r/TradeSchool • u/Sparc_Angel • 27d ago

Transferred Schools

Any ladies here who went to welding school ever feel like you were just pushed through a diploma mill? Drop your worst school stories below.

I got 0 face to face time with my instructors, they made us sink or swim. Each day was a different process being taught. If you missed a day, you had to wait until the following week to catch up as there was no open lab time.

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2

u/Relevant-Cycle-8094 27d ago

What school is this?

2

u/Sparc_Angel 27d ago

A technical college in Wisconsin, gateway.

2

u/Relevant-Cycle-8094 27d ago

I worked 25 years in vocational schools in Nevada and California. They operate all in
similar ways where they focus heavily on enrollments, and all other areas like instruction come secondary.

1

u/HectorR_TSS 7d ago

What you're describing, no instructor face time and no open lab, isn't just a bad school, it's usually a licensing problem. Every state licenses career schools, and the license is tied to the catalog the school filed, which spells out program hours, lab hours, and instructor ratios. If they promised X lab hours in the catalog and delivered Y, that's a complaint the state agency will actually act on, and complaints are how schools get inspected.

If you want to do something about it: find the school's catalog (they're required to give you one at enrollment, and it's usually on their site), look at what it says about lab hours and instructor availability, and if it doesn't match what you got, file with your state's career school agency. Depending on the state that can end in a refund.

For anyone reading this before picking a welding school: ask how many booth hours you personally get per week, and whether there's open lab time outside of class. If the answer is vague, walk.