Please stay away from the Chapman University grad program

[stressedNunimpressed]

This is just a word of warning to any applicants to stay away from Chapman University's graduate school program. As a current graduate student of this program, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this program. The lack of support or basic human empathy from certain members of the administration, lack of opportunities to support career goals, and lack of diversity has made my graduate experience a living hell. I do not have many regrets in life, but I do regret the amount of money (over $10,000 every trimester!!!), effort, time, and stress I have wasted in this program. In essence, please literally go anywhere else.

[smarieSLP2b]

I appreciate the warning! Not many are willing to speak out about these programs. I know the Council of accreditation takes feedback on programs from students when it is time for them to go through their review. You should look up what your program's date is or even if they accept anonymous complaints on their website. On another note, I'm sorry you are having a hard time with your program, lack of diversity is common in almost all SLP programs. The field is 96% caucasian. It's just something that you have to deal with temporarily, however once you practice in the field or live in certain areas it is easier to be amongst a diverse group of SLPs. As for the lack of opportunities, not to defend the program but with Covid-19 alot of programs are struggling to place students ANY where. I wouldn't stress placements so much as long as you are completing the hours required for graduation. There is always a way later on to get into your niche in this field. If you're willing to move I'm sure you can find a CF in your area of choice. Good luck and hang in there! Getting your degree is all that matters at this point. I would also look into the free services the school provides if you feel unsupported. Also if you have any "out there" interactions with a professor you can report them to the dean. Just because a person holds a certain position that doesn't allow them to get away with mistreating students. 

[Liza_Ann_92]

20 hours ago, stressedNunimpressed said:

This is just a word of warning to any applicants to stay away from Chapman University's graduate school program. As a current graduate student of this program, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this program. The lack of support or basic human empathy from certain members of the administration, lack of opportunities to support career goals, and lack of diversity has made my graduate experience a living hell. I do not have many regrets in life, but I do regret the amount of money (over $10,000 every trimester!!!), effort, time, and stress I have wasted in this program. In essence, please literally go anywhere else.

Good for you for talking about your experiences and warning others! One of my close friends had a friend/classmate who went to Chapman for their master's program and said they were not happy with their experience. 

[meadymalarkey]

::sigh::

Yeeahhhhh... I'm originally from southern California. My impression of Chapman has always been that it's a place most people choose when other programs don't pan out, but that's mainly based on undergraduates. It's a lot of money. Also Orange County isn't exactly known for being a bastion of diversity or its inclusive, forward-thinking atmosphere. Not surprised that the program leaves a lot to be desired.

For all of the good intentions and feel-good moments, there is certainly a lot of mediocrity to go around in SLP-dom. In past years a lot of people on gradcafe have been very enthusiastic about Chapman. Thanks for being open about your experiences!

[Covidslp]

i will disagree with you and say that there are many reasons why this program jumped in rankings from 130 to 92 in less than two years. Chapman offered me so many opportunities to get a wide range of experience to the best of their abilities. They took care of me at my lowest of lows and celebrated my success. The biggest impact on your education that isn't just affecting you at the moment is Covid. You have to figure out how to adjust your lifestyle to best fit how you learn and get your education during these difficult times. Maybe you lack ability to advocate for yourself and seek classmates or professors that you connect with for support? You're not a kid and dont need to be babied. Graduate programs are still trying to figure out how to best serve their students and I am sorry you got the short end of the stick during these difficult times, but instead of coming on here and shaming this graduate program. Figure out how to get the most of your education during challenging times that we are currently in. and sprinkle a little bit of empathy and perspective while you're at it.

 

CHAPMAN's CSD program is such a great program and I would highly recommend it to people.

 

Love,

a person who is not white

Edited January 26, 2021 by Covidslp

[Covidslp]

and quit being dramatic.... you probably just dont know how to handle grad school stress.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Covidslp

[smarieSLP2b]

29 minutes ago, Covidslp said:

and quit being dramatic.... you probably just dont know how to handle grad school stress.

? How easy is it to sit behind a keyboard and anonymously tear someone down who is clearly overwhelmed and hurting? You must feel so great about yourself, congratulations on being a bully, just what our field needs! Another miserable SLP I see, I've met quite a few like you. 

