Topics to Ask Electrician Trade Schools<\/strong><\/h3>\nNow that you have decided to obtain a diploma, certificate or degree, you can start to narrow down your school options. Because there are so many electrician trade and vocational schools in the Santa Clara CA region, it’s important to have a checklist of criteria that each program must satisfy. The first 2 that we discussed were location and the cost of tuition. If you are interested in earning an online degree, then that must be an option that your final school offers. And while all three qualifiers may be critical when making your decision, there are other variables that must be considered as well. Following is a checklist of those added qualifiers that you will need to assess before selecting an electrical technical school.<\/p>\n
Accreditation. <\/strong>Many electrician vocational schools have attained either a regional or a national accreditation. They can acquire Institutional Accreditation, which focuses on the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which pertains to an individual program, for example electrical technology. Verify that the Santa Clara CA school is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education approved accrediting agency, for example the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping make certain that you get a superior education, it may assist in securing financial assistance or student loans, which are frequently not available for non-accredited schools. Also, a number of states mandate that the electrician training course be accredited for it to qualify for licensing.<\/p>\nHigh Completion and Placement Rates. <\/strong>Ask the electrician training programs you are looking at what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage of students who enroll in and complete the course. A lower completion rate could suggest that students were disappointed with the program and dropped out. It might also mean that the teachers were not qualified to train the students. It’s also important that the schools have higher job placement rates. Older and\/or more reputable schools may have a broader directory of graduates, which may mean more contacts for the school to employ for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only validate that the school has an excellent reputation within the trade, but additionally that it has the network of contacts to assist Santa Clara CA graduates acquire apprenticeships or jobs.<\/p>\nApprenticeship Programs. <\/strong>A large number of electrician vocational programs are taught in conjunction with an internship or an apprenticeship program. Those participating vocational and technical schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program inside their network of electrician contractors or labor unions. Find out if the schools you are comparing have referring relationships with Santa Clara CA area electricians or electrical specialists. An apprenticeship not only provides a valuable experience by supplying hands-on training, but it also supplies employment opportunities and helps to form relationships in the area electrician professional community.<\/p>\nModern Facilities. <\/strong>Confirm that the school facilities and the equipment that you will be instructed on are state-of-the-art and what you will be working with in the field. If you are presently in an internship or an apprenticeship, check with the electrical tech you are working with regarding what you should be expecting. If not, ask a local Santa Clara CA electrical contractor if they can give you some tips. Also keep in mind that unless you are able to relocate, the school needs to be within driving distance of your Santa Clara residence. Take note that if you decide to attend an out-of-state school, in addition to relocation costs there might be increased tuition charges compared to in-state residents.<\/p>\nSmaller Classes. <\/strong>It’s desirable that you get as much one-on-one instruction as possible, which can be challenging in bigger classes. Ask if you can sit in on some of the classes so that you can see how big they are and experience the interaction between students and instructors. Speak with a few of the students and get their opinions regarding class sizes and instruction. Last, speak with a few of the teachers and learn what their level of experience is and what degrees or certifications they hold.<\/p>\nFlexible Scheduling. <\/strong>Make sure that the class schedules for the schools you are evaluating are flexible enough to meet your needs. If you can only attend classes at night or on weekends near Santa Clara CA, check that the schools you are reviewing offer those choices. If you can only attend part-time, make sure that the school you select permits part-time enrollment. Finally, check out what the policy is to make-up classes should you miss any due to work, sickness or family responsibilities.<\/p>\nConsidering Attending an Electrician School near Santa Clara CA?<\/h3>\n
Following is a little bit of background information about the Santa Clara CA area.<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County, California<\/h3>
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is California's 6th most populous county, with a population was 1,781,642, as of the 2010 census.[3] The county seat and largest city is San Jose, the 10th most populous city in the United States and California's 3rd most populous city.<\/p>
Home to Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County is a global economic center for high technology and has the third highest GDP per capita in the world (after Zurich, Switzerland and Oslo, Norway), according to the Brookings Institution.[5] The county's concentration of wealth, primarily due to the tech industry, has made it the most affluent county on the West Coast of the United States and one of the most affluent places in America.[6][7]<\/p>
Santa Clara County is part of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. Located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, the highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley. Santa Clara is the most populous county in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Northern California, and is one of the most affluent counties in the United States.<\/p><\/div>\n