Ohio State versus University of Cincinnati versus Kent State

[asmolars]

I am having a difficult time choosing between Ohio State and Kent State. From what I can tell just from the websites, Ohio State's program lets you develop a focus whereas Kent State's program is more general (I may be incorrect about this). If anyone has any thoughts on the programs or just the schools themselves, I would love to hear! Also, anyone who has accepted their admission to one of these schools, I'd like to hear what factors influenced you to make that decision. Thank you!

[asmolars]

And anything about Cincinnati. I forgot I put them in the title too lol.

Edited April 10, 2017 by asmolars

[CCCaffeinated-SLP]

I'm an Ohio applicant, but I didn't apply to any of those schools.  However, I considered applying to Kent State; I talked to one of the CSD professors at my current undergrad and she said that Kent is more research focused.  Since you asked about the campus itself, I also went to Kent for one semester during undergrad (Fall 2014).  This was before I knew about speech path, however, so I can't say much about the CSD program obviously, but I liked the campus.  It's quite large and located in sort of a rural area, if you haven't visited.  Parking was sort of a nightmare (it is pretty much everywhere though, in my experience) but there were many dining options scattered throughout campus.  These may be more concerns for undergrad students rather than grad students, however.  Also, Kent is close to Cleveland and Akron.  I've been in Northeast Ohio all of my life, if you want to know more about the area specifically.

Ohio State is one of the top ranked programs in the country; it's number #17 on this infamous list (https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/pathology-rankings).  I took one summer CSD class at Ohio State online (speech & hearing science), but I've never been to campus.  I didn't apply here since I know they're very competitive, and I didn't see myself as a competitive enough applicant.

I don't have any knowledge of Cincinnati. 

[midwestslp2be]

1 hour ago, slp2be2019 said:

I am currently and undergraduate student at The Ohio State University. As an undergrad I felt that my classes were too large and my professors cared to little about me as an individual. I found it very difficult to get a hold of the professors when needed and that many of them did not have time for me as a student. Despite this, I applied anyway and figured that it may be different as a graduate student. I was especially attracted to the research aspect that OSU has to offer, as I plan to write a thesis in graduate school. Once accepted, I met with two graduate students here at Ohio State to ask them about their experience with the program. They said that they wished they considered their other options more and came to Ohio State due to it being ranked higher than their other options. However, they said that as they delve further into the field it is easy to notice that as long as you are getting your degree from an accredited university the rankings are virtually meaningless in this field because everyone is up for the same jobs (the US report is based on peer reviews of the schools and there was only about 1/3 response rate.) They also said that a lot of the faculty at OSU, including the department chair, are not clinicians themselves. One also had some complaints about their clinical supervisor in the on campus clinic not being accessible when she had an incident with a client. Ohio State in the past few years has also not started their graduate students in clinic the first semester.

When I went to the graduate open house to learn more about the graduate program the department chair did not even show up. As an undergraduate student at OSU I have never met him in my four years and was looking forward to it. It was really discouraging for me to see this. After also expressing my concerns to a faculty member at OSU I am close with through research, she discouraged me from staying at Ohio State and said that I have very understandable concerns and that they department has been struggling with many of their own students saying similar things.

I too have heard similar complaints about OSUs program, which is why I did not apply there. I also was surprised when looking at the statistics on ASHA how many people do not wind up accepting their offer. Less than 30% of people accepted into OSU took their offer last year which I found to be pretty alarming. They also were unable to fill their class size which is extremely unusual for a program in this field. I also have heard people complaining about the building that they program is housed in not being a great place to be spending all your time. When I went to visit it appeared like you will constantly be in a basement. I have also heard that it is not a program where you can develop a focus as much as they advertise.

I recently accepted my offer at BGSU, and wish you the best of luck in making your final decision!

[ktmel87]

I was accepted to UC and Kent, and waitlisted at Ohio State. I am beyond thrilled to go to UC in the fall after graduating from OSU this spring (also I'm orginally from CLE).  I went to a grad visit day at Kent State and the admitted student day at UC over the last two weeks to help choose. Here's the notes I took from both which I hope will help other people looking in the archives now & in the future:

Kent

The cohort is 38-40 people and they offer a decent amount of funding to students. The first semester is in the on campus clinic which they're currently doing a make over on and it should be ready for the fall. Class is held 4 nights a week (which surprised me) and then you'll get 2 half days or 1 full day of clincials per week. During the second semester you will get placed at various enrichment sites. It's typical that you will have 2-3 clients per semester in the first two semesters, 2 in the summer, and then it will increase a little bit. In the final two semesters, you do your peds placement first usually at a public school and then your adult placement in the last semester. Generally they place students in rehab centers more than hospitals. There is the opportunity to return home/get placed outside of Kent if you are succeeding very well clinically for the peds placement but the university makes the decisions on adult placements. The hospitals connected with the university are Akron General, Akron Children's, Salem Hospital, and Youngstown Hospital.

