I am trying to decide which school I want to go to right now, Universal Technical Institute or Wyotech. I'm meeting with a UTI rep next week and setting up a meeting with a Wyotech rep pretty soon. I do not want a career at a dealership or a simple repair shop. I want to be in the racing/performance industry; building engines, chassis', or even racing. Who here has any experience with either school and what are you opinions about them? If you have any other schools in mind feel free to suggest them. Preferably I'd like to stay in the West/Northwest area. The UTI and Wyotech locations that I'm looking at are both in Sacramento. I want something that will give me some good experience with the technical/performance aspect of engines, suspension, transmissions, chassis, etc.

 

I had a friend that went to wyotech, It's too expensive for what you get was his basic opinion, real easy classes too.

 

I heard secondhand that Wyo was a better program and does offer your "Performance" specialized field, however both are ridiculously expensive.

OTOH, I did just recently see a UTI commercial with Grave Digger trying to sell it, and if they had a Grave-Digger-certified-guaranteed-monster-truck-employee program I'd be there with mother fckin bells on.

 

I'd say find a shop that specializes in what you want to do and try to get hired as an apprentice. From what I understand those programs aren't all that great, or won't guarantee you that great of a job. I know a couple of people who went to Wyotech, and both of them quit before graduating.

 

after pomona last year we took our dragster to wyo-tech for a job fair and to fulfill some sponsorship obligations. i had a opportunity to interview a lot of canididates for a position that might be opening on our team, and i recieved a lot of tours of the facility.
none of the students that i saw actually worked on any real projects. the teachers were the ones geting the hands on expirence. they had a dyno but the insurance prevented students from operating it.......
the shop was super clean. amost too clean. i realize that they would tidy up a bit for a job fair but for someone that works in a shop it seamed out of place. the projects were coverd in dust, every tool looked as if it had never been used and was in its place, the perfectly painted floor didn't even have a chip in it.
the students i talked to seemed disgruntled. they all wanted to get their hands on something, but were being held back by some has been teacher that seemed more satisified to impress me than showcase any students.
the whole story seamed to come togather in about a day, and i was not very impressed with the education the students were recieving. and i think the wonderful shop was just for show.

 

Hmm sounds like I might be getting more hands on experience with the program that I'm in right now. Currently I'm taking a high school program through my local community college that get's me about 2 hours of shop time each day for the entire school year. By the end of the year I can take the ASE certification test as I already have 3 years of work experience. I'll also be competing in several state and hopefully national competitions. We do maintenance like any regular shop would too. The problem is that most shops don't want to hire a 17 year old. They feel that I am not qualified enough. I also currently work for Portland International Raceway as a tech inspector so I know any drag car like the back of my hand. Apparently I need to be more qualified. Thus the reasoning behind wanting to go to either of these schools in addition to my passion to learning everything I can about automobiles.

Besides that keep the opinions coming, good or bad. The last thing I want to do is make a $20,000 mistake.

 

I think you're on the right track. Having that much work experience plus certifications on a resume will give you some credibility for sure. If you're only 17 then you should probably wait until you graduate before you take on a job at a shop; the hours they would expect you to work will probably conflict with your school hours.

It sounds like you're psyching yourself out and aren't confident enough. If you believe in yourself and can prove your skills to an employer you should have no problem getting a job regardless of age.

 

What about considering an engineering program at a college?

~runs~

 

I went to UTI in 2002-2003 and hated it.

It won't let me link to my old TGO threads for some reason. You can search TGO for UTI and find some of my comments.

 

Well just recently I learned of SAM; School of Automotive Machinists. They focus pretty much only on building racing engines. Sounds like what I'm looking for. Does anyone have any experience or opinions about them? Still considering Wyotech and UTI somewhat because of location.

 

One of my employees went through Wyotech. Seems like he just learned alot of basics and nothing really specific. The equivalent of a couple years working in a shop.

 

i took an r.o.p. class and i learned more than my 3 friends that went to wyotech. it is an over priced school. you will learn more with what your doing know and then find a shop to be an apprentice at like stated above.

 

they both pretty much suck from what ive heard and seen and the idiots i have talked to who went to them schools. but you dont wanna be in general repair industy and wyotech is the official school of like the nhra and crapola so i say go there.

 

and why would that make a difference?

 

go to American River College better than UTI and Wyotech. when I was going to ARC I talked to people that went to both and they said ARC was better. people even come from out of state to go through their Automotive program.

