"it doesn't matter where you go"

[hopingtogetinsomewhere]

What does everyone think about the statement "it doesn't really matter where you go"...

 

The deadline is fast approaching and while I am really lucky to have options- I don't know how to make a decision. So many current SLP's say that it doesn't matter where you go, everyone has the same degree, and can get a good job. Is that true? Do I go to the lower ranked school for way less money, or go to a highly ranked and recognized university for more money. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!

[maurmaur]

17 minutes ago, hopingtogetinsomewhere said:

What does everyone think about the statement "it doesn't really matter where you go"...

 

The deadline is fast approaching and while I am really lucky to have options- I don't know how to make a decision. So many current SLP's say that it doesn't matter where you go, everyone has the same degree, and can get a good job. Is that true? Do I go to the lower ranked school for way less money, or go to a highly ranked and recognized university for more money. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!

I've also heard the same as long as it is accredited that's what matters.

also just making the most of your education wherever you go! You can make the experience matter.

[Crimson Wife]

Unless the more expensive school has a specialty track in your desired area of interest that the first one doesn't, I would tend to agree with the statement.

[plume]

I totally agree with Crimson Wife! If your higher-ranked school has more specialties or opportunities you are interested in, it may be worthwhile attending! If not, I wouldn't focus too much on the rankings. I have found this very stressful as well, but as I meet SLPs and peruse SLP bios, it really seems like you make what you want of your program! 

[JcSLP]

I finally have accepted an offer; at the cheapest school I applied to! I think as long as the program is accredited, organized and the professors/supervisors care about their students, you're going to be learning the same basic things as someone in any other program, and get the same amount of clinical hours, because of the ASHA requirements. Placements/specialties/opportunities for research may vary, but in the end I think if you want to succeed as an SLP you're gonna do that no matter what program you go to!

[SLP1719]

I work with 9 SLPs. Their unanimous advice was to go to the least expensive accredited program that I got into. 

[twinguy7]

yes, go cheap!

[jpiccolo]

Ranking in our field isn't a reason to pick the school. It's really not going to be looked at by employers. Plus it's not likely to increase your earnings potential and you'll be left in way more debt if a higher ranked school is more expensive. 

[languagegirl]

I wouldn't focus on ranking or name, but in my opinion if you love a school and you feel that its a great fit, screw what anyone else thinks about price or ranking. If you feel you can handle the price or loans and you're going to have a great experience go for it. Everyone has different factors weighing in. Most people want to save money, and that's really important but Id like to think that if you believe a school a going to give you an overall better experience based on what you're looking for, that's all that matters. 

[Rorororosy]

I think when you're choosing between two well ranked schools it doesn't matter, but I think if you're choosing a program like GWU compared to UDC, yes it matters, and Ive heard from a lot of professors and SLPs that they do notice the difference when the students come in. I think to some extent it does matter but its only between the outliers. 

[kayyyyy_]

21 hours ago, SLP1719 said:

I work with 9 SLPs. Their unanimous advice was to go to the least expensive accredited program that I got into. 

I got the same advice. 

[rbarrone]

I am in a similar boat and am leaning toward going to the more expensive school. Not for ranking reasons, but because it will provide me with a more diverse clinical experience which I think will prepare me better when it comes to finding a job. I have been told by SLPs to get the best clinical experience possible. Hope this helps! 

[Jolie717]

Hi, voice of dissent speaking, lol. I tend to see the same opinion on this topic, over and over, and I thoroughly disagree. Not all programs are created equally, just because they are all accredited. There was a student in a nightmare of a grad program posting on this forum not too long ago. And there are currently people who have posted elsewhere about difficulty finding work as an SLP in the city they live in. I'm not saying that all "brand name" educations will guarantee a carefree post-graduation existence, but I've spoken to hiring professionals from many different fields (including ours), and they ALL said the name of the program attended most definitely influenced their hiring decisions. I don't want to have to settle for just any SLP job, I want to ensure I have the very best odds at getting hired into a position that I love.

I was accepted into the three programs I applied to, and ended up choosing the highest ranked among them and am very glad I did. It also happened to be the program that had the second highest price tag. Aside from choosing a higher-ranked program due to a specialty track you are interested in, there are other factors to consider. I get to attend talks given by the "rock stars" in our field frequently that are absolutely fascinating. My professors are very active in research, and several of them are also pretty famous in our field. We are supervised in the clinic much more closely than I have seen in other schools (my experience being drawn from the first year only so far). I love my undergrad program, but there are grad students who were actually unable to get clinic placements in a previous semester and will have a delayed graduation because of it. As I continue through my program (and continue to compare notes with my graduate friends in my undergrad program) I am certain I will find other things that validate my decision. 

