Two options

I went to the graduate open house at Longwood yesterday and talked with the program director about my options for next year.  There are basically two:

Option 1:
Take 4 classes this summer through the online prerequisite program (intro to audiology, anatomy of speech/hearing, phonological/articulation disorders + my observation hours).  Start grad school coursework in the fall.  Take speech science as an extra class semester 1 and take neurology of human communication as an extra class semester 1.  This would be cramming my summer, the program director highly discouraged this option.  I may or may not be able to absorb the information as well.

Option 2:
Take anatomy of speech/hearing over the summer online.  Take 3 prerequisites in the fall (intro to audiology, neurology and a special education class I would eventually need to be licensed by VDOE), and the remaining classes in the spring (speech science, phonology and language disorders and do my observation hours).  I could possibly take 1 grad course at this point as well.  I would start my graduate coursework for real in the summer of 2013. Also I could participate in some tutoring program the department does, which appeals to me and the program director thinks it would be a great experience for me.

Option 1 is what I WANT to do, because when it is something I want or am very interested in, I am highly motivated.  I will have less distractions at school (no home friends, no family around, no job, no girl scout troop, etc).  I also would save money with this option.

Option 2 is what I SHOULD do, as I would probably absorb the information better and wouldn't be stressed and have a bad grad school experience, as I've already been told this program can be rough.

The program with option 2 is how much more money it will cost me.  If I go to live at the school, I will need to take out loans to live.  This adds a lot to my loans, however, this is what I was planning to do to start with.  This is what I keep telling myself-- I was planning on doing the three year option anyway, since I did not believe I would get into graduate school this time around anyway. I would have been done with my prerequisites after spring of 2013 and would have been reapplying in the process.  Conveniently, I read today that if I work in certain settings (a school or a 501c organization), I qualify for the public service loan forgiveness.  This makes me feel a little better about my loan situation, as I could handle paying for 10 years the ridiculous amount that I may have to take out, if I have the knowledge and comfort of knowing that some of it would vanish.  I need to find out more about this program.

The program director said I could some in spring, but then I wonder what the availability will be when it comes to housing.  I have a lot to think about, but I think if I am going to do the three year option (option 2), I would still like to move to Longwood in the fall, and just deal with the whole money issue.  I just hope I find enough to do so I don't get homesick, etc-- I don't know if I could even find a job up there while I'm doing my prerequisites, since it is such a small town.

So much to consider.  On the bright side, I turned in my deposit yesterday, I am officially a Longwood Graduate student.  So much for hearing from my last school....