Temple University

[babysanta]

Looking for some insider knowledge on Temple's MA-SLP program. Are there any current/graduated students out there? I would love to hear about people's overall experience, likes & dislikes, strengths, weaknesses etc. etc. The accepted students orientation was pretty informative, but created more questions for me that didn't have time to be answered. The faculty all seem to be engaged and passionate about what they do, and they have great connections for a wide variety of internal/external placements in the city. 

Not looking for jokes about mumps ?

 

[SLPgradstudent1224]

Insider here: I am currently in their SLP MA program. I personally really like the program. Definitely recommend it. 

Likes:

1. they REALLY prepare you for field placements

2. Faculty is amazing- they are passionate about what they do and they are very supportive. It seems like you already know that though.  

3. Amazing researchers. seriously- some of the best in the field are at Temple. (Lisa Bedore, Edwin Maas, Nadine Martin etc.)

4. Great placements

5. It's overwhelming but not unmanageable. Plenty of people have jobs outside of grad school.

 

Dislikes:

1. they OVER prepare you- if that makes sense? they teach you to do things the long and hard way. For example- our diagnostic blocks are 3 hours long and our write ups are about 15-20 pages. You will never have time to do that in the real world. 

2. If you don't have all of your pre-reqs done- it can kind of suck. You'll get stuck with undergrads until your pre-reqs are done. As long as you don't need all of your pre-reqs you should still graduate on time. 

3. It is a year round program so it's probably more expensive than other school (fall spring and summer).

 

 

All in all I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives.  What else would you like to know?? 

[SLPgradstudent1224]

ALSO- everyone in the MA program had to get boosters over the summer so we are definitely immune from the mumps ?

[babysanta]

Thank you! As far as 'over preparing' students - I feel like that will have some really beneficial long-term effects. If you're going to learn something, might as well learn it the right way. Short-term though, UGH. I don't have to worry about pre-reqs, except for the ASHA required statistics course but that should be ok. 

More Qs:

Even though it's a year-round program I have to assume you still get occasional breaks per the academic calendar?

Are the summer semesters equal in workload/time dedication? 

Do you know anyone that's doing a thesis instead of taking the comps? Pros/Cons? There isn't much information available on the topic. Also, I feel like that in order to take that route you would need to have a solid idea of your desired specialization and already have some ideas on what you'd want to research. 

Thank you again! I know there are people with similar questions that will hopefully read this. I'm super excited to be starting in the fall, and want to be as prepared as possible. This definitely helped. 

 

[bibliophile222]

4 hours ago, SLPgradstudent1224 said:

Dislikes:

1. they OVER prepare you- if that makes sense? they teach you to do things the long and hard way. For example- our diagnostic blocks are 3 hours long and our write ups are about 15-20 pages. You will never have time to do that in the real world. 

 

My program does this too, and I'm guessing it's pretty common. While I definitely would prefer to have really short write-ups, I get why they do it. They want to make sure we're thorough so they can see our thought processes and so we really learn to explore all possible aspects of a client and their strengths/challenges. It's not realistic to the real world, it shows us how we might do things in a perfect world, providing the best care possible and being as thorough as we can. And on the plus side, it will be amazing once we get into the real world and only have to write a paragraph or two!

[SLPgradstudent1224]

On 4/2/2019 at 12:11 PM, babysanta said:

Thank you! As far as 'over preparing' students - I feel like that will have some really beneficial long-term effects. If you're going to learn something, might as well learn it the right way. Short-term though, UGH. I don't have to worry about pre-reqs, except for the ASHA required statistics course but that should be ok. 

More Qs:

Even though it's a year-round program I have to assume you still get occasional breaks per the academic calendar?

Are the summer semesters equal in workload/time dedication? 

Do you know anyone that's doing a thesis instead of taking the comps? Pros/Cons? There isn't much information available on the topic. Also, I feel like that in order to take that route you would need to have a solid idea of your desired specialization and already have some ideas on what you'd want to research. 

Thank you again! I know there are people with similar questions that will hopefully read this. I'm super excited to be starting in the fall, and want to be as prepared as possible. This definitely helped. 

