Remington College - Tampa

Date: Mar 24 2008
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I attended Tampa Technical Institute back in the late 1980's when it was owned by National Education Centers. I studied their Graphic Design program. I have very mixed feelings about this school.

First the positive: I had a friend who had started this school and talked me into applying. I was shocked I was accepted into the graphic design program because I could not draw a thing. The very first day of school, I questioned my own abilities when our first assignment was to draw a picture of anyone in the class. Mine of course was like stick people, but so where most other people's, so I didn't feel so bad, but I did wonder why any of us were there. Artists we were not! But a miracle happened! A wonderful teacher of the class named Orlando Savadra, took me from drawing stick people to drawing life-like portraits of John Wayne and Grace Kelly in a matter of a couple months. He was a master at finding your hidden talents and used a technique pioneered by others called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. He was so devoted to what he did, and everyone loved him. He was the favorite teacher in the whole school. Through his encouragement and faith in me, I pushed on thru each semester feeling more confident with each one. I excelled in every class and was at the top of the class in most cases. I had lots of fun there, and felt I was learning what I needed too to get a graphic arts job.

Now for the bad: After 2 years, $12,000.00 and one Associates Degree later, I was no more prepared to work in the graphic design industry, than I was before I went to school there. Turns out the curriculum was at least a few years behind the workplace. It was a time when everyone was switching to computer design, and the school concentrated on old fashioned paper/pencil design. We had about 4 weeks training on a Macintosh, which was little help in an ever changing industry. After graduation, I could not find a job in this field what-so-ever. I felt betrayed and like I just wasted 2 years of my life! I even had one employer who looked at my portfolio tell me, I should go to school to learn graphic design because I had potential. I told him, I just graduated. He laughed and said, well they didn't teach you what you need to know. Meaning computer graphic design… I loved the school at the time, but had no idea they were not teaching me what I needed to know. I never when back to school, and never worked in the industry I trained for. Buyer beware is all I can say. Do your homework before picking a school.