Questions to Ask Electrician Training Schools<\/strong><\/h3>\nOnce you have made a decision to obtain a certificate, diploma or degree, you can start to narrow down your training options. Considering that there are numerous electrician tech and trade schools in the Weirton WV region, it’s essential to have a checklist of qualifications that each school must satisfy. The initial 2 that we mentioned were location and tuition expense. If you have an interest in earning an online degree, then that must be an option that your final school offers. And while all three qualifiers may be important when making your selection, there are additional variables that must be considered as well. Below is a checklist of those additional qualifications that you will need to assess before enrolling in an electrical tech school.<\/p>\n
Accreditation. <\/strong>A large number of electrician technical programs have received either a regional or a national accreditation. They can attain Institutional Accreditation, which involves the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which pertains to an individual program, for example electrical technology. Make sure that the Weirton WV program and school are accredited by a U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting organization, for example the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Along with helping guarantee that you get a quality education, it can assist in obtaining financial aid or student loans, which are often not available for non-accredited schools. Furthermore, a number of states mandate that the electrician training program be accredited for it to qualify for licensing.<\/p>\nHigh Completion and Placement Rates. <\/strong>Ask the electrician schools you are looking at what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage of students who enroll in and finish the program. A lower completion rate could indicate that students were dissatisfied with the program and quit. It could also indicate that the teachers were not qualified to instruct the students. It’s also imperative that the schools have higher job placement rates. Older and\/or more reputable schools may have a broader directory of alumni, which may produce more contacts for the school to utilize for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only affirm that the school has an excellent reputation within the industry, but also that it has the network of contacts to help Weirton WV students obtain apprenticeships or employment.<\/p>\nApprenticeship Programs. <\/strong>Numerous electrician training programs are taught in conjunction with an apprenticeship or an internship program. Those participating trade and technical schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program within their network of electrical contractors or labor unions. Find out if the schools you are comparing have working partnerships with Weirton WV area electricians or electrical contractors. An apprenticeship not only offers a rewarding experience by furnishing hands-on training, but it also furnishes employment opportunities and helps to build relationships in the regional electrician professional community.<\/p>\nModern Facilities. <\/strong>Make sure that the campus facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are up-to-date and what you will be using in the field. If you are presently in an internship or an apprenticeship, talk to the electrical technician you are working with regarding what you should be expecting. If not, ask a local Weirton WV electrical contracting company if they can provide some tips. Additionally bear in mind that unless you can move, the school needs to be within commuting distance of your Weirton home. Take note that if you decide to attend an out-of-state school, in addition to moving costs there may be increased tuition charges compared to in-state residents.<\/p>\nSmaller Classes. <\/strong>It’s important that you receive as much individualized instruction as possible, which can be difficult in larger classes. Ask if you can monitor a few of the classes so that you can see how large they are and experience the interaction between instructors and students. Speak with some of the students and get their opinions relating to class sizes and instruction. Last, speak to some of the teachers and find out what their level of experience is and what degrees or certifications they have earned.<\/p>\nFlexible Scheduling. <\/strong>Verify that the class schedules for the programs you are reviewing are flexible enough to handle your needs. If you are only able to attend classes at night or on weekends near Weirton WV, check that the schools you are looking at provide those options. If you can only attend on a part-time basis, be sure that the school you select allows part-time enrollment. Also, find out what the protocol is to make-up classes should you miss any because of work, sickness or family emergencies.<\/p>\nConsidering Attending an Electrician School near Weirton WV?<\/h3>\n
Following is a little bit of background information about the Weirton WV area.<\/p>\n
Weirton, West Virginia<\/h3>
Weirton (pron. WEER-ton) is a city in Brooke and Hancock counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located primarily in Hancock County, the city lies in the northern portions of the state's Northern Panhandle region. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 19,746. Weirton is a principal city of the Weirton\u2013Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2010 population of 124,454 residents. Additionally, Weirton is part of Greater Pittsburgh, the 20th largest combined statistical area in the United States with a 2016 estimated population of 2,635,228.\n<\/p>
The small village called Holliday's Cove lanes \u2014 which is now most of downtown Weirton \u2014 was founded in 1793. (It eventually lost the apostrophe.) In 1909, Ernest T. Weir arrived from neighboring Pittsburgh and built a steel mill later known as Weirton Steel Corporation just north of Holliday's Cove.[5] An unincorporated settlement called Weirton grew up around the mill that, by 1940, was said to be the largest unincorporated city in the United States. By then Hollidays Cove and two other outlying areas, Weirton Heights and Marland Heights, which as their names suggest were on hilltops or ridges surrounding the \"Weir\u2013Cove\" area, had also incorporated.\n<\/p>
Hollidays Cove Fort was a Revolutionary War fortification constructed in 1774 by soldiers from Ft. Pitt. It was located in what is now downtown Weirton, along Harmons Creek (named for Harmon Greathouse), about three miles from its mouth on the Ohio River. It was commanded by Colonel Andrew Van Swearingen (1741\u20131793) and later by his son-in-law, Captain Samuel Brady (1756\u20131795), the famous leader of Brady's Rangers. In 1779, over 28 militia were garrisoned at Hollidays Cove. Two years earlier, Colonel Van Swearingen led a dozen soldiers by longboat down the Ohio to help rescue the inhabitants of Ft. Henry in Wheeling in a siege by the British and Indian tribes in 1777. That mission was memorialized in a WPA-era mural painted on the wall of the Cove Post Office by Charles S. Chapman (1879\u20131962). The mural features Col. John Bilderback, who later gained infamy as the leader of the massacre of the Moravian Indians in Gnadenhutten in 1782.[6]<\/p><\/div>\n