Art Institute of California-San Diego Educational Management Corportation false admissions claims, bad practices, horrible outcomes San Diego, California

The Art Institute makes a lot of claims as to the quality of the education that you will receive, the invaluable job placement, and the quality of its facilities.The very fact that this school is listed as a for profit college should have been a red flag for me from the beginning.Let me just start off by saying that I am a teacher.&nbspIm not just a disgruntled unwed mother or a sniveling pot head who feels that the world should be handed to him on a silver platter.I have been working in the industry that I intended to major in for eleven years. My goal was to obtain a degree to so that I could get paid more and learn from the instructors vast years of experience.I expected to keep a low profile, keep my head down and learn everything that I could in the three years that I would be attending. Unfortunately, the Art Institute has probably just done more harm to my career than if I had just stayed away from it.

I do have to say that almost all of my instructors were, indeed, very good technicians and teachers. This is the one claim that AI delivered on. As someone who has a background in the field, I cannot say that my instructors were to blame for my frustrations. On the other hand, I believe that the instructors ability to teach is hindered by the corporation that they work for. You see, all of the Art Institutes operate under the same curriculum that has been packaged by somebody at corporate with the help of some over paid consultants, and the teachers really do not have the opportunity to teach to their fullest because of this. A college should be a place where knowledge is shared, enhanced, and nurtured. This particular college, in my opinion, is not a college at all. It is an assembly line of mediocre graduates who realize all too late that the industry either is not for them, or get out into the workforce to discover that the skills they acquired will not help them as much as their AI admissions rep claimed.

The very fact that AI calls these people Admissions reps confounds me. Why would you need an admissions rep for a school that accepts 99% of its applicants? No, these are a breed of salesman with more cunning and less scruples than a used car salesman. When I signed up for the Art Institute, I did a little research, I talked to some friends that attended, and I didnt really care about the cost because my employer was footing the bill. I told my admissions rep that I knew the program that I wanted to apply for and I was ready to submit all the necessary paperwork. This is where I received my second red flag. She launched into this obviously rehearsed and almost mechanical sounding tagline for the school. She drug me around the campus on a tour and fed me information that I, as a teacher and someone who works in my field, knew had to be either willful falsifications or complete ignorance of reality. She was very nice though J I gave her the benefit of the doubt and figured that she didnt really get out of the office much, or she was probably new.

A school should foster learning and provide students with educational opportunities, clean facilities, and access to the information contained within its walls. That is why I no longer consider this a school. Unlike many of the other similar trade schools, AI offers little or no opportunity to extend learning or get involved in educational activates. That is, unless you are a female who shows some interest in the male instructors. I know that this is a strong accusation, and I wouldnt be making it if I hadnt seen it happen on a number of occasions me. The school claims to have state of the art labs and resources to assist in the learning process. As I am typing this report in the school library, I am being swarmed by ants. The labs do not contain enough equipment, and I have seen, on a number of occasions, teachers giving away school property to students that they have good relationships with. Im not usually one to tell someone how to do their job, but when we dont even have the necessary supplies for each student to participate in a lab assignment, why would you give that scarce commodity away so that I student can take it home and not have to pay for it?

A great education and the latest technology await you at the Art Institute.&nbspIf you never stepped outside the walls of this institution, you would probably believe this horse squeeze. Naturally, the majority of the students that go here have not had the opportunity to see what goes on in the industry, and it is unfortunate that this corporate giant is exploiting and misleading them. I dont have to worry about paying for my education, but the people who do have to pay close to $100,000 for a bachelors degree are going to be varying upset if they decide to further their education or decide to change careers. Some of them will be even more upset when they are told by some employers that their AI degree is not worth the paper that it is printed on. In the majority of cases, the courses that you attend at AI will not transfer to any other college. In fact, you will have a hard time transferring to another AI campus if you have to move for any reason.If you want to go for a Masters degreeforget about it. Unless you want to go to another diploma mill, but it is my professional opinion that you will be compounding your problems if you do that.

I just want to end this by saying that I am not completely disgruntled. I did learn a great deal from the instructors here, but if I actually had to pay for my own education, I would definitely look at other options first. For most of the fields of study, you will probably not earn enough in your first ten years to cover the cost of your loans and survive.Dont even think about it if you are trying to raise a family. I know too many people that find themselves in a catch 22 after a couple of quarters here because they dont like it, but they already have over $16,000 invested and they cannot transfer a single to credit to another institution.

Buyer beware.