imarota96

Nursing. I'll be staring my MSN program this fall en route to become a FNP. Wishing you the best of luck.

I, too, was an inspiring audiologist until 3 months ago. It's not the negative thoughts that I'm sharing but the experiences. I'm just throwing in my two cents. If not here, then where? I've been seeing my audiologist since I was 10, so yes, I do have a bond with her. It's great that you know this is the career that you 100% want to pursue. I hope many others feel the same as you and not just blindly jump on board. The scope of practice for audiologists is too limited. Maybe I expected to be able to do more with the doctorate degree. I live in SF and it's one of the highest paying states for AuDs. The median salary is ~$75k and SF is notoriously expensive. I won't be able to afford the pay back the loans and bills with that. Of course I know salary is not everything, but for me, the cons outweigh the pros. It's important to highlight that you are aware of the cons. Most people don't. Someone on last year's forum wrote that more than half of the students pulled out of their program after first year. It's a repetitive comment I see every year (I've been reading almost all the forums relating to AuD since 2014). My best hope is to at least give heads up, so the prospective students can get an insight to the field. I also wish you the best of luck and to all the future audiologists!

Hi everyone. Long time lurker and finally decided to post. I don't mean to come off as offensive or negative, but I would seriously advise you guys to think this through and really make sure audiology is the career path that you absolutely 100% want to pursue. I come from a family with serious hearing issues, and I was born with hearing loss. I started wearing hearing aids since I was 5 and I've always wanted to become an audiologist. I've basically prepared my whole college years for audiology school, but I've decided against it. Reasons being..audiologists are seriously undervalued and not respected. Salary is a joke compared to the degree that we will obtain. I have shadowed audiologists since my freshman year in college. I've grown really close to my audiologist over the years, and she networked me to her colleagues, and I had a lot of opportunities to shadow them. I've shadowed audiologists that work in hospitals, under ENT, schools, and private clinic. Let me tell you that 95% of the AuDs don't do more than performing hearing tests, interpreting and evaluating the results, and HA fittings. They are overtrained and over-taught for what they actually end up doing. Unless you work at the hospital, you are going to be pressured to "sell" the HAs. Most patients, you don't ever get to see them again when their HA is fitted. Private clinic is ok. You get paid a decent salary but again, you get bonuses/commissions based on how many HAs you get to fit (aka sell). Seriously..who else in the medical field do you see "selling" except for optometrists? Working under ENT is the worst thing you can do because ENT doctors don't respect you, your degree, and your trainings. They think you're their lap dogs and just have you perform hearing tests. The AuD that I shadowed was treated like a technician instead of an audiologist. That seems to be a trend. AuDs and ENT drs mostly end up clashing. If a testing machine breaks down AT A HOSPITAL, the hospital delays about replacing the machine for years because they really think it isn't neccessary. Salary is a joke for a doctorate degree. Median salary is about $79k but keep in mind you're going to be offered much less than that when you're a fresh grad. A lot of old, established programs are shutting down because students are pulling out half way. The job market is supposed to grow but it's been the same for the past 10 years. The biggest insult I witnessed was hearing aid dispensers (with no proper education as an AuD, some not even high school graduates) are offered the same salary as audiologists. It's such a small field and even people working in the medical field don't know what audiology is even though it's been around for decades. It's a huge hurdle especially with the cost of grad school. I was so disappointed and scared because it's quite embarrassing to be making $55-60k with a doctorate degree, so I'm pursuing a different path. I would advise you guys to do deep research and make sure this is what you guys really want and not because you're enticed by a doctorate degree.