Speech@Emerson vs. Speech@NYU Clinical Placements QUESTION!

[futureslp_student]

To anyone currently in the Speech@Emersin Online Program or graduated from the program, can you please tell me if your Clinical Placement gave you a holistic understanding of the many different avenues an SLP can work in? Or did you feel you were limited to working immersively in only 1 setting? I’m waiting on my admissions decision from NYU, but I like that they offer 1 Clinical Placement for Treatment, 1 Clinical for Pediatrics, and 1 for Adults. The chance to work in several different setting sounds appealing to me, rather than staying in 1 location for three semesters. Are Emerson’s placements like that?
 

Let me know, any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! 

[SpeechieK]

Hello!

I just got accepted to Emerson's online May 2021 cohert and waiting on my admissions decision on NYU and Baylor. From my research and discussions with Emerson, it seems like they offer different settings for practicums as well. The Emerson admissions specialist told me that you can also provide sites and/or contacts to Emerson that you would like them to reach out to for a placement. I think both programs being online do their best to offer a diverse practicum experience! What start date did you apply to for Emerson, May or Fall? 

[peachyspeechy78]

SpeechieK, I applied for the May 2021 program as well and recently interviewed! How long did it take for you to hear back from the program? 

[peachyspeechy78]

On 2/21/2021 at 1:12 PM, SpeechieK said:

Hello!

I just got accepted to Emerson's online May 2021 cohert and waiting on my admissions decision on NYU and Baylor. From my research and discussions with Emerson, it seems like they offer different settings for practicums as well. The Emerson admissions specialist told me that you can also provide sites and/or contacts to Emerson that you would like them to reach out to for a placement. I think both programs being online do their best to offer a diverse practicum experience! What start date did you apply to for Emerson, May or Fall? 

Hi! I just interviewed at Emerson for the May 2021 program recently. How quick did you hear back from them?

[SpeechieK]

Hello! I submitted my APP 9/17/20, had my interview in early November, and received my acceptance email on 1/30/21. However, my application wasn’t officially “complete” until 1/14 as I was waiting on transcripts & a LOR. Thus, it took Emerson 2 weeks to get me a decision from my APP date of completion! Super quick. If you get accepted, feel free to shoot me an email to swap contact info as we’d be in the same cohert☺️ kas925@nau.edu 

[lmmden]

Speech@NYU Student here. I'm in my 2nd to last semester. 

Placements have been harder to get due to COVID. Currently, many sites are transitioning from teletherapy to in-person. Because of that, many sites want to limit bodies in the room and therefore won't take interns in the Summer, and I heard of some skipping out on Fall 2021 as well. This has affected all SLP programs, not just NYU. The Clinical Field Placement Team (CFPT) will try to find placements in your area within a 70 mile radius, and they typically start with placements they already contracts with.

Your first field placement begins in Prac 3, and typically you'll be placed at a school or private practice. I heard summer placements in general have limited field placements (e.g., school not in session), so I think most placements are private practice. I'm not sure about typical adult placement availability in the summer since my placements have been affected by COVID. The CFPT prioritizes making sure you have varied settings or populations depending on availability.

You can take charge of the kind of field placements you get depending on the direction you want to go (via personal referrals), but it highly depends on whether affiliation agreements (contracts) can be reached between NYU and the site, and if those contracts can be obtained in time before you start your field placements. The CFPT takes referrals and they can never guarantee that you get to work in your placement site until that contract and ASHA-certified SLP are confirmed. So, if you have a personal referral (an SLP who agreed to host you), get in contact with the CFPT as soon as possible to get the contract process started with the site. It can take anywhere from weeks (1-2 weeks) to months (I've heard as long as 6-8 months if the site edits the contract). NYU does have a decent amount of contracts in place at various locations, so if you don't have a personal referral, then you'll be given one through their contracts if a spot is available. Again, COVID complicated things, so I know many students who didn't have a placement for Prac 3 or 4, and completed SimuCase hours (75 max). COVID made it really stressful and frustrating for a lot of students without placements. The CFPT will still search during your practicum for placements or short term contracts. Some students elected to take a Leave of Absence (LOA) so that they can delay their placements for potential adult placement availability (You can take up to 2 LOAs during your entire program).

For me, due to COVID, I didn't have a Prac 4 placement secured until two weeks before Prac 4 started. I got this placement through a personal referral from an SLP that I previously worked under. I told her my situation and she just happened to have a good connection to a site that already had an affiliation agreement with NYU in place from before. So, I lucked out. My final placement is also a personal referral through a colleague of mine. This personal referral is a school SLP. NYU does not have an affiliation agreement in place with the school district. It took a month for the CFPT to get in contact with the right HR person to then send over the contract for review. It's been a few months and the contract is still being reviewed. I am hoping the contract is confirmed in the next three months before Fall semester starts. For Prac 3, my placement specialist was able to get me a placement, though I shared it with another student and obtained just enough hours. It worked out overall because the SLP I worked with hooked me up with my adult placement.

I think the placement process may be similar for Speech@Emerson since they also work with 2U. At Speech@NYU, the placement specialist that actually finds the sites for students work for 2U. They work closely with NYU's CFPT team (all SLPs) to ensure they are meeting NYU requirements. So I imagine it might be similar for Emerson.

Overall, getting a placement is really dependent on what's available in your area and whether contracts are in place or if they can be obtained on time. If you're planning to use personal referrals for some or all of your placements, I would gather as much information as possible about the placement process with the CFPT or with your Academic Advisor, and get the process started before you start Prac 3, 4, 5, like at least 9-10 months in advance. And, keep in close contact with your placement specialist about the contract process, especially if you haven't started the Prac sequence since they prioritize students who are already in the Prac sequence.

Speech@NYU has a pretty large FB Group that incoming students can join for more information or to ask questions about this process and professor recommendations!

Edited May 18, 2021 by lmmden