
Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Network And Systems Administrators
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Ivy Tech Central Indiana, Purdue, IUPUI, and Indiana University.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider Purdue Calumet, Purdue North Central, IU South Bend, and Indiana University.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Saint Mary's College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Vincennes University, Ivy Tech Northwest, Purdue Calumet, and Ivy Tech Central Indiana.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Ivy Tech Whitewater, Ivy Tech Kokomo, Ivy Tech Northcentral, and Ivy Tech Northwest.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, Taylor University, and Goshen.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Goshen, Saint Mary's College, Trine University, and Taylor University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Notre Dame, Indiana University, Butler, and Purdue.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Notre Dame and Marian.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Notre Dame, Butler, Saint Mary's College, and Goshen.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
Sort Reviews By:Vincennes University • Jasper, IN
Studying Computer Programming/Networking (completion in 2010)




• 6/24/2011
"All I got out of college was a piece of paper saying I'm qualified for my career. That seems to be all that employers care about anyways."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It depends on their situation. They should go to a bigger school if the can afford it. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | Vincennes is a small school, so no one really ever heard of it when I went into any job interviews. The local community supports it, however. |
| Program Quality | 7 | Vincennes taught me some useful things that I needed to learn. However, there were a lot of things that I needed to know more about in detail that I encountered in the work place that could have helped. Our college wasn't really hands on in terms of doing labs. It was mostly lecture. |
| Instruction | 5 | I didn't learn as much in college as I learned on my own growing up as a kid. I was disappointed in the overall education experience and thought that college was a waste, since I could have just jumped right into the job without college. |
| How Difficult | 6 | Most of the things I learned I already knew before college. I'm just disappointed they didn’t spend much time on one subject. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There was hardly any hands on work. It was all lecture. This was a disappointment. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | Class schedule flexibility was nice. They had classes throughout the day that fit anyone's schedule. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | They lack labs to teach hands on. It was mostly lecture. |
| Social Life | 6 | It is a small campus so we didn't do much as far as social events. |
| Placement Services | 3 | Again, I didn't use our school's career services so I don't know much about them. They never contacted me to see if I ever needed help. |
| Alumni Network | 3 | From what I've heard, our school has a great alumni network/support. I just choose not to use it. |
ITT Tech • Indianapolis, IN
Studying Information Systems Security (completion in 2007)




• 9/15/2011
"I wish I could go back in time to prevent myself from attending this school. This was the worst experience of my entire education."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | Absolutely not under any circumstances. |
| Program Reputation | 1 | I believe ITT Tech is a fraud and should be investigated. A quick Google search will reveal that I'm not the only person with this opinion. |
| Program Quality | 1 | ITT Tech is a waste of time and money. I didn't learn a thing from them. Most of my knowledge of computers came from on the job training and leaning on my own. |
| Instruction | 1 | The instruction was horrible. Anyone who wanted to learn something about computers were directed by the professors to seek out the information for themselves. |
| How Difficult | 1 | The program was just busy work out of the books. All of the exam questions were from the chapters in the books. It was very easy to score well on the exams, because most were open book. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The entire program was book learning. All the classes were busy book work with open book tests. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | I did an online degree, so the classes were very flexible. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | I can't give an accurate description of the facilities, but the school did have access to some great online educational resources. |
| Social Life | 5 | I never interacted with any of the students at ITT Tech. I was in a 100% online program. |
| Placement Services | 1 | It's hard to rate these services when they don't exist. In fact I believe the schools reputation hurts those looking for a job. I really hate when people ask about my "education" from ITT Tech. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I don't know anyone who would claim to be an alumni of ITT Tech. The school only cares about making money off of the students and could care less once you leave the school. |
Ivy Tech State College • Muncie, IN
Studying Computer Information Systems (completion in 2004)




• 9/26/2011
"It gets the job done. I was able to earn a degree and get started in my chosen field."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I would recommend it as a place to get started. I wouldn't say that it would be a place to get a degree and consider yourself done, but it is a good place to start. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | They are known as a decent two year school. Ivy Tech is thought of mostly as a low cost way of getting core classes out of the way before moving on to a 4-year school, or a good place to get a 2-year degree for changing professions. |
| Program Quality | 5 | Ivy Tech gives a good introduction. It provides an Associates degree which is a good foundation for entry level jobs, but more education is required to progress further in the field. |
| Instruction | 7 | The professors were all very good. They were very supportive and all worked in the IT industry for many years. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The program of study can be challenging. Learning all of the different technologies and completing certifications can be difficult. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There were about equal parts of both book learning and hands on learning. There were plenty of traditional classes but also classes that offered lab environments to utilize what was learned. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | The classes were very flexible. They offered day and evening classes so it would be easy to work and go to school. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | The school provided computer labs to do school work in. Labs were available to create small network environments to test different router and server configurations. |
| Social Life | 5 | Ivy Tech doesn't have any kind of sports or many organized events. The people there were friendly enough, but it is a school based out of more utility than atmosphere. |
| Placement Services | 3 | Ivy Tech does not do a very good job at career placement. They had a basic web page where employers could post jobs, but there were never really any real opportunities posted. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | The school didn't offer much as far as alumni support. They had job placement assistance but this was more or less a waste of time. |
ITT Technical Institute • Indianapolis, IN
Studying Network Systems Administration (completion in 2010)




