Ohio Technical College — Attraction in Cleveland

This is an OKAY school. However, they treat you like a child the entire time. If you just came out of high school and want to keep a high school feel, this is the place for you. This place IS NOT ran like a college. I'm surprised they let you use the bathroom without raising your hand first and asking for permission.

The biggest joke of this school is their Financial Aid department. No one in that department seems to know what is going on. I went from getting student loan refund checks of a couple hundred dollars a quarter, to actually owing the school money somehow. They started my class at the wrong time, so I lost all my fifth quarter benefits after being told I was all set and would never owe a penny. Now we are getting called down there all the time to sign papers that keep making things worse.

Another point I would like to add. Mr Robert Vaughn, the automotive department head. He is generally an awesome guy, and very easily respected. He treats students fair. However, he has a huge anger issue. Someone will upset him and he will take it out on everyone for the rest of the day, going classroom to classroom, interupting instructors to rant about nonsense.

Now, there are some awesome instructors here, and some not so awesome ones. Mr Yurmonavitch, (probably spelled wrong, better known as Mr Y) Mr Schmauder, Mr Thompson, and Mr Post are all extremely knowledgeable instructors, with lots of experience under their belt. Unfortunately for them, all the training aids are pieces of junk that don't run, so you don't even know if you fixed it properly. They can't even put working batteries in the cars that do run. Re-manufactured pieces of junk that don't hold a charge for more then 5 mins. They also love to have instructors teach classes they have no business teaching. My Automatic trans and my manual transmission instructor had no clue what he was doing. He told us he has only ever rebuilt two transmissions in his entire life, and that was when he went to school. He would google things as we went, and we watched a lot of YouTube videos. I can do that at home.

The school is located in a not so nice part of east Cleveland. They will try to tell you it's not that bad, but having cars stolen and things stolen out of cars from the locals happens. Cleveland is one of the shittiest places I've ever been, and I live by 3 of the worst cities in the US (Saginaw, Flint, Detroit)

The only options for food while you're at OTC, is subway or vending machines. They used to have a local restaurant come in and offer a large variety of food, at good prices, but they kicked him out for Subway. Now don't get me wrong, Subway is pretty good. But not 4 days a week, and that starts to get costly. You can bring g your own lunch obviously, but you can't have food in the shop. So you have to leave it in the classroom. Usually you are in the shop around lunchtime, so that often means you have to walk to a different building to get your lunch.

Seriously consider all your options BEFORE attending Ohio Technical College. I'm sure there is better options out there.

I attended there April 4th 2016 to September 21st 2017 (currently attending...

I currently attend this school. This morning i arrived with my OTC jacket on top of a shirt that wasnt otc but i kept it zipped up & concealed because we are strict about otc being our outermost layer, i feel this isnt asking too much that your school is advertised on the outside it makes sense. But when i was asked why i didnt have an undershirt i explained i had stained it real bad the night before & it was washing this morning i was told this was unnacceptable & i will be sent home no warning next time. So afterwards i decided to glance at our student handbooks we had signed when we first came here & they clearly state “ OTC issues 3 garments, a hat, a coat, & a workshirt. Thats it. A couple bullets down it says your “outermost layer must be an otc issued” so in my mind when i read this i felt the rules may not be clearly stated. so when i asked the diesel director Mr. Minnachio he told me that wasnt the updated handbook, i asked if he could access a copy of this for me, He told me you got hands go on your phone & find it. So i did, i found a new handbook that only states “ students are expected to maintain a professional appearance at all times, which is determined by OTC & its managaement staff” thats it. So while im learning this im served a paper saying i need to leave school due to me “running my mouth” when i walked into class and was talking about it inside. So before i left i decided to take this to the director of the school Mr. Hantl, who was about the same amount of help.All i asked is where the specific rules are that show a newcoming otc atudent what he/she is supposed to wear when looking through the handbook, i was told “they can come in & ask” (after the fact of attendance & getting the points taken off regardless for not being dressed) so today i asked in a few different ways how it is acceptable to send me home when im abiding by rules & doing my work just because my shirt that isnt even showing isnt the correct one. So because im a student from Ny i had missed some days due to holidays & family stuff so i dont have many days to just lose because we are a clock hour school, so today i lost 17/25 points for the day & 6 hours of time all because my undershirt was wrong, i just feel this school from the beginning is more worried about the checks than they are your education, really is unfortunate to say but... when i said i Feel this school has the wrong priorities and Mr. Hantle told me if im upset than its easy to drop out, like... i thought my education was supposed to come first here, im not even gonna go into any of my other stories i just figure while im sitting in there parking lot i should share. I moved here september 22, 2017.. i realized my mistakes by october,...

I am an automotive student currently set to graduate in March 2022, and was asked to give a review of my experience. I have read a lot of the negative comments on here and it seems as though most of them are either due to lack of motivation, bad luck, or how the college was run 5+ years ago. On the other hand I’m not here to praise OTC either, but rather give an honest review about my own experience in order to help those who are really considering attending OTC. Not all of the equipment is brand new, and yes you learn some things that you may never need to know in a real shop setting, but it is these things that help form the foundation for what you learn later on in each of your modules. Each module(6 weeks long) covered a different topic of my training, and each instructor taught in a different way. I connected better with some instructors than others, but they all are VERY willing to put in the extra time to help you succeed. It is your responsibility as an adult in college to seek that help and utilize them to your advantage. If it seems like they don’t know something then speak up and challenge them by asking questions, don’t complain that they never taught you anything. The staff at OTC are all very friendly as well (or at least the staff I talked to), and the people who run the Matco store and clothing shop are also very extroverted when it comes to the students. I was skeptical at first about buying a lot of tools and accumulating debt, but I asked questions and got everything figured out and now Im glad I did! YOU control your career and no one else. I am currently set to have a full time career ready for me the Monday after I graduate because I used the career fair that OTC provided in order to talk to a wide variety of employers to see what I liked the best. OTC DOES NOT HAND YOU A CAREER, they give you the tools, knowledge, and opportunity for you to use in order for YOU to go out and get YOUR career. I was fortunate to surround myself with great friends who have applied what they learned at OTC, and are now master ASE technicians in the field. To say OTC is a waste of time is irresponsible because you are the one showing up to learn so use your time wisely. The area may not be the nicest, and the housing isn’t too great either, but for what you pay it is well worth the 18 months. If you don’t trust me, talk to other people and get all the details in order to make a plan and budget wisely. Lastly a huge shoutout to Taylor and Nader who helped me every step of the way when trying to apply to OTC, you guys were a huge help and made the process go very...