Saint Paul College — Attraction in Saint Paul

Before you read this review, I want you to realize how cranky I was when we came in. I was fighting off a killer cold that literally had me in bed for over a week, and then we found out that I had to bring my daughter here so that she could register for classes. Something about her starid wasn't working and we were asked to come in.

I was already in a terrible mood and upset that no one could help us over the phone but I guess security policy prevented them helping us without seeing a picture ID or something silly like that. Who would want to even pretend to be a broke student?

So we went to the IT department and were "helped" by the lady at the front desk, then sent to the enrollment services department where a PHENOMENAL person named Lore tried to help us out. We tried a few things and even resetting this starid thing again, but failed. He told us that we would need to go see IT and I told him that we just came from there. He quickly picked up the phone and contacted someone. He then told us to go see Alex in IT and that he would take care of us.

Now at this point I was about ready to call the whole thing off and do it later, but we decided to go back to IT one final time and see what they would do.

We show up and tell them we are here to see "Alex". The young kid at the front desk goes all the way back into the little cubicle village and the two of them come walking back.

I explained to Alex exactly what had happened and how upset I was that they could not do this whole thing over the phone. I really let the poor guy have it, and I felt terrible after I was done. He sat there through the whole thing, apologized, and said he will take care of everything. While he was working on whatever it was he was doing, he even made a few jokes to try and cheer me up. We struck up a conversation and laughed about a few things.

After about 10 minutes he told us we were done and logged in as my daughter into everywhere she needed to be. He showed her how to do everything, at every step, and was just super helpful.

We went back to Lore and that was it. He helped us take care of everything else! We signed up and my daughter is now a student at Saint Paul College.

Really the two people that helped us out here. Lore and Alex were simply phenomenal at both their jobs and customer service, which is a very rare combination.

If you read this, I would like to thank you both dearly from the bottom of my heart. I know I couldn't have been pleasant to work with that day, but you handled it unbelievably well.

I also want to give a very special thank you to Alex for saving me $200 that Geek Squad wanted to fix my daughters laptop. He suggested a free antivirus program called Avast that found and got rid of all our problems.

Thank you both, you are simply a credit to this...

I don't like writing bad reviews, especially for some place that I spent so much time and was supposed to help me move forward with my future. However, while I liked a couple of my instructors a lot, I cannot recommend St. Paul College's massage program. If you are looking for a massage program, especially if you ever plan on relocating out of state, avoid St. Paul College; spend a bit more to go to Centerpoint or Northwestern. St. Paul College's massage program is not accepted in all states, so it may be possible that you relocate outside of MN and are unable to get licensed, as I am dealing with in Washington state. The heads of the massage program have been unwilling to assist in the matter. I don't believe alumni should be treated so dismissively. Other states that have stringent standards include Vermont and Oregon, and an education from St. Paul College may be inadequate to get a license (it may cost significantly more to obtain an initial license and/or you may need to take more courses at an approved school to meet state standards, if you are able to pursue licensure at all).

The plus sides to St. Paul College in general were that the financial aid and counseling offices were helpful. A lot of the instructors do seem to care about seeing students succeed and there are free tutoring programs. There are plenty of comfortable places to sit and study and the cafeteria offers good and cheap food. The location is convenient, although parking can get pricey and finding street parking is a challenge. However, the school is easily accessible by public transportation.

As far as my experience while I was in the massage program, it seems to operate to meet minimal standards and appears more interested in keeping graduation rates up for funding purposes. A couple of the instructors were great and caring people (Nick Bohrer and Karen Kraus), but the other instructors within the massage program were disorganized and substandard. A lot of techniques are glossed over, although this was more due to the set-up of the program than any inadequacies with the instructors. The techniques taught by Nick Bohrer and Karen Kraus were great, although there was not enough time in class to go in-depth (again, more because of the set-up of the program). There is minimal instructor interaction during massage clinic. The massage certificate program does not require a pathology course, which is required in most jurisdictions, but does require a holistic nutrition course. I would recommend taking pathology as an elective so you can meet the standards of other states.

Overall, I can't recommend the massage program, but perhaps the other programs offered by Saint Paul College operate better and meet higher standards. Seek your massage...

I am very sorry to see the negative reviews lately. I do not understand why some people had a bad experience. I can certainly say that I had one bad experience, but the problem was solved.

First let me tell you about the good things. I have been here for a year so far, and I really got a lot out of the programs. I went into the Child Development program, and it's very excellent! The instructors are amazing, helpful and very knowledgeable about child development. I have taken a few general courses and they were excellent as well. One perk that I like about the school is that they offer art classes, and I got into oil painting. As an artist, I enjoyed it immensely and the instructor was very good. I have not taken drawing or water coloring, but I have seen examples of other students work, and it looks like a lot of fun. So, essentially I have learned a lot, and I am more certain about my career and feel confident with the knowledge that I have gained.

As for the school itself, I would say the staff is friendly and helpful. I have had no trouble with financial aid, although I was confused the first time about how it worked, but I figured it out. The cafe' has pretty decent food. The library is alright. A little small, and the students there tend to be gaming or listening to music really loudly on the computers (they do have headphones, but still). I much prefer to use the computer labs on the third floor. I like the atmosphere better. Also, the parking is great now that they added a ramp. I can find a spot easily. Parking is expensive but it's a good deal if you are on a contract card. I think it's worth it if you don't want to walk so far off campus.

As for my bad experience, it was completely unique. I had trouble applying, because apparently some other girl with the same name as me and exact same birthday, "mistakenly" used my SSN to apply, in which she was denied. However, I never applied to the school! I had to prove that I graduated from a different high school, and had to show my SSN card, and driver's license to show them I wasn't that girl. They still had her name in the system. A lady scanned my license, but then somehow they changed my birth date. I had to go back again and tell them the birth date was wrong. It was such a big mix up and I was so frustrated. But again, I don't exactly blame the school for that. It's over and hopefully I won't have the problem since I will be getting a name...