[smarieSLP2b]

On 1/22/2021 at 2:46 AM, stressedNunimpressed said:

This is just a word of warning to any applicants to stay away from Chapman University's graduate school program. As a current graduate student of this program, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this program. The lack of support or basic human empathy from certain members of the administration, lack of opportunities to support career goals, and lack of diversity has made my graduate experience a living hell. I do not have many regrets in life, but I do regret the amount of money (over $10,000 every trimester!!!), effort, time, and stress I have wasted in this program. In essence, please literally go anywhere else.

 

[bluesquare]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Chapman program. I am currently a first year in the program and I have had nothing but an amazing experience so far. I started my first semester online and I will not say the first semester was perfect but any means but you can tell the professors were really trying. Whenever I needed help all of my professors were there for me. The department has gone out of their way to help students be in person for learning because the department knows all students learn differently.

I have accommodations through the disability services and every single professor has gone out of their way to ensure I have everything I need in their class to be successful. My professors always check in with me after the first quiz or exam to ensure I had enough time and if they needed to do anything different to ensure I am having the best opportunity to learn. 

Chapman was my top school and I was over the moon to be accepted. I think Chapman has given me opportunities that I will be forever grateful for. No school is perfect and the department is always trying to improve to make the experience for their students better. I feel my experience does not reflects yours but I would suggest reaching out to the department. Maybe you can have a productive discussion to see if your concerns can be heard and changes could be made. Not everyone's experience is the same and I am sorry you have not had the best experience. 

[jomyers.online]

On 1/22/2021 at 1:46 AM, stressedNunimpressed said:

The lack of support or basic human empathy from certain members of the administration, lack of opportunities to support career goals, and lack of diversity has made my graduate experience a living hell. I do not have many regrets in life, but I do regret the amount of money (over $10,000 every trimester!!!), effort, time, and stress I have wasted in this program.

Thank you for your courage in speaking out about your experience. I do not believe that some of the replies that you've received are warranted, and I want to apologize to you on behalf of what is usually a wonderful group of future SLPs that are just looking out for one another. This forum is the future of the profession, and it is important that we listen to one another, affirm experiences and opinions, and offer the best advice possible.

There are students with positive experiences and others with negative experiences at every school. Just because your experience differs from someone else's doesn't make their experience any less valid. There is no room for that here; head on over to reddit.

Additionally, we can't expect that every program will be a good fit for every future SLP, especially with Covid-19 throwing a wrench in everything. That being said, here's the best advice that I have for you. You might find this helpful, you might not. It looks like you came here to commiserate and I told myself that I wasn't going to hop on this thread with a long-winded response for that exact reason. But, here I am on my soapbox anyway trying to make things better. I tend to try to be proactive and put out fires as quickly as possible, so my advice will not be to lie down and suffer in silence:

 

• You expressed that you aren't feeling supported by your administration. You might try finding someone in your program that has a positive relationship with a member of your administration, or another student that is feeling supported. Have a heart to heart with that person, and get to the root of what is troubling you. Maybe that individual has found, or knows of, supports like tutoring options, financial assistance, placement advice, resume builders, professional networking opportunities, etc. It might just be that you haven't heard of them yet or didn't know they were available to you. At my program, the official language on the website was that undergraduate research opportunities were not available to me in the track that I'm in. The application is sent mid-year to juniors that are admitted to the bachelor's degree program; not to those taking levelling courses. I had to self-advocate: I talked to the undergraduate advisor and several professors and ended up getting an exception. At least from what I've read in and around this forum, my school, and the reddit forums, quite a few of these sorts of programs and opportunities are spread almost entirely by word-of-mouth, and weren't broadcast effectively even before the pandemic hit. What I'm trying to get at is that having a conversation with someone who is happier in your program might make the situation clearer to you: what exactly could the program do for you that would make you feel supported? You're an SLP: be clinical about it. Find real opportunities for the program to improve and present them to administration from the perspective of someone trying to improve opportunities for future students at Chapman. You could ask the individual to be an intermediary, and see if it is something that can either be corrected by a couple of brave, respectful, and honest conversations with the administrator you are having trouble with or brought to the attention of someone higher up the food chain, so to speak. 

