Incoming Grad School Students! Why did you select your program

[Rosetea93]

Hello fellow speechies!!

 

It is the time of year again when senior undergrad students are getting prepared to apply for grad school!!! Although I am aware everyone has their own opinions and reasons for choosing the grad schools they chose, could some of you former grad applicants(incoming graduate students) please enlighten us all on why you choose your program. Is your program inexpensive? Did they offer a great scholarship/tuition reduction program? Have you heard faculty and staff were supportive and friendly? Were the internship/externship prospects great and diverse, etc?

 

I also just wanted to say that I appreciate anyone who contributes to this topic because you are definitely doing all of the undergrad students across the country a huge favor. As I'm sure you know, it isn't always possible to visit many of the grad schools on our list and we may not know many people who attend any of the grad schools we are interested in. So, to help us narrow down choices based off the personal knowledge, experience, and judgement of others is greatly beneficial!!

 

Dicsclaimer: For those who will be using this topic to choose schools, it goes without saying to consider everyone's outlook, but ultimately the choice is yours. Don't base your decisions off of merely this thread or website alone. I hope the best for everyone and enjoy your summer!!!                 

[SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid]

A lot of factors came into play on which schools I applied to. I guess if I had to rank what was important to me, it would look something similar to this:

 

1. Applying to Realistic Programs: What I mean by this is that I applied to programs that were likely to seriously consider me, based on my stats and previous students they have admitted. If you haven't already, check out ASHA EdFind to look at the stats of students admitted to accredited programs. It can give you an idea of whether or not your are competitive for certain programs. I know too many people who had a false sense of security and only applied to "upper tier" programs and were rejected from all of them. These were not bad students either, some even had fairly high GPAs and good GREs. It may be beneficial to meet with your advisor before applications to gauge how strong of an applicant they think you are.

 

2. Pricing: It is amazing how programs differ by pricing. For me, I have a heap of undergraduate debt that has been looming over my head. I also could not justify spending oodles of money when I would end with the same degree (M.S. CCC-SLP) and be able to work in my chosen setting. I was accepted to 4/6 places I applied and I ultimately decided on the one that will cost the least (also the strongest program, in my opinion). The program I chose has funding opportunities for graduate students such as GA positions and partial tuition waivers that SLP students often receive. 

 

3. Facilities and Placements: Programs can also differ a lot in the quality of facilities and experiences available. I didn't really expect there to be too much of a difference, but I was very surprised when I toured one program at interview day and I was completely put off by their "poor" facilities. Some programs also differ by how and when they do medical and school placements. I am interested working primarily in a hospital or rehab setting when I'm done, so I also chose my program since students get awesome experiences at a rehab facility placement. 

 

4. Faculty & Dynamic of Department: If you are interested in doing a thesis, it is important that the program has a faculty member who could potentially be your advisor. I would like to leave the option open to pursue a PhD down the road, so having a good thesis advisor who would be supportive was also important. It also makes learning much more enjoyable to be taught by faculty who are passionate about their field. Also, the dynamic of the department can play a role in your experience. It may not be something you can find out (or maybe can by hearsay), but some departments have more "politics" and "disagreements" between faculty that can adversely affect you. I did my post-bacc where I am attending grad school, and the department is very close and compatible. I have heard from other students that some programs are not like this, and faculty members who don't get along can make life difficult.

 

5. Impression of Program from Visiting: You can tell quite a bit about a program by visiting. This was by far the most insightful part. At interviews, I was able to speak with faculty and also current graduate students. I had some of my perceptions on programs change immensely after seeing them in person. I spoke with some current graduate students at programs to gain an inside view on strengths and weaknesses that I wouldn't have known if I hadn't spoke to them. I was also really underwhelmed with the clinic at one program which ultimately made me write it off my list.

 

Those are some of the things I considered. There are more little details you think of as you go along, but these made big differences for me! I am probably forgetting some as well. 

Edited June 14, 2015 by SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid

[MangoSmoothie]

There's already a recent thread on this topic, and it is nice to have responses limited to one thread:

 

 

However, I'll add a bit more here, since I know a bit more now than when I applied to that thread, but I'll preface it by saying that this is just what mattered to me, and I don't expect others to agree.

