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 Anoka - Ramsey, University of Minnesota, and Inver Hills Community College.
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 Globe University, Metropolitan State, Dunwoody College of Technology, and University of Minnesota-Crookston.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider St. Catherine University.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Saint Paul College and MCTC.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider St. Catherine University and University of St Thomas.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Northland Community and Technical College, University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota-Crookston, and Crown College.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Concordia, Crown College, Bemidji State, and University of Minnesota-Crookston.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at University of Minnesota, St. Catherine University, Concordia, and University of St Thomas.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at University of Minnesota, Augsburg, and Dunwoody College of Technology.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at St. Catherine University, Concordia, Dunwoody College of Technology, and Augsburg.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Minnesota State University At Mankato • Mankato, MN
Studying Network Administration (completion in 2010)
• 6/25/2011
"It has a great reputation in this industry. I have a great job now, and I obviously owe that to my schooling and, therefore, my school."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Again, the reputation of the school precedes itself. I had no difficulty finding a job, and I would recommend going to MNSU for anyone. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | I went to this school due to its reputation pertaining particularly to this program. It's renowned around the area for turning out well educated network professionals. |
| Program Quality | 8 | My school had a fairly extensive program that trained me for my career. A lot of my education was done online over and above my schooling to supplement my professional education. |
| Instruction | 9 | I was provided a great technical backbone for the work I am doing now. They had several job shadow/intern programs which helped in career placement. |
| How Difficult | 10 | I went into the program not knowing anything about computer languages or the backbone of a company's network and servers. I am now head of a company's network administration and IT branch. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It was more hands on focused than book-learning focused. There was a lot of traditional teaching in addition to professors sending students out on their own to experience things first hand. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Didn't take any online classes, though they were available. Classes pertaining to my major were structured more rigidly than I would have liked. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | This school is very well funded. It is state of the art with regards to computer labs and other technology. Many well trained professors and advisors are there to assist. |
| Social Life | 6 | I kept to myself through my schooling, as I wanted to focus on my major. It's known as a party school, which is good for some people but it was not what I was looking for. I didn't immerse myself in athletics or anything like that. |
| Placement Services | 10 | As mentioned, job shadowing and intern services, both paid and unpaid, are the focus during your last year in the program. They have a lot of connections for job placement. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | This is difficult to judge as I just graduated last year. Alumni seem to be focused on and have a lot of pride in this university, not necessary pertaining to my career. |
Capella • Minneapolis, MN
Studying Network Technology (completion in 2003)
• 7/7/2011
"It was good enough to land me where I am today. I do not regret what I experienced in terms of the situation that played out that landed me in this track."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It all depends on the environment that the student is looking to experience. If it is about only getting the job done, then this university provides a sufficient means to that end. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Many people never heard of this university and others seem to shy away from online courses. It is flexible but for some reason it does not reflect the same repute as a course that is actually taken by attending classes in person. |
| Program Quality | 7 | I was able to obtain the degree by taking online courses. It was a very convenient and flexible experience. |
| Instruction | 8 | I have been given strong computer skills. However, had I had a classroom experience, perhaps I would've gained more even knowledge. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The workload was manageable. I cannot compare this program to other online courses related to computer networking, but I can say it was good enough to help me build the skills I would require. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I am a mix so when it comes time to gain knowledge I like to read under those conditions. To apply or expand, however, I can become a hands on student where I personally do my own research to get the answers I need. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | It was quite flexible as in I was able to take the classes online. Considering that I had personal issues crop up around the time, I was still able to manage the workload provided through the classes and complete it before the deadlines. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | Well, I took an online course so I did not personally make use of many of the facilities. The access that was granted via the internet to the library and the professors, however, was appreciated, though there was not a strong need for this. |
| Social Life | 2 | Again, by choosing to take the online course, I was not not someone who interacted with the student body in person. I was just in it for the classes. |
| Placement Services | 7 | Again, whatever skills I had gained through the course helped me land the job I have with the advice provided by the counselors. I understand that times have changed and it might now be a bit more competitive. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | Everyone was very supportive. I do believe that with such a great staff around, it would've been even better if direction was provided in person. |
Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) • Cambridge, MN
Studying Information Technology (completion in 2007)
• 7/18/2011
"I believe ARCC offers a solid IT program. There are better (although more expensive) schools in the area, but I was very happy with the knowledge and experience I gained from my school."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I would recommend Anoka Ramsey Community College to people in the area that are looking to pursue a career in network administration. They are a great school with a very nice campus and flexible programs. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | ARCC has a solid IT program. I would say the reputation in the community is above average, but there are better schools in the area. |
| Program Quality | 8 | ARCC was a great school to learn the basics of network administration: what to expect, common tasks. etc. Looking back, a couple of my instructors in particular were not very knowledgeable about some of the details, but my college education did play a big role in where I am today. |
| Instruction | 8 | The quality of the curriculum at ARCC was great. It borrowed a lot from the Cisco CCENT and CCNA coursework which has become a standard in today's industry. I learned a lot from school, but in the end nothing compares to real hands-on experience. |
