|
SAVVY POINTERS FOR FINDING THE BEST SCHOOL
§
Never
evaluate a school on one criterion only. Look at
all the criteria. However, the most important
criterion to assess is how many courses in the
program are directly related to massage and how many
hands-on techniques you will be learning.
§
Find out
how many years the school has offered a Massage
Therapy Training Program. Even if the
administrators of a school are well intentioned, it
is impossible for a school not to experience a
number of glitches in the first few years that the
program is running. Look for a school whose Massage
Program has been in operation a minimum of five
years. Ten years is better. Please also realize
that many new programs never get off the ground.
You are taking a chance, if you enroll in a new or
semi-new program and then find that the classes have
been cancelled at the last minute. It may be too
late for you to enroll in another school by the time
you find out the program has been cancelled.
§
Visit the
school to check out the facilities and to preview
classes which you would like to take. If the school
will not allow you to watch classes in action, don’t
go to that school.
§
Find out
the employment rate for graduates of the program you
wish to take. Ask for a list of employers you can
contact to see how happy the employers are with the
graduates of the school.
§
See if the
cost of the program is realistic in terms of the
number of types of massage you will be able to
perform upon graduation. The more types of bodywork
you learn, the more expensive the program should
be. Many programs are watered down with many hours,
but little content. Beware!
§
Talk to
current students at the school and /or graduates to
get a general sense of their satisfaction with their
training.
§
Talk to
teachers or observe the teacher's teaching to see
how well you like them. Does the school provide a
list of massage course teachers with each teacher’s
background?
§
Find out
if the school has a student clinic to give you the
experience of working on real clients that employers
are looking for. See if you may recruit some of the
clients in the student clinic to become some of your
own personal clients by handing out your business
cards.
§
Find out
what the school does when a student does not have a
partner to work on due to there being an odd number
of students in a class. Does the school get a model
in for the extra student to get to practice on?
§
Find out
if notes for massage classes are already made for
you by the school and provided with each course that
you take, so as to minimize your own need to take
notes. If a school can’t show you binders full of
notes that are specifically relevant to massage,
don’t go to that school.
§
Find out
how many certificates and diplomas you will have on
graduation to frame for your wall.
§
Find out
how much your Continuing Education classes are going
to cost you if they are not already built into the
program at a substantial savings. Realize that if
you have only learned one or two styles of massage
or bodywork, within six months of graduation you
will want to learn more. Figure out if you will be
able to afford this upon graduation if it is not
already built into your main program. The more types
of bodywork you can do, the more employable you
are.
|
