ABI_all_the_way

It looks like you accepted your offer to St. Marys, congrats! But I think this post may be just for those students who were accepted into MGH Institute of Health Professions.

As a second year student of the 2020 cohort at the Institute of Health Professions, I would like to also recommend that those of you who can defer, do defer. Today we heard from Paula, the IHP President, as she discouraged students from deferring with the argument that you would be losing out on another year of future employment. I would like to take a moment to discredit this argument and give you examples that I know our cohort has experienced thus far as well as additional information that may help inform your decision. Graduation: First an foremost, we are not guaranteed graduating on time. We are still being made financially responsive for our 4th clinical rotation regardless if we have access to one or not. As it stands, not having enough hours not graduating until sometime in the fall. Not having enough hours means you could be ineligible for a CF that becomes available regardless if you accepted it unless they are flexible with the start date. This WILL have a ripple effect on the current first years and potentially the incoming class. We have an extremely unorganized clinical placement team (the word team is used VERY loosely as it is two women who do the absolute MINIMUM to accommodate any requests) that will NOT give you the placements you have requested regardless of whether we are in a worldwide emergency or not. Placements: Medical placements: Contrary to what you were told during your campus visit, the IHP NEVER guarantees MEDICAL placements and are not legally affiliated with Mass General Hospital. This tidbit of info is only expressed when you begin creating your resumes (to discourage you from listing their name as anything other than "MGH" ) to apply for placements in your first summer. Diversity: People of color, STAY AWAY. You will be made to commute (average 2 hours each way) because most of the local organizations within Partners Healthcare are known to be discriminatory towards students of color and it will be additionally difficult for you to pursue more competitive medical placements if you are EVEN given the opportunity to interview for them. Also, bilingual supervisors are nonexistent and if you are a student of color you will be exploited to fill every website, newsletter, and advertisement to falsely convey a "commitment to diversity." Job opportunities: Medical CFs: As we are currently applying to CFs, it has been very clear that some medical clinical fellowships (outside of dedicated medical CFs) are NOT hiring within the already competitive nature of those limited opportunities due to COVID. Additionally, if you do not have the experience in a medical placement you will not get a medical CF unless you are pursuing a SNF opportunity. Additionally, MA is a state that does not recognize a provisional licensure so if your intention is to work with adults or in EI after graduation, look in another state. School CFs: Keep this in mind, if you are looking for a school based SLP career, there is less pressure to have specific experiences and they are ALWAYS hiring. Transparency: There is absolutely no transparency unless the student body goes into an uproar. You will never fully know where your money is going. They WILL tell you that you are receiving the same excellent education regardless of the modality. This is NOT true. The faculty members (outside of maybe 2) are burned out alumni that have little to no well-rounded experience. There is one faculty member of color who is used to meet a requirement but most are pretty much out of touch of what it means to be in the field. Additionally, when you are completing simucase to replace the valuable information you get during your clinical placements and having debriefs these faculty members are uninformed of how to respond to questions. OR they will say "I am just here to facilitate the conversation." Your peers, while lovely, are NOT licensed SLPs and are not supervisors educated to work through some of the complex aspects of the case presented. Therefore, you should not be required to submissively accept this subpar experience or be charged full price for it. Advocacy: Students who advocate for themselves and others WILL BE PENALIZED both academically and clinically. This institution is cyclically delinquent in social equity to any student in the following categories: students of color, students with disabilities, students of low socioeconomic backgrounds, LGBTQ students, and students who are parents. Each of you will be expected to serve as the human spokesperson of what ever label they assign you and will be appropriately pigeonholed into a subspecialty to help avoid a "conflict of interest." Outside of the current COVID-19 situation, the learning experience overall at the IHP provided me with certain unique opportunities that my other friends in programs in other parts of the nation did not have access to. Granted my friends in other programs also did not have the emotionally taxing experiences of having to prove their worth or fight against invisible hurdles that the IHP places in front of you when you are anything but a traditional monolingual Caucasian student. Additionally as someone who is glass half full, I will add that experiencing the garbage and discrimination brought a level of growth that my previously 'privileged' life had not provided me with. That being said, unless this is the ONLY program that accepted you, think very carefully about deferring or accepting another program promising a well rounded experience. You are worth it. This is your money, $100,000 dollars should at least buy you the truth.