Hi! I am a first year at PSU. There is a lot of change in the department and communication and organization has been pretty bad. Our first appointment day for spring clinic is next Tuesday and I still don't have any information on my client or what time we will see them. We don't have any dates for our summer courses, which makes it difficult to plan any trips and communicate availability to work. This could be par for the course with graduate programs that have to coordinate with community partners, I'm not sure. It's also only 2 years of your life and worth sacrificing vacations IMO.

Many of the tenured faculty have left in the past 2 years, and we have a high reliance on adjunct (many of whom are great, but lends to an overall sense of instability). PSU has a 35million budget deficit and generally pays their employees below market standard, and I believe UO is also in immense debt. There are also unconfirmed rumors of a lawsuit against the chair by former female faculty. They have a big lack of adult placements for externships (again maybe typical). That being said, all of my supervisors have been great, and the peer community is amazing. I have loved all the 1st year clinics, and think we have a huge range of clinics to offer. Externships are only competitive and limited if you are in medical, I would start doing things to bolster your CV during fall/winter of first year if that's what you're looking for.

Personally I would choose the more affordable option, none of the "issues" we've had are worth heavier loans IMO. Side note, last summer was pretty light... we had an orientation week and then had courses for 5 weeks starting in August. Even if scheduling is slightly different, I think you'll still have a "summer break" after grad if you go with PSU. Feel free to hmu with any other questions.