[rbarrone]

2 minutes ago, Jolie717 said:

Hi, voice of dissent speaking, lol. I tend to see the same opinion on this topic, over and over, and I thoroughly disagree. Not all programs are created equally, just because they are all accredited. There was a student in a nightmare of a grad program posting on this forum not too long ago. And there are currently people who have posted elsewhere about difficulty finding work as an SLP in the city they live in. I'm not saying that all "brand name" educations will guarantee a carefree post-graduation existence, but I've spoken to hiring professionals from many different fields (including ours), and they ALL said the name of the program attended most definitely influenced their hiring decisions. I don't want to have to settle for just any SLP job, I want to ensure I have the very best odds at getting hired into a position that I love.

I was accepted into the three programs I applied to, and ended up choosing the highest ranked among them and am very glad I did. It also happened to be the program that had the second highest price tag. Aside from choosing a higher-ranked program due to a specialty track you are interested in, there are other factors to consider. I get to attend talks given by the "rock stars" in our field frequently that are absolutely fascinating. My professors are very active in research, and several of them are also pretty famous in our field. We are supervised in the clinic much more closely than I have seen in other schools (my experience being drawn from the first year only so far). I love my undergrad program, but there are grad students who were actually unable to get clinic placements in a previous semester and will have a delayed graduation because of it. As I continue through my program (and continue to compare notes with my graduate friends in my undergrad program) I am certain I will find other things that validate my decision. 

Thank you for posting this. I am choosing the higher ranked program and feel it is against "everyones" advice so it is great to hear that it will pay off as I thought. Would you mind sharing what program you are attending? 

[Jolie717]

3 minutes ago, rbarrone said:

Thank you for posting this. I am choosing the higher ranked program and feel it is against "everyones" advice so it is great to hear that it will pay off as I thought. Would you mind sharing what program you are attending? 

I'm in the MedSLP track at the University of Washington.

[maurmaur]

30 minutes ago, rbarrone said:

Thank you for posting this. I am choosing the higher ranked program and feel it is against "everyones" advice so it is great to hear that it will pay off as I thought. Would you mind sharing what program you are attending? 

I also appreciate you posting this.

I got into Northeastern today and while expensive, it might be a better school.

[SLPsingballs]

29 minutes ago, maurmaur said:

I also appreciate you posting this.

I got into Northeastern today and while expensive, it might be a better school.

Congrats!!

[pbandj]

5 hours ago, Jolie717 said:

Hi, voice of dissent speaking, lol. I tend to see the same opinion on this topic, over and over, and I thoroughly disagree. Not all programs are created equally, just because they are all accredited. There was a student in a nightmare of a grad program posting on this forum not too long ago. And there are currently people who have posted elsewhere about difficulty finding work as an SLP in the city they live in. I'm not saying that all "brand name" educations will guarantee a carefree post-graduation existence, but I've spoken to hiring professionals from many different fields (including ours), and they ALL said the name of the program attended most definitely influenced their hiring decisions. I don't want to have to settle for just any SLP job, I want to ensure I have the very best odds at getting hired into a position that I love.

I was accepted into the three programs I applied to, and ended up choosing the highest ranked among them and am very glad I did. It also happened to be the program that had the second highest price tag. Aside from choosing a higher-ranked program due to a specialty track you are interested in, there are other factors to consider. I get to attend talks given by the "rock stars" in our field frequently that are absolutely fascinating. My professors are very active in research, and several of them are also pretty famous in our field. We are supervised in the clinic much more closely than I have seen in other schools (my experience being drawn from the first year only so far). I love my undergrad program, but there are grad students who were actually unable to get clinic placements in a previous semester and will have a delayed graduation because of it. As I continue through my program (and continue to compare notes with my graduate friends in my undergrad program) I am certain I will find other things that validate my decision. 

Thank you for posting this! I'll be attending UW next fall (CoreSLP), and the advice "it doesn't matter where you go" made me hesitant and even guilty to choose it, even though I was always leaning more toward it. It is so nice to hear of your positive experience at UW!

For me, UW's research opportunities and clinical rotations (for example, the rotation through the CHDD) really interested me and were unique from other programs I applied to. I also want to pursue a PhD, so attending a program with noteworthy faculty active in research was important for me. UW was the most expensive option for me, but honestly not by much. I believe that the opportunities offered are worth the extra cost. 

That being said, I have the good fortune to be completing my undergrad without debt. UW is also being offered to me at an in-state tuition rate. I think UW is the best fit for me, but if it were significantly more expensive and/or I had more debt accumulated already, I might not have chosen it. There are just so many factors that go into choosing a program. I think the advice to choose the least expensive option is very solid, but the decision should not necessarily be an automatic response. 

