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 Tri-C, Franklin, National College-Youngstown, and Lorain County 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 Davis, Urbana University, Chancellor University, and Kent State.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Ursuline College, Davis, Stautzenberger College, and National College-Youngstown.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Chancellor University, Cleveland Institute of Electronics, The University of Findlay, and Davis.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Franklin, Ursuline College, Ashland University, and Marion Tech.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Cleveland Institute of Electronics, Cedarville University, Case Western Reserve, and Xavier University.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Bluffton, Cedarville University, Hiram, and Marietta.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Case Western Reserve, Ohio State, Cedarville University, and Miami University-Oxford.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Notre Dame College.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Case Western Reserve, Marietta, Cedarville University, and Hiram.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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ITT Tech • Columbus, OH
Studying Systems Administration (completion in 2003)
• 6/29/2011
"I would never recommend it. It was a horrible waste of time and money."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | Find a better school. This is not for you. |
| Program Reputation | 1 | I constantly get made fun of by my co-workers. It is not seen as reputable in any way. |
| Program Quality | 7 | ITT is the worst institution. The teachers are very bad and don't understand their students' needs. |
| Instruction | 5 | I felt completely prepared. But it was just mediocre. |
| How Difficult | 2 | ITT Tech is simply not challenging. The workload is manageable for a toddler. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It was mostly book based. There is a decent amount of computer learning, though. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | They are very flexible. There are a lot of openings throughout the night and day. |
| Academic Facilities | 1 | There are very few staff supported groups. Students have to do everything on their own. |
| Social Life | 6 | There is nothing spirited about it. People come and go. |
| Placement Services | 3 | I got a job, but it was terrible. I had to use my own connections to get the job I am in today. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | It doesn't exist. |
Ohio State University • Columbus, OH
Studying Computer Information Systems (completion in 2007)
• 7/1/2011
"For reasons I have mentioned above, this school excelled in many different ways for this program. A main problem was the lack of networking and alumni support."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | This school is good for this field, and I see no reason not to recommend it. It is a very popular field and can help someone get a degree to have a job in networking. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | OSU is a good school in general for a lot of fields. I do not know if it's the most reputable in this field, though. |
| Program Quality | 8 | OSU is very advanced in the technical field. They have thousands of computers and a quality, knowledgeable faculty. |
| Instruction | 7 | I thought it was very relevant. Without their knowledge and the way their program was set up, people would not succeed there. They teach the most advanced techniques when it comes to networking. |
| How Difficult | 8 | It was very difficult with a lot of work. This was to be expected and there was a lot of hands-on work that took time. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | What was nice about this program is that it was split right down the middle. You want to have a perfect balance between each. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | There were a lot of different options available. There were options for any time and any place, online or on campus. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | The facilities and labs are perhaps the best part about this. Very advanced resources and very plentiful resources made this major a good one at the school. |
| Social Life | 7 | There was a lot of lab time and we got a lot of social interaction. Social interaction is the one thing that can be forgotten about in school programs, but it was not lacking here. |
| Placement Services | 6 | It is a great program for teaching and preparing you. However, job placement and network help was not that abundant. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | There was a small lack of alumni help. This was a minor weakness of the program, but still the program was worth it. |
Cuyahoga Community College • Cleveland, OH
Studying Cisco CCNA, Cisco Advance Switching And Routing (completion in 2009)
• 8/13/2011
"The teacher was not prepared and taught the same material in two separate classes. I learned a few things from the books supplied."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | Find a school that focuses more on current technologies and work related atmospheres. Book learning will not give you a good grasp of the material - you need hands on, up to date training. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | They have a great reputation in the community. There is little competition, so their classes are in high demand. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The program was bland and lacked new technology and devices used in the real world. It's hard to apply basic and old configurations to new present day production scenarios. |
