Voice Specialty/ Vocology?

[SopranoSLP]

Hi! First time poster here. I'm super interested in a voice specialty, whether it's through an official track with a specialized curriculum, close work with a professor doing relevant research, or clinical opportunities at an affiliated/nearby Voice Health Center. So far, my list includes:

 

Iowa (Ingo Titze is THE guy for this field)

Vanderbilt (Voice Specialty track)

University of Washington (Tanya Eadie)

MGHI (Voice Specialty track)

University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Voice Center)

 

Obviously, those are all very selective schools toward the top of the rankings list. Does anyone have others to add that may be further off the beaten path? I'm coming at this from a fine arts education and 10 years of work experience as a professional opera singer. While my non-traditional background may lend itself well to the work, it's definitely going to make admissions a challenge! I'd love to have some options on the table that aren't quite so daunting. Thanks!!

[ThatSpeechGuy]

Hey! 

It's awesome that you are so interested in voice! I love voice disorders and am a singer as well so I definitely understand why you love this part of the field.

You have to think about what in voice disorders you want to work with/do research wise. Do you want to work with singers, singers with voice disorders, people with voice disorders, PEDs voice, acoustic kind of stuff, biomedical engineering, wound healing, physics, development of voice. I mean there is so much more than all that even. You have to look at each program because they honestly offer a different perspective. 

Vanderbilt/MGH offers a bit of different research opportunities than Pitt and they offer different research than Iowa. It all depends on who is at the University. I would suggest contacting faculty at the universities you are interested in. They would honestly love hearing from you.

I would say attend a program that fits your needs overall and see if you can get in any of the voice action. I have been in contact with people at the universities you mentioned and they all said the same thing. Don't worry about it for grad school as you are going to be PLENTY busy just going through grad school. Get yourself into grad school for speech pathology because you love speech pathology and voice. Super specialized research comes after grad school or during a PhD. 

Some other schools you might want to consider are NYU, Madison Wisconsin, and some schools around you. You might want to go to school where you can get the best deal.

I am attending MGH because I love Boston, I love the program, I loved the visit, they gave me a good deal, they offer a very well rounded SLP experience, and they just so happen to have a track in voice. 

Sorry for the long winded response, but this was a huge let of my grad school search experience. In summary, find a program that fits all of your needs, not just for your love of voice.

Edited May 15, 2016 by ThatSpeechGuy

[moni28]

I've heard that College of Saint Rose and New York University are also good schools for voice  . I currently attend University of Central Florida, and took Voice Disorders last semester, and got some hands-on practice with stroboscopy outside of class time too, which was interesting.

[Tish22]

I recently received an email from Yeshiva University in NY, the director of the program specializes in that. I believe she is also a singer. Its a new masters program, but its worth checking out! I attended their webinar and they're all super nice. Good luck

[ThatSpeechGuy]

12 hours ago, moni28 said:

I've heard that College of Saint Rose and New York University are also good schools for voice  . I currently attend University of Central Florida, and took Voice Disorders last semester, and got some hands-on practice with stroboscopy outside of class time too, which was interesting.

I wouldn't suggest St. Rose for voice. I went there for undergrad recently and one of their voice PhDs just left. They do have awesome opportunities at voice clinics and they have a transgender voice clinic which I really awesome! They are a great program though and are SUPER well rounded. They have very strong language faculty and are super dedicated! I'm going off topic...

NYU is great! They are just super expensive and don't like to give out money...