They said that generally placements can be 45mins to an hour away but there are some closer ones that are 15-20mins away. They have a social program for autism on Saturdays and there is an autism certificate program. They also do a lot of work with the ELPC. 

Kent State's program is 6 semesters and they said doing research can cause it to go over into an extra semester. If you choose a nonthesis option, there is just extra coursework which is already built into the schedule. Some courses overlap with both first years & second years in them & it will be interesting to see how it works with the new pilot program which has Kent undergrads starting in the spring.

A lot of the students my tour group talked to went to Kent State for undergrad so they were really familiar and passionate about Kent and the program. There was one girl from OSU who said the transition from Columbus to Kent was somewhat a shocking transition from city to suburb. The rent was cheap ~$450 a month and everyone felt it was safe.

Cincinnati

The cohort is a bit bigger with a target of 45 people. Classes are all day Tuesday and Thursday & then clinicals are 1 full day or 2 half days. You can be scheduled clients on any of the extra days but they try to make it consistent each week. At the beginning of the year, you meet with the clinical coordinator about your goals and they work with you to put you in sites that are close to where you live and match your interests. UC has connections with over 40 organizations including schools/hospitals/rehab centers ranging from the Cincinnati VA to Schools of the Deaf. (This was a huge pull for me as the showed the actual list of 40+ sites in the area).

The program is also 6 semesters but a little different in the fact that they frontload the major coursework to the first year and then the second year is all electives and full time internships. In the first year, students work predominately in-house clinic or one of the 8 community outreach programs geared more toward specialty areas such as child and family center, aphasia group, brain injury group, language and literacy group, Head Start, etc. The second year is your adult and peds placement that can be taken in any order. There is the potential to go off campus/out of Cinci for one semester but it has to be a compelling reason.

UC requires a research experience and you start it the first year. There are three options to getting your credit hours. Option 1: participating in faculty and doctoral research, thesis, publishable paper, individual/group project with a poster presentation for student/professional conferences. There's also another program called LEND that serves as a clinical placement too, but I didn't write down what it was. Option 2: Research methods class project where the pair you in a group with an organization and you gather the literature for a topic. The example they gave was getting a mentor from Cincinnati Children's and helping them with a research topic from combing literature to learning more about the research process. There is also the opportunity to apply to go to Jamaica over spring break on a research trip and do assessments and evaluations there. Option 3: MA/PhD program. Professors can bring you to professional conferences and you can get your name out there on publications. It can be competitive getting into professors' labs and it's best to reach out to specific faculty early.

There is extremely limiting funding for the first year (like 5 offers) but they're are some paid practicums you can apply for later on such as the CCHMC DDBP or VA. It's cool that the classroom building, clinic, hospital, library, cafeteria, and gym all connect through "tunnels" so you virtually don't have to walk outside the first year. The grad students mentioned that there's a lot of group work and collaboration within the cohort. While you take all the same classes the first year, there's at least 3 different specialty electives you can choose in the second year so class sizes get smaller.

It's more expensive to live in Cincinnati and a lot of the grad students we talked to just commuted from home. It's also definitely considered less safe than Kent State but that's simple city to suburb difference. There is a ton of grad students that come from UC's undergrad program-like maybe half. There was one grad student who went to OSU for undergrad on the panel and said it was a little strange transitioning when everyone knew each other already, but there's a good 15% that come from out-of-state and the cohort is so large that it wasn't hard to make friends.

 

Overall, this is just everything I remember/wrote down so take it with a grain of salt. Although it would be nice living closer to my parent's home by going to Kent, I can't turn down all the opportunities that UC has to offer. There just didn't seem to be a proportional number of opportunities at Kent State to their cohort size. UC is also the second highest rank program in Ohio after Ohio State. Also, I would echo everyone else's sentiments about OSU, I applied but really only to live in Columbus longer rather than the program- faculty isn't very open with students. 

Edited April 11, 2017 by ktmel87
typo

[asmolars]

Thank you so much for your responses! I've decided to go with UC, and I could not be more excited! Next step is finding a place to live...