| Instruction | 4 | The class had very little instruction. A teacher would use a slide screen, then hand out a work sheet. It was very poorly prepared. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The difficulty of the course was above average. Cisco configuration and other concepts are not easy. The explanation of the theory and subnetting was sub par. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The first half of every class was slide show book learning. The second half was hands on labs. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 2 | Classes were at night, and only on designated days. There were no other options. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | Equipment was old and outdated. Some equipment was broken, and the same from when I was there 2 years prior :( . |
| Social Life | 2 | No such social events. Come to class and go home. |
| Placement Services | 2 | The school never offered job placement. There was no assistance or mention of it. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I had the same teacher for two separate classes. He taught the same material for both, a real disappointment as I needed to know other information for my job. |
Clark State Community Collage • Springfield, OH
Studying Network Administration, Network Infrastructure (completion in 2005)
• 9/3/2011
"I felt well prepared for a network admin job and I liked the professors."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | It provides a good education for the price. I had attended ITT Tech before Clark State and I felt like ITT Tech was a ripoff. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | It is a smaller community college. It helped to get other certifications. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The course material went along with the certifications needed: ex: A+, Cisco. Small classes were a plus. |
| Instruction | 9 | Teachers were well prepared and offered individual attention. The material was up to date and in-depth. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The work load was not overbearing. I have been using computers for most of my life, so it was fairly easy. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Good amount of hands on with computers and network devices. Books went along with certifications. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | They offered a wide range of class dates and times. They also have online and hybrid classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | They have a fairly new technology department. The library and support systems were helpful. |
| Social Life | 4 | It's a small college, so there's not much in the way of athletics. I did not go to parties or social events. |
| Placement Services | 7 | I did not use the career services very much, but they seemed ready to help. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | They offer job placement. I haven't used any alumni network. |
Cedarville University • Cedarville, OH
Studying Management Information Systems (completion in 2010)
• 9/6/2011
"I was very satisfied with Cedarville, both as a place to learn, and as a place to live for the span of my time there. Cedarville is an excellent school and I would gladly recommend it to others."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | As stated above, I would eagerly recommend Cedarville University to anyone who is seeking my career field. The staff and equipment is top-notch, the people are great, and the learning experience is excellent. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | Cedarville is a lesser known school once one gets outside of the general area that it is located in. In addition, it is mostly known for engineering and nursing. However, the business program, of which MIS is a subsidiary, is highly regarded where it is known. |
| Program Quality | 9 | My major, although it doesn't directly apply to Network Administration, was excellent. The greatest focus was on practical, hands-on learning that allowed us to gain actual experience in our field. |
| Instruction | 10 | My professors were excellent. They were highly knowledgeable in both the subject matter presented in class, as well as in related fields. Additionally, they were always available to call upon for help should a student need it. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The sheer variety of tasks that can go into working in network systems means that there is a tremendous amount to learn. However, most of the concepts build upon each other, and once you start getting pieces of the system figured out, the rest starts to become logical and simple enough to work through. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | While we were required to work through the book to get the basics down, once we had them, we quickly progressed into hands-on learning. In any technologically centered career field, this is critically important, as one can only truly learn about the technology by working with it. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | As the MIS program is rather small at Cedarville, the class offerings are limited. General Education classes were highly flexible, however, so one only had to worry about filling in the core classes of the major within their designated time slots. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Cedarville is excellently equipped to support programmers and other technically centered majors. They have excellent systems and run the very latest technology. |
| Social Life | 7 | Cedarville has a lot going on all the time, from sporting events to movie nights and other events as organized by the student council. However, I tended to work pretty much every day, so I didn't truly experience much of what the school offered. |
| Placement Services | 5 | Cedarville has a fairly large network of contacts and a very helpful career services team. However, I never truly found the need to avail myself of their services, and therefore didn't use them. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | Cedarville supposedly has a very expansive and potent alumni support network. However, I have never made use of it, and so I cannot offer a clear opinion on its quality. |
