So, this educational institution is divided into two programs. There is a sound and audio engineering program, and then there is a digital film and media program. I am strictly speaking for the digital film program.
If you are genuinely interested in a career in film and media, I would highly recommend giving your money to another institution. I don't know how this institution is run today or if a lot of the same staff are still there, but what I experienced was a cesspool of unprofessional and unethical behavior.
Staff would often egg on conflict between the students to the point that it felt like the school was run like a trashy reality television show. Certain staff members often made fun of current and former students behind their backs. They did this in front of other students. They would encourage the students to get in on the making fun of other students as well.
A majority of the equipment in the digital film program was also very outdated. When each student is paying $25,000 to attend school there, you would think that they would have updated equipment that met the current standards of the industry. It often led me to believe that the money being spent on the school was not being used on equipment or the technology, but perhaps elsewhere in the form of personal gain and benefit for the higher-ups.
At one point, an employee working there was told by the vice president to remove a Buddha statue from her office because it offended her religious views. The employee removed the statue out of fear of losing their job. This is unethical, illegal and should never be tolerated in any type of business.
One of the staff members would say things like, "a lot of dreams have died in this school," and at the graduation it was informed to me by a student that the same staff member said, "I could take a giant shit on the floor and that's how much of a chance these kids have to make it in the industry after going to school here."
This is the big thing. A decade ago, the school was shut down for a period of time for undisclosed reasons. Upon opening up again, they were being monitored by individuals involved in some kind of education monitoring. They handed questionnaires to every student and the staff and higher-ups in the school would encourage the students to only say nice things about their experiences at the school. The next day, after the students had conformed, they brought in cupcakes for everyone as a thank you for saying such nice things about them. That should've immediately raised a red flag.
One of the individuals who worked as a teaching assistant there was one of the most unprofessional and unpleasant individuals I had ever encountered. He would berate and belittle the students, talk to them in very demeaning and bullying manners, and if you confronted him about it and told him he was being unprofessional, he would say things like, "if you don't like the way I am, deal with it." At one point, he had even directly threatened to make my time in that school a living hell. Granted, that staff member is no longer with the school, his departure was not related to his horrible treatment of students. The fact that his unprofessional treatment of students was left unchecked is really sad. He was just allowed to treat them horribly and demean them. Staff was aware of what his behavior was like, but did nothing at all about it.
To sum it all up, take your money elsewhere. You will get a better education from a more professional group of individuals at another school. The people that run this school are hustlers. They know it, and they know they are getting away with it. If you are a former student and have experienced such unethical and unprofessional experiences at this school, speak up. read more
