Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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A-Arts School Of Beauty • Eugene, OR
Studying Hair Design (completion in 2002)
• 9/25/2011
"I left with good experience. But to do great, you have to learn on your own because they only taught the basics."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | If one lived in this town then it would be their only choice. Otherwise, if they were willing to move I would recommend looking at another location. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | The school was well known. Two hair schools in separate towns merged and became the only one to choose. |
| Program Quality | 6 | It was a smaller school in a small town. Overall the instructors were great. |
| Instruction | 7 | I feel they knew what they were doing and taught us well. However, the school was not cutting edge. |
| How Difficult | 2 | Any form of work will require some effort. That said, I felt like I had a knack for hair from the beginning. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The program was very hands-on. It consisted of three months of class and nine months of studying. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | There is no flexibility at all. The school runs full-time, Tuesday through Saturday. If you miss a class, you must make it up later. |
| Academic Facilities | 1 | They had books and a small classroom. |
| Social Life | 2 | I enjoyed socializing with the other students. |
| Placement Services | 1 | They did give out recommendations, but you had to find your own work. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | There is no networking. I have had no contact with the school since graduating. |
A'Arts College Of Beauty • Eugene, OR
Studying Hair, Nails, And Facials (completion in 1997)
• 10/19/2011
"I came out of the school with the knowledge that I needed to do what I love."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I learned a lot and many of my friends have also gone there. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | It's not the greatest school, but it is the cheapest. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I didn't like all the teachers. Other than that, it was great |
| Instruction | 8 | There was only one teacher that tried to teach us nails, but she didn't know how to do them herself. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Because I had to take baby boards. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Lots of hands on. Very little book work. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | They had classes that fit my schedule. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Some of the best facilities in the area. |
| Social Life | 8 | I had a lot of fun doing what I love: making people beautiful. |
| Placement Services | 1 | No help at all. |
Oregon Institute Of Cosmetology • Medford, OR
Studying Hair Design And Aesthetician (completion in 2005)
• 12/11/2011
"The school was not state of the art but it does offer basic skill training in a nice establishment. It allowed me to gain the certification I needed to become a licensed cosmetologist."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | If they had to stay in this area I would recommend it, however I would push an individual to attend a school in a better location if possible. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | They are the only private school in this area offering education in cosmetology. There is no competition. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The program was decent. I would have liked the instructors to be more thorough in their explanations. The patience for a student to learn was limited. |
| Instruction | 3 | I wish the school had been more professional and taught the students more skills on how to run a business. There was no concentration on business knowledge which is extremely important in order to have a successful career. |
| How Difficult | 3 | If a student was willing and showed up for all their classes then there was no overbearing workload. It felt more like a job than school. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Cosmetology has to be hands on. That said, most hands on work was done on a doll head and not a human head. Real work with a client is the successful learning experience. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | The only options were full-time and part-time. Those who still needed to work could leave after a half day, enabling them to work evenings. That said, there were no other alternatives and Saturday was a required school day for everyone. The days off were Sunday and Monday. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The school building was new and had nice amenities. The teacher to student ratio was poor at times and could have been improved, but it did not hinder my experience. |
| Social Life | 8 | Everyone was great at throwing parties and organizing events. For each graduation there was a themed event and celebration. |
| Placement Services | 3 | The school did not offer job placement. There was a shadowing program that was required for graduation but, the hours required were minimal and the school did not set any of the shadowing up, the student did. |
| Alumni Network | 2 | There is no program to allow communication with the school or with students after you graduate. The only relationships that last after graduation are what personal ones you keep and maintain. |
Phagans Beauty College • Grants Pass, OR
Studying Cosmetologist (Hairdresser, Nail Technician, Esthetician) (completion in 2008)
• 1/29/2012
"I was satisfied for the experience. I was not too excited about the price, though."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It would depend on what they are looking for. If it's a small, easy, decent beauty college, then yes. If they are looking for a modern, up-to-date college with a wide network, then I would say no. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | From what I hear it is still facing the same financial problems. It is driving more students to transfer to neighboring colleges in other cities. |
| Program Quality | 6 | I live in a small town so I didn't expect the most from this school. They don't have enough resources or space to provide everything a student needs. Overall, it was ok. The college needed separate classrooms and the nailroom needed better ventilation because the fumes would become too much at some points. |
| Instruction | 8 | I felt my instructors taught me the best they could. Outside of the basics, they taught me their "tricks" or "secrets." I feel that the school just needed more tools for the instructors to mess around with so everything wasn't taught so old school. |
| How Difficult | 4 | It all came very easy to me. I find it easy to retain information. The only difficult tasks involved being patient enough to learn a new skill. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It is a pretty good mix, but you find yourself doing things you haven't read or learned about a lot. You provide services after three weeks of class time whether or not you have been trained in all aspects. So you learn a lot out on the floor. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | The schedules were always set and never changed. They circulated frequently though, so that you could catch a class you missed the next time around. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | The school is part of a shopping mall strip, so you can imagine how small it is. We had a library that was a bookcase. One class advisor. Three instructors. Three classrooms. No tutors. Our cafeteria was one picnic-sized table! Yikes. |
| Social Life | 9 | Some girls were very dramatic. But overall it was a great experience. I enjoyed observing that so students at work and picking up on each others' hints. |
| Placement Services | 1 | They provide no job placement help. They only provide a bulletin board with job postings. |
Phagans’ Central Oregon Beauty College • Bend, OR
Studying Esthetics (completion in 2009)
• 3/23/2012
"It enabled me to start a career that I enjoy very much. However, it did not do too much to prepare me to be good at what I do - most of what I know I learned after graduation."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | If they are living where I do, that is the only place that would enable them to pursue a career like what I have. If they are able to travel elsewhere, I would recommend doing so. |
| Program Reputation | 4 | It is a popular program to attend, however, other than the location recently moving to an updated building, it has not improved in its quality. It seems to be the place people go to school when they don't really know what else to do. |
| Program Quality | 4 | I feel like my education could have been more thorough. It seemed like my school was more concerned with how many people they could squeeze into a classroom instead of how much education they could give the students. |
| Instruction | 5 | The teachers did the best they could, but it seemed like they depended more on us to ask questions instead of knowing what we needed to know. Also, some of our instructors were straight out of school themselves. |
| How Difficult | 3 | The information was all straight from the book, so we were able to go back and read it frequently. However, the information that was not from the book was often poorly explained. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | We had book-learning classes, but most of our tests were practical exams. I wish there had been more opportunity for hands on learning as opposed to just testing. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | There were two schedules available, one where we were released at 3pm and another at 5pm. But other than that, it wasn't particularly flexible, and they were almost overly conscious of attendance because so many people skipped class. |
| Academic Facilities | 2 | There was some provided, but I don't think they had a lot invested. The building was very old and outdated, not the cleanest. |
| Social Life | 4 | There was so much "social" that it interfered with academic. However, it was not social stuff provided by the school. There were graduations held every three months or so, but that was it. |
| Placement Services | 1 | Also, non-existent. We had to visit salons to do job shadows, but any job searching was left up to us. Occasionally spas would post information on a bulletin board, but the school didn't provide anything. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | It is non-existent. There are many people who have attended the school and I think with such a high volume of people going through, it is very difficult to create any network. |
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