DeVry University • Columbus, OH
Studying Business Information Systems (completion in 2012)
• 12/24/2011
"I am receiving my degree and have already found a wonderful job doing something I enjoy. That is all I asked for from the university, and they delivered, true to their promise."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I would recommend DeVry to others. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | I have met many employers who have stated that the degree plan I followed is a challenging yet effective one for the evolving workforce. Within my current position, I use the business and analytical aspect of the education much more than the technical skills. |
| Program Quality | 7 | DeVry is a good school with a decent reputation, but some of the more advanced courses could've included more hands-on work for the advanced development networking. There was too much emphasis placed on the books for a skill that requires experience and repetition. |
| Instruction | 6 | The skills that were needed for advanced network difficulties were not carried through in the hands-on aspects of the courses, particularly the advanced courses. I did enjoy the expanse of courses that I was required to take, though, particularly the coding courses that I never would've thought were relevant. |
| How Difficult | 4 | As I took my courses online, most of the work was done at my own pace, but the coursework seemed simplified for online students, compared to when I would take the coursework in class. Also, some of the material, while dated correctly, didn't seem as challenging as I would've expected for the level of course. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | While there was a lot of hands-on learning, it was mixed. The mix was due to the fact that the higher-end elements were not necessarily covered in the hands-on portion of the courses. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | I took the majority of my sophomore-senior courses online. However, while I was on campus, their flexibility was incredible, as I continually attempted to only have to go to class for three days a week and accomplished it. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | Many of the resources are online now, and as it's a technical school, this seems to fit the reputation quite well. The online library of reference books was essential. |
| Social Life | 2 | There is almost no school spirit, as it was a technical school. The only thing that stops this rating from being a 1 was the small social interaction that I received while on campus. |
| Placement Services | 10 | I have had several employers contact me directly, simply because I was graduating from the school and they knew that. Their feedback alone was enough to rate this. |
| Alumni Network | 3 | This is difficult to rate, as there really is no alumni support structure. Many of the graduates that I've found don't stay involved with the school, as there aren't boosters, sports, or anything else to force alumni to congregate. |
Cuyahoga Community College • Cleveland, OH
Studying Cisco Training Academies (completion in 2007)
• 1/9/2012
"After the program I was able to get a job and that to is very rewarding. I am also considering going back for another certification and possibly a degree on the hardware end."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I have already recommended several people and helped them enroll but some found the program a bit challenging, as a solid foundation is necessary for most people. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | This school is ranked highly among most professions in the programs they offer. Employers are in tune with the programs and are ready to higher grad or students with certificates in the field of choice. |
| Program Quality | 10 | When I applied for my job I was confident I would get the job based on my training at Tri-C. The person who interviewed me was aware of the career track and was confident enough to hire me after a brief exam. |
| Instruction | 10 | It was the real world experience that the instructors bring to the classroom. Break-fix exercises are applied and this is a must when going out into the real world to work because everything does not work perfectly every time. Servers go down and software need to be updated. New releases are out and users make errors and change profiles so a lot of good instruction is needed. |
| How Difficult | 9 | If you do not have any knowledge before coming into the this career it can be difficult because things like protocols are introduced. Cables and tx/rx are introduced the osi model is introduced. Operating system fundamentals are really the foundation and unfamiliarity can bring about a challenge |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The class provided an hour and a half of instruction then two hours of hands-on. This keeps the class interesting and all questions can be addressed. I am a hands on-person so it works for me. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 2 | At the time I enrolled, classes were only offered in the evening. So I have no choice: it was weekends from 6 to 10. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | All the resources we need were provided in the classroom. Instructors were also available after class and so was the equipment. |
| Social Life | 2 | There's no entertainment in the evening classes. Just strictly class sessions. |
| Placement Services | I really did not have to use them. I was very marketable on my own after the certification. | |
| Alumni Network | 10 | I can still call my instructor if I have problem at work and he will respond at his convenience but he is always prompt and available via email or voicemail. |
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