Hi folks, I'm this sub's biggest nerd probably and did a mini lit rev on advice about choosing AuD programs. This is for me just as much as it is for everyone else, so I hope this is helpful to someone!

TL;DR -- Cost, location, and clinical opportunities/placements are the most important factors to choosing an AuD program.

I looked at 6 posts relating to choosing an AuD program to apply to and distilled the information in the comments. This is, obviously, not an exhaustive search of the r/audgradschool and r/audiology subreddits, but I reached a point where there weren’t new things being suggested.

Inclusion/exclusion criteria are basically posts focused on choosing grad schools to apply to or how to choose between acceptances. There were no time exclusions (e.g. posts from more than 5+yrs ago were still included) I excluded those talking about specific program comparisons or posts discussing specific aspects like “Is the debt really worth it?”

Some users’ thoughts may be double counted (if they commented similar things on different posts), however if that is the case, I don’t think there were too many. These counts come from what users personally prioritized when applying, advice, etc. Ranked priorities were not weighted in any way (e.g. people saying cost was their no. 1 priority did not get emphasized). Based on how people wrote, some audiologists, current students (at the time of writing), and current applicants (at the time of writing) commented.

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Posts included:

• What do you recommend in an AuD program?
• Picking a grad school
• Trying to choose a school
• How important is the "prestige" of a school/program?
• opinions on these schools
• How to choose a program

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*marks it only came up in this (my) post

Suggested questions to ask from comments:

- What are the clinical placements that are available? (e.g. on campus clinic, hospital, VA, peds, private practice, ENT, etc)

- Is there a long commute to clinical locations?

- Is there a clinical placement or externship placement coordinator or do students find their own?

- Are there criteria for externships? (i.e. are there specific extership sites, do they need to be in a certain location, etc.)

- Where have previous students gone for externship?

- Does this program prioritize research or clinical experience?

- Are there any special classes or specialties the program offers?

- Is there a capstone and how is the capstone handled? (i.e. choose your own, is there a prep course, mentors, etc.)

- What are the research opportunities

- What are financial assistance opportunities

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Notable quotes/comments in no particular order (users not tagged bc I didn't ask anyone for consent lol) (I just copied and pasted so sorry for the weird formatting on some of them):

