Skip to content
Student Academy of Audiology
  • Career
    Resources
    • Job Board
    • Externships
    • Certification
    • New Audiologist Resources
  • Education
    • Grants and Scholarships
    • Events
    • SAA Conference
    • Doctoral Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
  • Get Involved
    • Chapters
    • Advocacy
    • National Campaigns
    • Committees
    • Volunteer
  • Publications
    • SAA Blog
    • Audiology Today
    • JAAA
  • About
    • Membership
    • Benefits
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Leadership
  • Contact Us
  • Audiology Community
  • The Academy
  • Join
  • Member Login
FacebookLinkedinYoutubeInstagram
  • Audiology Community
  • American Academy of Audiology
  • Join
  • Member Login
  • Renew
Student Academy of Audiology
  • Career
    Resources
    • Job Board
    • Externships
    • Certification
    • New Audiologist Resources
  • Education
    • Grants and Scholarships
    • Events
    • SAA Conference
    • Doctoral Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
  • Get Involved
    • Chapters
    • Advocacy
    • National Campaigns
    • Committees
    • Volunteer
  • Publications
    • SAA Blog
    • Audiology Today
    • JAAA
  • About
    • Membership
    • Benefits
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Leadership
  • Contact Us
  • Audiology Community
  • The Academy
  • Join
  • Member Login
November 18, 2021

November 2021 Advisors Corner

  • Advisors Corner

Learn It All – Absorb It All

“I won’t use it anyways”, I said to myself in a second-year pediatric audiology course. I’m reflecting back on this now (seven years later) as I sit at the hospital and wait for my next patient, a 17 month old child, to check-in for his appointment.

In graduate school, I cared about my grades and I cared deeply for the topics that interested me most, but I can’t promise that I was fully absorbing the knowledge that I self-deemed to be “not applicable”. For my first two years in graduate school I was absolutely sure I would be a cochlear implant audiologist. By my last two years in the program I had obviously wised up enough to know that my real calling was vestibular sciences. Either way, pediatrics just was not for me.

My career so far has proven that hindsight is sharper than foresight. So where did my area of expertise land? I spend a large amount of time with hearing aid patients. I am a clinical preceptor to externs. I provide inpatient services to pediatric and adult patients and do sedated auditory brainstem response evaluations in the operating room. I have dabbled in bone conduction research. And I am currently providing temporary coverage to a heavily-pediatric based outpatient clinic. Every minute of my career has brought me joy and I am so grateful for the flexibility my audiology license provides.

My point here is this – you truly have no clue where you’ll apply your education. Maybe you’ll do exactly what you think you will for your entire career. But what if you don’t? What if you find you have another skill set, make a mid-career specialty switch, or take a new job with a different population?

Absorb it all, and use these years in school wisely. To learn more about audiology career paths, check out the SAA Blog’s “Becoming a ____ Audiologist” series or network at the AAA Annual Conference. A diverse externship experience is another way to experience different specialties. No matter how you do it, grab every opportunity to learn – whether “applicable” or not.

Sarah Ostlie, AuD, F-AAA, CCC-A

SAA Advisory Committee Chair

Share this

Recent Posts

10 Steps to Succeed in Your Next Clinical Rotation

May 2023 SAA Advisors Corner

May 2023
President’s Corner

Related Posts

Advisors Corner Header Image
Advisors Corner, SAAy Anything

May 2023 SAA Advisors Corner

Graduation and the New Professional – Now What? This spring will bring a whole new class of audiology graduates into the profession. Congratulations! You have all worked so hard for this. With big new steps ahead of you, the Academy is here to help you transition from student to professional. Hopefully, being a part of…

Read More
Advisors Corner Header Image
Advisors Corner

March 2023 SAA Advisors Corner

A Student-Centered Conference Experience With the AAA annual conference right around the corner, I’m sure many of you are excited to experience your first professional trip, first time surrounded by hundreds of other audiology professionals, and maybe even your first time networking outside of your AuD/PhD program’s familiar cocoon. But with “firsts” often comes nerves…

Read More
Advisors Corner Header Image
Advisors Corner

January 2023 Advisor’s Corner

Spring is Scholarship Season “Money, please!!” – Okay, this might just be a motto from supporting Parks and Recreation character Mona Lisa Saperstein, but when you’re a student, money is a hot commodity. Fortunately, national SAA has got your back. Each year, the SAA and the Academy Foundation offer many scholarship opportunities to SAA members….

Read More

Join the Student Academy of Audiology

SAA members receive many benefits from externship and career development and networking opportunities within the American Academy of Audiology and more. 

 

Become a Member
saa-logo@2x

Student Academy of Audiology
11480 Commerce Park Drive
Suite 220
Reston, VA 20191

Tel: 703-790-8466
Fax: 703-790-8631

  • Career
    Resources
    • Job Board
    • Externships
    • Certification
    • New Audiologist Resources
  • Education
    • Grants and Scholarships
    • Events
    • SAA Conference
    • Doctoral Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
  • Get Involved
    • Chapters
    • Advocacy
    • National Campaigns
    • Committees
    • Volunteer
  • Publications
    • SAA Blog
    • Audiology Today
    • JAAA
  • About
    • Membership
    • Benefits
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Leadership
  • Contact Us
  • Audiology Community
  • The Academy
  • Join
  • Member Login
  • Audiology Community
  • American Academy of Audiology
  • Join
  • Member Login
  • Renew
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Antitrust Policy
  • Sitemap

© Copyright 2023 American Academy of Audiology

Website by Yoko Co

Scroll To Top