 

• I recognize that having a heart to heart with someone that is feeling supported in your program could be a minefield if, for example, those that are feeling supported come from a different background than you. You mentioned a lack of diversity, and this is something that has been a given in this profession for far too long. Your graduate program, and everyone in it, should realize that this is an institutional and societal problem that should be corrected in material ways. We should not be accepting long speeches and statements of solidarity as change: demand real, proactive, and funded outreach programs and campaigns that advocate for a demographic shift within your program and this profession as a whole. This should be happening in every grad program in the entire U.S., as none of them are doing enough. None of them. It is up to those in privileged positions to fight for those voices that aren't able to be heard: maybe there aren't supports for those that are LGBTQ+, come from a lower socioeconomic status, are first-generation college students, have a different racial background, or are otherwise not white, wealthy, cis, and female. Find others that want to make real changes in your program, and organize. If the organizations already exist, get involved. I know you're busy, but get involved. The only way things get done is when a lot of people make a lot of noise. I'm not saying this is the best solution, but when I realized that no diversity trainings or cultural awareness courses were offered to undergraduates in my program I just got some people together and made a student organization that is attempting to confront that issue. It won't happen overnight, but I am in a place where I am privileged enough to speak out and advocate for others, and I won't be the person who sits here and maintains the status quo. To anyone reading this, I know it sounds cliche but it's true: you can be the one that makes the change. If you are not in a position to do so; disregard this, you're doing the work just by being here. But I hope that there are students in your program, mine, and others are able to see this and start getting more proactive.

 

Even if it's too late to save this experience for yourself, there will be others in the future that you have the potential to help. You probably won't manage to warn everyone off the program and make it go under, there's too much competition in SLP for a comparatively small number of schools. The reality is that there will be more people like you, so make sure that they don't have the same experiences that you do in your program. I know you don't want to feel like you've completely thrown away $10,000 every trimester. You'll eventually be an alumna; make the place better than it was when you found it so that you can be proud of the institution you graduated from. At the very least, you'll know that you tried. 

 

Thank you for reading my book.

 

[Covidslp]

https://news.chapman.edu/2021/02/12/chapman-alumna-and-speech-language-pathologist-fights-for-underserved-students/

? 

[futurespeechpath1]

On 1/25/2021 at 10:03 PM, Covidslp said:

and quit being dramatic.... you probably just dont know how to handle grad school stress.

You don't have to belittle someone's negative experiences. Just because they aren't fond of a program that you like doesn't make their experiences any less. As a future SLP you should be more empathetic to another person's experience even if it doesn't coincide with what you believe. Imagine if the admissions committee saw you making such hurtful comments to another person.

[jomyers.online]

1 hour ago, futurespeechpath1 said:

Imagine if the admissions committee saw you making such hurtful comments to another person.

I believe they've already graduated: @Covidslp stated, "Chapman offered me so many opportunities to get a wide range of experience to the best of their abilities."

Additionally, you can stay fairly anonymous on this forum if you choose to do so. Your name and personal information are not required to join, and TGC doesn't verify any information you provide. It's important to note that you can ask questions and offer advice on this forum anonymously, as that's part of the draw.

Regardless, you're right. We're all stressed, we don't need to be adding to any negative or repetitive thought patterns!

Sending good vibes to everyone. Can't wait until March!!!!!!

Edited February 13, 2021 by jomyers.online

[smarieSLP2b]

6 hours ago, Covidslp said:

https://news.chapman.edu/2021/02/12/chapman-alumna-and-speech-language-pathologist-fights-for-underserved-students/

?

In the future, this is a much better response to someone who is in the position of the OP. 

[futurespeechpath1]

15 hours ago, jomyers.online said:

I believe they've already graduated: @Covidslp stated, "Chapman offered me so many opportunities to get a wide range of experience to the best of their abilities."

Additionally, you can stay fairly anonymous on this forum if you choose to do so. Your name and personal information are not required to join, and TGC doesn't verify any information you provide. It's important to note that you can ask questions and offer advice on this forum anonymously, as that's part of the draw.

Regardless, you're right. We're all stressed, we don't need to be adding to any negative or repetitive thought patterns!

Sending good vibes to everyone. Can't wait until March!!!!!!

They've posted on a few forums talking about their grad school acceptances so I'm under the impression they are currently applying to grad school. 

