greenerpastures

Just saw this after I replied above. I don't think this matters, since universities are usually pretty sheltered from these things. That said, as an ex-PNWer who hears lots of stories from PNW friends, I think you're underestimating the problem of homelessness and resulting drugs and property crime in Seattle. Their mayor just declared a state of emergency due to the homeless problem and Seattle is the #1 city for property crime. Here's one article from a local paper.

Congrats, those are two great programs! After graduating with my M.S. and working for about ten years, I came to the realization that where you go to school doesn't matter anywhere near as much as I thought it did. There are bad schools, sure, but you'll get just about the same education at any of the top 100 or so schools. I realize this may surprise you -- it surprised me! I went to a very highly regarded school. I thought that was important. Since then, I've worked with colleagues from a few different schools, some in the top 20, others in the 50-100 range, and to be honest, there is very little correlation between school "rank" and quality of the SLPs they produce. The biggest correlation with SLP quality is social skills and attitude -- how well do you interact with your patients? While all top 100 schools do a great job teaching the science and theory, they don't do the greatest job of teaching interaction skills (it's hard to teach), and to be honest that's something that takes years to truly learn anyway. One thing I have noticed, however, is an increase in young folks (gah, I sound old) spending endless time stressing about tuition costs. Many of these kids volunteer at my clinic, they get accepted to a number of good schools, and once they're accepted, they believe they should go to the "best" (most highly ranked) school they were accepted to, but that school is often out-of-state and almost always the most expensive. Let me give you the same advice I give them: go to the cheapest top 100ish school that will take you. We are lucky enough to be in a field that has great salary prospects, at least in the long term, but why saddle yourself with unnecessary debt and anxiety? It's hard to avoid the draw of a top 5, top 10 school. Those numbers are marketing. Try to ignore them. Best of luck to you! In my experience, salary is determined primarily by your environment. Where are you working? (school, hospital, specialty clinic, etc) Everyone who works in a hospital makes roughly the same salary, no matter where they went to school. The MedSLP track is a great idea, but many schools don't (yet) have that track, and their students have no problems getting hired in hospital/medical settings. Did you do well in a top 100ish school? Are you a nice person with good social skills? If you can answer yes to both questions, you should have no problems finding a job in a medical setting. That said, if you plan on living in a specific city after graduation, you may have an easier time finding your first post-grad job if you go to school in that city. Schools often have local connections. That doesn't mean you won't find a job if you move after graduation -- you will -- only that you might have to look around a bit more. I don't have a PhD, so most of this advice comes second-hand Where you get your PhD certainly matters. Academia is enamored by rankings, unfortunately. However, I don't think it matters as much where you get your M.S. Wherever you go, make sure you get involved in research. That's what gets you into PhD programs as I understand it. It may actually be easier to get involved in research at mid-ranked schools as those schools may have fewer students interested in research. Less competition for you. Note also that the mid-ranked schools are usually staffed by professors who graduated from top-ranked schools, so even at the mid-ranked schools you will find professors that do great research. The PhD path is long and hard. Best of luck to you if you decide to take it!