girlgonespeechie

I'd like to add that all of the professors that I spoke with said that as far as CFY and job prospects are concerned, employers do not care what school you went to or what courses you took (because ASHA has strict guidelines), rather what your practicum breadth was and what networking/connections you make while in school. My professor who works in the medical side of things said that she will not hire a CF who hasn't had experience with her setting/population especially because if you don't know what you're doing you can actually harm someone. It seems like UW is a better fit for those who are pretty confident they know what setting/population they want to work with, like you said @talkingcake.

Hey @MamaBoop, Thanks my overall GPA was 3.93, for my last 60 credits was 3.99, and my CSD gpa for my postbacs classes was 4.0. I scored 155 V, 155 Q and 5.0 AW. I have to say, though, that schools don't only look at numbers. I think character counts a lot too. So don't think that you won't get in just because you don't have a perfect GPA or GRE scores!

Thank you so much for all this information @talkingcake! You seem happy with your leaning towards Boulder, and that's so awesome. When I visited UW last year, I agree that the faculty and Chrissie were super helpful. But I am coming from the same direction as you- I don't know for sure what setting I want to work in and I'd also like to get experience in multiple settings. This just doesn't seem that possible at UW and that's what's giving me reservations. However, being the type A personality that I am, UW is ranked so highly and I don't know how dumb it would be to give up a spot at UW for a lesser ranked school! Next week is going to drive me nuts!

The one internship thing is bugging me a little too. That's what is pulling me away from UW. I'm going into this ready and wanting to learn about everything, because as an out of field applicant I don't really know 100% what population I want to work with. Also- it would be literally on the opposite side of the country from my family and that scares me a little haha. I feel like I may be leaning towards UNC-CH because right off the bat they push you into the real world since they don't have an on-campus clinic. However, I've heard that on campus clinics can help you learn more... I think that if you're really set on working with bilingual populations, Portland State is giving you something that UW may or may not be able to offer you. With all the debt we'll all be in, I would much rather go to the school that I know will give me all the opportunities I want vs taking a chance on not getting them.

Not silly at all! So "placements" is the umbrella term for all of them. Whether you're in a clinic, hospital, school, etc, it's a placement. An "internship" and "externship" I have found are usually interchangeable, and those are meant to describe external placements, meaning your supervisor will not be your professors. So for example- at UW Core, we have a school placement, placements in the speech and hearing clinic, and then 1 pre-internship (off campus) and 1 internship (off campus). The internship gives the core students the ability to experience another setting!

Hey @hkates ! Thanks for sharing all this info. When I visited last summer the clinic seemed a bit outdated to me...did you get that vibe? Also, have you decided on attending UW? I know you mentioned that you were accepted to Core (like me) but were also having reservations about not getting a med placement. Seems like they don't really give you any issues about that. But I would be bummed to only have one internship. The other school I'm considering (UNC-Chapel Hill) only does external placements and that is enticing to me.

Oh wow, that's amazing! What do you do at the hospital? Are you originally from Seattle? I'm just trying to figure out which would be better for me since UNC has all external placements and UW has basically all the practicum at the clinic, and I'm not sure if that's going to be limiting or not. Also- UW seems to make students make some decisions pretty early on (choosing between core and med, choosing between adult and peds) and I'm not 100% sure what I want to do yet, so that is also frightening haha. If you have any perspective about this that would be helpful!

No problem! I'm not yet sure if I'm going to be accepting UNC. I am an out of state applicant across the board, so no matter what school I go to, it's going to cost me an arm and a leg haha. I also got accepted to UW's Core-SLP program, which is higher ranked than UNC, but Seattle is extremely expensive and further away from my family. Looking at how much I'm going to be in debt, I wish there was an in-state program that I had applied to. I've heard it's not worth it to take on that much debt if it's not necessary, and if I accept UW's offer, I will be taking out more loans just to cover cost of living. So I definitely understand the perspective you're coming from.

Do you mind sharing what others said about on-campus clinics? The type of clinical placements available is a huge factor in my decision, and I'm still trying to figure this all out..... Did you get any closer to a decision, btw?

@talkingcake UW is no doubt a phenomenal school, but the more I research it, the more it seems to be restricting to core students? I know that placements are a big deal when applying for your CFY and employment beyond that. The hospital associated with my undergrad wont even consider students to work there or do your CFY there unless you've had a medical placement during grad school. The way Chrissie and other current students explained how UW works, at least for Core, is that you only get 1 external placement which is your internship. The rest of your clinical hours is in the UW Speech and Hearing clinic and in a public school. So technically you have one shot to fight for that medical placement. That is kind of unnerving. My classmates also think I'm crazy for considering UNC since UW is ranked higher. But at UNC, every student is required to have one educational placement and one medical placement, so atleast I know by the time the program is over I'll have one under my belt. AND I just learned that they don't have their own speech and hearing clinic, meaning all your clinical hours come from external placements. They promoted this as a positive thing, because you'll get experience in a lot of different settings. However, I've heard that it can be easier to get hours if the school has it's own clinic. Needless to say I'm still thoroughly confused on where to go. Haha. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to turn down a better ranked school if you believe the other school fits you better. I've seen people who rejected Vandy for a school which was ranked in the 70s. Go where your heart is pulling you (easier said than done, I know )