| How Difficult | 4 | If you are knowledgeable with computers and technology in general, most of the coursework will be fairly simple. I would say the 2nd half of my college education required learning new skills and details that I wouldn't have been able to easily gain elsewhere. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Training for Network Administration in general is almost a 50/50 mix of hands-on work and book learning. My school offered a lot of labs and up-to-date books for the program. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | ARCC offers extremely flexible scheduling, and they also offer some coursework online. I did a majority of my courses on-campus but I was able to finish up my education while maintaining a full-time job, so it worked out well. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | ARCC is a tech savvy school overall, so the resources were above average. With that said, I would say they are still limited when compared to other schools with stronger IT programs. |
| Social Life | 3 | ARCC does not have an athletic program, mainly because it's a community college. They do have organized events but they are usually limited to other programs. |
| Placement Services | 4 | The job placement resources at my school were somewhat limited. My guess is this was primarily due to it being a community college, so there are a wide number of courses and degrees they have to support. |
| Alumni Network | 4 | Because ARCC is a community college, there really isn't an alumni dedicated to my field directly. The support in terms of finding a job after school, resources, etc. from ARCC we're also somewhat limited. |
Saint Cloud Technical College • Saint Cloud, MN
Studying Network Administration (completion in 2011)
• 8/9/2011
"The fact that they used Cisco for our online learning really bumped them up. Cisco offers the exams that mean the most in my field, so that was a definite plus."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I think anyone can make it work if they are determined to do well. They have the course content and if they don't mind doing most of it themselves, and possibly looking up things on the internet that they don't get from the coursework, they can do fine. I also think their are better places out there for the IT field. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | From what I have been told by my boss and by fellow employees, my school does alright. No one had anything particularly good or bad to say about it. If they were compared only to other technical schools, I think they would rate a little better, but I found it more difficult going up against others that had Bachelor's degrees. |
| Program Quality | 5 | It was not great. The core class instructors did very little for us students. I would say the only things I learned that apply to my career I taught myself from the books or online course content. |
| Instruction | 4 | Again, I only had one good instructor out of four for my core classes. Most of the instructors had very little structure to the classes. The ones that were employed in the field were employed a while ago, and did not have very relevant information. |
| How Difficult | 6 | I have taught myself most of what I know about the IT field, and I've also learned much on the job. This made the course quite a bit easier than it would have been otherwise. I passed many of the tests without studying. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | We did quite a bit of hands on training, but the problem was that it was not very relevant to the current field. I have learned much more on the job than I did at the school. That is not to say they didn't try - I just have not found it particularly useful in my career yet. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | This is where they do shine. Most classes have an online counterpart you can take if you have to. I have found most of the online classes enjoyable and well laid out. There is far more structure there. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Again, they score well here. The computers we worked with were more than powerful enough to handle running multiple virtual machines. We had access to routers and switches on a regular basis to work with in our routing class. The bookstore carried everything we needed as well. |
| Social Life | 9 | I did not personally participate in much. I was there to get my degree and get out. I know they did very well for a technical school considering they had multiple sports teams. The school did tend to foster an environment where you were working with others in your class and made friends easily. |
| Placement Services | 4 | It is hard to say, as I did not utilize this. I will say that we were required to get internships on our own. I gave them a 4 because they offered no assistance in finding one. We also had to work for the school itself, and were not given credit for the internships while we worked for them for free. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | I'll give an 8 for the Cisco portion of our class, not for Saint Cloud Technical College. Cisco's alumni is great. All course material was made available to me after I graduated from the class. The updated content was available as well. I have used it multiple times since I graduated. |
St. Olaf College • Northfield, MN
Studying English (completion in 2009)
• 9/3/2011
"It was a good experience, but it was also really expensive."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I was not in the computer science program, but I spent 4 years working in the IT department. The computer science department has a good reputation and there are plenty of chances for hands on experience. |
| Program Quality | 7 | The English major was actually a track in literature, not writing. So, I had to take as many writing electives as possible to tailor it to myself. |
| Instruction | 8 | I learned a great deal in college. I had professors who cared about me and went out of their way to help me learn. |
| How Difficult | 6 | I didn't have to do any kind of final project. It definitely wasn't tremendously rigorous. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I think this might just be the nature of my program, though. An English major is less hands on than, say, Biology. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | Decently flexible. Night, summer, and a wide range of times. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | I went to a small, private liberal arts college. As such, they took pride in being up to date on technology, had a thorough library, and had a 20:1 ratio which meant that one on one's with professors was the norm. |
| Social Life | 8 | I wish I'd taken more advantage of it. I love meeting people and there were tons of clubs, organizations, and events. |
| Placement Services | 7 | I really can't speak, as I never utilized them. However, I heard good things. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | I constantly get emails from them. They've supported initiatives to try and get jobs for new grads. |
University Of Minnesota Twin Cities • St. Paul, MN
Studying Computer Sciences (completion in 2007)
• 12/18/2011
"The U of Minn is a great school with many opportunities. It is large, but still has the spirit of a small school."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | The computer science program is still expanding. It is growing to be one of the best in the country. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | Many people from this program went on to high-paying jobs. People know that the U of Minnesota has a great science/comp science program. |
| Program Quality | 10 | Great program at the U. Learned everything I need to know and more for this job. |
| Instruction | 9 | My professors were great! Very nice, but could talk extensively once in a while. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The program demanded a lot of my time. However, it paid off in the end. |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Weekend and evening options were there, but it would be nice to see more online options, especially for a computer sciences class. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | Wilson Library was an incredible resource to me! The U also has many very up-to-date computer labs around campus. |
| Social Life | 8 | Participated in intramural soccer and cross country. Lots of parties off campus. School spirit is always evident. |
| Placement Services | I had an existing job. | |
| Alumni Network | 7 | Still greatly involved at the U! It's sometimes hard to get in touch with the alumni office, though. |
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