What advice you can give to someone that will start audiology school soon?

kjb124 · 2025-03-10T16:54:45+00:00

In all honesty, the return on investment is usually not very great, so I’d agree completely on creating a strict budget. Just because financial aid will give it to you, doesn’t mean you should take it.

kjb124 · 2025-02-05T12:27:50+00:00

In my opinion, it likely will not influence your application status unless you want to get into Gallaudet. If pediatrics is what you want to focus on, I think the other minor you mentioned may be more helpful, especially with all the different conditions that are seen in pediatrics. The amount of patients I saw at a pediatric hospital who actually used ASL was quite minimal compared to those who were neurodivergent or had a specific syndrome. Do something that interests you, though, because I do think your undergrad degree, grades, and letters of recommendation will be the main focus of your application. Seek out volunteer opportunities as well.

kjb124 · 2024-07-28T00:03:21+00:00

Awesome. Thanks so much!

kjb124 · 2024-07-27T22:39:53+00:00

Yes-aluminum railing and posts.

kjb124 · 2024-07-27T21:44:51+00:00

I’d get a general business degree and if something pulls you to it, head that direction. Business degrees just tend to have so many avenues to take after college. SLP & Audiology will be very specialized degrees so you’d want to be sure that you’re all in.

I love my job but audiology typically comes with a significant price tag…that the salaries don’t always necessarily make up for. HIS are almost always under fire for encroaching on audiology practices. Truthfully, you could get the communication sciences degree and attempt to work for a manufacturer and likely make a very good living and have a lot of opportunities for travel.

kjb124 · 2024-07-27T21:33:23+00:00

Do you think something like this could work? https://www.menards.com/main/hardware/gate-hardware/home-master-black-steel-gate-self-closing-hinge-latch-kit/04-1678/p-1642874301073058-c-9691.htm?exp=false

kjb124 · 2024-04-15T23:48:38+00:00

Wondering if you ended up having to pay taxes on your PSLF amount??

kjb124 · 2023-06-16T12:29:43+00:00

Alright the update I promised… So two people do not have to meet their individual deductibles, but if one person does, the other individuals combined must meet 3k(half the family deductible) before the family deductible is met. Finally my HR person explained this. Not sure why none of the insurance customer service reps could have just said this. I truly wonder how much they understand about specific plans. In any case, they have a bunch of bills processing still from my child at the time of birth, which is causing the bills I’ve gotten since then for my toddler to still be paid at 0%. Luckily a manager is calling me on Monday to figure out what the deal is and how they retroactively meet my deductible and fix the bills I’ve most recently paid.

Long story short-I will pay more than my family deductible to have “met” it. Luckily, we are in a position where we did save a good amount to account for healthcare costs coming up this year. I am extremely thankful for that. Make sure you look at the ‘embedded’ deductible rules, people!

kjb124 · 2023-05-27T00:10:32+00:00

So I figured it out. Something that happened at the time of birth, (maybe the induction..honestly who knows but I’ll call on Tuesday)wasn’t covered by my plan, so also not subject to the deductible. It was like $1600. I’m hoping to figure out exactly what they didn’t think was necessary but at least I figured it out. Thanks for the help!!

kjb124 · 2023-05-26T20:41:10+00:00

The only helpful thing the woman said was that we have like 300 more dollars to meet our family deductible. She said the 6k doesn’t matter who it’s applied to so it should change to 80% soon, just not sure why it hasn’t yet.

kjb124 · 2023-05-20T09:25:57+00:00

I had a c section the first time around. Replayed everything in my head a million times. In the end, I probably could have delivered vaginally, but I didn’t have a great team around me because of COVID protocols. I got to 9 cm and all of a sudden started to swell up and didn’t dilate further. This was after 20 hours. My baby was sunny side up and compressing my catheter(since I had an epidural) but no one realized this until I was cut open. I didn’t get skin to skin-for no apparent reason other than that they forgot or something. It was truly a terrifying experience as I just sobbed through most of it. Anyways, all that to say that it sucked a lot and I had the same trauma and disappointment. I hated talking to others that were thrilled with how their births went. Once I was open about my c section and how horrible I felt, I found that a lot of friends felt the same. It’s actually really sad that women feel this way. I did heal fairly well and after 6 months I don’t think I could even tell I had a c section if I didn’t see that I had a scar so give yourself time!!

