Complaint Review: Westwood College Dupage County And Online In Colorado - Woodridge Illinois

I did not attend westwood as we do not have it in canada but I attended Everezt formerly known as CDI and before that, the Toronto School fo Business?!  Yes, three name changes in the span of like, 6 years.  I can assure you that I have experienced the same thing in the REAL WORLD.  Employers laugh at the "diploma" I recieved and even though I applied to well over 300(THREE HUNDRED) business related jobs, I recieved but one call(for a funeral plot sales rep?!) and did not land the job.  I have NO criminal record, am a HARD worker, and I had honors etched in my diploma.  That is another point, these schools are SO EASY(in terms of curriculum) that everyone gets "honors".  It is part of their little scam. I guess that is supposed to fool the employers.  I even volunteered my services to gain experince and ....NOTHING.  I applied for management trainee jobs...NOTHING.  We were promised jobs upon graduation and were even given a specific example of a job we could apply for(for 60,000 dollars a year) and all of them turned out to be LIES.Imagine how embarrassed I felt when I asked the director for the contact information for the job she said awaited us, only to have her return my request with a blank stare!  They claimed to have "recruriters" who came to the school to scoop up graduates(a lie).  The one thing that they use to differ themselves from PUBLIC schools(the jobs they can get grads, recruiters, careers) is actually quite the opposite.  I have since removed everest/CDI from  my resume as I feel it has had a negative impact on job finding.  Everyone from my class that I kept in contact with found no adequate emplyment despite what the "job specialist" claimed(he sure liked to talk about "job leads" alot).  The ONLY job they posted while were were there was for a VERY PART TIME ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT for just above monimum wage(I guess that is there idea of a Business ADministration job). That is a glorifies secretary position.  In fact, they should have changed the program name to "Secretary studies" as it had little to nothing to do with Business.  None of the other traditional PUBLIC schools(there is a key people!) accepted the credits and one classmate of mine CLAIMS that the local university asked him why he was "wasting his time" when he tried to transfer his credits to a 4+ year business program at a REAL university. No school accepted what I had so I would believe it.  Just avoid PRIVATE/FOR-PROFIT school and go public to save precious time and LOT of money.  And anyone on here sticking up for these places is either WORKING FOR THE INSTITUTION or is a current grad who is not willing to accept the fact that the decision he made was bad one and wants to salvage his/her pride(believe me, I invested the money too and it is tempting to try to stick up for your "school").

I am writing this on behalf of a friend who was about to be a sophmore at Westwood School of gaming. He was on Academic probation however, even though he passed his classes with B minuses, they have booted him out and he is now having to appeal these people like a dog just to stay in college. I have heard of this being done to other people by doing some research. Being that I talk to my friend daily, I can tell you first hand that he is completely stressed out. What's worst is they're using a tornado that hit his area as part of the reason. He was without power and as a result was unable to attend classes during the final week (His classes are online.) He made arrangements to have assignments extended, however that wasn't enough for these people to not boot him.

Nice "commercial" there, E.  I worked for Westwood and I'm glad I got outta there when I did.

Here's reality for you:  Very few employers accept degrees from Westwood!  A friend of mine graduated from there a bunch of years ago and all she was able to land was a $9 hour job not really related to her degree program.  This was after applying for HUNDREDS of jobs and some reasons for not getting the job was because she attended a non-fully accredited school. 

Westwood is not regionally accredited, and contrary to what Westwood trains their reps, they believe their current national accreditation is better than regional.

Admissions reps are not allowed to promise anything upon graduation.  They only do this (against the law by the way) to keep their job security going.  The more students admissions reps enroll and start, the better off they are and they don't care what happens after that.

I wish you and everyone else the best as they deal with Westwood.  It's definitely not a place where you can succeed.

OK, THIS IS JUST ANOTHER PAID ADVERTISEMENT FROM WESTWOOD...HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY YOU!!!

Just cuz ur a genius doesn't mean your capable of applying yourself in the real world.  I know lots of very intelligent people who have no clue how to present themselves or how to apply themselves and cannot find work in their desired field.  I graduated from westwood and am very happy with my school decision.  Westwood College has a very good reputation in the job world, and now they are a Cisco certified acadamy.  Thats a pretty big deal in case you didn't know.  I found a job easily after graduation and make almost $100,000 a year.  Also, it depends on what field you went into, with this economy its hard to get a job anyway no matter how smart or qualified you are.  I would like to see you go to college the traditional way and ask you how much it costs because I can tell you its a lot more than $70,000 once its all done and said. 