[esopha]

It probably does matter where you go, but there are reasonable limitations. I went/am going to one of the lower ranked programs that I applied to, but I turned down the higher ranked ones for factors of cost, GA experience, placements, and commitment to diversity (i.e., actual courses and clinical opportunities, not just lip service). I don't think there was a significant difference between any of the programs that I saw except along those factors. Of course, there were programs I turned down that felt like a gut punch (good bye, sweet Pittsburgh), but I'm happy with my decision, now - I was able to secure a very rigorous and "prestigious" hospital externship for next year, my clinical supervisors are rock stars, and we have classes here taught by faculty from Hopkins, etc. If there's not a solid reason to go to one program over another except for ranking, I would look a little more closely at the programs you're choosing between and try to find another reason. 

Keep in mind, though - the programs I applied to and got into were all around the top 20 or 30 at the time... at some point, you reach a point of diminishing returns with rankings. I don't know if it would have been different if I had gone to a program ranked 100 (I'm not skeptical that it would be different - I literally have no information to give to you). I recommend you think about the placements you're going to have, the coursework you're going to take, and what your clinic will look like during your first year, as well as cost, and then consider personal factors like location, etc. I chose those factors as my main ones because I was concerned mostly about the quality of the clinical training I would get (including exposure to diverse populations), my future resume, and future debt.

[MooseGoose2324]

I can absolutely understand the "cheapest is best" perspective. It obviously makes great sense from a financial standpoint, and the burden of massive student loans can profoundly impact a graduate's quality of life for years (or even decades) to come. For many people, cost is the #1 priority and that is absolutely their prerogative. 

However...I can also say with 100% certainty that all programs are not the same, and that attending a more expensive program at a well-known national university has afforded me opportunities for educational/professional/clinical enrichment and research that smaller programs in the state simply do not have access to. Guest lectures from other local highly-prestigious university professors and researchers (e.g., MIT), interdisciplinary collaboration with our school's other medical/rehab programs, and classes/clinical experience that other local programs do not include in their curriculum at all (e.g., in-depth literacy classes taught by top researchers in the field and experiential literacy work) are some of the examples that come immediately to mind in addition to top-notch on-campus facilities. Every semester, students from my school and my state's other big-name schools are selected for the top competitive clinical placement slots over students from the smaller state schools who have interviewed. This is not because brilliant, hard-working students aren't attending these smaller, low-ranked programs (they absolutely are - in droves) Students from the bigger/better schools simply have more resume bullets because of the additional educational/clinical opportunities and our faculty/clinical supervisors are perhaps more well-known to the interviewers. 

For the record - I completed all of my pre-reqs at a smaller state school. Their program was great - I loved the faculty, and the classes I took were excellent. I'm not trying to insult smaller or less-funded programs by any means. I very nearly decided to attend that state school's grad program because I had enjoyed my pre-reqs so much. Because I was (very fortunately) in a financial position to be able to attend the much bigger, more highly-ranked program I had been accepted to (the living stipend actually made it more lucrative for me to go there as opposed to the much cheaper school), I elected not to. I began my grad school experience imagining that the education I was going to receive and resume bullets I would earn would be similar to those I'd have garnered from the state school. Over the past year, I have been utterly blown away by how incorrect I had been in that assumption. I am still in touch with several students who are now in two smaller/lower-ranked programs and our experiences thus far have been drastically different. For some, the price point is quite necessarily the most important factor - and grad school absolutely IS what you make of it (some people in my cohort skip the amazing guest lectures and don't jump on many of the opportunities/resources available to them - which is incredibly shortsighted, considering how much $$$ some of them are paying). 

I just wanted to share my experience to say that, as much as people may wish it were so, all programs are not regarded equally. Prospective students should weigh the pros and cons of each program (financially, educationally, clinically, professionally, personally) and determine what will be best for their specific situation, career goals and future. Nobody should be going into crippling debt for an education - but I do think that defaulting to "choose the cheapest program" is not necessarily the best approach, here. 

[maurmaur]

2 hours ago, MooseGoose2324 said:

I can absolutely understand the "cheapest is best" perspective. It obviously makes great sense from a financial standpoint, and the burden of massive student loans can profoundly impact a graduate's quality of life for years (or even decades) to come. For many people, cost is the #1 priority and that is absolutely their prerogative. 

However...I can also say with 100% certainty that all programs are not the same, and that attending a more expensive program at a well-known national university has afforded me opportunities for educational/professional/clinical enrichment and research that smaller programs in the state simply do not have access to. Guest lectures from other local highly-prestigious university professors and researchers (e.g., MIT), interdisciplinary collaboration with our school's other medical/rehab programs, and classes/clinical experience that other local programs do not include in their curriculum at all (e.g., in-depth literacy classes taught by top researchers in the field and experiential literacy work) are some of the examples that come immediately to mind in addition to top-notch on-campus facilities. Every semester, students from my school and my state's other big-name schools are selected for the top competitive clinical placement slots over students from the smaller state schools who have interviewed. This is not because brilliant, hard-working students aren't attending these smaller, low-ranked programs (they absolutely are - in droves) Students from the bigger/better schools simply have more resume bullets because of the additional educational/clinical opportunities and our faculty/clinical supervisors are perhaps more well-known to the interviewers. 

