SDSU/UCSD open house

[loveAuD]

Okay, so who in this forum went to the open house yesterday!? It was awesome, I really enjoyed it The current students and staff made an excellent point. They started with 10 people fall term and have already lost 4, so it's just 6 of them! This makes me sad. This is due to people not observing/shadowing an audiologist or really understanding the work an audiologist does. They kept repeating how important it is to do this before applying and I completely agree! I would be upset if I applied and didn't get in one of those spots. So do it for yourself and also for other very interested students I'm so excited to apply next year!

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[SoCalAud]

Have you talked to your audiologist to see if you can follow him/her?

 

[loveAuD]

Yeah, haha it's funny, I have had 3 "audiologists" in the past 5 years. I asked the current one if I could shadow him and he said he's only a hearing aid dispenser. Crazy! How did I not know that!? He gave me a name of a good one in the area and she went to Gallaudet. She's awesome and so was the other audiologist at the ENT office. They were both so knowledgable and positive about the field. I learned a lot in that day I spent with them.

 

[AuD2B]

wow. I was accepted there last year but decided to go elsewhere. That is sad 4 people dropped out. It is the only program in California for an AuD & such a shame those spots are now unfilled. That's crazy.

 

[SoCalAud]

It's not from the Fall 09 class. It's counting 4 people dropping out of the current '05-'09 students there. SDSU really needs to pay attention during interviews and letters. You cannot just immediately take audiology seriously if you just switched majors or careers like that.

 

[SoCalAud]

Okay, so who in this forum went to the open house yesterday!? The current students and staff made an excellent point. They started with 10 people fall term and have already lost 4, so it's just 6 of them! This makes me sad. This is due to people not observing/shadowing an audiologist or really understanding the work an audiologist does.

I had to return to this thread and post a few thoughts of mine.

It is true, people drop out and one of those reasons is because they realize it's not the right career for them. Maybe they're just not comfortable with the counseling aspect of the career or the pay or it could be various health reaaons. Anyway, what makes it really interesting is how SDSU/UCSD tells their prospective students that, "Oh, you only need to do observations. We don't require serious work." Why can they encourage students to really explore audiology? Get involved in a audiology related lab or volunteer at various settings. If SDSU/UCSD wants to decrease their drop-out rate, they should not have said that in the first place.

While I think that may be one of the reasons, but also keep in mind of the following:

I understand that some students enter a program knowing that this is exactly the field they belong in and it's normal that crap happens in life. You might start a family at unexpected time, you might be a hard of hearing individual who is still trying to adapt to his new CI after it was recently activated while they were in the grad program. SDSU have their reasons for their drop out rates. I know people made a huge deal out of it and are worried that it has to do with SDSU, but don't worry. Just do your research on the program and talk to students there. Ask them what they think.

 

[audio21]

I would have killed to go to SDSU/UCSD.

 

[quiteaud]

I completely agree that it's important to shadow/observe before applying, but the blame is partly on the university, too. Why are they accepting people who have no observation experience??

 

[AuDitty]

The attrition rate is no longer a factor there. I specifically asked this question when I attended this years open house. That was the first few years of their program. As you said, they (the faculty) realized their error in not selecting candidates that had enough exposure to know they would enjoy audiology.

 

[TheEarDoc]

I know two of the audiology staff members there. You are in good hands at that school.