 

 

Breaks: You get 2 weeks off at the end of august, a week off for spring break, and a normal amount of time off during winter break (about a month or so?)

Summer Semester: It is definitely easier in terms of workload/time dedication. You take 2-3 classes the first summer and typically no classes in the second summer. Also- 2 of those classes are only held for half of the summer. Some people will have field placements in the summer, so that will add to your workload if you get one- but if you just have a TX or DX then it shouldn't be too bad. Second summer you will only have a field placement or something in the clinic (hearing screenings, voice TX, fluency TX etc). 

 

I am doing a thesis instead of comps! And I definitely advocate for them. 

Pros: 

1. It's not comps... I personally suck under pressure and those tests are kinda hard. 

2. The researchers at Temple are some of the best in the field. 

3. You'll never have another opportunity to do research for fun. Once you are working in the real world, it will be hard to take the time to do research. (obviously you could- but it would be hard)

4. You are going to spend a ton of time and energy studying for comps so you might as well spend that time and energy on a thesis. With a thesis, you'll have a tangible object that you can hold in your hands and say, "this is what I did with my time and energy". You won't get that with comps. You are going to feel much more accomplished with a thesis. You might even be able to present your research at ASHA.

Cons:

1. It's a huge time dedication 

2. I'm stressed

3. As of right now, there is no one here who can help you do voice or dysphagia research.

Other information about the thesis route:

You don't need to know exactly what you want to do- but you should have an idea of the are of research you want to pursue (aphasia, neuro-cognition, apraxia, bilingualism, children, etc). When you get to Temple you will need to tell your academic advisor that you are interested in a thesis and in what area. They will give you names of the researchers to talk to. Then you will collaborate with the researcher to pick a topic. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want to do, some researchers will literally hand you a project that they already had in mind. Other researchers will help guide you to pick a topic. For example, I am doing a treatment study that I designed with the researcher that I am working with. My friend was given a project by a researcher and is re-analyzing data that already exists. Obviously mine is going to be a little bit harder because I have to test actual participants. There are so many different routes to take with a thesis. You don't have to decide if you are doing one until the end of the first semester. (TBH about 4 people decided they wanted to do one in the beginning of spring semester so it's not a big deal if you aren't sure right away). A thesis will take away 1-2 elective credits which is a good thing bc you won't have to take extra classes, but it's also a bad thing because some of those extra classes are cool. Most people work on their thesis during the summer semesters. 

I obviously don't know you personally, but I feel like Temple would be a great fit for you. It's a great school if you want to do a thesis, be super prepared for your job, work in a city(super great if you want to work in a hospital), work with a specialty population (childhood apraxia of speech, fluency, bilingual preschoolers, transgender voice, aphasia, etc), and get a great education. It's a lot of work but it's worth it. 

 

any other questions feel free to ask! 

[rose2019]

Hello! Temple is my top choice at the moment however I'm waiting to hear back on a scholarship from them and in the meantime another university offered me a GA position. The financial component is really important for me, however Temple has pretty much everything I'm looking for: bilingual opportunities, research, Aphasia lab, service-learning trip to spanish speaking country, ability to do a more medical focused track... Other things to consider is that I currently live in the city of the program that offered me the GA position so I'd have to make the move to Philly and potentially be long distance with my husband for some time. 

If given the scholarship at Temple, even though it would amount to less than the GA position is offering me I am thinking Temple. Any advice? 

Edited April 7, 2019 by rose2019

[SLPgradstudent1224]

On 4/7/2019 at 7:48 PM, rose2019 said:

Hello! Temple is my top choice at the moment however I'm waiting to hear back on a scholarship from them and in the meantime another university offered me a GA position. The financial component is really important for me, however Temple has pretty much everything I'm looking for: bilingual opportunities, research, Aphasia lab, service-learning trip to spanish speaking country, ability to do a more medical focused track... Other things to consider is that I currently live in the city of the program that offered me the GA position so I'd have to make the move to Philly and potentially be long distance with my husband for some time. 

If given the scholarship at Temple, even though it would amount to less than the GA position is offering me I am thinking Temple. Any advice? 

Temple doesn't really give money to anyone, unfortunately. To my knowledge, there are no GA/TA positions.