Opinion among these universities, please?

College Search & Lists
1

I am currently a senior in high school and I recently applied to 7 universities:
University of Washington, Saint Louis University, Baylor University, San Diego State, CU-Boulder, University of Florida, and University of Illinois@ Urbana-Champaign

After re-evaluating my choices, I am leaning towards disregarding UF and UIUC… and I have been accepted to Saint Louis University, Baylor, SDSU.

BTW the field I’m looking into is Speech Pathology! (all these schools have my program btw)

I am going to have a hard time picking schools so I was wondering if more people could tell me about their opinions on these schools. I am asking this because I know there are pros and cons of each school… for example:

University of Washington
PROS: would pay for in-state tuition, great campus, highly reputed, nice community, so many interesting classes, diverse, lots of school spirit, strong alumni (?)
CONS: would feel like a number, maybe a little too close to home, I may not “grow”… (won’t be pushed to try new things by myself), the MASTERS program here is great and I may not have a good chance if I stay for both undergrad and masters, my major is competitive

Saint Louis University
PROS: gave me a HUGE scholarship… $72,000 (18,000 per year…may end up being close to cost of in-state tuition), already accepted into my major, medium sized school so classes won’t be huge, still has clubs I’m interested in,
CONS: school isn’t as highly reputed, not as diverse, 60% women (not that big of a deal I guess), colder than Washington

Baylor University
PROS: gave me a pretty big scholarship (not as big as SLU, but still quite a bit), good reputation for academics, lots of school spirit, Christian school, nice community, friendly students, Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (Asian Sorority… may rush)
CONS: not much to do in Waco,Texas , may get bored quickly, not as diverse

SDSU (*parents only letting me consider this school if I get accepted to the honors program)
PROS: one of the cheaper schools on my list (may come close to in-state), nice weather, large variety of classes, more diverse, if I get into the Honors Program I’ll get more attention and will also have a community of people to bond with, strong alumni, lots of school spirit
CONS: many of the majors here are impacted, probably the least reputed of the schools on my list… (which is why my parents want me to get accepted to the Honors Program before I consider this school), there’s a chance I may not graduate in 4 years since there are more students than the school can really have (or so it seems like that), party school reputation, my major is impacted

CU- Boulder (*parents only letting me consider this school if I get accepted to the honors program)
PROS: admissions counselor said I’m GUARANTEED to graduate in 4 years and to not have tuition increase, large variety of classes, beautiful campus, strong alumni, lots of school spirit
CONS: seems like the school wont give a lot of scholarships, party school reputation

UF
PROS: highly reputed academically (maybe as much as UW?), very strong alumni, lots of school spirit, wonderful weather, sun year round, large variety of clubs and classes
CONS: farthest school from Washington, probably wont get a lot of scholarships, would probably feel like just a number

UIUC
PROS: highly reputed academically, pretty good strong alumni!, large variety of clubs and classes, degree from here holds a lot of weight
CONS: would feel like just a #, cold weather

This is what I’ve heard about the schools… does anyone have anything else to say? or want to correct me on something? or help me narrow my decisions? I have quite awhile, May 1st, until I need to decide on which school… but I want more opinion on these schools.

So, any more information/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :slight_smile: And sorry this post is so long

2

My D will be studying Speech Pathology at Duquesne University in PA. They have a 5 year BS/MS program. The problem with Speech pathology is getting into the Grad program. Not enough spots. You should research how difficult is is to get into the Grad programs. There are (7) 5 year accelerated programs in the country. No need to apply to grad school. Your 4th year is also your first year of Grad school. My daughter applied to all four programs in PA and was accepted to all of them. Two are very small schools, Marywood and Misericordia. La Salle in Philadelphia and Duquesne. Duquesne was her first choice, they have a campus in Rome and the program allows students to study abroad the spring session of their Soph. year. No other 5 year program lets the students do that. They only allow 25-30 students in and many of the spots have already been taken, but it is worth a chance. Good luck and if you do a 4+2 program, make sure you have a very high undergrad GPA.

