Wheaton vs Endicott vs Stonehill vs UNH

[twogirls]

I am an SLP who has worked in early intervention, private practice, and hospital settings. I currently work in a public school and work very closely with the special education teachers.

One of the perks to being an SLP is the wide variety of settings. That being said, she will not go wrong with any of her interests! Our special education pull small groups and do push in.

[lovetractor]

I would vote for UNH personally. Excellent department and major. Will be a tough admit however for that major, but she should be ok.

[CTCape]

You mentioned that she also likes to have places to go and things to do, and UVM/Burlington fills that requirement for sure. My son is graduating in May and could not have been happier with his experience. They are decently generous with merit for out of state students, and the aid my son receives brought tuition very close to our state flagship’s cost. At approx 11k students, it’s big but not massive. Here is info about their CSD program:

https://www.uvm.edu/cnhs/csd/communication_sciences_and_disorders_bs

When we were looking at schools for him, we visited Wheaton and Endicott. Of the 2, Wheaton definitely felt more remote. He wanted a vibrant downtown or neighborhood within walking distance, and Norton was not it. Downtown Beverly is accessible by bus at Endicott and has a little more going on than Norton or Easton (Stonehill). It’s also quite lovely by the beach on the north shore.

Re: Stonehill, I have friends and family who attended and liked it a lot, but all are Catholic so I have no sense of what it’s like for those who aren’t. I know a lot of non-Catholic folks find Jesuit schools comfortable for a variety of reasons, but I’m not sure that same vibe is present at Stonehill.

I have a friend whose son is at UNH and he couldn’t be happier, and I hear Durham has a great little town.

Lastly, I went to CU Boulder after graduation from a small private HS fewer than 100 students in my class. I agree with other posters who have said that even at big schools, the smaller communities students become a part of in dorms, classes, clubs, etc. become their smaller worlds anyways, provided they are willing to engage.

[CTCape]

Also here’s another poster’s recent thoughts comparing UVM and UNH on a currently active thread:

Comparing various public flagship universities: why are some more highly regarded than others? etc

UNH and UVM are very similar and both are quasi-private given the OOS makeup of both and demographics of each state. UNH is ranked higher academic wise and has more highly regarded programs in general (although I personally don’t view them that differently, just speaking to the general population in New England). Burlington has the edge on city, but UNH is 10-15 minutes away from Portsmouth, has an Amtrak station on campus and is an hour to both Boston and Portland, and is located literally on the Great Bay and very close to the Atlantic, with excellent skiing about 1.5 hours away.

I’m in CT, and while I think they are comparable in many ways, I would say that UVM is perceived as more competitive, and anecdotally I know many kids who were accepted to UNH and rejected at UVM. Both schools are incredibly popular in the area I’m in, as UConn is pretty rural and gives almost no merit $ to in state kids. I agree with this poster that proximity to Portsmouth and Amtrak make UNH a nice fit in terms of having things nearby to do.

[twogirls]

Keep in mind that if your daughter attends a school that does not have the major (or minor), it might be harder for her to determine if the career is right for her. Of course it will not be impossible, but she will have to find other/additional ways to learn about the field.

[Len]

I am currently attending Stonehill and while there is a religion course requirement there are many options and the religious aspect is really as much or as little as you want it to be. I was also nervous about going to a religious school. Still, it is really nice and they are adding a communication science and disorders major next year, which is essentially a SLP major. I took the intro course and enjoyed it and am thinking of switching, I don’t know if this will influence your daughter’s decision just something new to think about.

[EK0608]

Thanks to all for your helpful input. It turns out that she was accepted to the CSD programs at both UNH and UVM—although UVM can’t take her until Winter 2025, so that one is off the table for us. And as Len pointed out, we also recently learned that Stonehill will be offering a CSD major beginning in the fall. It looks like Stonehill has one full-time professor in the department, and the rest of the faculty are professionals working in the field. Wondering about the advantages/disadvantages of being in the inaugural class for a new program, although it sounds like Stonehill has a well-established SLP minor. We’re in the process of scheduling shadow days at Stonehill and UNH in the hopes that she will be able to attend a class within the department.