Pittsburgh Technical Institute

Pittsburgh Technical Institute located in Oakdale, PA is claimed to be a technical school that you build a career, explore new opportunities, and move closer to a successful, independent future. But in reality, it is not that at all. I attended PTI in October 2000 to July 2002 under the major of multimedia technologies/graphic design. I was awarded with financial aid to help me obtain my goals, however, the experience I had was unacceptable. Eighty percent of the teachers did not teach. They gave you hand-outs and sat you in front a computer and told you what to do. If you had a question they basically scheduled you to a tutoring session at some point in the week, and then cancelled or never showed up for the session. An Audio/Video class that I had attended was one in the same; however I did have previous experience in the audio/video field and would spend a lot of my free time in the audio/visual room at PTI. My instructor was only a few years older then I fresh out of high school, my grades were A’s and B’s, but when my instructor saw the additional work I was doing just to create my own portfolio, my grades fell. I completed assignments on time, and to the desired criteria, but still my grades were suffering. I had taken this issue to one of the higher ups at the school and the matter was pretty much tossed in a corner and not attended to.

After my first year, I started dealing with a lot of personal issues and was advised to meet with one of PTI’s counselors from an organization called Outreach. I signed papers and was told that all information discussed with the counselor was to be confidential and shared with no one. After several visits with Outreach, and no progress at all, my parents had called the school regarding the fall in my grades, my mother had spoken to the counselor and was told everything that was supposed to be confidential.

Also, PTI promises placement in your field after graduationâÂ?¦not true. Two of my friends graduated in the graphic design and computer systems field and got placed at Wendy’s and Wal-Mart as cashiers. Half of my starting class transferred to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and another 25% withdrew altogether, including me.

With $20,000 in student loans and 2 years of my life gone, Pittsburgh Technical Institute is a very bad choice. Don’t fall for the lies and don’t spend 2 years of your life learning nothing and spending your hard earned money, or your parents, or put yourself into debt like I did. If this school is on your list of places to go, do yourself a favor and pick another school, or buy the books and teach yourself the material or have a friend who may be in the same field teach you or help you along like I did. There are a lot of great schools out thereâÂ?¦do some research. You’ll thank yourself when you’re in your perfect career years down the road.