Greenville Technical College

Date: Nov 24 2010
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
I was attracted by their online college opportunities (having no available transport to classes… they were my only option). That said, I've now given up on graduating from this college (after roughly two semesters), and plan to take my life in a different direction (after the money I've spent on Greenville Tech, I can't immediately afford to get back on the educational bandwagon).

Here are my reasons why:

One, getting in was aggravating. As a freshman, I was not permitted to make an appointment to register for classes…

so I had to spend a Saturday waiting in a 10-hour line. Furthermore, I couldn't leave the line to grab a meal, because (to quote the receptionist)

if we call you and you're not here, we don't call again.

Two, their site is a bit confusing, and lacks proper planning. In other words, figuring out what classes you need for your next semester, what classes you don't, and whether or not that class you're on the waitlist for has an opening requires a lot of time (and maybe even a phone call or two).

Three, their online college is not actually on their site… which means that, in order to properly communicate with both the administrative staff (regarding classes), and teachers (regarding class content) you have to ping-pong around a bit. It may not bother everyone, but checking two additional e-mail boxes (memos/teacher messages could not be sent to personal e-mail addresses) was a pain for me.

Four, their teaching staff (at least the online one), is incompetent. My Spanish teacher could barely speak English… so her posted schedules rarely made sense. She once told us to take the Student Evaluation on GvlTech's home page… only to later post

For your section the student evaluation per now don't have to do it

… which after some deciphering, I understood.

… I'm beginning to think she's using Google Translate to write her e-mails.

Additionally, Greenville Tech did not properly educate her on how to use their system… so tests, quizzes, and other aspects of learning were not available when she intended them to be, or sometimes, not available at all.

Moving from Spanish to mathematics, their teachers don't improve. My math teacher had an almost total lack of caring about her students. She never volunteered help or posted a lecture. Her lesson schedule was the only thing that appeared to have effort put into it.

Four, their choice of textbooks. With the single exception of my history teacher (who was, oddly, one of the best I've seen), all of my classes required absurdly expensive books. Additionally, since most of these books came with an online component, they could only be used for the semester they were registered for. Hence, I was required to re-purchase the same book I had payed $300 for no longer than 6 months ago (I had to retake a class). Obviously, the one-semester limit also prevented me from recouping any cash via the sale of my previously used books.

Not to be outmatched by the textbooks, the teachers upped their annoyance factor by depending HEAVILY on the supplemental online materials provided by the textbooks' publishers. To sum it up, half of my teacher's jobs were pointless, as all they did was direct me to the publisher's website and say

well… get to work.

Five, since (most) tests must be taken at a designated testing center, the practicality of "online college" becomes reduced. I frequently missed tests… or arrived to late to complete them.

Six, (this is the reason I'm leaving this school) they lock their testing doors at 7 p.m. (even though closing time is 8 p. m.) to prevent any more students from starting tests. At first, I was accepting of this… after all, the staff has to go home, eventually.

… then I tried to take two makeup tests.

Ironically, the only reason I had missed these tests was because they wouldn't let me in (I could have finished in an hour, I have before). Regardless of reasons, I mashed my schedule up to fit those two tests in… and showed up at 6:45. I took the first test, then left the room to ask my ride if he had time for me to take the second. He said yes, so back I went… only to find the the door to the testing center's lobby (the testing center is inside their Dental Technologies building) was locked. I had left my textbooks inside the lobby (it hadn't occurred to me that the lobby would be locked in addition to the actual testing center), so I proceeded to knock on the door. No answer. I continued to knock… louder… and louder. After hammering on the door for 15 minutes (during which time my ride was patiently waiting), I went searching for the janitor, who kindly unlocked the door for me. As I went inside, I realized that the two women who had first let me in had not left yet. Which means that (since there was no other door out) they had been sitting there the whole time I'd been knocking, and had not even done me the courtesy of acknowledging my existence. As I grabbed my books and hurriedly left, one of the women gave me the classic "Get The **** Out!" glare. I have never felt more unwelcome in my life, and I am never setting foot on Greenville Technical College's campus, again.