UNC-Chapel Hill

[girlgonespeechie]

Hey all, did anyone get accepted to UNC-CH or have any insight to the program? I got accepted and I am deciding between this school and another... I noticed most of the faculty has research interests with peds or individuals with autism or hearing loss.  Personally, I think I am interested in working on the neuro side of things, particularly with individuals who have TBI, dementia, stroke, etc. but I also want to get a comprehensive education and have placements across the board (school, SNF, hospital, private practice, etc).

Does it ultimately matter what the faculty's interest is, or will students be able to get a comprehensive education no matter what school they choose? UNC-CH would be the cheaper route as far as cost of living (the other school's tuition is the same as UNC) but the other university is more highly ranked and has more faculty with a background in neurogenic communication disorders.

I haven't seen much talk about UNC on the boards (or haven't looked hard enough lol) so I figured I'd start a thread.

Thoughts? 

[tlsstc]

Hi - congrats on your acceptances! I graduated from UNC May 2015, and there is plenty of focus on adult neuro. Katrina Haley & Adam Jacks do a lot of research on aphasia - Dr Haley teaches an entire course on aphasia and everyone is required to take adult neurogenic disorders with her. Dr. Jacks teaches motor speech disorders, which is also required. I work in an elementary school now and I felt like I was in the minority being ped focused. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[girlgonespeechie]

4 hours ago, tlsstc said:

Hi - congrats on your acceptances! I graduated from UNC May 2015, and there is plenty of focus on adult neuro. Katrina Haley & Adam Jacks do a lot of research on aphasia - Dr Haley teaches an entire course on aphasia and everyone is required to take adult neurogenic disorders with her. Dr. Jacks teaches motor speech disorders, which is also required. I work in an elementary school now and I felt like I was in the minority being ped focused. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks so much for the reply! I noticed Dr. Jacks's and Dr. Haley's research interests on the website, as well as Dr. Williams and her role in the Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders. That's interesting that you felt like the minority- I got the impression that it was more peds focused, but I guess a website can't tell you everything  How did you feel about your clinical placements? Did students have control over where they wanted their practicum? For example, will I be able to get a practicum in a hospital or acute care AND schools? I know some universities only have a few spots per practicum placement which makes them pretty competitive....did you/your cohort feel like their needs/wants were being met?

[kendralynnt]

On 3/19/2016 at 6:37 AM, tlsstc said:

Hi - congrats on your acceptances! I graduated from UNC May 2015, and there is plenty of focus on adult neuro. Katrina Haley & Adam Jacks do a lot of research on aphasia - Dr Haley teaches an entire course on aphasia and everyone is required to take adult neurogenic disorders with her. Dr. Jacks teaches motor speech disorders, which is also required. I work in an elementary school now and I felt like I was in the minority being ped focused. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi @tlsstc - I was accepted to UNC for this coming fall but I've also been accepted to schools that are less expensive, but also far lower ranked. I'm out of state and I know funding is pretty unlikely at UNC for most people- do you think that the cost of attendance is worth it? I want to specialize in craniofacial anomalies which is a large part of why UNC is so attractive to me, as well as the fact that it's a larger research school with more opportunities than a smaller, more local school would offer me.

Do you also have any insights about what the teaching style is like? Did you feel prepared for entering the workforce when you graduated? I'm unable to go to the open house that's being held today since I live so far away but would appreciate any and all advice you (or anyone else!) has about this school!

[girlgonespeechie]

On March 22, 2016 at 1:09 PM, kendralynnt said:

Hi @tlsstc - I was accepted to UNC for this coming fall but I've also been accepted to schools that are less expensive, but also far lower ranked. I'm out of state and I know funding is pretty unlikely at UNC for most people- do you think that the cost of attendance is worth it? I want to specialize in craniofacial anomalies which is a large part of why UNC is so attractive to me, as well as the fact that it's a larger research school with more opportunities than a smaller, more local school would offer me.

