esopha

If you are building a professional wardrobe from scratch, I recommend buying a couple of basics in the broad categories of slacks, sheath dresses, skirts, tops, and cardigans/blazers. You've gotten some good advice as to where to buy them, and don't forget that you can also go to second hand stores, etc, to get pieces as well. I agree with the poster above that you should avoid trendy pieces. Building your wardrobe by outfit is also a good idea. My work clothes are all in the same color palette, too, mostly black, dark blue, and raspberry with some tan thrown in. That makes it easy to mix and match.

Hi! I'm currently at the University of Maryland. I would say that it's a solid, underrated program with excellent placements. People from the program are regularly placed in facilities like Walter Reed, the Washington VA, Children's Hospital, and Kennedy Krieger. There are a lot of unique programs, too, like the in-clinic preschool, a diversity track, and the gossip is that we might have a bilingual SLP certification course soon. Our faculty are strong researchers and clinicians. The only down side is our building is a little old, and the program itself can be intense.

University of Maryland, College Park.

This can be regional, too. I'm at a program with a good regional reputation (I'm not sure about national) and at all my interviews for outplacements, I was told so by the SLPs I was speaking to. And those outplacements are nationally recognized, so I'm hoping that works out in my favor.

It probably does matter where you go, but there are reasonable limitations. I went/am going to one of the lower ranked programs that I applied to, but I turned down the higher ranked ones for factors of cost, GA experience, placements, and commitment to diversity (i.e., actual courses and clinical opportunities, not just lip service). I don't think there was a significant difference between any of the programs that I saw except along those factors. Of course, there were programs I turned down that felt like a gut punch (good bye, sweet Pittsburgh), but I'm happy with my decision, now - I was able to secure a very rigorous and "prestigious" hospital externship for next year, my clinical supervisors are rock stars, and we have classes here taught by faculty from Hopkins, etc. If there's not a solid reason to go to one program over another except for ranking, I would look a little more closely at the programs you're choosing between and try to find another reason. Keep in mind, though - the programs I applied to and got into were all around the top 20 or 30 at the time... at some point, you reach a point of diminishing returns with rankings. I don't know if it would have been different if I had gone to a program ranked 100 (I'm not skeptical that it would be different - I literally have no information to give to you). I recommend you think about the placements you're going to have, the coursework you're going to take, and what your clinic will look like during your first year, as well as cost, and then consider personal factors like location, etc. I chose those factors as my main ones because I was concerned mostly about the quality of the clinical training I would get (including exposure to diverse populations), my future resume, and future debt.

In addition to the 20,500/year in unsubsidized Stafford loans, you are able to apply for Grad PLUS loans, which have a higher interest rate, but are still administered through the department of education, just like the Stafford loans. There are no limits to the Grad PLUS loans except the total cost of attendance for your university, minus any other aid you are receiving. Information about Grad PLUS can be found here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/plus#how-much

Many schools have a 150 cut off for each verbal and quant, but there are several schools with lower limits - I would do a search in this forum for "less competitive" schools, and keep that in the back of your mind while you prep for the next GRE you're planning on taking. I highly suggest drilling practice tests for the full four and a half hours, because part of this is an endurance game. Also, this is the guide I used when I was trying to figure out the essay writing part, and it was very helpful:: https://www.reddit.com/r/GRE/comments/3jo4e0/170q_165v_60_awa_my_writing_guide/

I have a couple of thoughts. If you can apply to public schools near you, you may be able to get a GA (graduate assistantship) from either the department or another department in the school. Comb over the websites of public schools and see if there are GAs you can apply to. For many of them, you can apply before you begin the degree program. Most of these GA positions have significant tuition benefits, and may give you in state tuition. Second, you won't know what's "insane" for you until you actually start to do the program. Even if you live at home for just one year, and then move to an apartment in the second year due to the commute, that's a year worth of rent that you are saving.

Housing and living expenses in NY would be significant. Everything is more expensive there. You can always move to NY after you begin to work - ask the schools you are going to if they help you get your provisional license, and if their state has reciprocity with NY.

I'm currently taking acoustics. There's only one unit on actual acoustics (I assume you're talking about COMD 3400?) and the rest is anatomy of the hearing mechanism. The grad school I am going to requested that I take the speech science class as well as 3400, in order to be sure I covered all the material they wanted me to. Overall, the course is manageable. I am taking two classes with group projects this semester and not totally loving it (the effort of coordination across time zones is awful), but overall I've had a positive experience with USU, and the cost is relatively cheap compared to other methods of getting your prereqs.

