jamielee23

I currently work part time in both fields! ABA work is (at least in my area) much easier to find part time work than full time (I've worked cases that were only 6 hours per week). Either job would be great for grad school apps. I think that relating anecdotes about my work experiences helped make my personal statement a lot better. Being a paraprofessional has given me experience working with a wide variety of clients, while ABA work has given me great practice with working on goals and taking data. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have!

@zurako @pbandj Just wanted to come back and say thank you to both of you for the advice -- it's so helpful to get unbiased opinions from people who don't know me! this forum is great :-)

At IU you get 2 externships, one school-based and one medical, but yes, you arrange it yourself. For most of the time you work in the clinic, at the on-site preschool, or at a local aphasia/TBI/dementia support group. There's also an option one semester to go to Indianapolis Public School District one day/week. But overall, Pitt has a MUCH greater variety of placements. The total cost of tuition at IU would be around $30,000, while Pitt would be more like $60,000. Not including cost of living, but both cities are relatively cheap. With my assistantship at IU I'd also get a stipend which would probably be enough to cover rent for my first year though. So basically, Pitt would grant me more experiences, but hurt my wallet a lot more. Thank you so much for the input!!

What a whirlwind of emotions. I was very lucky to be accepted to multiple schools. After visiting a few programs, I had 95% decided to attend Pitt. I was very impressed with their program, especially the clinical experiences. At Pitt, students do 5-6 offsite internships. As someone who would LOVE experience at an acute care hospital, it seems that this type of placement would be very easy to procure. Today, however, I received an offer of funding from Indiana University. It would be an assistantship position -- working 12 hours a week -- and in return, I would receive 95% tuition reimbursement for my first year plus a stipend (I'd pay full tuition for my second year, about $30k out of state). Whoa! When I crunch the numbers, this means that IU now represents a $30000 savings over Pitt (over the course of 2 years). This is obviously huge. However, at IU, students are responsible for arranging their own externships, which only happen the last semester. So if I wanted experience in acute care, this would be very difficult to set up, and definitely not guaranteed. I e-mailed an undergrad professor (with years of med SLP experience) for advice, and he wrote back that "hands down," I should still go to Pitt. This surprised me, since the "go with the cheapest option!" seems to really prevail in this field. Anyone have any advice? Or in a similar predicament? I'm garbage at making decisions in general, and while I am SO FORTUNATE to have such a wonderful decision to make, I have no idea what to do. Thanks in advance :-)

LSUHSC-NO's deadline to accept or decline was over 2 weeks ago. (I already sent in my decline). However I didn't even get my acceptance letter in the mail until 3 days before the deadline. If I were you I'd call or email them to express your continued interest because they should definitely have an idea of how many spots (if any) they have left. (That being said it's awful for schools to leave you hanging like that, I'm so sorry you're in that situation!)

I went to La Salle for undergrad, feel free to PM me with any questions :-)

I live in the Philly area but didn't apply to Salus because they're so new - I wanted to attend a more established program. I also don't think they're officially accredited yet, which I've heard can create problems once you graduate!! My friends who visited there were impressed though so who knows. I shadowed an SLP who went to West Chester and she felt well prepared ....but she does currently work in a school. If I were you I would contact WC to inquire about what partnerships they may have with medical facilities in the area and what kinds of medical placements students end up with. Sorry I don't have more info but wanted to put my two cents in. Good luck making your decision!

No problem! Best of luck making your decision

Hey! Sorry I didn't get a chance to post last night. So I can only speak for Pitt's program -- but the way they explained it, it seems to make sense not to have an on-site clinic. Pitt is surrounded by a TON of healthcare facilities, plus the public school district, etc etc, so instead of an onsite clinic they just have loads of partnerships with the surrounding facilities (most notably, UPMC - University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). They also have clinical staff that works with you at these sites (so it's not like you're thrown into it without good supervision). When I first heard that they didn't have a clinic I saw it as a con - a clinic seems like a really great place to practice while still learning - but now it seems like a pro because students get experience in way more settings. For Pitt in particular, it seemed that students will get a lot more experience in medical settings, whereas at other schools I'm looking into, the only real opportunity for, say, being in acute care would be for your final externship, and of course that's not guaranteed. So to sum up, if the university is in an urban location and/or has a ton of partnerships with a wide variety of sites, I don't think that not having a clinic is an issue. I'm not sure if this is the kind of information you're looking for, if you have any other questions let me know!

I'm going to the Q&A session at Pitt today (no on campus clinic) and can report back later!

Declined my admission to LSUHSC New Orleans today. Hoping this helps someone on the waitlist!

Anyone else frustrated with how non-transparent some of these schools are with their tuition costs? Most of the schools I've applied to leave it to you to figure out the tuition, providing charts with fees per credits, additional student fees, etc.... Why can't they just tell us how much it will cost? I spent an hour last week making calculations for my schools and crying (well not actually crying but you know).

Behavior Tech / PCA here as well ...we should start a club ;-) anyone feel free to PM me if you want more info! It's such a fun job. I started while I was still finishing up my undergrad (I had previous work experience though).

I've seen a few other people on here accepted to CU Boulder. Unfortunately I won't be able to make the open house - I'm visiting a couple weeks after instead but I won't be able to tour the CSD department, meet faculty, etc. Will anyone be at the open house who can report back? I would love any and all information I can get! Boulder sounds like an AMAZING place to live and the school seems great, but the out of state price tag is intimidating to say the least (they don't make it easy to figure out the costs -- but from my calculations, it's over $40,000/year!!). Does anyone know if they provide any funding opportunities at all (even just for second year students)?

Ok, that's good to know! Thank you! I do have some ASL experience - (and made sure to write it in my personal statement haha), hopefully that will help. Inbox me if you want to meet up at all! I'll be there Thursday night to Saturday morning :-)