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 Cascadia, Bellevue College, Seattle Central, and Spokane Falls 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 Eastern Washington University, University of Washington Seattle, and Washington State University.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Bates, Highline Community College, South Seattle Community College, and Renton Technical College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Clover Park Technical College, City University of Seattle, Peninsula College, and Spokane Falls Community College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of University of Puget Sound, Seattle Pacific University, City University of Seattle, and University of Washington Seattle.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of University of Puget Sound, Seattle Pacific University, Western Washington University, and Washington State University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at University of Puget Sound, University of Washington Seattle, Seattle Pacific University, and Western Washington University.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at University of Puget Sound, Seattle Pacific University, Washington State University, and Northwest Indian College.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Whatcom Community College • Bellingham, WA
Studying Associate In Science Transfer Degree & Computer Information Systems /W Network Security (completion in 2007)
• 6/26/2011
"I was very satisfied. It ultimately did assist me in getting a job in the very field I had gone to school for. I have also gone back to the school to talk to the incoming students to tell them how to 'prepare' and what to anticipate. I suppose I'm something of a poster-child."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I had a good experience at the school. It's a friendly environment and the training compared to other people's prices makes it a non-contest in which school to attend while living in Bellingham. However, it's only a two year degree program. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | I personally think it rivals the local university. The material and quality is better. And it doesn't cost nearly as much if you attempted the same degree though through that university's Computer Science degree program. |
| Program Quality | 8 | I'm not a fan of the Computer Science Degree Program--I don't care much for the programming aspect of it. Though the Computer Information Systems degree was much more specific in it's training--more like a career school instead of something focused on theory. There was plenty of hands on work and a few individuals utilized the class as a supplement to prepare them for a Cisco certification. |
| Instruction | 8 | As I already knew, and had told my fellow students, college and university can only prepare you so much in this career field. You can get a decent foundation, but real 'education' is on the job training. |
| How Difficult | 8 | There was lots of hands on learning in lab environments. There were also plenty of scenarios that forced individuals to work as a team. This is very handy since many jobs out in the IT world are departmentalized. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | For the program, about 50/50. For my personal preference, I enjoyed the mix of lecture that was fortified with hands on learning. Our instructor did try to give us as much hands on as possible. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | The school seems to cater more to 'Running Start' students--those that are still in high school. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of night or weekend classes to cater to the 'working class.' Many teachers just wanted their Monday through Friday classes that didn't begin before 8AM or go past 5PM. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | There was plenty of open lab time for us students within the CIS program. Libraries were decent, but did not have extensive knowledge in computer literature. The computer internet labs were a good alternative to look up literature and what not. The professor was very knowledgeable in her field and had a good open door policy. |
| Social Life | 7 | It was so-so. They are actually a little weak in sports. They only had 3 teams -- volleyball, soccer, and basketball -- neither of which I was ever interested in. They do have plenty of student clubs. They also had a few parties and campus celebrations that we could go to if we wanted. |
| Placement Services | 6 | The assistance was there. Some businesses do look for new 'recruits' from there. Though with todays job market, not so much at the moment. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | To be honest, if our school had one, I never took advantage of it. I'm not sure if the college has an alumni program like our neighboring university does. |
Spokane Community College • Spokane, WA
Studying Network Design And Administration (completion in 2010)
• 7/19/2011
"I liked it and would attend it again, but it could have been better."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | There are not a lot of choices in this area for schools for my career field, especially among 2 year programs. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | It has an average reputation as far as I know. |
| Program Quality | 9 | There could have been better help with job placement, or rather any help, and some of the instructors could have been more knowledgeable. |
| Instruction | 7 | Some of the instructors had lost their passion for the industry and for their jobs, and it showed. |
| How Difficult | 10 | It really depended upon the course; some were very difficult and some just time consuming. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There was a lot of reading and testing, but there was definitely quite a lot of lab work. I spoke to people at other schools that had no hands-on work. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | Since you as the student choose your classes, it seemed pretty flexible. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | We usually had pretty good hardware that was fairly up to date. The RAM could have been higher in the lab computers. |
| Social Life | 8 | I really did not participate in most of these programs, but they were always advertising something. |
| Placement Services | 2 | There really is no help with job placement. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | They need to work on help with career placement. |
Wenatchee Valley College • Wenatchee, WA
Studying Arts & Sciences (completion in 1991)
• 9/19/2011
"I felt the school was a good value and provided me with a degree that allowed me to go further. I believe it's a great place to receive an education after high school."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | I do not feel a junior college offers the high level of technology that a four year university could offer. I believe those degrees are not looked upon as highly as others. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | To obtain a two year degree this school is well-suited. It is cost effective and a good source of general education classes. |
| Program Quality | 5 | My school was a junior college where I received my two year Associate's degree. At the time, there was not a program geared towards the technology field and therefore I could not focus my learning program. |
| Instruction | 7 | The instruction was good for the most part, however the classes were general AA classes. I learned more outside of class as it pertained to my interests. |
| How Difficult | 5 | I feel that academically I was a strong student and therefore the challenge was not overwhelming but appropriate for that time of my life. I would consider the work load appropriate for the classes I was taking. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I took some science classes that were hands-on. I also took classes that were lecture-based where it was mainly book learning. I feel the mix was appropriate. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | This school offers classes at many different times, places and also online. Their flexibility has improved throughout the years. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | At the time I attended I felt the facilities were lacking a bit. As I've seen over the past few years I believe they have improved their computer labs, advisor programs and accessibility. |
