mscongeniality1

Well hopefully your PhD program will fund you...I've heard that funding is much, much easier to find for PhD students but I agree, I am pondering a PhD and, with that, which program will set me up the best to get to that point. Ahhhhhh so many things to think about!

Oh don't worry, I'm freaking for sure. Yes I have one free ride, but I checked the total cost of attendance at my dream school and it's $55K a year. Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the place and can't seem to find anything wrong with it on any level, but sitting on $100K post-graduation seems very, very scary to me. I mean a little debt isn't the end of the world but I'd like to be able to have nice things and not be in debt 10-20+ years...Anyone else in the same boat?

Hey there! I have it narrowed down to UNC, Vanderbilt, and Mizzou. Are you going to the UNC open house tomorrow afternoon?

Haha, well I am proud for sure! But I do realize that it could have also gone the other way, and I didn't apply to some of the really really competitive places that I feel got a billion apps (Emerson, MGH, Rush, Northwestern). Sometimes I think the admissions committees just do some weird things and their decisions don't always make sense...but in this case I will certainly take it!

AMEN. I'm getting annoyed with people who have told me "See? You got in everywhere, I knew you would because you have good grades and you're smart." No, Mom/Dad/Grandma/BFF/boyfriend/random neighbor, there was definitely some luck there as well. Silly geese.

Yep yep! My grad seminar was the first 8 weeks of the semester so now I have no MWF classes. My lab partner and I have finished collecting data for our independent study research so all we have to do is finish running the stats in SPSS and do a final writeup for our supervisor. This paper (in adolescent development) is pretty much the only thing I've got left, aside from my pass/fail British literature class. In addition, I really can't stand my paper topic: "Are girls bigger bullies than boys?" We're evaluating two journal articles that *supposedly* take opposing views but don't seem to clearly conflict (at least to me). I mean normally I'd find this area interesting but the fact that our sources are assigned to us is killing me. I'm so used to going out and finding my own sources that this step back is messing me up! Haha...look at me blabbering and not writing my paper...I hope this is entertaining for anyone who reads this.

Haha! Thanks for all the insight! You guys do make some good points. I maybe was looking for tough love a little, but I'll definitely take the encouragement to procrastinate. For the record, the only thing this class is required for is my child development/family studies minor. I could have graduated last semester so # of credits isn't an issue really, and I think at this point I'd have to try really hard to fail. The only reason why I'm concerned is because I know I'll look back and regret slacking off because I'll know I was capable of doing better work. Oh, these mind games I play with myself! Haha.

I have had a handful of professors that got their masters, worked for years, and then came back to school when their children were grown/nearly grown. I'm not sure any of them were 50 when they went back but I'd estimate 40s? However, I'm in a field where it's not uncommon to do masters-->work--->Ph.D track. Good luck with whatever happens for you

I've been bitten by the senioritis bug and I have it bad. I'm on GradCafe with the Duke-Arizona game on in the background. My paper is waiting patiently for me in its minimized MS Word window. Anyone else lacking motivation? Anyone else have encouragement/words of advice/tips to stay motivated? I know I'll be mad at myself if I don't get a good grade on this meaningless assignment, but my work ethic has sort of...eh...bottomed out at the moment.

Amen to that for sure. Plus I have known a handful of people that did not get into any schools their first (or second) time around but ended up finding their home the next semester/year. I think just about anyone who has the drive and correct motivations to study and work hard and eventually become an SLP can do it.

your signature is the best.

Yay for everyone who got into NYU! You guys are so lucky...living and working in the Big Apple sounds like so much fun

Agreed! The mom at the last one I attended just chilled and listened to the profs' spiels. That was nice. And when we did clinic tours she went somewhere to read.

No worries! I'm bringing my mom to one of my open houses (she's a nurse and will probably geek out over all the medical talk anyway). There was a mom at another open house I attended and it was cool.

Not for sure yet, but I'm going to the open house on Monday and hoping it'll be a good experience!

Since we did clinic tours I just dressed "clinic appropriate", which is basically business/dressy casual. I wore a cardigan and gray slacks, and the other girls were dressed similarly.

Two of the girls on my Vandy visit were UGA students who said that they thought they'd be hearing back this coming week.

Yuuuuuuuuup. That's exactly where I am right now...well I guess I don't know without a visit if it's a good fit or not, but making this decision is soooooo hard.

Yeah, I agree with the investment in education for sure. It is just irritating because my tightwad father (whom I really do love dearly...except on this issue) is convinced that the cheapest program=the best program. And it doesn't help when my doctor mother points out that yearly tuition for med school "in her day" was just over $2,000. For my dream, I'm probably looking at $70-80k. I'm not completely sure about cost of living right now though. I might be able to save a few pennies if I choose to live in a cardboard box and eat ramen and Spam for two years...

Ugh. Just got a big fat "no" back for funding from one of UNC's grants. That stings. BUT I did get to visit Vandy today and I fell in love with basically everything about them except the steep price tag. How do people afford this stuff?

I have been to Bloomington a couple times (I actually took my GRE there, haha). It's a beautiful campus--nice limestone buildings Definitely a small-town college feel, moreso than W. Lafayette, where I go to school. They're easily the most hippie/liberal area of Indiana outside of the Indianapolis area. Lots of vegetarian/vegan restaurants if you are into that sort of thing. Ummm...what else. They have a world-renowned music/performing arts program so they have fabulous operas and musicals and different shows put on through their music school. Brown County State Park is nearby for great camping and hiking and outdoorsy type things. The fall is gorgeous with all the changing leaves! I would recommend living away from undergrads though because they have a reputation for partying lots. I can't really say much about the program because I don't know much. A handful of people I'm graduating with got in there and a couple of them got funding. It's got a high rank so it can't be too terrible. Hope this is helpful...I know it's definitely not organized at all.

It is for their ITP (Improving Treatment Practice) program...they included this link --> http://csd.utexas.edu/graduate/implementing-effective-treatment-practices-cld-children with program info. Not exactly my cup of tea but I figure I will try. The worst they can say is "no", right? Off-topic, but...any other major college basketball fans here? I think that I'm going to decide on my future graduate school by seeing which team goes the furthest in the tournament....a totally scientific and reliable way to decide my academic fate.

Most likely I am going to pass on UT Austin. I am going to fill out the grant app they just emailed out and see if that happens to come through...but it is not my first choice.

Haha! I'd love to get a singing telegram, especially from a grad school!