Hey @kendralynnt! I went to the open house and it was really informative. Some things I'd like to highlight about the university that they said was relatively unique: 1. They do not have their own speech and hearing clinic, so all your practicum will be at external sites, such as UNC hospital, Duke hospital, public schools, SNFs, and other outpatient facilities. They presented this to be a positive thing because you'll get experience being in different settings. This also means that the faculty will only teach you your courses and not be your clinical supervisors. Also, because of this, the clinical director basically said it is "almost necessary" to have a car because your placement could be up to 60 min drive from campus. 2. Every student by the time they graduate will have at least 1 educational setting (preschool, elementary, middle, or high school) and 1 medical setting (hospital, SNF, inpatient, outpatient). 3. Every student is required to do research, whether it is a thesis, a research paper, or working 50 hrs in a research lab for a faculty member. 4. During the summer session, you don't take any classes, you only do a full time practicum, which can give you experience on how it will feel like to work a full time job. I liked the school when I visited, and I like the fact that every student has to take a certain amount of hours in both adults and peds giving you a comprehensive education. The faculty members were nice and down to earth. I'm also looking at another school, and the other school is higher ranked than UNC so I'm trying to figure out which one would give me more opportunities.

Thanks so much for the reply! I noticed Dr. Jacks's and Dr. Haley's research interests on the website, as well as Dr. Williams and her role in the Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders. That's interesting that you felt like the minority- I got the impression that it was more peds focused, but I guess a website can't tell you everything How did you feel about your clinical placements? Did students have control over where they wanted their practicum? For example, will I be able to get a practicum in a hospital or acute care AND schools? I know some universities only have a few spots per practicum placement which makes them pretty competitive....did you/your cohort feel like their needs/wants were being met?

Hey all, did anyone get accepted to UNC-CH or have any insight to the program? I got accepted and I am deciding between this school and another... I noticed most of the faculty has research interests with peds or individuals with autism or hearing loss. Personally, I think I am interested in working on the neuro side of things, particularly with individuals who have TBI, dementia, stroke, etc. but I also want to get a comprehensive education and have placements across the board (school, SNF, hospital, private practice, etc). Does it ultimately matter what the faculty's interest is, or will students be able to get a comprehensive education no matter what school they choose? UNC-CH would be the cheaper route as far as cost of living (the other school's tuition is the same as UNC) but the other university is more highly ranked and has more faculty with a background in neurogenic communication disorders. I haven't seen much talk about UNC on the boards (or haven't looked hard enough lol) so I figured I'd start a thread. Thoughts?

Yes, I certainly agree with your sentiment about specializing. Although my pre-reqs were comprehensive, it was certainly not at the graduate level, and I feel like there is so much to learn about everything and I also do not want to limit myself. I honestly think the entire scope of the profession is pretty amazing. I think working with a bilingual or multicultural population is fantastic and I know the profession needs more SLPs in this area. Do you speak another language? I worked in a charter school designed for underserved African American children and through this I became interested in figuring out if a child's speech "issue" is just a dialectal difference (in this case AAVE) or an actual speech disorder. When I talked to the coordinator, Chrissie, she said that med students get priority over hospital and acute placements, which makes sense, but I'm wondering also if choosing the core route limits us from having that experience, because I honestly want to be able to have placements across the board (schools, private practice, SNF, hospitals, etc) and I got the impression that core students won't have the chance to experience hospitals which kind of bums me out....

OMG- exactly what you're going through is what I'm going through. I feel like so many people would kill for a spot at UW, and turning it down would be the dumbest thing ever. I also heard that it doesn't matter where you go either... But how can you turn down such a great school?! I would definitely have to take out more loans if I went to Seattle for the sake of being able to pay rent. Yes, please let me know what you find out about that! If I got a scholarship or some kind of assistant ship that may persuade me lol but it seems the chances are extremely slim. Well, what really drew my attention to UW was not only the ranking (how could you ignore that! Haha) but also the faculty. A LOT of faculty members have research interests in neurogenic disorders which is what I'm interested in. I *think* I want to work with individuals who have a neurological issue such as those with TBI, dementia, stroke, etc but I'm not 100% sure, because I've also volunteered with kids before and kids can also be fun. If I did choose UW, I would probably choose the adult track. But that brings up another question- if we choose the adult track, does that hinder us from working with peds in the future? What about you? It seems like you're from the west coast so at least you'll be staying pretty regional which is nice I'm so happy to know there is someone out there who literally understands exactly what I'm going through, it makes me feel less crazy, haha

Hey futureSpeechLP! Thank you so much! I visited Seattle once during the summer and it was beautiful. I wonder if I am the type of person to have seasonal affective disorder, though haha. I feel like going to UW will give me a better education-more connections-and more experience across the board. However the location is really not ideal for an original East Coaster. Good luck with researching! The one thing I must say that I wish I looked at more was what type of clinical placements students usually get- some programs have cohorts that are too big and they can't offer students what they want, and that would be frustrating if you wanted experience with adults and the school could only offer pediatric placements.