 

I also heard ARC is a good place to go to. I have had employees that went to Sequoia that worked for me when I had my shop and met few others. I asked how much they paid and I was like. I had this guy that worked for me and he could not take off a front brake caliper on a ford ranger this guys paid 30g's for his schooling.

I would suggest to go to ARC, learn the basic there and CHEAPER too and work at a shop as an apprentice. Hands on experience is great but knowing the basic(go to school) will make you understand the theories and operations which will make you a better technician. I have also met few mechanics that has alot of hands on experience but did not go to school. Most of them will make me grin behind their back too. If you really like automotive repair industry then you can always go take classes later for more in depth diagnosis, race engine building and so on. If you end up not liking it then at least you did not shell out 20 grand or paying for it for the next few years. My niece(yeah, niece..t_mb_y) is currently going to UTI right now. I believe her tuition is like 16 grand. I told her before to just go to CRC or ARC for now.....but......ow well, it's her money.

 

When I went to UTI in 02-03, the tuition for just the Automotive Program (no diesel or industrial) was $18,000. I think diesel plus auto was $24,000. I can't imagine it's cheaper now. If it was $8 (that's eight dollars), I'd consider UTI a ripoff based on my experience.

I went to the Glendale Heights, IL campus. I'd say at least 25% of the students I met there were from out of state. Virginia and New York/Jersey seemed popular.

 

I attended UTI in Orlando from Aug. 06-07, and they constantly talked trash about Wyotech. Tuition was 28k when I went, but I hear that it's in the 30's now. It's a decent school, but it's not worth that much money. I may change my mind 5 years from now. I just recently graduated from the Mercedes Benz program. It's not hard if you already have some basic knowledge. All you have to do is study and make it to school on time every day. Attendance is the most important factor period. These schools get a bad rap because there are a lot of "children" that attend that could care less about there education. At least this was the situation at my school. We had a lot kids fresh out of high school. Their parents gave them the choice of either finding a job or continuing there education. In the end, I think that either school will be fine for you. If you take it serious, work hard, and prove to everyone that you want to be there, I honestly believe you'll be successful at any school.

 

[QUOTE=77bignasty If you take it serious, work hard, and prove to everyone that you want to be there, I honestly believe you'll be successful at any school.[/QUOTE]

Exactly......... couldn't say it better than that.

 

i'm currently going to wyotech... it's a really good school, i also looked into uti not so good says me. hents why i am at wyotech. only bad thing about both school is there are alot of kids that don't really give a **** about working on cars straight out of high school they kind of get in the way... personalily i've learned alot of stuff from wyotech more then i already knew. if you are thinking about a school. i can tell you that alot of old guys that were already working out in the automotive feild are now going to school because electronics are too advanced to learn on your own or from other people. have you had any tours at schools yet?

 

As a shop owner I really think we need more techs in the industry, but I would have to say, save you money & just go get a job at a busy shop in town. Use the 30 grand to pay off your tool debt. When will any mainstream shop need a "race car fab" technician?

 

Well you see, that's pretty much what I want to do; work on race cars. I would love to be an engine builder or chassis fabricator for a formula 1 or NHRA team, or an engine builder for a company as well known as NRE or Hendrick Motorsports, etc.

 

you'd be suprised how many people come in to the schools to find fabricators, alot of the guys that work for bill mcnally racing are from wyotech

 

That's cool, someone has to build race cars too

 

3rdbird has a lot of business knowledge to pass along, you might want to listen, anyone can learn to work on cars, and it takes a little more to do it profitably.

 

I went to Wyotech's Sacramento campus last year. Took auto, chassis fab, high performance engine, and light duty diesel. Cost me 35 grand to go and I learned alot. However, most of the stuff that was taught there(especially during auto) was stuff I already knew either through first hand experience or from high school auto shop. For someone that never took a high school auto shop class and needs to learn everything they teach there, I say go for it. But if you have learned quite a bit of automotive knowledge from either firsthand experience or whatever I say that Wyotech isn't for you.

Scott

 

im also currently attending wyotech in blairsville and ive been here for about 5 months now. I think its great , i took 3 years of auto body in high school and i still learn things everyday. I just believe u get out, what u put in, if u go everyday with a positive attitude and want to learn, u will definently learn, and if u go just to screw off becuz mommy and daddy payed for your schooling and u really dont care then of course u will not learn and have bad things to say about the school.