I took my prerequisites at USU and got into U of Iowa.* The fact is that everyone is going to have their own opinions. I've enjoyed my classes at USU for the most part, but I don't think the education is going to be equivalent to a four-year BA in Comm Dis, there's just no way. I'm just preparing myself to play catch up a little bit, when I get into school, and reading everything I can in the mean time. I think there's also a stigma against online education, tbh, which I can understand. But you always get out what you put in with education, and I think some professors underestimate the amount of slacking off you can do in an in-person class, as well. *Ftr I am not going to Iowa, but a different program. One professor I spoke to there said that all online education was inferior, but I should be fine if I was prepared to work. I appreciated that candor - although I wondered, too, if that would be so different from anyone else attending the school. Grad school is tough!

A couple of thoughts: Sublets! If you are moving to a college area, summer should be lousy with people trying to rent their apartments while they go home/out of town/whatever. Most of the time you don't even need to put up a deposit, because it's just paying the original lessor a portion of their rent. So you can get the lay of the land while waiting on student housing or scoping out other apartments. You may be required to pay a lease-breaking fee (the official term escapes me) if you do decide to break a lease. I've never paid one/heard of one that was more than a couple hundred dollars. It should not constitute the entirety of your safety deposit! It may be easiest to sublet and then move into campus housing, to be honest. If you have young kids, you probably don't want to move house every year, and campus housing is generally more stable than off-campus. Plus there may be other grad students' kids for them to play with, etc. However, campus housing will be less flexible than off-campus. I generally prefer off-campus housing, but I like there to be a big psychological separation between work/school and home, so that's just a personal preference for me.

No news is no news, over here...

Oh, I wasn't talking about debt from a PhD. I meant debt from undergrad. Also, I think it's quite common for people to get an MA in SLP before they pursue their PhD, so they would have those loans to consider as well. Obviously combined MA/PhDs are available, but they are less common (from what I've seen) and perhaps less advisable (real world experience is great) than working in the field between the MA and the PhD.

Nursing programs are actually facing very similar issues. You can have better pay and hours being a nurse rather than a professor, so people are tending to stay on the professional side. Ironically, I think more people would be eager to be professors if they didn't have to worry about paying back their student loans.

This is the meatiest, most interesting discussion I've ever seen on Grad Cafe. I'm so proud of us. In all seriousness, though, I think there does need to be a balance between increasing the number of schools providing the MA-SLP and oversaturating the field. SLP already has a reputation for being a stable, relatively well-paying career that people can transition into, which is one of the reasons I'm here in the first place. If you think about other fields where that have had this reputation - law is the first that comes to mind - a sudden and sharp increase in the number of schools didn't only devalue the degree. Suddenly there were lots of lawyers with limited experience, student debt, and poor preparation for the field, which is not a good combination. I think the fact that schools are focusing on providing quality education to future clinicians is a good thing. I do hope that programs are able to grow in the next couple of years, but only if that doesn't compromise the level of education that people are receiving, because, like @SLPgradstudent said, we need to consider the needs of the patients.

I can only imagine pantsuits being a negative in extremely conservative fields, and maybe law. I am team pantsuits, forever.

I politely booted by boyfriend out of the building each time I went to an interview or open house. You want to give the impression that you're professional and independent. Plus your boyfriend can scope out all the promising restaurants and coffee shops, etc, while you're in work mode.

Oh interesting, you're right. It's different for other programs, but it looks like for health-related ones (at least SLP/OT/PT and similar) it's just up to the deans of departments.

It looks like all the Boston schools jumped up in rankings - which is interesting. I think it probably had to do with an increase of applicants and, therefore, "exclusivity."

@SLPgradstudent, yup! That'll be fun - I'll look forward to meeting you in person. @HayleyM, yikes... that's a lot of PhDs. And MAs. I don't blame you for being nervous.

The rule of thumb is not to take out more in loans than you would expect to make in your first year of salary. Include undergrad in this. There are forgiveness options, etc, in place that can help, but I am personally an advocate of taking out as little debt as possible, if you think it's going to get you the same level of opportunities in the end. Another thing to do would be to take your estimated fixed expenses (rent, food, transportation, and incidentals) and the calculated payment you'd have to make each month to your loans (you can see this on the finaid.gov website) and see if you're comfortable with the amount left over at what salary you think you can make coming out of grad school. Also consider getting a PT job. Every student I spoke to on all my visits has a PT job - even at U Iowa. So, if they can have jobs at Iowa, I think we can have jobs wherever we end up, lol.

I'm going to be visiting UMD this month, and then crossing my fingers about funding. It's a pretty nervewracking process!

I haven't heard anything.

OMG!!! CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm so happy for you!