they are. I'd like a rough date so that I know when to expect the news. I'm getting so antsy it's not even funny.

I honestly don't know at this point anymore. I'm hearing a little bit of everything at this point and I'm not sure what to believe. If you hear anything, let me know. I might email Denise on Friday if we still haven't heard anything, just to make myself feel better. That picture is exactly how I feel.

@Gingiestrong I just saw your comment and YES. UA is taking way longer than is necessary. And I keep hearing a bunch of different things. Someone posted on the results board that UA is sending out results at the end of next week. But two people at the UA with me have said that they'll send out results by tomorrow. So I'm not sure. I just want to know before Spring Break.