Ari127

Hello! I recently got off the waitlist for SFSU's master's program, and I'd really love some feedback from anyone who's attended the program! If you've attended it, could you please give me some thoughts on your experience? Specifically, I've heard several people mention that the department is somewhat disorganized, and I'd like to know if that has impacted you negatively. Thank you!

Declined my offer for University of Wisconsin - Madision, and about to decline my offer for Vanderbilt but it's so hard because I really wanted to go there, so I'm just putting it off.

Hello everybody! Does anyone have experience negotiating/asking for additional funding? I know that it's often done in other graduate fields, but I never see it discussed here, so I'm not sure if it's typical in SLP master's programs. I've been accepted to 3 programs, but one will be significantly less expensive than the others. However, I'm still very interested in the other programs and I'm sad that the decisions essentially comes down to cost. I'm specifically really interested in Vanderbilt, but at $25,000+ per year more than the other program I'm considering, it's just too expensive. So, have any asked for additional funding? Who did you reach out to? What was the response?

I also received my letter today, but wasn't offered any funding (which was expected, since I definitely didn't have as high of stats as other accepted applicants). I'm disappointed, and likely will have to decline the offer in favor of a much less expensive program. I just can't rationalize spending an additional ~$50,000 (even for such an incredible school!).

I'm also curious about this. Their FAQ says: "Many (up to 70%) of our graduate students receive some level of financial support. For the practitioner degrees (M.S. in SLP and Au.D.), such support comes in the form of remitted tuition, ranging from 25% to 100%. Financial awards which are competitive in nature – are offered at or around the time we let students know of acceptance, wait lists, etc., which is generally around the second week of March. Given that 100% of graduate students need financial assistance, need is not a factor; financial awards are offered on the basis of merit, using criteria very similar to that used to judge acceptance into the program." However, EdFind says: "Number of Admission Offers: Full time: 53" and "Number of Admission Offers with Funding: 11". I'm not sure which percentage is more accurate, unfortunately.

My cumulative GPA is a good bit lower than yours, but GRE scores are similar. I'm also dying waiting. I'm in the postbac program here, and the closer it gets to the end the more I realize that I just love this place and I'm not ready to leave it!

Same with me haha. I wanted to apply just as a personal challenge / on the off chance I might get in but I fully expected to be rejected. I cried haha. Hoping for funding though, because it is awfully expensive!

I didn't get an email but just checked MyStatus and saw I was rejected. Disappointed but not entirely surprised, I had a lot of applications due that day (and it was finals) so it wasn't my best work . Congrats everyone who got in!

I was also super concerned by this, but I'm guessing as others said that it's a 99% certainty. I imagine the only issue would be if it came to light that either you'd made a significant mistake on transcripts, or wouldn't complete prerequisities in time. Congratulations!

I've read on this board that many people were accepted to more competitive schools but rejected from their safety schools. The theory was that schools know that if an applicant is overqualified they are likely to decline and admission offer, and schools don't want to risk having a spot unfilled due to too many declines. I don't know if that's true, but it does have a certain logic to it: they're likely to offer admission to the applicants that are in the sweet spot of being both qualified but also not likely to decline the offer.

After reading a post below (about a student deciding not to attend NYU after fully processing how much it would cost), it got me thinking: (1) How much money do you believe is too much to spend on your tuition + fees (for both prerequisites + Masters)? (2) How much do you think is typical for living expenses (specify if for a larger city or smaller city)? Obviously the answer will vary widely depending on the person, but I'm curious about what the general perception is. I'd made my piece with spending nearly $25,000 for a post-bacc degree this coming year, when a friend told me how stressed she was about taking $8,000 out for nursing school. It made me realize that what I had thought of as just "normal" might really be much too risky/costly to others.

I'm facing a similar hard decision. I was all ready to plunge into debt so that I could go to more prestigious schools, but after talking with a friend about how consuming educational debt is, I'm rethinking everything. Just a few months ago I was ready to drop $100,000 + living costs on University of Iowa's 3 year program, and now I'm reconsidering everything: taking leveling courses, maybe a applying to a state school in California. I want a great education, but I don't want to be buried in debt up to eyeballs for all of my 30's and perhaps beyond!

Hahaha I know, I felt the same way too. We did long-distance once before while I lived abroad in Japan for year, and when the opportunity came for me to potentially re-contract for another year or decide to move back home, I had to seek guidance from my mom about what I should do. I intended to move back because, although I'd had a wonderful time, the distance (and time difference!) was really too much. But I felt like deciding to move back based almost entirely upon a relationship wasn't the "feminist thing to do". She was a firm feminist (albeit certainly of a different generation), so I'd assumed she would advise me to prioritize my career and passion for living abroad over my relationship. But she really surprised me, and said, "You know, popular culture would have you believe that love is something common. And some people do certainly fall in love more easily than others. But I've only really loved a few people in my life. In my experience, love is really quite rare, and valuable." It made me realize that it's ok sometimes to make decisions based on a relationship, as long as you make sure to also value other aspects of your life. So I'm trying to balance both - make a good decision about my education, but also try to make a long-distance as easy as possible, because ultimately I'm going to be happier that way!

No, I'd be willing to consider Master's programs as well! I'd prefer not to move again, and I am particularly interested in UofW's masters program, but I'm open to transferring to another school after completing the Post-Bac. Mainly I'd just be interested in programs that are (1) Close to California and (2) offer in-state tuition to California residents (UofW's CORE-SLP offers in-state tuition for California residents) and (3) are considered to be a very good program. UI seems like an amazing program, I just wish it were a bit closer and less expensive (If I get an assistantship I'll get in-state tuition, but there are no guarantees about that).

Hey everyone! Looking for some advice. I'm an out-of-field applicant who hasn't completed any prerequisites. I've been accepted to the University of Washington's Post-Bac Program and the University of Iowa's 3-Year Master's Program (3 years for out-of-field applicants). These were the only 2 programs I applied to this year, due to getting a late start on applications (had a natural disaster in my hometown and it completely through me off for a month). Initially I was set on UI, but I realized that I still wouldn't qualify for in-state tuition after living there for a few years. So, the cost will be much higher than I'd initially hoped. Also, I will be in a long-distance relationship with someone in California, and obviously it would be much easier to travel from Seattle. And, to be frank, I'd really like to live in Seattle. Even with the higher cost of living, if I did get into the UofW Master's Program, the overall costs would be about equal to UI. However, I'm worried that if I choose the Post-Bac Program, I may have trouble getting into Master's Programs next year. It's possible I was just lucky getting in this year, and I certainly don't want to jeopardize my chances for the future by declining an offer for a Master's Program now. If you were in this situation, what would you choose? Has anyone else made a similar decision? As for my background: BA in Psychology, 3.79. GRE: Verbal 166/ Quant 153 / Writing 4.0. 3 Years Experience at Special Ed School working with SLP's daily, 1 Year teaching English abroad.