Ridge Technical College — Local services in Winter Haven

If you were thinking of possibly going here for cosmetology ABSOLUTELY do not. Run from ridge.

First of all, the teacher taught the students absolutely nothing, over half the class will openly speak on that. And I was willing to overcome that and just put in the work to educate myself, but also what I was not ready for, was for the teacher to BULLY me openly with other students while I’m not around, actually also bully me and make fun of me to my face infront of other students and use me as a laugh. I wasn’t prepared for her to be openly racist to those who only speak Spanish, but also racist by not teaching students how to care for African American hair WHICH IS PART OF THE CLASS, I was not prepared to be set up for failure multiple times by my teacher, i wasn’t prepared to be gossiped about by my teacher. Another thing that caught me off guard is after speaking with the principal, the deans, as well as the director of POLK COUNTY SCHOOL BOARDS, about this nothing was done at all. So after finishing more the half of the program I had to drop out due to the intense bullying I was receiving, Infact I was still receiving bullying after LEAVING from the students, and my name was still being thrown around as a joke by the teacher! Speaking to the principal about this teacher does nothing as he completely covers every one of her mistakes. Extremely suspicious. But coming to ridge for the cosmetology program will be the biggest waste of your money, as well as your time. This is without a doubt, the most unprofessional establishment I’ve EVER dealt with. The drop out rate this year was insane. This was not just me but it was so many students. Please please please do not make the mistake of...

We walked in to speak with the receptionist and did not realize that she was on the phone because she had a headset on. Immediately she held up her index finger almost to our faces, instead of just telling us that she will be right with us ( that would have been the proper thing to do). She then told my daughter to go to student services and since there are no appropriate visible signs in the office that they are in, we continued to walk, because obviously, we are looking for a sign. A lady stops us and asks us where are we going, we told her we are looking for student services and she rudely points us to the office and looks at us as if we are morons. The lady sitting behind the desk than states: " I said can I help you and you just kept walking". Obviously, we did not hear her; so anyway they all started giggling and I guess making fun of us because, after all we are the morons who missed the office, even though it was our 1st time visiting there right? The lady told us to go go back out to the lobby and wait, we did, sat down for a moment and got out of there, if they treat potential students that way, there is no telling how they are going to treat you once you become a student. Ridge Tech Staff needs a to be properly trained on how to deal with...

ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS OF MY LIFE!!! I graduated the LPN program here in 2013. Still remember the priceless experience I had here. The program was NOT easy. But I was definitely more than prepared for my career afterwards! Passing my Boards was a breeze, instructors taught our curriculum like pros! The Student Resource staff here is great as well.

Mrs. Burnadette (probably no longer works there) impacted our lives in ways she probably doesn’t even know. She taught us how to interview for nursing jobs, helped us located child care resources, transportation, food, the list goes on....The intimate nature of this school helps them to have more of a personal relationship with the students, increasing your chances of success! The programs here are also VERY AFFORDABLE and they have many community relationships with...