University of Utah

[Farmcat1]

Anyone here accepting an offer? If so, why? I’d like to start a Facebook group so we can get to know each other. Cheers!

[Louly]

Congrats on the acceptance. I'm currently a student there. 

[Luna529]

11 hours ago, Louly said:

Congrats on the acceptance. I'm currently a student there. 

Can you share a little bit about your experience so far? I’ll take any information! Social scene. Professors. Research. Classes. Anything! 

[Louly]

On 4/12/2018 at 10:33 AM, Luna529 said:

Can you share a little bit about your experience so far? I’ll take any information! Social scene. Professors. Research. Classes. Anything! 

Sure!

Social scenes: It’s not as oppressed as how the rest of the states view Utah. I arrived thinking everyone will be extremely religious, with no cultural diversity, and everyone walked around covered up. Really ignorant thoughts. I mean, of course, it’s nothing like bigger cities ( LA, Chicago, etc.) but it’s definitely influenced by the neighboring states and growing. There are social scenes but you won’t have any time, so it should be your least concern. 

Professors: They care. Bonus points are given  (something you probably didn’t see as an undergrad, LOL) because they want to see students succeed. Professors at big institutes like the U are invested in research so you’ll find yourself reading A LOT of research articles and/or they’ll cite their work and others. 

Research: There are multiple research labs (childhood language, bilingualism, cleft palate, voice...a wide variety). If you’re interested, you should email the professors to see if they’re looking for graduate assistants. 

Classes: The first semester focuses mostly on children language and development (if you’re going to early childhood or schools, you might enjoy this semester). You’ll also shadow a second year and their client (this client becomes yours in the spring). I highly recommend brushing up on phonetics and language development before starting. The professors will not spend time reviewing, especially for students who hasn’t taken CSD courses or been out of school for a while. Second semester is when you’ll receive clients and you’ll get a variety of courses (Autism, Stuttering, Voice, Research). Which, I preferred and enjoyed as a graduate student. Although it was intensed, I learned more during spring than the first fall. If you’re wondering, classes are not hard. It’s basically a review of your undergraduate courses. The hard part? Time management and the number of clients you have. The more clients in the clinic, the more work you’ll have (treatment reports, progress reports, soap notes, prepping for sessions, etc.) versus classmates who were assigned groups or off campus assignments. Classmates who had adult clients and/or were assigned to groups, had easier semesters than those assigned to kids or individual clients. 

I hope that helps. If you want further information, feel free to inbox me.