Additionally, there are many ways you can find people who bully others on this forum. The idea of "anonymity online" doesn't exactly exist and regardless of the fact I never said you aren't anonymous on here. I said imagine if the admissions committee saw the comment you made to put it into the perspective of how inappropriate that is. It's important to note that they were not asking a question or offering advice on this forum. They were putting OP down.

Regardless, nobody should be putting anyone down whether they are in school, going through the admissions process, or currently employed as a licensed SLP. The comments I made the other day still stand and I stand by them.

[jomyers.online]

@futurespeechpath1 I looked around and it seems like all of their posts about acceptances were from 2018. I was just thinking they might not be worried about admissions committees seeing this thread if they were already admitted and relatively anonymous (which could explain the negativity, and lack of apology). It makes sense now that you were only trying to introduce that perspective. Anyway, I agree with you. You never know who might make the connection, and it's better to practice professional behavior. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by jomyers.online

[Liza_Ann_92]

On 2/12/2021 at 8:00 PM, futurespeechpath1 said:

You don't have to belittle someone's negative experiences. Just because they aren't fond of a program that you like doesn't make their experiences any less. As a future SLP you should be more empathetic to another person's experience even if it doesn't coincide with what you believe. Imagine if the admissions committee saw you making such hurtful comments to another person.

THIS ?

[AlwaysaFalcon]

On 1/22/2021 at 8:59 AM, smarieSLP2b said:

I appreciate the warning! Not many are willing to speak out about these programs. I know the Council of accreditation takes feedback on programs from students when it is time for them to go through their review. You should look up what your program's date is or even if they accept anonymous complaints on their website. On another note, I'm sorry you are having a hard time with your program, lack of diversity is common in almost all SLP programs. The field is 96% caucasian. It's just something that you have to deal with temporarily, however once you practice in the field or live in certain areas it is easier to be amongst a diverse group of SLPs. As for the lack of opportunities, not to defend the program but with Covid-19 alot of programs are struggling to place students ANY where. I wouldn't stress placements so much as long as you are completing the hours required for graduation. There is always a way later on to get into your niche in this field. If you're willing to move I'm sure you can find a CF in your area of choice. Good luck and hang in there! Getting your degree is all that matters at this point. I would also look into the free services the school provides if you feel unsupported. Also if you have any "out there" interactions with a professor you can report them to the dean. Just because a person holds a certain position that doesn't allow them to get away with mistreating students. 

@stressedNunimpressed I also agree to take advantage if you feel you need it to utilize the counseling services! My school offered free services for students and it helped me TREMENDOUSLY. You can get through this!!

@smarieSLP2bI had not idea about the leaving feedback on programs for the council of accreditation. That's good to know!

[betternow]

The OP is brave to have posted about Chapman.  I kept silent about my terrible experiences while in the SLP masters program at Chapman because I didn't want to relive it, nor did I want to be personally attacked for expressing my opinion (like what happened to the OP). FYI, invalidating someone's experience is not only painful, but also contributes to the trauma.  

I support the OP and had a similar experience. After going to therapy to discuss my experiences at Chapman (and showing my therapist some of the emails I had received), I learned that I had experienced gaslighting and bullying. There was absolutely an abuse of power from certain narcissistic "instructors" and supervisor, and there absolutely needs to be someone who students can turn to. There was no one for me. I remember just crying in a parking lot at night because of how terrible certain individuals made me feel. I was also shocked because I had never been treated so poorly in my life. My professors in my undergraduate program (not Chapman) treated me with respect and dignity, and I had never in my life expected to be bullied. And yes, I know the difference between constructive criticism and bullying. This was bullying. I actually took my case all the way to the dean, but she literally said it was my word against theirs. I should have filed a complaint with the accreditation board, but I wanted to move on with my life and not spend anymore time or energy on thinking about Chapman.

Oh, OP, I wish we were in the same year. I am also a POC. I am not claiming that my overwhelmingly negative experience stemmed from being a POC. But, I was picked on and bullied. If others have had similar experiences as myself and the OP, I encourage you to file a complaint with the accreditation board. I have moved on, and don't think much about Chapman, but if past or present student does decide to file a complaint, please do so. I support you and will provide a statement.  

Also, if you experienced bullying from instructors or supervisors at Chapman, please know, it is not your fault.