 

I ultimately had four offers and visited all but one of them due to distance. Visiting absolutely helped make my decisions easier, and made me fall in love with a program that I hadn't really considered a top-choice before. For some reason, the program I chose didn't list really important information on their website, and visiting was the only way I found out something that made the school very attractive to me. Cost was my number one factor, but another important consideration for me (that I didn't really take in to account until deciding between programs that accepted me) was having two full-semester externships, one medical and one school. Not all schools offer both, or they shorten the length to give you both in one semester. Because I'm still not 100% if I prefer one setting over the other, having both was important to me. Even if I were say, totally gung-ho about working in the medical setting, I still would appreciate having a school experience, just so I didn't have lingering doubts and to confirm that it wasn't for me. In fact, I have heard of programs that had two externships but went to one because of limited placement opportunities and more coursework the students had to complete. I actually was interested in how many schools offer two full externships in two different settings, because it isn't as common as I thought it was. Or maybe that's just the schools I applied to.

 

Location is also fairly important. I turned down a school that was so rural that many students moved their second year to do their placements. On the positive side, you could move to a whole new city for an externship! Some people might see that as a benefit, especially because it's a great chance to live somewhere new for a short time. However, I didn't want to have to deal with moving in December/Jan, and I didn't think the rural area had enough to satisfy me socially either, even if it was just for two years. A rural area isn't then end of the world (although I greatly prefer urban areas), but rural areas do limit your placement opportunities, and might even limit the variety of disorders you see. Plus, another rural school had me traveling up to 45min one way to clinical practicum placements the first year, because they didn't see enough people in their on-campus clinic the first year for the students to get enough clients each. They also had students sharing clients in the on-campus clinic... In that sense, location was important, but also the quality of the on-campus clinic was important to me. I wanted to spend my first year only doing on-campus clinical practicum, getting supervised by the department clinicians, not traveling around the county to practicum sites. The second year this is fine obviously, because it's a full externship, but that first year, I didn't want to spend so much time driving around, and I did question the quality of feedback from supervisors that were not from your department the first year.

 

Personal interests mattered too. I wanted somewhere where I could develop my knowledge and experience with AAC devices beyond just the classroom. I have a growing interest in aural rehab and wanted a school that could facilitate that. Study abroad opportunities were also very important to me. Two of the schools that accepted me had amazing study abroad opportunities, but this was an area I compromised on, because it wasn't more important than cost, externships, location, or my other interests. I decided I could explore this area once I'm in the profession, and instead, while in grad school, I'll use a little money from savings to go visit some friends abroad who I haven't seen in awhile.

 

Although this didn't matter to me, program length might be important. Some programs are 6 semesters (so you do both summers) and some are 5 semesters (only one summer). I was a bit shocked to find out how many are 6 semesters, since I swore I saw them advertised as 5. I don't think it matters one way or the other whether your program is 5 or 6 semesters, but it could be something to consider when calculating cost.

 

My biggest advice, whether you do it before you apply or after you're accepted, is to visit the program, especially if you're torn between one or two. I wasn't thrilled about going to the school I ultimately enrolled at until I visited. I fell in love with the on-campus clinic, the labs, learned so much more about the program than was on the website, and met some really friendly staff that made me feel comfortable there. If cost had not been a factor, I probably would have ended up at a different program, though. The tuition difference was over 30K between my top-choice and where I enrolled, so I compromised and went to the school that was cheaper and fulfilled all of my requirements but having study abroad. I'm so happy to go to the school I will be going to though, even though I did compromise.

 

I will add that although cost was important to me, I was not willing to just go to the cheapest option. I had an offer from a school in an area with a lower cost of living and a tuition total that was about 8K cheaper. It was a combination of all the factors that led to my final choice because all it had going for it, in my mind, was that it was cheaper. If I had to put the factors that mattered for me in order, I might make it something roughly like this:

 

1: Cost

2: Externship opportunities

3: Personal Interests

3: On-campus clinic

5: Location

 

Personal interests and on-campus clinic are pretty much tied for me, thus both are 3, but only because I have multiple interests and was willing to compromise on one (but not all). Location ranks lower, but I'd say it influences all of the other factors in some way.

