Porter And Chester Institute
Reviews and Complaints
Worse Teaching Method, poor hands on training
I signed up for Computer and Network technology. It was the worse experience in my life.
Everything was a theater. Professor would pretend he was teaching and students would pretend they were learning. Except for some students that had some previous knoledge, the rest of us were digging into the books for information to be able to past the examans. The professor was never happy to answer any question or help studens.
He was there just to read the slideshow and to give us copies of documents that he would find on google.
I left the institute within the 6 months after signing up. Now I am paying loans and trying to enroll in a real college.
Sucks
Before my daughter even attended Porter and Chester they never returned phone calls. She went to the dental assistant program loved her teachers they were awesome graduated and now she's working in the dental field and has to take more classes because the classes that she took when she was there aren't accredited so it was a big waste of time and money. The school is a joke don't waste your time or money going there
WORST 'SCHOOL' EVER!!!
I enrolled in the Administrative Health Specialist program at Porter & Chester in Watertown, CT in October of 2012 under the impression that on completion of the program I could sit for the Certified Professional Coder exam amongst others. This turned out to be 100% false which apparently was due to the fact that the program did not offer an externship.
I got a job in the field while I was still in the program, however I quickly learned that all of the skills needed for the job that the program 'taught' me, were being taught on the job to every other employee in my position with the company. Not only was the certificate not even a leg up in the field, the nine month program cost $18,000 for which I took out multiple loans including one through their own in house company called Institutional Student Finance Corporation with a 12.99% interest rate!
I am currently out of work due to having a disabled child and they refuse to even help me out and are now sending me to collections to further damage my credit score. That place is a scam!!!!
Preferred solution: Price reduction
Woburn campus former student: Don't come here!
I just got my job 2 weeks ago from a tech company located in Portsmouth, NH. I started the CNT program in 2016 and left in december 2016.
I would not recommend anyone go to any of the campuses. It doesn't stimulate you in any way. I can tell the IT technical classes were shoe horned in. They include the comptia vouchers in your tuition and the books of course..
But they get you the cheapest of the laptops its a rip off. I went to Montserrat College of Art in Beverly in 2011, has the same tuition as PCI... We got mac book pros that can take a drop from a 3 story building.. PCI gives you Obama laptops lmao.
The course instructor William Silk still works there, had no issues with the guy, he was generous and flexible with the school's absurd attendance policy.. Death of immediate family and hospital medical leave are the only instances you're forgiven.. Car accident on the way to work? Tough luck you're missing one day.
The school simply doesn't teach you how to be in the career you're going in. It is all book work and minimal "hands-on"( they market the hands-on aspect and straight up lie about it.) I can learn network theory on my own time.. I need to be trained how to work in a IT corporate environment or I am gonna lose the job I busted my *** spending 7 months to get, which leads to the next part. The career counselor there, Brian is useless.
Been patient with him after I graduated. The school "promises" they will help you find a job after you leave. Brian never got me ONE interview, I had to work with 2 temp agencies and 5 interviews and 7 months later I got a job. Brian 2 months handed me a list of people to call, which is a way of saying " you're on your own." Have more than one person handle career counseling.
Finally, the student body is a joke. My class only had three serious students: Myself, a guy who pretended to be my friend and used me as a study slave and a working mother in her 50s, were the only ones to do our work seriously. Every other student was racist, sexist and browsed facebook and youtube when their work was never finished. The "boys" in automotive, HVAC and electrical all acted like high schoolers..
Some made fun of me on the insult level of a 7th grader and they used all their attendance days to be lazy and not go to class. My attendance was almost a failing grade.. Only reason I graduated from PCI was because my GPA was a 3.9, I arrived early all the time and my absences were legit emergencies and or important situations. Go to Peterson or just buy the books yourself.
CNT is the only class at PCI that doesn't require hours. CNT you only graduate with your useless degree of graduation, after that, you're responsible for scheduling your exams at the nearest pearsonvue testing center to get your certificates. Electrical, HVAC, automotive, dentistry and nursing all require a capped amount of hours and a gpa to graduate and get recognized by your new employer TL;DR: The school is for scrubs.
I have a right to complain.. I have a job now and I passed their joke of a curriculum.
Hold your transcripts for ransom
Terrible
Porter and Chester waste of money
Porter and Chester Electrical/All Programs Watertown CT
I have read most of the reviews and can tell that most of the people who are writing reviews probably failed or are unhappy due to their own decisions. I realize that most people going to PC have trouble reading or writing and just general adjustment to society and are dumb enough to fall for this scam.