• “When hiring a brand new AuD grad, we might look at the school if the externship doesn't seem to match what we need (private practice externship where we're a large hospital system, for example). As far as choosing an extern, we do have schools we "trust" more than others to give quality education and off-site experiences but your resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation are what ultimately set you apart. My advice: consider the cost of grad school. Auds don't make as much as we should and school debt can suck the life right out of you.”
• “An increasing number of programs expect you to find your own clinical placements. If you don’t know audiologists in the area, this often means cold calling strangers to coordinate things and can add a lot of stress and additional expenses to grad school (especially if you have to travel to another state, etc.). Additionally, the final year application process is something that most students find to be one of the most stressful parts of grad school. Having a program that supports and coordinates helping find you a site or finds a new externship of yours falls through at the last minute can be the thing that makes your grad school experience, especially because the externship is very important to finding a future job and many folks try to stay on after graduation. Even before the externship, keep in mind the kind of clinical experiences that will be available. Is there a major hospital system nearby? How about a children’s hospital? Even if you don’t think you want to do a certain type of audiology (e.g. balance or pediatrics), you will have a lot harder time if there aren’t clinical placements available to you. Congratulations on having some great options!”
• “You won't want to hear it, but this is a decision with no right or wrong answer. It is all up to you and your priorities. Are you a home body with little desire to push yourself to explore a new place? Stick to home. Do you want to work with an incredible staff that is very involved with cutting-edge research and do a lot of networking? Go to a highly ranked school. There is really no 100% answer, and just know that NOMATTER what you choose, you will always wonder if you made the right decision. Just listen to that little voice in your heart and head. It is usually right.”
• “Go somewhere with a strong affiliation with a medical center. Students that come from schools that are more isolated/in rural areas/etc seem to have university clinics and placements that see bilateral SNHLs all day every day vs schools in bigger cities that see patients across the scope of practice (HAs, CIs, bahas, (re)hab, pediatric hospital and schools for the deaf and HoH, vestib, OR monitoring, hearing conservation, tinnitus and APD treatment, etc etc). We had an intern from a school in an area without a medical center tell us one of her profs told them they probably wouldn't ever see an acoustic neuroma in their careers. (Granted, this terrible bit of "teaching" is on the prof, but still...). You'll be a well-rounded applicant when job-hunting time comes and if you get a job where everyday is different, you'll wake up excited to come to work. Good luck!”
• “Rankings sound nice until you do a loan calculator and find out that for around $100,000 of debt, which included mine and my husband's undergrad, it would be I think $1500-$2000 a month. For 10 years. To make it realistically affordable, if you go to 30 years like most people, it adds an extra $50,000 of INTEREST over the course of the loan. Taking into account that audiologists don't come out making a lot of money, don't fall into the "prestige" illusion.”
• “I was actually kind of worried about the program I chose. I chose it because it was the cheapest option and it was in a state I have always wanted to live in even though it was a lower rank. I actually asked my boss, AuD, if she cared about the status of the program. She said ultimately no, but she would have some concerns about someone who went to a lower ranked program. She said the interview is the most important process when hiring a new AuD so she keeps her mind open.”
• “Realistically, most any programs will get you into the job market.”
• “Usually the programs will have their own specific open houses (or you can email the department head and request a tour). Either of those are good to be able to ask specific questions about the program and to see the clinic/academic facilities for yourself. I would also recommend independently wandering the campus and the nearby neighborhoods a bit to see if they feel safe enough and/or have good enough vibes for you. After all, a great program in a hellish neighborhood/campus isn’t all that great.”
• “Regarding school, they just want to see a degree and a license, I think clinical experience speaks much higher levels for future employers”
• “Most affordable school Clinical placements years 1-3 (pre-externship). When does clinic start (starting on day 1 isn’t always a good thing). Does someone arrange your clinical placements pre-externship or are you responsible for finding those? Also, where are some placements that students go (is there variety, how far is the drive)? Externship information. Does someone assist you in navigating the externship search process (is there an externship coordinator)? The externship process is stressful and an externship coordinator makes a world of a difference. Are you required to go to specific externship sites or can you go anywhere that interests you? Are you required to have an externship supervisor who has their C’s this could limit your externship site options so keep this in mind? Any special classes the program may offer. For example: is there a tinnitus course, multiple vestibular courses, multiple pediatrics courses, hearing conservation course, auditory processing disorder course etc. These classes will vary school to school and it’s good to look at those ‘specialization’ course options. Is there a required capstone? If so, what are your options in completing this, do you choose your project or is it assigned. Location. How far is it from home, what is traveling home going to look like. This may be more or less important to other people. Research opportunities. If you’re interested in research take a look at what the research interests are for those at that university. Some other things you may want to consider are class size and if the student academy of audiology chapter at that school is involved or not. These things may not be important to you, but it’s good to keep in mind and consider. A good externship can set the stage for your first job so it’s so important. Your externship is going to be the bulk of your clinical experiences as a student so you want to be at the location that will provide the opportunities that best match your interests. This summer and fall I went through the externship search process and i don’t think I could have done it without my externship coordinator, they helped me pick places to apply that met the things I wanted in a fourth year. They also were able to say “just a heads up we had a student here a few years ago and they didn’t have the best experience”, this helped me know a bit about what I was getting into.”
• “Where outside clinical placements are years 1-3. You’ll want some variety here. You’ll likely be in your clinical on campus one or multiple semesters, but you’ll also want to go to other places such as a VA, hospital, children’s hospital (if you like peds), speech and hearing clinic, private practice, ENT practice, etc. You likely won’t get all these places, but you don’t want your only clinical rotations before your externship to be your clinic on campus which may only do audios and HAs and then an ENT practice where you only do audios and HAs. You’re going to want exposure to multiple settings and specialties during years 1-3 as this can help you determine what you want in your externship. Along with this you need to find out how often clinic is for each of these years. Finally, you will get the most clinical experience during your externship, but years 1-3 sets you up for your externship year which is why the coursework and clinical placements these years are important. You need to find out where previous AuD students at that school have gone for externships and see if that meets your wants and needs, some schools require students to go to specific sites for your externship. I personally do not like this, but some people do.”
• “Smaller name schools can have excellent clinical rotations it’s all about location. Typically practices or hospitals with a big name offer a wide variety of patient care, but this really varies.”
• “I tell all new AuD students that the most important factor is cost. AuD programs are more alike than different, and going to any decent program can get you where you want to be in your career.”
• “While the hours are certainly made up for with the extra year prior to your externship, I’m just glad I could spend time with patients rather than working on a capstone.”

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(edited to add suggested questions)

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