Edited June 14, 2015 by MangoSmoothie

[Rosetea93]

A lot of factors came into play on which schools I applied to. I guess if I had to rank what was important to me, it would look something similar to this:

 

1. Applying to Realistic Programs: What I mean by this is that I applied to programs that were likely to seriously consider me, based on my stats and previous students they have admitted. If you haven't already, check out ASHA EdFind to look at the stats of students admitted to accredited programs. It can give you an idea of whether or not your are competitive for certain programs. I know too many people who had a false sense of security and only applied to "upper tier" programs and were rejected from all of them. These were not bad students either, some even had fairly high GPAs and good GREs. It may be beneficial to meet with your advisor before applications to gauge how strong of an applicant they think you are.

 

2. Pricing: It is amazing how programs differ by pricing. For me, I have a heap of undergraduate debt that has been looming over my head. I also could not justify spending oodles of money when I would end with the same degree (M.S. CCC-SLP) and be able to work in my chosen setting. I was accepted to 4/6 places I applied and I ultimately decided on the one that will cost the least (also the strongest program, in my opinion). The program I chose has funding opportunities for graduate students such as GA positions and partial tuition waivers that SLP students often receive. 

 

3. Facilities and Placements: Programs can also differ a lot in the quality of facilities and experiences available. I didn't really expect there to be too much of a difference, but I was very surprised when I toured one program at interview day and I was completely put off by their "poor" facilities. Some programs also differ by how and when they do medical and school placements. I am interested working primarily in a hospital or rehab setting when I'm done, so I also chose my program since students get awesome experiences at a rehab facility placement. 

 

4. Faculty & Dynamic of Department: If you are interested in doing a thesis, it is important that the program has a faculty member who could potentially be your advisor. I would like to leave the option open to pursue a PhD down the road, so having a good thesis advisor who would be supportive was also important. It also makes learning much more enjoyable to be taught by faculty who are passionate about their field. Also, the dynamic of the department can play a role in your experience. It may not be something you can find out (or maybe can by hearsay), but some departments have more "politics" and "disagreements" between faculty that can adversely affect you. I did my post-bacc where I am attending grad school, and the department is very close and compatible. I have heard from other students that some programs are not like this, and faculty members who don't get along can make life difficult.

 

5. Impression of Program from Visiting: You can tell quite a bit about a program by visiting. This was by far the most insightful part. At interviews, I was able to speak with faculty and also current graduate students. I had some of my perceptions on programs change immensely after seeing them in person. I spoke with some current graduate students at programs to gain an inside view on strengths and weaknesses that I wouldn't have known if I hadn't spoke to them. I was also really underwhelmed with the clinic at one program which ultimately made me write it off my list.

 

Those are some of the things I considered. There are more little details you think of as you go along, but these made big differences for me! I am probably forgetting some as well. 

Thank you so much for being so thorough in your answer! These are all really important factors to consider. I know for me, I have used ASHA's edfind nonstop for a while now and it definitely helps me figure out where we at least have a shot at getting again. Also,because some schools offer funding that narrows the gap between them and less expensive schools, using cost analysis to make deciding between school offers easier is a great idea! Thanks again SLPposteriorcricoarytenoid  for your help!!

[Rosetea93]

There's already a recent thread on this topic, and it is nice to have responses limited to one thread:

 

 

However, I'll add a bit more here, since I know a bit more now than when I applied to that thread, but I'll preface it by saying that this is just what mattered to me, and I don't expect others to agree.

 

I ultimately had four offers and visited all but one of them due to distance. Visiting absolutely helped make my decisions easier, and made me fall in love with a program that I hadn't really considered a top-choice before. For some reason, the program I chose didn't list really important information on their website, and visiting was the only way I found out something that made the school very attractive to me. Cost was my number one factor, but another important consideration for me (that I didn't really take in to account until deciding between programs that accepted me) was having two full-semester externships, one medical and one school. Not all schools offer both, or they shorten the length to give you both in one semester. Because I'm still not 100% if I prefer one setting over the other, having both was important to me. Even if I were say, totally gung-ho about working in the medical setting, I still would appreciate having a school experience, just so I didn't have lingering doubts and to confirm that it wasn't for me. In fact, I have heard of programs that had two externships but went to one because of limited placement opportunities and more coursework the students had to complete. I actually was interested in how many schools offer two full externships in two different settings, because it isn't as common as I thought it was. Or maybe that's just the schools I applied to.

