SLP Externship Question

[Future Speechie]

I know it's early to be thinking about, but the grad school that I'm going to this fall allows us to do our externships anywhere during our last semester second year. I would like to work in a medical setting once I graduate, so I'm hoping to do this externship in that setting. If I were to move to a big city, such as Chicago, which is a bit far away from my grad school, would I have a hard time getting a placement? I wasn't sure externship placements would already be taken up by students that go to grad school in that city? I'm completely clueless, so if you have any information about this, let me know! 

[tvl]

I am on the same boat! A friend of mine is going to grad school in Texas and we are from California. She is having trouble because most hospitals in our area only take on students that are in-state. Such a bummer because I am hoping to do my externship in a hospital in CA. Hopefully others can chime in and give us more info  

[Paslp]

Ive seen a lot of people say the saame thing! I'm not in grad school yet, but have heard about working in hospitals from professors, post grad students and grad students. At least in my area, most schools have affiliations with several facilities in each setting. So those settings regularly provide supervisors for students on their externship.  So if you are looking at hospitals within drving distance of a university, they probably have a contract with that hospital for externships. My school said students can select a facility they want anywhere, but that doesn't mean said facility will have room to accommodate or want to accommodate that student.

 

If your goal is to work in a hospital, you could always work at an outpatient center through a medical network. Or work per diem at a hospital so they know you. Ive been told that hospitals in general are not usually hiring brand new grads because they usually want experience. From grad schools near me, some new grads get outpatient rehab jobs in a network. One got a job in a hospital, but it was a hospital in the middle of nowhere. SNF experience ive also heard is valuable when applying for hospital jobs.

[Spondee]

If you are specifically talking Chicago, I hope you know someone. A girl in my program tried to go to Chicago in any sort of medical setting (hospital, SNF, etc). She reached out to 50+ places and heard literally nothing back. It can be way harder to go somewhere else for your externship, unless you have just all kinds of connections. I'd recommend staying local. 

[lexical_gap]

Keep in mind, that a lot of the local students would likely be doing their externships at those same facilities. Here in southeastern Wisconsin, we have two SLP grad programs in the city itself. There is another university about about an hour from the city that also has an SLP grad program. So, effectively, we have three universities looking to place students 50+ students each year for medical externships. True, we have several large hospital facilities in the area, but not all of them take students for externships.

In the greater Chicago area, with just a quick internet search, I counted at least 4 SLP grad programs with over 150 students needing placements.

[futureslp112]

Thanks everyone! I should have clarified that Chicago isn't specifically where I want to end up.  I just meant cities in general, some that are a little smaller in size too.  However, most of the cities that I am looking at do have multiple schools in the area, so your answers were helpful about the externships.  I guess I will start looking into other options!