Ok, so I made a mistake...

As usual, there's only limited time to write, so here it is in a nutshell. I'm not intellectually stimulated by Dr. P and have been extremely annoyed that she frequently cancels meetings. I am taking the second stats course with the same professor and still love it (just turned in a 25 page take-home exam last week, which I think I did well on). And I've been soul-searching...

In the interest of time, here is a copy of the e-mail I sent to Dr. A (my on-line mentor, who has been extremely helpful during this mentor issue I've had).

As you know, with how difficult things have been, I've been doing a great deal of thinking and soul searching this semester. Recently I attended the national Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) convention (for special education professionals). There I attended several wonderful presentations on deaf education and special education law and policy. I had some very intellectually challenging discussions with several of the professors (one from Harvard) about the availability of research on the education of deaf and hard of hearing children. It was a wonderful experience and I really learned a lot in those two days.

When I got home, I really started to think about my priorities and what I want to do. Before I ever started applying, I researched whether I should get a PhD or an EdD (all of my PhD friends said it was more prestigious and that's the route I should go). 5 years ago, I even posted on the ASHA blog on PhD education about which degree was better (responses were that the research experience should be what I'm looking into, not the letters). When I looked into programs, I wanted a program that would combine ComDis, special ed administration and deaf education, which I thought I had.

What my original plan was, was to get the PhD but also be certified as a special education administrator (which would have required 5 courses in addition to the required and elective coursework). Because of that, I would not have had time to take courses in the deaf education consortium program. I'm also having extreme difficulty finding ComDis courses that I'm interested in and the ones I am are held Tuesday/Thursday at 10-11:15 (which I could negotiate for one semester with work, but all of them are held in the middle of the day...this is a change from when I was looking at the program).

What I realize that I've been most frustrated about (as evidenced by the CEC convention), besides the issue of her cancelling meetings (which she's done again), is there is absolutely no intellectual stimulation from this mentor.

I am in the process of meeting with the Director of the Special Education department to review requirements, but I seriously considering applying to the EdD program for special education administration. I've already taken 2 stats classes in the education department, and I believe my one ComDis course could be considered an elective. And there might be electives I could take in the deaf education program. I really think this is a better fit for my personal interests. While a ComDis department may not be interested in hiring me as a professor (or they might, depending on the quality of my research), I could always teach in a special or deaf education department.

I should know more when I meet the Director of the SPED department (who is also, by the way, an SLP).

I realize it's probably never good to "jump ship" and I will probably be blackballed in the ComDis department. It's not just the advisor (though it doesn't help), but I'm more interested in the whole education of the child, not just the educational audiology piece (but already having the audiology knowledge, I could do that research myself). This feels much better to me.

I also realize that I'm rambling. OK, I'll stop now, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for listening.