I am a recent graduate (3.8 gpa-not that it means much) of ITT Technical Institute in Norwood, Ohio (CDD). First and foremost, I feel I have to say that I am not an un-intelligent person. I have a great job, in my field, that pays very good. HOWEVER, the person who hired me told me that he would not have hired me if it were not for my prior experience, and to please try to forget anything I may have learned at ITT, as he wants to re-train me to do things the "right way". I have actually heard from other employers that they would not even consider a person whose resume had ITT Tech on it.
When I was "recruited", I had been looking into different schools in my area. None of them were really very appealing to me; I have 3 kids, a husband and a mortgage, not to mention the fact that I work full time as well. I was "sold" the standard package deal from ITT. Hands-on learning, cutting edge technology, the same equipment that is used by local companies, instructors that are leaders in their fields (I was told that ITT uses only instructors that have acheived at least a Masters Degree). Oh... I cannot forget to mention that the "sales rep" that sold this package to me told me that many local colleges take ITT credits, in fact she was currently going to the University of Cincinnati, and all of her ITT Tech credits transferred—well, those of us that have tried to transfer those credits know better—now.
So, lets start with the "hands-on learning"... I have to say I got plenty of that, if nothing else. My degree is in Computer Drafting and Design. One of the "unrealistic" (I guess) expectations I had was that we would be taught HOW TO USE THE CAD SOFTWARE!!! Gee, I guess they missed the part where AutoCAD is a $4000 program, so not many of us have it laying around, therefore not many of us had prior experience using the AutoDesk interfaces. My hands-on learning experience consisted of an instructors handing all of the students drawings and telling us to recreate it, then totally disappearing for what remained of the class time. Hello... Show us how to use the program already! Yes, I understand that part of the college experience is busting butt outside of school to learn from the text books, other research, etc.; and I did that. I practically lived at that school trying to teach myself how to use the software. This happened with ALL of my core classes, by the way!
As for "cutting edge technology"... I think this one can go along with the "same equipment that is used by local companies". Well, let me say that a company whose profit margin is 52.9%, one could probably expect a little more in the way of lab equipment. Perhaps, computers that work, working plotters, maybe even mice that work properly! I don't need to even mention software with expired licenses!
The instructors... Where to begin? Only one of my instructors had a Masters Degree. Several of them had NO DEGREE! One of my instructors spent most of the time in class bashing the school and the other instructors. One of my other instructors could not manage to stay in the room for more than 15 or 20 minutes of the 4 hours we were supposed to be receiving instruction. There was an Art teacher teaching "digital information management"... HELLO! Yet another of my instructors was teaching the class because he had "some" experience using a five year old version of the outdated software we were supposed to be learning.
My capstone class was the worst of the whole process for me. Being a CDD student, I expected to have to present my drafting abilities. However, the project we had to do was to design a subivision. No biggie. BUT, not only were 3 of us (in 11 weeks time) to design a subdivision, we were also expected to design 3 houses each, do all of the civil work (you know, the stuff civil engineers do... NOT CDD DRAFTERS!!!), price materials, price builders, calculate roof truss systems, cost the development, etc., etc. At the end of the project we had to present it to a group of architects, builders and engineers. Those are the people who decided whether or not we passed and could graduate. None of these things are things that CDD drafters would be involved with-not to mention the fact that NONE of this type of stuff was ever brought up in ANY of the classes I took. I feel that I should mention the fact that it is flat out illegal for an individual to perform engineering or architectural design without a license, and none of us in this class were going to be graduating with a P.E. Or with a degree in architecture.
Now, I know better. Now I tell everyone I meet who wants to get a degree in the IT industry... STAY AWAY FROM ITT TECH!!! I did not get what I paid for. There is no other way around that. I could have gone to the local high school and learned more there about CDD than I did at that "school". When students ask for help, they are practically laughed at, and looked at like idiots. Can't teach yourself Calculus, Trig or Physics using questa... Oh well, sorry for you... Fail it and try again next quarter! And the "library" is a joke... Fellow ITT attendees, you know exactly what I mean.
I would warn against even considering this company as a place to go for an education, unless you want to learn how to throw a ton of money right into the pockets of the uncaring. I would be MORE than happy to join a class-action suit against this school. Someone has got to put a stop to what this company is doing to people, and I am volunteering!
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