Bookworm111

Same here - I took it twice with the intention of getting a higher score the second time but did better the at my first try.

Does anyone have any experience with expectations or level of difficulty of the online or on-campus speech pathology program at NYU? I read a comment here on gradcafe that NYU accepts students in volumes and then drastically weeds out students, which has made me a bit nervous. I know that NYU works a bit differently from many others universities as you have to take foundation courses first (if you don't have all the prerequisites) so I am wondering if this is used to screen out the best students who will then proceed to the main program, or maybe this comment was referring to the entire program? Any comments about your experience with NYU (positive or negative) would be great.

I think it's a great idea to visit the department - it shows interest in the school and can work in your favor but I would not turn up unannounced unless they have an open door policy where they welcome students visiting to meet them at anytime. If they don't I would make an appointment first.

May I ask where you took your pre-requisites? Feel free to private message if you wish. I looked at a syllabus for Physics and because the questions are based on the textbook, I also noticed that quizlet answers a lot of them.

I have to take 3 of them altogether.

If there is a way for you to use public transport instead of driving, you could use the commute time to study or get things done. I have to spoken students who use their commute time as 'study time' by going through key concepts in their mind or listening to audio recordings of their notes/lectures during driving time. If this is a possibility, it may help in making productive use of that time. If not, it is not uncommon for students to have that kind of commute, especially if you are going to be doing it only 2-3 times a week. I personally would not hesitate to take on that commute.

'Less competitive' is subjective as there are many students who got into their top choice universities which seem to be more competitive but could not get into the schools they perceived to be less competitive. My advice to you would be to apply to your top choice schools but also to apply elsewhere as a backup. I found the ASHA Edfind average GRE admission statistics to be very useful in figuring out which schools gave me the best chances for admission.

I was just wondering when others are planning to take their ASHA pre-requisites (Physics, Biology, Statistics, Social Sciences etc)? I have heard of many students taking them during their graduate programs but that seems to be a lot of added work. I am wondering if it is better to complete them BEFORE starting the Masters degree or to defer the Masters degree to start later in order to get these pre-requisites out of the way first? Does anybody have any thoughts or any experience with this? My understanding is that a graduate degree is already hectic and stressful enough so I am not sure if it's wise to take these pre-requisites concurrently with the Masters program.

You are right - community colleges have great options and are cheaper but hard to get places at short notice ....they can also last an entire semester. Definitely the preferable option given a choice. Online for profit universities like Phoenix have monthly offerings with compressed formats so I have heard that a lot of students are taking this option, especially if it fits along their other commitments like their grad studies.

When parents send their kids to the school SLP, they do so because the speech pathologist likely works at the school and that is the choice they have. In private practice, the name of your university is displayed very publicly - on insurance websites, medical ratings and many places on the internet. I live in a competitive city where there is a ton of choice amongst medical professionals and where many people I know will check out where for example a doctor or dermatologist studied before making the appointment - as an example a Harvard doctor would get preference over a doctor who qualified at a small lesser known university. So this may be specific to my experiences, but it is very real - as superficial as it is, people can easily try to judge your competence by where you studied. I agree with you that most people won't know SLP rankings but unfortunately that's the superficiality of it - educated people do tend to know the top ranked universities in the country though. Most people I know personally have attended top universities or are highly educated (at least 50% of my friends are Ivy league graduates), so this is entirely based on personal experience (which may be a 'snooty' one) and others may have different experiences and opinions which I respect. Statistically there is a general correlation between how much you earn and the school you went to (I say general because there are always exceptions) and I've read many articles to support that - I've just pulled off one randomly from the internet -the first chart shows the earnings of an Ivy league vs 'all schools' https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/14/this-chart-shows-why-parents-push-their-kids-so-hard-to-get-into-ivy-league-schools/?utm_term=.a16d6fea3225

If the choice is just pre-requisites, I would probably look at the easiest option. Columbia has a reputation for being rigorous as an Ivy league, but if it offers what you are looking for, I am sure it would be totally worth it for the experience and the reputation. If you are asking about graduate studies, I would consider your long term goals. The choice is less important if you are working for a school than private practice. In private practice, clients are more likely to judge you by the school you went to.

Thanks Rezzy. Yes, I'm referring to the ASHA science and other requirements - Physics/Chemistry, Biology etc. Yes, I agree that grad schools won't worry too much about where you took those courses since your degree GPA's, GRE scores etc would carry the weight. I was wondering more about long term - like when you graduate and start applying for jobs or perhaps pursue a PHD, would it be a factor. My guess is it's not an issue if you don't list it on your resume since these are non-degree subjects.

If I were in your situation, I'd ask myself where I wanted to live and work in the long term. NYU may open up more opportunities for you in New York but may not matter as much if you wanted to work in California. New York State is known to have some of the most rigorous licensing requirements in the country so your qualification may be more easily transferable to other states than the other way around.

Does the reputation of the institution where we we take our ASHA pre-requisites matter? Are we expected to list the name of the university/community college on our resume/linked in profile or could it come up in interviews? I am looking at institutions which are definitely not the best (University of Phoenix for example has a controversial reputation but offers flexibility with their 5 week courses, monthly offerings and no online lectures which is hard to find elsewhere). However, it fits my current schedule and works for me to meet the ASHA requirements. I also wonder if some less reputable institutions will transfer credits if we ever pursued another degree. I am torn between choosing the cheapest/ easiest option with what works best professionally in the long term. Please let me know your thoughts if you have an opinion on this.

I have noticed that most advice on this board is based on going for the cheaper option. However, I may be part of the minority who disagrees with that. If you are based in a part of the country where there is a lot of competition (larger cities for example), it is my belief that the name of your university carries weight. Even though we are in a field that is in demand, you would be competing with students from other universities and recruiters definitely base their hiring decisions on university names. It is why students at elite universities like the Ivy Leagues tend to have better job prospects and statistically earn more. Now I don't agree with the system - in fact I think it's unfair as we write common exams at the end of it all so you could be getting an equally good education at a lesser known university. But for me personally, I would go for the higher ranked programs (more debt is not necessarily bad if you earn more money over a lifetime to compensate for it). Having said that, I am not an expert on this - my opinion is based on my perceptions and observations of life as I live in a competitive city. If I lived in a small town, my view may be different.