For the record - I completed all of my pre-reqs at a smaller state school. Their program was great - I loved the faculty, and the classes I took were excellent. I'm not trying to insult smaller or less-funded programs by any means. I very nearly decided to attend that state school's grad program because I had enjoyed my pre-reqs so much. Because I was (very fortunately) in a financial position to be able to attend the much bigger, more highly-ranked program I had been accepted to (the living stipend actually made it more lucrative for me to go there as opposed to the much cheaper school), I elected not to. I began my grad school experience imagining that the education I was going to receive and resume bullets I would earn would be similar to those I'd have garnered from the state school. Over the past year, I have been utterly blown away by how incorrect I had been in that assumption. I am still in touch with several students who are now in two smaller/lower-ranked programs and our experiences thus far have been drastically different. For some, the price point is quite necessarily the most important factor - and grad school absolutely IS what you make of it (some people in my cohort skip the amazing guest lectures and don't jump on many of the opportunities/resources available to them - which is incredibly shortsighted, considering how much $$$ some of them are paying). 

I just wanted to share my experience to say that, as much as people may wish it were so, all programs are not regarded equally. Prospective students should weigh the pros and cons of each program (financially, educationally, clinically, professionally, personally) and determine what will be best for their specific situation, career goals and future. Nobody should be going into crippling debt for an education - but I do think that defaulting to "choose the cheapest program" is not necessarily the best approach, here. 

This is really helpful, I found some things about my possible program that I private messaged you about.

[Jolie717]

11 hours ago, esopha said:

It probably does matter where you go, but there are reasonable limitations. I went/am going to one of the lower ranked programs that I applied to, but I turned down the higher ranked ones for factors of cost, GA experience, placements, and commitment to diversity (i.e., actual courses and clinical opportunities, not just lip service). I don't think there was a significant difference between any of the programs that I saw except along those factors. Of course, there were programs I turned down that felt like a gut punch (good bye, sweet Pittsburgh), but I'm happy with my decision, now - I was able to secure a very rigorous and "prestigious" hospital externship for next year, my clinical supervisors are rock stars, and we have classes here taught by faculty from Hopkins, etc. If there's not a solid reason to go to one program over another except for ranking, I would look a little more closely at the programs you're choosing between and try to find another reason. 

Keep in mind, though - the programs I applied to and got into were all around the top 20 or 30 at the time... at some point, you reach a point of diminishing returns with rankings. I don't know if it would have been different if I had gone to a program ranked 100 (I'm not skeptical that it would be different - I literally have no information to give to you). I recommend you think about the placements you're going to have, the coursework you're going to take, and what your clinic will look like during your first year, as well as cost, and then consider personal factors like location, etc. I chose those factors as my main ones because I was concerned mostly about the quality of the clinical training I would get (including exposure to diverse populations), my future resume, and future debt.

Yes - I definitely see that if all the programs were in the top thirty or so, the differences might be less noticeable!

[kenz]

I put in a deposit for a school that's ranked 120 and just got off the waitlist at a school that is ranked 30. Is this a significant difference in terms of prospective job opportunities and overall experience? I've received a GA at school number 1 (And I'm also very excited about attending for several other reasons), but I would be just as excited about school number two (Which I would need to give a response and deposit to within 5 days. In the email, it said I will also know whether or not I've received funding before then).

Help. Haha

[WannabSLP124]

@kenz

 I feel like rankings can matter, but they aren't the only thing that matters. Look at what the programs offer: curriculum, faculty, specialty tracks, class size, etc. See which you feel will give you the better education based on your wants. At that point if they are about the same, then the ranking may matter - or finances. It's more important to be at a school that is a good fit for you rather than the rankings. 

Edited April 11, 2017 by Alicia124

[Afternoonprogram]

From someone with more life experience -I don't think rankings matter.  Here's why - if your end goal is to get a job -then I would consider who's hiring you.  If you go to the program that's ranked 100 near where you live -chances are several of the area SLPs have gone to that program too.  If you go to a "name brand" school 300 miles from where you plan on living -chances are the employers 300 miles away have hired successful people from lower ranked programs and are not completely familiar with the "name brand" school.  I would choose a program that fits your personality and where you think you will be successful. Also, it takes a LONG time to payback student loans and 10 years from now you don't want to be frustrated that you can't buy a house or new car because of your student loans.