• 12/4/2011
"I like this school because the workload is distributed evenly. The core courses are modern and informational. I would definitely take another course just to enhance my education for my major."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Even if your school is not accredited, just prove during your interview that you have the skills and you can most definitely perform tasks as a network admin. I would gladly tell others to at least give it a try. The only problem is that online learning is a bit costly, and that is because of the convenience of learning at home. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | They say ITT TECH is a bad school and that it is hard to find a job with an online degree, but I beg to differ. You have to prove yourself that you know your major, and I did. |
| Program Quality | 8 | ITT, regardless of learning online, still carried a workload, and still provided a great learning process. The rating of an 8 signifies that the teachers were sometimes a little unfair on how they graded some of my assignments & labs. |
| Instruction | 10 | The amount I learned is exceptionally more than what I expected. I thought it was going to be basic, but they covered basic, intermediate, advanced, and super elite details in every aspect of networking. |
| How Difficult | 8 | To love your program of study, such as being a Network Admin, you have to love what you do and know the work. I am so proud to understand how to repair connections and help people avoid frustration because they didn't understand why their internet was down. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | You get a bit of hands-on and book learning. They provide books and a software called Lab Sim which gives you the hands-on experience. I thought that Lab Sim was one of the most exciting parts of the courses I had taken. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | You can be in school whenever you want from the comfort of your own home. With login credentials, you can complete as much as you want. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | They have a virtual library on their website, a student portal, messages tab, grades tab, calendar, workspace, and course portal. It is easy to navigate and the instructors respond to any questions within 24 hrs. Student support is available in the morning until late at night. |
| Social Life | 10 | I loved everyone in my course classes. They are all very supportive and they respected me. They found me very intellectually capable and the instructors were grateful for my efforts. |
| Placement Services | 7 | I'm not sure how others experience my previous school, but the job placement did not take too long for me. I didn't get a job until nearly a year later which is about right. Jobs are not that easy to find anymore. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | The majority of help offered was great. I had one staff member from student support who was extremely rude and she didn't stop attacking me until I told her off. Fortunately, that was my only experience dealing with that. |
ITT Technical Institute • Fort Wayne, IN
Studying Information Systems Security (completion in 2007)




• 3/21/2012
"I learned a lot at ITT Tech, but I wish my degree meant more in the workplace. I also wish the tuition prices weren't so high."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It would completely depend on what they were looking for. If they were looking for a hands on, flexible, more personable experience, then I might. If they want the traditional 'college experience', ITT Tech is not right for them. |
| Program Reputation | 4 | I graduated in 2007. I haven't seen anything since that has changed my opinion of the school. |
| Program Quality | 6 | ITT Tech made the degree too easy to get. They make it hard to fail. This allows people that shouldn't be getting the degree to get the degree. I found that ITT Tech degrees don't carry much weight in the workplace due to this. |
| Instruction | 6 | Most classes and teachers made it hard to get an 'A', but they also made it hard to get an 'F'. In the workplace, someone isn't going to hold your hand make sure you complete the work. |
| How Difficult | 4 | Again it was hard to get an 'A'. It was easy to coast through with a 'C'. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The reason I went to ITT Tech is that it is a hands on learning school. You read how to configure a router and then you get to go configure the router. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | ITT Tech is made for working adults. They offer daytime, evening, weekend, and summer classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | As a school centered around technology, ITT Tech had current equipment and it all worked well. Professors were always available via email and most responded within 24 hours. I did not take advantage of tutors or study groups. |
| Social Life | 3 | The school did not organize many events. We had student appreciation days that were pretty much cookouts. |
| Placement Services | 9 | During the 4 years I went to ITT Tech, they helped me find two positions in my field. One I was at for 3 years and the other was an entry position at my place of work now. |
| Alumni Network | 4 | ITT Tech does not have the best reputation in the workplace. I have heard of many graduates that were hired somewhere and didn't know what they were doing. |
Indiana Business College • Columbus, IN
Studying IT/Business Admin (completion in )




• 3/20/2012
"I was very satisfied with my teachers and facilities. I was somewhat displeased with just one teacher who was later fired."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | Very expensive, and credits may not transfer. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | They have a reputation for having great students. Students are well trained in their areas. |
| Program Quality | 8 | They were very knowledgeable. They had the needed labs to help with obtaining certifications. |
| Instruction | 8 | They had excellent resources to learn from. The teachers were very schooled in their areas. |
| How Difficult | 10 | The studies were very detailed and time consuming. We had to study many terms and situational decisions. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It was a very good balance of both worlds. The hands on work particularly was helpful. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | I had the choice between day and night classes. I also had the choice between a few teachers. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The staff was very helpful and very much available when needed. The school's facilities we had great resources and were thoughtfully laid out. |
| Social Life | 1 | There were no social events. I didn't have time even if they would have had them. |
| Placement Services | 9 | I was schooled and trained for the interview process. I was given a lead on a job before my schooling finished, and I got that job. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I have no contact with them and vice versa. |
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