Thanks, Maxviren. I'll keep that in mind. The only places I've even been aiming at have been jobs that I know I can get... for instance, Big Huge Games in Maryland. But then again, I also qualify for Bethesda Softworks. And I fully intend to show a portfolio with my resumee submission. So really, I don't understand why anyone would have a problem. I'm not you, and I haven't applied where you have, but if it were my decision, I'd just tone down the scale a bit. Don't just throw the resumee's out there; literally pelt companies with them. At the interviews, don't rely on Westwood's name to sell you; sell yourself, and *you* sell *Westwood.* The degree, really, is nothing but a piece of paper. People believe what they will. Unless it's a school like Stanford, Yale, Harvard, etc, you aren't very likely to get a free ride on the coattails of your school's name. For instance, unless it's a well observed standardized test that a company distributes in-house, a test score for an SAT, or the ACT, or an IQ test, won't mean much. For instance, I was going to go into the US Marine Corps a few years back, before Westwood was even a consideration. I took the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), and achieved the highest score possible - 99. My recruiter said I could "throw darts at a dartboard with a list of the top-tier military jobs, and I could have anything I hit, as long as there was room to fill the position." He also said my raw score was 253/255 on the battery itself. But so what? The score itself means nothing except to those in the military who are in charge of hiring new recruits. I can't take my ACT score of 33 and apply it anywhere but to a college. So the point is, even if I graduate Westwood with a 4.0, what does that mean to ANYone if I can't show them somehow in a concrete manner that I have what it takes to succeed? Make a portfolio. I don't know what your major was, and if you stated it, my apologies for not being able to recall it. But if it's something that you can assemble to show off to employers, by all means do it... and make it look *awesome.* That's what I mean by "sell the school." Don't let *it* sell *you.* And even if the job is a little demeaning at first, or if it's not where you'd like to be, keep working at it and move up. Search FastWeb, monster, etc for internships and externships. If you need to relocate, do it - within reason. I can understand how pissed and frustrated you must be with not being hired where you want. But don't let that stop you. Keep at it until you stop breathing. And as for the sky-high debt you racked up with student loans, etc, don't even sweat it - live how you're living now, or even beneath your means, and make whatever payments you can afford. They can't gripe if they're cashing a check. They can send it to collections, and so on, but they still can't squeeze blood from a stone, and there's no such thing as debtor's prison in America. Eventually you'll find your niche in your career, and you can repair your credit then. All the rest is scare tactics that keep you from buying a new house or car on credit. And who needs a credit card when you're living within your means, anyhow? I don't want this to sound like a rant. I want to help. I just don't think that bashing Westwood is going to do that, and I actually think that it will make things *worse* if enough people complain; it'll make the name "Westwood College" sound even worse than you think it does now. Keep in touch - if there's anything I can personally do to help you, I will.

GPA...I was a straight A student and was on the Dean's list my entire time. I have an IQ of 144, so not understanding and not paying attention was not the problem here. I am glad you love it...I did too while I was there, it was after I left and tried it in the real world. As to where I applied and yes they were hiring, just not someone with a Westwood degree. If you don't want to apply where I did stay away from Chicago and as far down south as St. Louis, MO.. Good Luck to You

