I went to wyotechs blairsville campus from 06-07.
When i first talked with the recruiter he told me how it was a great area with plenty to do and the towns people loved to wyotech students. He also mentioned how they had excellenct job placemtn oppertunities. Me living in connecticut, I myself could not visit the campus because of work. So my friend who ended up attending their diesel program visited and said it was ok.
As far as a great area, there is litterally no entertainment. There is only a few deallerships, fast food restaurantes, a super walmart, beer destributor, and sex shops. I am being completely honest when i say that is the only stuff there. Yes you are close to pittsburgh, but it is a 45 minute drive to get there and unless you save up money of take out extra student loans you would probably not have enough money to do much there. Now if you take out student loans for living expenses make sure the money goes directly to you. If you school controls your loans then you will recieve a MAXIMUM of 750 a month for all your living expense needs. That is it.
Next is the people. "the towns people love wyotech students", that could not be more of a lie. The towns people hate wyotech students, not exsactly the townspeoples fault. The students would go 80mph threw neighborhoods, or try and drift turns. I have even seen students having arranged fights in front of buisnesses over stupid disagreements. In fact you can look up old newspaper stories online about some of these students. One of the stories is of a wyotech student chasing down another in their car and after the car being chased flipped over at a nearby bridge that he was dragged out of his car. Then they tried to throw him over the bridge. Another story is of a student who was in my own class. He was at his appartment with some friends. Another student came by and tried to throw a brick at his nextdoor neighbors window. So we went and grabbed a gun and killed one of the students with the brick. These are only 2 stories. At the school i have never seen such a large collection of aragent, self centered, immature, and straight up stupid people in my life. If i could compare their attitudes to something, it would be prison inmates
Now to explain the wyotech staff. First off the career services is a complete waste of time and money. During your stay at wyotech they will force you to fill out this resume packet and they will actually hold a 2 hour class on how to do it correctly. Should you have knowledge on building a resume, yes. But they make you build your resume through this like cut and paste format of ideas that they want rather than you creating your own. As far as the career fairs, they are a complete waste of time. Unless you are a diesel student or want to be employed in the blairsville area. Which i assure you, you do not want to be. In reality, there is no job placement worth persuing through them. Career services also has this whole deal how you can call them any time to update your resume, but once you get through all the hassle of answering all their questions, submitting forms, editing. It is better to just do it your self. Now as far as anyone else handling paperwork, be prepared to have to resubmit forms because they are either lost or filed incorrectly. As far as instructors themselfs, I would say they are good. Just like in any school you will have thoughs teachers you disagree with, but as a whole they are pretty well knowledged individuals.
Now for their spending. Wyotech will cost you about 25k as was stated earlier. In my oppinion the curriculem is very good for theory, but they do not teach you any useful diagnosis skills you need in the field And diagnosis is about 90% of what you need to be a good mechanic. Is it worth 25k? I say no. i would price it somewhere around 15k. I am sure wyotech could manage to market it at 15k as long as they stop waisting large amounts of money on unneeded items. For instance, during the tranmission class they brought in an actual transmission that had cut away views on it. Which is a great hands on tool to see how it works but they payed 3 thousand dollars for this when the could have taken it out of one of the donated cars they are about to scrap and have a student cut open the view holes for credit hours. That is just 1 exsample. In total i would estimate about 50 or 60 of these hands on tools in the school. Many i would guess are a lot more expensive. Especially the fully running engines that are not in vehicles.
Now for life after wyotech. I left school and could only find 1 job in my area. The wyotech diplom did not amount to anything. Almost ever automotive place you go to could not really car about a diploma, the care about work experience. So after your hard work at school expect to recieve around 10 to 13 an hour. So currently i have 2 years work experience, my diploma, and i am an ASE Certified master mechanic. Yet I am still having a hard time finding a decent job. the highest pay i can find is about 16 an hour. Now this may be only my area. I dont know.
Recomendations: If you are seriously thinking about going into the automotive field i would suggest you to talk to local shops in your area and ask them what exsactly they are looking for in there mechanics and what would be their estimated pay range for a reacent graduate of a tech school. I would also look at how many job opportunities are in your desired area. I would highly suggest visiting the campus before you go to any school. I would also suggest sitting in on at least 1 class. Shop and normal class if you can. Get your living expense loans yourself and manage them yourself. You have to show a lot of responsibility with them and mangage them wisely! Never believe a think a recruiter says unless you see it personally. Always think about the future as well. As you heard earlier, another guy decided to get a degree and become a teacher. I myself am planning on going back to school. This career is very hard work and not very rewarded at all. If you do go into this career I would highly suggest a backup plan.
All this is written by an attendy of Wyotech Blairsville. I was one of the first eagle techs, a tutor, mentor, had outstanding attendence, and graduated at the top of my class with a 96 GPA. Currently an ASE Certified Master mechanic with 2 year work experience in an independent shop and soon to be in a dealership.