Complaint Review: University of Advancing Technology

I originally went to the University of Advancing Technology becuase they had a pretty solid reputation for turning out some fantastic art students in their Game Art and Animation degree, which also applied for 3D Modeling and Animation for digital videos. When I first started, I loved every bit of it. Classes were all hands on and the teachers were fantastic. I transferred credits into the school from ITT Tech (got an associate's in Information Technology- Mulitmedia) and was going to get my Bachelor's of Arts degree in a year and a half. As I rounded near the end of my first semester, things went downhill fast.

For starters: I was in a beginning drawing class (which sucked, because I know how to draw and ended up teaching half the class to help the teacher but it was an easy A) that got ridiculous really quickly. 10 weeks into the 15-week semester, the teacher QUITS. Just leaves and never came back. They pulled another teacher to take over for the last 5 weeks and the sh*t hit the fan and the school's TRUE COLORS came out fast. She threw ALL of our work practically out the window and said that the past 10 weeks worth of work was now going to be worth 10% of our grade and the final worth 50% and the 5 weeks with her worth 40%. Two thirds of the semester worth 10% of the grade? Not happening. A group of us went to the Dean and he did fire the teacher pretty much on the spot, but she had to finish out the semester. Those of us who went to see the Dean were wrongfully punished in that she failed all of us on our work. The school's response: Nothing we can do. If she felt your work was inadequate, you need to repeat the class. That's just Example of bullshit practices #1. Turns out the hack of a teacher was also a FRAUD and PLAGIARIST who had been THROWN OUT of companies across the country and has a few reports on this site alone about her. When this was brought to the school's attention, they said there was nothing they could or would do because it's just slander. Example of Bullshit #2.

Now, some of the teachers at UAT are great. They really know their stuff. But here is where things got out of hand fast: This semester (August 2012 - December 2012) they FIRED two of the best and most important teachers they have. One of them just so happens to be the LEAD of the Game Art and Animation program and one of the best fine and traditional artists I have ever seen. Fired. For no legitimate reason. Their excuse: Not enough interest in the classes. That means those of us who are hear to learn and fine-tune our traditional art skills with the intentions of going on to do concept art and character/creature/environment design are not worth their time. They fired the ONLY teacher who can teach this stuff. There was PLENTY of interest. Then, just to top it off, they decide to replace him with THREE OTHER TEACHERS. Oh, happy day. Example of Bullshit #3.

But where does the title of this post "The school's example makes it almost impossible to get a real job" come into play, you ask? Why, it has to do with the shady practices and students that attend UAT and do things such as be a part of LulzSec and Anonymous. I have no issues with hacking and I even was pretty good friends with one of the guys who got caught from UAT. However, their response: Ostricize the student so that they can disassociate themselves with this illegal activity and then BRAG ABOUT IT later on. The main pitch that they give for people interested in the Network Security degree mentions that the NetSec students and degree are so great, the NSA handpicks UAT students and others go on to become incredibly well-known hackers from LulzSec and Anonymous. They won't do anything to defend these students, one of which did a couple of illegal hacking sessions as PART OF A CLASS PROJECT to prove how even the largest of companies can have security exploits. But nope, they knew nothing about it and the teacher of the class denies any previously existing knowledge of the situation. Bullshit #4.

This situation with the hacking and firing teachers and plagiarism has turned UAT into a laughing stock. Even if you have a beautiful portfolio and really are one of the best artists/programmers/designers/whatever there is, the fact that you went to UAT and potential employers look at the school's rep and see this black cloud and you get laughed out of the interviews. I know people with amazing portfolios and experience but the STILL cannot get a job simply because of the fact that they went to or are going to UAT. If you get the chance, stay away from UAT. It's NOT worth the incredibly expensive $10,050 PER SEMESTER tuition.