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 Western Governors University, Utah Valley State, Salt Lake Community College, and Brigham Young.
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 University of Utah, Utah State, Southern Utah University, and Westminster College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Westminster College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Western Governors University, Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints Business College, and Westminster College.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of College of Eastern Utah, Westminster College, Utah State, and University of Utah.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Brigham Young, Westminster College, and University of Utah.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Western Governors University.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Utah State, Westminster College, College of Eastern Utah, and University of Utah.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Utah Valley University • Orem, UT
Studying Information Technology (completion in 2010)
• 6/27/2011
"I liked UVU much more than BYU. Professors were much less restrictive, yet were still highly motivated."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I felt that they didn't offer a lot of emphasis for network administration. However, for a general IT degree I would recommend it. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Since this school so recently attained University status, the quality reputation is somewhat up in the air. It reached university status in 2009 I believe. |
| Program Quality | 6 | I would estimate that 85% of the skills required were not taught in the classroom, but learned on the job site. The education merely got me hired (which is important of course), but did not fully prepare me for the job. |
| Instruction | 5 | The most useful course I took was Linux Systems Administration. All jobs I applied for were administrating Linux systems. |
| How Difficult | 6 | I felt that the benefit vs the difficulty was adequate. I was still able to work part time while taking 12 credits. I just feel that some of the program wasn't relevant. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I found that this school advertised its classes being more hands on. However, I found that it seemed to be about average. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | MUCH better than my previous university (Brigham Young University). However, more classes offered in the summer would have been extremely helpful. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | No problems here. The facility was new, computers were adequately powered. It also had a Mac lab. |
| Social Life | 8 | Although I did not take part, the opportunities were abundant. I would expect it to be even more so if I lived on campus. |
| Placement Services | 4 | I did not get any assistance in finding a job after graduation. There were, however, a number of internships that were offered which I declined because of a lack of relevance to network administration. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I really don't take part in the alumni network so I don't feel qualified to answer this question. |
Western Governors University • Salt Lake City, UT
Studying Information Technology (completion in 2013)
• 10/4/2011
"There isn't much I would complain about. However, I did have to retake a couple of classes because they changed the program after I took a 1 year hiatus."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I think WGU is still one of the best options for completing a degree while working full time. It works well for me so I would imagine it could work well for other like-minded people. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Honestly, almost no one has ever heard of WGU. Then there's is the stigma associated with online schools. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I am actually quite pleased with WGU. They have made it easy for me to continue working on my degree while being employed full time. |
| Instruction | 8 | The instruction works great for me at my school since it is as much or as little as I need. Many students may need more structure than what works well for me, though. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The program is very challenging. That said, I think there may be certain things that are harder in more traditional schools. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | It is well balanced. If you already know all the material, you can go ahead and schedule and take your final exam pretty much right away. If not, you have to dive into the material. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | Everything at WGU is custom tailored to the individual. I decide everything. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | There are vast online resources and plenty of access to people. There really are no physical facilities available to me. |
| Social Life | 2 | The social experience is limited to phone calls and message boards. This is a bit lacking in any online college, though. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I am aware that they offer these types of services to some extent but have not had occasion to take advantage of them. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | WGU provides a great support system. They assign each student a "mentor" which works sort of like a traditional advisor except that they stay in constant contact with you to monitor your progress and help you set goals. |
Western Governors University • Salt Lake City, UT
Studying Information Technology—Networks Administration (completion in 2013)
• 11/3/2011
"It is very cheap. The work at your own pace thing has been great for me due to long work hours."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It depends entirely on their schedule. If they want to work full time during their schooling then this is a perfect place to attend. If you don't plan on working I would instead suggest a more traditional bricks & mortar school. |
| Program Reputation | 4 | The school is still considered below average for being online only. Some articles in big time magazines have started to sway public opinion. |
| Program Quality | 7 | Working at my leisure using the online course has been very beneficial. Working long hours requires a flexible college schedule. It's also quite nice that I get to learn at my own pace. |
| Instruction | 5 | Several of the courses are security oriented which has been incredibly helpful. I am rating this only average because a lot of the courses deal with using Windows when a majority of the servers I have dealt with in the real world use Linux. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Several times I have felt that I was over my head. In the end it's nice to expand my horizons, but spending 4 hours to determine why Apache wont restart can be overwhelming, especially when under time constraints. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There are very few reading assignments. Most of the assignments deal with debugging code and simulating real life security concern situations. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 1 | It's all online. You work at your own pace. It doesn't get much more flexible than that. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | Everyone I have worked with has been incredibly attentive. Most emails to instructors are answered in hours. |
| Social Life | 1 | This is not the program to take if you're interested in socializing. Most of the other people in my classes don't really use the message boards for anything other than work. |
| Placement Services | 7 | While I haven't had any experience with this personally, several friends of mine were immediately snagged up by tech companies that used Microsoft technologies. |
| Alumni Network | I can't really comment on this as I haven't had much contact with the school's alumni. Some of the people assigned to work with you are alumni, and they have been helpful. |
Weber State University • Ogden, UT
Studying Network Security (completion in 2011)
• 3/13/2012
"I feel that I could have done much better by just taking training programs."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | If it's all about a paper diploma, then I would say that it was worth while. For someone who wanted to learn, I would say pass on this school |
| Program Reputation | 9 | Oddly enough, most companies around Utah think the program is very good. |
| Program Quality | 1 | I feel like the experience I had before school was far more valuable than the education I received. I also feel teachers where too lenient with students who where not keeping up and that would drag the rest of the class back. |
| Instruction | 3 | Other than two good classes, I feel that nothing I learned applied to my field. |
| How Difficult | 1 | There was nothing too challenging about classes. I think most high school students with some computer experience would pass very easily. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The program was mostly book related. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | There are quite a few online, weekend and evening classes. My one issue would be that you have to follow their schedule or you may have to wait a few semesters to finish. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | There are a few nice labs, and they are now redoing the computer science building. |
| Social Life | 1 | As an older working student, I did not socialize too much. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I have never used the school's job placement programs. |
| Alumni Network | I am not involved in any alumni programs. |
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