 

Location is also fairly important. I turned down a school that was so rural that many students moved their second year to do their placements. On the positive side, you could move to a whole new city for an externship! Some people might see that as a benefit, especially because it's a great chance to live somewhere new for a short time. However, I didn't want to have to deal with moving in December/Jan, and I didn't think the rural area had enough to satisfy me socially either, even if it was just for two years. A rural area isn't then end of the world (although I greatly prefer urban areas), but rural areas do limit your placement opportunities, and might even limit the variety of disorders you see. Plus, another rural school had me traveling up to 45min one way to clinical practicum placements the first year, because they didn't see enough people in their on-campus clinic the first year for the students to get enough clients each. They also had students sharing clients in the on-campus clinic... In that sense, location was important, but also the quality of the on-campus clinic was important to me. I wanted to spend my first year only doing on-campus clinical practicum, getting supervised by the department clinicians, not traveling around the county to practicum sites. The second year this is fine obviously, because it's a full externship, but that first year, I didn't want to spend so much time driving around, and I did question the quality of feedback from supervisors that were not from your department the first year.

 

Personal interests mattered too. I wanted somewhere where I could develop my knowledge and experience with AAC devices beyond just the classroom. I have a growing interest in aural rehab and wanted a school that could facilitate that. Study abroad opportunities were also very important to me. Two of the schools that accepted me had amazing study abroad opportunities, but this was an area I compromised on, because it wasn't more important than cost, externships, location, or my other interests. I decided I could explore this area once I'm in the profession, and instead, while in grad school, I'll use a little money from savings to go visit some friends abroad who I haven't seen in awhile.

 

Although this didn't matter to me, program length might be important. Some programs are 6 semesters (so you do both summers) and some are 5 semesters (only one summer). I was a bit shocked to find out how many are 6 semesters, since I swore I saw them advertised as 5. I don't think it matters one way or the other whether your program is 5 or 6 semesters, but it could be something to consider when calculating cost.

 

My biggest advice, whether you do it before you apply or after you're accepted, is to visit the program, especially if you're torn between one or two. I wasn't thrilled about going to the school I ultimately enrolled at until I visited. I fell in love with the on-campus clinic, the labs, learned so much more about the program than was on the website, and met some really friendly staff that made me feel comfortable there. If cost had not been a factor, I probably would have ended up at a different program, though. The tuition difference was over 30K between my top-choice and where I enrolled, so I compromised and went to the school that was cheaper and fulfilled all of my requirements but having study abroad. I'm so happy to go to the school I will be going to though, even though I did compromise.

 

I will add that although cost was important to me, I was not willing to just go to the cheapest option. I had an offer from a school in an area with a lower cost of living and a tuition total that was about 8K cheaper. It was a combination of all the factors that led to my final choice because all it had going for it, in my mind, was that it was cheaper. If I had to put the factors that mattered for me in order, I might make it something roughly like this:

 

1: Cost

2: Externship opportunities

3: Personal Interests

3: On-campus clinic

5: Location

 

Personal interests and on-campus clinic are pretty much tied for me, thus both are 3, but only because I have multiple interests and was willing to compromise on one (but not all). Location ranks lower, but I'd say it influences all of the other factors in some way.

MangoSmoothie, I must have overlooked this thread, thank you for providing it. Additionally, I read your previous post as well as the new information and it is very helpful! Especially your section about location. I couldn't imagine getting acclimated to a school and then find out that the following year I would have to relocate just to do an externship. Additionally, having an idea of an area of interest is a great thing to have in mind when applying. I am really interested in dysphagia and feeding difficulties for infants with cleft lip and palate. I would definitely have to find a school that has great research or clinical opportunities in this specialty. Additionally, finding a school that spends a semester in medical based speech pathology and a semester in school is great if you want to get a feel for what you want to focus in. I agree that one semester to gain some experience in both avenues may not be nearly enough to fully appreciate what it is like to work in that particular arena.