Do you also have any insights about what the teaching style is like? Did you feel prepared for entering the workforce when you graduated? I'm unable to go to the open house that's being held today since I live so far away but would appreciate any and all advice you (or anyone else!) has about this school!

Hey @kendralynnt! I went to the open house and it was really informative. Some things I'd like to highlight about the university that they said was relatively unique:

1. They do not have their own speech and hearing clinic, so all your practicum will be at external sites, such as UNC hospital, Duke hospital, public schools, SNFs, and other outpatient facilities. They presented this to be a positive thing because you'll get experience being in different settings. This also means that the faculty will only teach you your courses and not be your clinical supervisors. Also, because of this, the clinical director basically said it is "almost necessary" to have a car because your placement could be up to 60 min drive from campus.

2. Every student by the time they graduate will have at least 1 educational setting (preschool, elementary, middle, or high school) and 1 medical setting (hospital, SNF, inpatient, outpatient).

3. Every student is required to do research, whether it is a thesis, a research paper, or working 50 hrs in a research lab for a faculty member.

4. During the summer session, you don't take any classes, you only do a full time practicum, which can give you experience on how it will feel like to work a full time job. 

I liked the school when I visited, and I like the fact that every student has to take a certain amount of hours in both adults and peds giving you a comprehensive education. The faculty members were nice and down to earth. I'm also looking at another school, and the other school is higher ranked than UNC so I'm trying to figure out which one would give me more opportunities.

 

[kendralynnt]

Thank you so much! That's really helpful info. I am leaning heavily towards this program but I'm having a hard time justifying the high cost of out of state tuition since I also got accepted to an in-state program.

Are you going to be accepting UNC's admission offer?

[girlgonespeechie]

3 hours ago, kendralynnt said:

Thank you so much! That's really helpful info. I am leaning heavily towards this program but I'm having a hard time justifying the high cost of out of state tuition since I also got accepted to an in-state program.

Are you going to be accepting UNC's admission offer?

No problem! I'm not yet sure if I'm going to be accepting UNC. I am an out of state applicant across the board, so no matter what school I go to, it's going to cost me an arm and a leg haha. I also got accepted to UW's Core-SLP program, which is higher ranked than UNC, but Seattle is extremely expensive and further away from my family. Looking at how much I'm going to be in debt, I wish there was an in-state program that I had applied to.  I've heard it's not worth it to take on that much debt if it's not necessary, and if I accept UW's offer, I will be taking out more loans just to cover cost of living.  So I definitely understand the perspective you're coming from. 

[kendralynnt]

1 hour ago, girlgonespeechie said:

No problem! I'm not yet sure if I'm going to be accepting UNC. I am an out of state applicant across the board, so no matter what school I go to, it's going to cost me an arm and a leg haha. I also got accepted to UW's Core-SLP program, which is higher ranked than UNC, but Seattle is extremely expensive and further away from my family. Looking at how much I'm going to be in debt, I wish there was an in-state program that I had applied to.  I've heard it's not worth it to take on that much debt if it's not necessary, and if I accept UW's offer, I will be taking out more loans just to cover cost of living.  So I definitely understand the perspective you're coming from. 

Congrats on being accepted to UW's program!! They're very competitive. I actually live in Seattle and work at Seattle Children's in their speech department and have visited the UW speech program so if you have any questions feel free to let me know!

[girlgonespeechie]

7 hours ago, kendralynnt said:

Congrats on being accepted to UW's program!! They're very competitive. I actually live in Seattle and work at Seattle Children's in their speech department and have visited the UW speech program so if you have any questions feel free to let me know!

Oh wow, that's amazing! What do you do at the hospital?  Are you originally from Seattle? I'm just trying to figure out which would be better for me since UNC has all external placements and UW has basically all the practicum at the clinic, and I'm not sure if that's going to be limiting or not.  Also- UW seems to make students make some decisions pretty early on (choosing between core and med, choosing between adult and peds) and I'm not 100% sure what I want to do yet, so that is also frightening haha.  If you have any perspective about this that would be helpful!