I don't claim to be the smartest person, but once they talk to you on the phone and then call you multiple times telling you the classes are filling up and you won't get in and will not hold a spot until you come in for an "interview" it is one giant sales gimmick. They give you a "test" that you need to pass, but everyone passes and then they tell you about the job placement and how great it is. Then the big one is about how much you will be making and the raises then on to not needing to worry about financing and all these great things. Then, they pretty much keep you there unless you break out until you put some cash (a couple hundred bucks) or sign some documentation that will get them nearly instant access to federal money in your name.
Everything up to this point is a lie, employers do not have to or want to count your OJT hour(on job training hours), your pay will be about 50% less than they say, and those loans will kill you while you are getting minimum pay to collect OJT hours towards you field. They charge nearly a 300% markup on your books and tool bag in the trade programs. The classes are offered as night course (electrical and other) at state tech high schools and colleges and sometimes by the same instructor you get at PC, but closer to $4k rather than $30,000 for the same class without the fake OJT hours. The teachers are generally just tradesmen that have no training or experience teaching the program you are in and may have not had training to keep them up to date with the current codes that you will be tested on.They may not even really know what they are doing, which I experienced when my instructor left the breaker on even though I asked him multiple times after being zapped.
This place is there to make people money and let me tell you now that it is not the students that will be making the money regardless whatever that greasy former used car salesman is telling you about job placement and whatever other lie they are using to get people in the door. They will continue to take government money even if you leave the program early and will refuse to help you with anything even if you do graduate from their B.S. "accredited" school. If you are a parent looking at schools for your child then don't send them here.
I took an electrical program here which was a huge waste and I took the L.P.N. program from the state which cost about 10% the cost of the PC one and got me the same level teaching and to the testing.
You want your child in the trades then get them into a program with your local electrical provider or a union job where they can make a better living with better working environment and free schooling. I could go on forever with every little caveat of information that makes this place the worst decision you could ever make, but if you are still planning on going after all I have told you then, God Bless.
- Being raped financially
Preferred solution: Full refund
Porter And Chester Institute - Program Review from Webster, Massachusetts
Porter and chester is the most over priced, waste of time i have ever been involved in. The building is kept in poor unclean conditions, the equipment is mostly missing, broken, and hidden by instructors that don't want to hear the noise (chris burgess).
There is a SEVERE lack of safety equipment. I have gotten burned, cut, gotten rashed, etc because we arent issued long sleeves, dont have welding sleeves or cover-alls etc. NONE of my uniforms fit when i got them, and it didnt bother me because i wore my work clothes the first 3/4 of my sentence here. The last quarter however i was told i NEED to wear the school issued uniform, yet they helped me get a job where is work up until 30 mins before school, and that 30 mins is for travel time.
The fellow students, the instructors and the careet services staff are the only ones who give a ***. The corporate mediators upstairs take no part in downstairs. They make rules at their own free will.
This only scrathes the surface, so bottom line, DONT waste your time or money. Not for $30k
Not worth the money
Porter and Chester Woburn,MA
I recently graduated from porter and Chester. I agree school was overpriced.
I did Dental Assistant program. The externships were just to complete hours not to learn how to use your skills in a dental office. I got no support and just grief. I was bullied by other dental assistants but never said anything cause I would not have got support.
They set up and tell you you made mistakes but you didn't and they want to teach you thinks and second guess and undermine every thing you do. It was a joke. It's called Sabotage. I was discouraged from finding my own externships.
Wish I did. But thankfully I found my own job without anyone's help. I learned more at the job I am at know than I ever learned at my externships and school. Waste of money.
I would not recommend porter and Chester. I loved the classmates a lot they were fun to work with. I think getting on the job training is best when becoming a dental assistant. I regret nothing.
You live and learn. I love my new career.
- Classmates
- Cost
Porter And Chester Institute - Program Review from Milford, Connecticut
Resolved: Porter And Chester Institute Program Review from Worcester, Massachusetts
The issues have been resolved due to false information spam/abuse the statement provided was SPAM
Review in Education category from Worcester, Massachusetts
Porter And Chester Institute - Program Review from Taylor, Texas
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I'm looking into taking the dental assistant program. I was really interested but, I was doing some research and found that they are not accredited by the DANB.
Is that the accreditation your refering to? But I did find on the DANB site that the dental assistant program at porter and chester is accepted to receive an NELDA certification.