First, I'd like to start by saying that I am a current student of Westwood College, Online Campus; I work at it from home in West Virginia. My major is Game Software Development. I am about to graduate in October of 2008, and it's my honest opinion that Westwood College as a whole is a reputable school. Aside from this report, I've seen nothing but good remarks about it, and in my own personal experience, I've learned a LOT. So, excuse me sir, but what exactly was your GPA? What was your major? Did you compile a portfolio of your work? And if so, did you utilize Westwood's Career Development Services to their full potential? Just because *you* can't find a job, doesn't mean OTHER people can't. It isn't Westwood's fault that you obviously didn't pay enough attention to your course material to walk away with the skills you need to succeed in a career. I've learned a veritable ton of information in my time at Westwood, and although some of the classes are very difficult and require a lot of extra outside research, it doesn't mean that the education at its core is faulty. Now, for the challenge: exactly where are you applying that you are getting "laughed at" because you went to Westwood? Are these big companies? Are they hiring fresh-out-of-college students in your league? Are they even hiring *at all* at the moment? I'd really like to know, so I can take my resumee elsewhere. Just to further debunk this gentleman's point, here is what Westwood offers all its students: 1) Live student tutors from which you can learn on almost any given day of the week, for most of its subject material; 2) Access to a tutoring service called Smarthinking, whose membership comes free with your tuition; (I'd never have made it through Calculus without them) 3) Instructors who are patient, and willing to work with students and communicate via e-mail, or telephone during office hours; (sometimes even *outside* of office hours) 4) Discussion boards where tutors and instructors participate to help solve your problems when you're not able to attend live tutor/instructor hours; 5) A virtual library of weblinks and resources for research material; 6) Encouragement and opportunity to do outside research on subjects outside of the textbooks for required classes; 7) Hands-on control of your education, where you may switch certain classes for others if you wish (if it's not a core class that is required to graduate in your field); 8) A chain of reporting that allows one to speak DIRECTLY with the program director of your field, if need be, to resolve issues and discuss concerns; 9) A team of student advisors who work directly with students of your major, so that any problems with class scheduling, concerns over course material, etc can be discussed before escalating the issue to management; 10) Surveys taken each and every term that allow you to report feedback as to your instructors, the course in general, and the utilization of course materials; 11) Open communications among the staff to the students, so that any student who has a question or concern can respond via e-mail; and 12) Public e-mail announcements that provide virtual seminars with phone-in conversations that you can utilize to build your skill sets, learn about interviewing, career finding, portfolio building, etc, along with other seminars focused on your specific major. Now, by no means is this list of a dozen things all-inclusive. But, it is enough to show the world that ANY student has EVERY opportunity to take advantage of a myriad of services which will boost levels of success and promote one's education. If this gentleman did not utilize any of these materials (WHICH, as an alumni, are STILL available to him) then it is not *Westwood's* fault. The classes are NOT a joke, either - currently, I am taking a class called Compiler and Interpreter Design, and the book being used is called "Compilers: Principles Techniques and Tools (Second Edition)" By Alfred V. Aho, Monica S. Lam, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman. This book is a hailed text, used in Master's degrees more so than Baccalaureate degrees. It's hard to understand, but guess what? *I* get it. I also have a 3.94 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale, after 13 of my 15 terms. I've got the skills and the confidence to get a job at a game studio. I've been provided with everything I need. Westwood, while it is your educator, is NOT responsible for handing you a job right out of college. You have to WORK for it. That's life. Don't go blaming Westwood for your troubles, just because you can't find a job. If you've been looking for a job with companies who say Westwood's degree isn't good enough, then look elsewhere. Prove them wrong. Prove that you DO know your stuff... because you *do know your stuff* don't you? I mean, no matter *what* school you go to, if you can't prove through some sort of portfolio or entrance exam that you have what it takes to work at a company, then of course they're going to think your education isn't worth a crap. So, here is my advice: quit whining about your financial troubles, pick up the pieces, and move on. Dodge the bullet, don't sit there and take it. Go make a portfolio of your work, be it art, programming, or whatever it is you did while at Westwood. That is the most critical thing to have when applying for a new job... the GPA doesn't even mean squat unless you can *prove* you've got the mental muscle to back it up. If you actually do the work, it'll pay off; graduation and the subsequent piece of paper which states you graduated isn't a magical spell that automatically makes you attractive to employers. In other words, whining about your problem isn't going to solve a d**n thing... especially if, even if you DID have reason to sue Westwood, and even further if you WON, where would that leave you? You'd be clear of your student debt, but still unemployed. What then? Are you going to sue someone for not employing you? No. And what about further education? You think any school worth their salt is going to let you in after finding through a background check that you're the guy who "sued because his education wasn't good enough in his opinion?" That's like the bullcrap with McDonald's and the guy who sued because he ate there too much and got fat. Even though he won, half the world still looks at him as the definition of a d****ebag, because it was HIS fault he ate there. Point is, just grow up and quit wallowing. You won't accomplish anything that way, and with great examples of Westwood students like myself who are doing excellent and are happy with their education, you will never, ever, EVER win a lawsuit against them. I'll travel to help testify in their defense. So go ahead - and the good students who actually put forth the effort to learn something will totally outshine you.

As an employee and, almost a student. I can agree the classes are a joke for Westwood Online. Westwood is a rip off and has found yet another way to get people's money. I attempted to take the online classes but because of unethical situations and lack of education, I dropped the classes. Fight Westwood!