YAY! Congrats! I would love to talk about it. I was literally in the same boat as you girly. I was struggling between whether to choose med or core and I also believe I'll have more fun in the med settings, but I wanted that comprehensive education and the ability to test out every setting. I have literally been losing sleep and my sanity over the decision. It may seem a bit melodramatic, haha, but this is so important to me and I don't want to make the wrong choice. I still have no idea where I would go. My family is in St. Louis, MO and in Florida, so I'll be super far away and won't know anyone if I go to UW, and I think that is the number one reason why it's keeping me from wanting to go there (plus the cost of living is astronomical, I don't know if I would be able to afford anything over $800 a month and I don't know if that exists there...) As far as funding- I heard from UNC-CH, and all they offered me was loans. Once you accept the admission, however, there are some departmental scholarships you can compete for and some work-study programs as well. I haven't heard from UW. It would be nice if they let us know of any funding before April 15!

So sorry for the late reply! For some reason my notifications weren't being sent to my email I agree that it comes down to funding. I haven't heard anything back from UW- I got some mail from them the other day and I was all excited it might have been something from the financial aid office..but nope! Just telling me that the deposit is due in June if I accept the offer haha. I literally have a special pro/con notepad and I wrote down the list for both schools..my family thinks I'm crazy The thing is, you will be able to be with/near your family, and I'll literally be on the opposite side of the country from everyone else (I'm from Florida!!)...and this is the first time that I'll be that far away and be an "independent adult" (I graduated from undergrad in 2014). So I'm a little scared if I choose UW!

Hey Jolie717, thanks for the repy! Also congrats on getting into UW for MedSLP! I haven't seen anyone around GradCafe who got into the Core program yet.... By UNC I meant University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, so sorry for the slight confusion. I think you are right about calling them, I was going to do that soon but I also didn't want to bombard or annoy them during application season. The thing is, I am not sure if I want to actually live in Seattle after school and I'm not sure if that will matter when doing CFY or getting employed afterwards. Getting into these schools is so exciting and such an honor, but the process of choosing which program will be the best for me has been the most stressful experience!! I honestly didn't think I would even get into UW Have you decided which program you'll be going to, and may I ask what the process was?

Does anyone have any perspective as a previous student at either of these schools? I was accepted to UW (CoreSLP) and UNC, but I am so uncertain about which one would be the best fit. I feel like I want learn about everything as an SLP, and I have an inkling that I want to work with adult populations with more neuro-based disorders (patients with TBI, dementia, aphasia, dysarthria, dysphagia etc) but still unsure. I've heard that as an SLP you can usually work with both populations (perhaps not at the same time) but just depending on which way life is taking you at that time. I also may be interested in a PhD later on (I did an undergrad thesis and while I may not have enjoyed the writing part too much lolz, I really enjoyed research) but not sure 100% and want a school that has a good balance of clinical and research experience. Here are some of my personal pro's and cons about each school: UW Pros: program is stellar, faculty is amazing and has many faculty members who share my interest for neuro, school is ranked highly. You can also choose adult or ped emphasis which will give you more exposure to what you think you'd like to learn about. Cons: living in Seattle is so expensive, and it is pretty far away from my family. The weather doesn't seem the greatest and the traffic sucks. The choosing of an adult emphasis or ped emphasis looks awesome but will that hinder me if I choose an adult emphasis and then later on want to change it up and work with peds? *confused* UNC Pros: program is still amazing, closer to family, much much lower cost of living. Cons: The school's curriculum doesn't seem to be as detailed as UW's, and there aren't many faculty members who share my interest in the neuro side of things, especially with adults. I fear that going here may not allow me to be well prepared for both. TL;DR: I am torn at which school I should go to and if going to either will benefit or hinder me in any way, taking into consideration my interest for neuro but still wanting to be a well-rounded clinician, and still wanting the opportunity for potential research. Still haven't heard about financial aid for either school and they are about the same price for out of state tuition. ALSO: When you are going to do your CFY, that doesn't necessarily have to be in the state, right? If I wanted to go to UW and get a stellar education but eventually move closer to family later in life, will that effect my ability to get a job (I've heard region matters and places respect the university in that region).