| Social Life | 5 | I was working outside of school while I was attending and therefore I did not participate in a lot of the school activities. I did see they were available though. |
| Placement Services | 5 | I cannot speak to their job placement or career services as I did not utilize them. I was able to get a job after graduating but did so on my own. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I do not hear or see anything about alumni opportunities. I do not know if the school has an alumni network. |
Edmonds Community College • Edmonds, WA
Studying Network Technology And Security (completion in 2011)
• 11/5/2011
"I was hoping for a better experience and education. This left a lot to desire and large gaps in my learning. Not to mention the financial aid department takes months to process any information they receive, and even longer to process checks."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I am about 50/50 on this because I did learn a lot, I am just left with a strong desire to learn more. I am left wondering if my opinion would be different if I chose a different path and different classes. I would tell whoever is interested the good things and the bad. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | I know the graduation rate is high. But I also know there are a lot of areas they could improve in to make that graduation rate higher. |
| Program Quality | 6 | They should have taught beginning to end. They had courses that were fast track and those were the only ones they offered. This left huge gaps in my learning and left me unprepared for all I would be in store for. |
| Instruction | 8 | The teachers were knowledgeable but didn't have time to answer questions and had high expectations of knowledge outside the classroom. A lot of us had no experience in Networking but the teachers expected us to know as much as someone who had been working in the field for a few years. |
| How Difficult | 9 | This field is complicated and there are a lot of variables. The workload is extensive and there is little to no lab time. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most of the classes are book learning, or strictly online learning. But others were very hands on with labs. I think I would have benefited more from more hands on vs. book learning. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | There were some classes that were online or hybrid and those were pretty flexible. There were others that were not at all which lengthened my education by a couple quarters because I was unable to take them when I wanted. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The academic facilities and resources are actually pretty good. Not exactly state of the art, but good enough. The academic advisors are helpful and knowledgeable. Classroom space is pretty large. There is low availability for tutors in this field, but high in others. You can email your professors at anytime which is helpful. |
| Social Life | 5 | Social experiences were provided but I did not participate. I have a family and work so I had no time to participate. |
| Placement Services | 1 | They help you write a resume, then give you a list of places that you could try to get hired at. |
| Alumni Network | I have no knowledge of the alumni network or support. The amount of different classes left little time to get to know people for alumni networking. |
Wenatchee Valley Community College • Wenatchee, WA
Studying Information Systems (completion in )
• 10/28/2011
"It was a good, inexpensive way to start college out. It was only a starting place, so it didn't really prepare me for anything."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I wouldn't recommend the school for any specialized classes. I would recommend it as an inexpensive way to get the basics out of the way. |
| Program Reputation | 2 | It is a community college in a mostly agricultural area. Computers and networking teachers are hard to find. |
| Program Quality | 5 | School is slow, and teaches old material. I feel that I was lucky to jump right in under a great mentor, and so on the job training was better than college. |
| Instruction | 8 | School provided poor quality of instruction. My mentor was great at helping me with my career plan. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Computers and networking concepts come naturally to me. The coursework was pretty simple. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | There were very few classes that taught more than theory. Hands-on training was only available when absolutely needed. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | They were pretty flexible with the schedule. Night classes and summer offerings were available. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | Although their libraries, tutors, and accessibility of professors were limited, the internet was always able to help me out as I needed it. Once again, though, it was a community college. |
| Social Life | 5 | I am an IT geek, so there wasn't much socializing for me. I spent most of my time during school working on side projects. |
| Placement Services | 2 | They helped provide an education, but had no job placement. They need to focus on bringing employers in for job fairs. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | We don't keep in touch much. LinkedIn has been better for keeping in touch with school mates. |
Pierce College • Puyallup, WA
Studying Computer / Network Engineering (completion in 2010)
• 2/10/2012
"I couldn't have asked for a better program to teach me what I use now. It was just like working."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | If you want to know what administrating networks is about, you don't read books. You go learn from real admins, and you build your own networks. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | This was the highest recommended program in the area, because the others were based around teaching people to code, not how to make them IT gurus. I found the "geeks only" style of instruction very refreshing, as we didn't waste time on review and re-teaching things. It was assumed that you got it once you'd done it correctly. |
| Program Quality | 10 | My teachers were very committed, and they provided great feedback and had a huge base of knowledge to draw from. The classes were interesting and the work was almost exactly like what I've been doing since. |
| Instruction | 10 | My teachers were both IT admins (one former, one current) and would speak from their experiences, rather than a book written by technical writers. Having someone who uses a Windows enterprise environment is always better than someone who's studied one in detail. |
| How Difficult | 7 | We were judged on proficiency on a largely pass/fail basis. Those who couldn't do the labs couldn't pass the tests, so it was very competitive. I loved it! |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | We barely used the book. I was administrating virtualized corporate networks. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | Great for those amongst us that sleep until the mid-afternoon. The classes were offered on a rotating schedule basis, and you had to take two whole years of non-overlapping classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | I brought my own laptop, since it was more efficient for me to just have a computer that I took with me. I never wanted for a plug or a network cable. |
| Social Life | I wouldn't know. I don't like people that much. | |
| Placement Services | I wouldn't know. I didn't use it. | |
| Alumni Network | I wouldn't know. I never used it. I was pretty mercenary about the whole ordeal and didn't make many friends. |
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