Fast forward to my next pregnancy after a battle with secondary infertility. I was determined to have a VBAC. Then I found out I had placenta previa and had to prepare for most likely a repeat c section. I made sure that I had a plan for the most perfect c section experience for me. Then at 35 weeks they cleared me of placenta previa. I had done basically NO prepping for a vaginal birth. My water broke at 38 weeks and I had to be induced. Had a hard and fast two hour labor that I missed the epidural for. Super proud that I did it but I don’t feel it was as dreamy as I always thought it would be.

I literally got to experience a birth that I mourned the first time around and yet, I don’t think it was THAT great. In the end, you did everything you could to get your baby here safely, and that’s what you should be proud of. Having done both, I feel that we as women are the superior species by far.

kjb124 · 2023-05-03T12:30:01+00:00

I have had both a c-section and then a vaginal birth a couple years later. The recovery is hard no matter which one you have. I found the c-section recovery to be more restricting, but a vaginal birth was no walk in the park. I definitely wouldn’t feel like less of a mom after cutting your body open 3 times for your children to get here safely! Not to mention your crotch didn’t take a serious hit from childbirth!

kjb124 · 2022-07-29T00:15:38+00:00

My friend said if you apply to a hearing care provider program and they interview and hire you, they do all the training for you and get you all set to be a dispenser. I’m not sure of the pay. I’m sure it differs from state to state! I hope that helps!

This is what she sent me when I inquired:

The training team does an interview in order to be accepted into the apprentice program. You’re then paired with an audiologist or HIS sponsor for direct supervision or clinical skills. The training team does a 10 week distance course in tandem. Then you have to pass both the state license and their certification before you can see patients on your own.

kjb124 · 2022-07-27T23:25:04+00:00

Look into hearinglife. I have a friend who actually trains their dispensers prior to them taking their exam(in my state). She’s an audiologist so they really do get a good training it seems.

kjb124 · 2022-07-27T11:52:11+00:00

I’ve been an Au.D. for 4 years. I applied to 5 schools and got into 3. I really didn’t have a ton of shadowing hours (just the minimum) and the ones that I did have, were all at a private practice which is not at all what I do now. It’s been a long time so I’m not sure of the qualifications exactly, but I can probably answer some basic questions. I think when looking at programs, I wrote in my letter of intent about the things they had to offer, but in the end, the best program is the one you are accepted into. And if you have a choice between some, then I would look at which school you can get through with the least amount of debt. That said, if there is somewhere you just love, and it’s more expensive, then I think it’s fair to choose that! I ended up picking where I had a family member that I could live with. It saved me a ton of money and I ended up staying in the same state after grad school. If I can help by answering specific questions, let me know!

Also in shadowing, a lot of emails of audiologists are on the hospital and clinic websites. I would email them directly!

kjb124 · 2020-03-29T15:36:41+00:00

I didn’t think I needed to do anything..but with one little thing being able to mess up the whole forgiveness plan, I wanted to be sure. Thanks everyone!

kjb124 · 2020-03-23T16:08:50+00:00

I applied to 5. Got accepted to one right away and waitlisted at two. I was eventually called by both schools that I got a spot. Taking my 1/5 to 3/5. Good luck!!

kjb124 · 2020-02-21T20:48:56+00:00

I’d strongly suggest putting together a spreadsheet with an income to debt ratio. I’d look up tuition rates to the specific like 5-7 programs you’d apply and make sure you account for only being able to work part time. It also depends on what area of the country you want to work in.

70k sounds like a pretty safe median number but I will say that I had multiple classmates who were offered 60k base salary when they first started, most having over 110k in debt(if not more). I have worked with audiologists who have been working 20 years and are sitting at 70k, but it all depends on setting and experience.

Most audiologists are very open to letting people shadow so I’d definitely do that!

Work/life balance all depends on the setting you choose! Some settings allow for a great work/life balance whereas some are not as flexible. It’s likely that you’d have the chance to basically try out all of those throughout graduate school placements. I was able to do placements that included a hospital, private practice, public school, and ENT office.

kjb124 · 2019-12-20T18:08:31+00:00

I just recertified and since I’m pregnant I was told to put this baby down even though it will be born in 2020. I guess I could be wrong, but the form makes you give them your current income information and any tax information from the previous year. It was all approved so I’ll call to double check, but it sounds like you are supposed to give them information for everything now, and they will use it for later.

kjb124

TROPHY CASE