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You also need to keep in mind that there is a shortage of Speech Pathologists and as long as you pass your test, you will find work. Your first job might ask about your college and GPA, but after that no one would care. Your first job would most likely be in a school system, since you would need to acquire the hours for your Clinical certificate before you could work in most health settings. Schools are always looking for Speech Pathologists, so finding a job should be easy.

4

I am not exactly looking for my schools, but do you think it’s better to apply to a 5 year speech pathology program…? I was hoping to go to one university for undergrad and then go to a different university for graduate school

5

ummm yes she did just say she thinks it is better because it is very hard to get accepted, not enough slots for qualified students.

6

whoops I noticed a typo in my earlier comment, but im sure you got the point…

What I’m also saying is that I have already applied to the schools I mentioned above, none of which have a 5-year program. Also, though a 5-year program would save time and money, I have thought about it and I realized there are cons to this accelerated program. For example,

-Since courses would be rushed, I am not get to truly enjoy college
-I may not have time to try a variety of courses
-If I changed my mind about speech pathology then switching out of the program would be a waste of time and money

I decided that I will take the 6-year route. Do you happen to know any more information about the colleges I listed in my first

7

Sorry, I don’t know anything about those universities. I’m a firm believer that a student should go where they want (as long as they can afford the tuition). Are any of these schools your #1? As for Honors classes, they are harder core classes and can bring down your GPA. Please research the snap shots of students accepted to the GRAD programs for schools you might be interested in attending. Many students are not aware of the difficulty in getting into Grad school. I am not trying to get you to select a 5 year program, I just want you to be aware of what you will need to do to get into the Grad program. To many students are not aware of the problem until they start to research Grad schools in their Junior year and many times it is too late. Try to keep your GPA above a 3.7. Good luck.

8

Washington is a great school; certainly UIUC and FL are equals but I wouldn’t say would be worth the likely higher cost. It is tough to get aid of any kind at OOS publics. Sounds like you’d prefer to go out of state but moving down to campus will be fun in its own right. I’d seriously think hard about staying in Washington. BTW - I’ve lived in Seattle or the Midwest all my life. I’d rather live in Seattle.

9

All great schools. Have you visited them? You should visit the school you are highly considering because if you don’t like the aura or you feel uncomfortable, that’s not the school for you. Also, I say don’t be in a rush to finish college. If a school you is impacted, but you love the people and the area and you feel the school is right for you, it’s worth spending an extra year or two at school. What’s the rush? I live in California and know plenty of people that will be at CSU’s for more than four years, but they love being there so there’s no hurry to get out.

10

SDSU gets two thumbs up from me. I know many current and recent students there and have visited many times. Beautiful campus, vibrant city, and you can’t beat the weather. If you are in the honors program, I believe you get priority class registration so you shouldn’t have trouble getting your classes.

I’ll second the suggestion up-thread: you MUST visit the schools you are considering. Essential.

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I’m an SDSU grad and speech path. The program is tough at SDSU. Anyone in the major will not have a whole lot of opportunities to “party” because you have so many areas to study that there just isn’t time; you will definitely fail the program if you even walk by a party because they’ll kick your butt out so fast you won’t have time to fall.

I would not recommend a 5 year program because the major is hard enough to do in 7 years. I took 8 years because I wanted to cover all of my bases-hospitals, schools, snfs and I didn’t want to go back to school. (I did the thesis instead of the project.)

Do you realize what you have to cover in learning about speech-language-hearing pathology? Besides speech and language coursework, you also have to learn about audiology, the deaf and hard of hearing, Special education laws and dealing with advocates and lawyers, voice and its surgical interventions, statistics, psychometry. Gerontology studies to understand strokes, TBI’s, Augmentative and Assistive communication. It goes on and on. I haven’t even spoken about your clinical practicum and 350 supervised hours

SDSU will be expensive because you are not a California resident. There is a differential that OOS students pay.http://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/admissions/costs.html. Assume a minimum of $32K for the basics-tuition and room/board.

Transportation is a pain in California. So, most students have cars but there is no parking. You would need to find a friend with a car. SDSU is inland from the airport. A good 20-30 minute drive. In bad traffic, double the wait.

You have lots of opportunities to pick a university. No matter where you go, this is a really hard discipline so anywhere you go, you will get a good education. But. . . . . . the jobs are everywhere. You will have a job before you graduate.