Well, I must be honest, if only for the sake of those who wish to matriculate through a school and successfully complete the program.
I do not feel as though I have received the proper level of support throughout the time I have been in the program. There are factors involved which make this worse, such as:
1. Instructors changing the syllabus an untold number of times (in psychoacoustics this happened at least 10 or so times. Yes, I am serious) throughout the semester with no prior warning.
2. Have had instructors not keep sheculed appointments when I see them after class for help (necessary and EXPECTED in this program) with no notice. Their excuse was they needed to attend to the accreditation committee's needs first. Which brings me to:
3. The accreditation committee got priority 1 and students priority 2 in fall 2009, there is no doubt. This is horse, as what good is accreditation if your students are falling by the wayside and thus falling behind.
4. The program has nothing to do with UAMS other than the fact that the degree comes from UAMS. It is on the fringe of the UALR campus. As a UAMS audiology student you have more in common with Big Lots, Harbor Freight Tools, Radio Shack and the local bank than you do with UAMS. UAMS is more than a dozen miles away and you will go there only for the idiotic neurotology conferences (that all students are now required to attend and pretend to be ENTs) and class registration.
5. Students are required to attend all neurotology conferences as well as grand rounds. This was optional until last semester, as noone was going. School comes first, these conferences that noone gets any benefit out of (particularly first years that are just learning the ropes) come a distant ways behind. Students hardly have any time as it is nevermind going to these things that interrupt the normal flow of the day.
6. Registration and general logistical operation of the program is OBSOLETE. Registration consists of going to a large gathering of personnel at various booths all around a laboratory and filling out duplicate paperwork for UALR and UAMS (because of the "consortium"). When and if you exit the program you have to do the same exascerbating thing except everyone isn't gathered together & it becomes a scavenger hunt for departure signatures. This instead of getting a central computerized system that people have been using at other schools since over a decade ago.
7. Select professors (Atcherson is a good example, who will teach your anatomy class if you are unlucky enough to matriculate here) are sarcastic bores. They are quick to bust your nuts and give you sarcasm when you go for help but never provide any semblance of support throughout the semester.
8. The instructors there are so discombobulated that many do not remember what assignments are due, what they have covered in lecture, etc. I'd never get tests back to study from, never have reviews covering work that we'd be tested on until after the test. This is rediculous and leads to people running around with their asses on fire trying to figure out what the hell they are supposed to do.
9. I'll never forget getting a "thumbs up" in psychoacoustics for a homework assignment, with no critique etc. and was told that it was "good to go". This, of course, until I get my grade back (a 70%). This is an example of laziness on the professor's part. I came for help and got no help whatsoever, and thus did not know what to review for the upcoming test....and thus failed the upcoming test. Domino effect.
10. Too much emphasis on **** that is outside of the curriculum and not enough paper and pencil emphasis. Running around to conferences, student meetings, grand rounds, NICU rotations and elementary school screenings is: (drum roll) horse ****. There is TOO MUCH going on and not enough time, particularly when the machine is a rusty roller vs. a greased bearing in operation.
11. No coherent expectation for clinical achievement. I was, along with my partner, almost fully clinically competent with basic audiologic testing. By ourselves, we did everything from TEOAE/TYMPS/pure tones/masking/sound field testing/basic vestibular rehab etc. etc. Myself and my partner did a LOT of **** and were bar none the most clinically able of all the students. Other people hardly did ANYTHING in clinic because their supervisor ran things a lot differently. I knew one clown that didn't do a pure tone audiogram until his second year. This goes back to non-coherence of everything within this program.
Hmm. What else? In any case I'll post as things come to mind but let's put it this way: I'm not here anymore!!! Go somewhere else, this place is a shambles. I'll see if I can post up a photo of the place for everyone to look at--it really is quite humerous with it being in a strip mall.
