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North American Trade Schools
What the community has to say about North American Trade Schools
Information from the business
English
May 07, 2010
A registered Private Career College under the Private Career Colleges Act, Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities - Ontario.
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Cavan1
Ontario
March 24, 2011, (Edited June 07, 2011)
smith
August 25, 2010
Rick
November 13, 2009, (Edited March 18, 2010)
Reviews [5]
English
My view of NATS
Hi Everybody, I'm in HVAC and writing my G3 on the 28th. I've read the reviews of the school and I have to congratulate the fellow who got a job for $40.00 per hour. I do have some concerns about people in the front office (the recruiters) and there is some question whether or not they are being paid commissions. In one of the reviews there is an accusation that the teachers ensure everyone passes and students can take tests as many times as needed. In my experience so far with my classmates and myself if you fail a test you are only allowed one re-write. With the HVAC only one test is open book prior to writing the G3. If you fail the G3, you are allowed one re-write but if you require more attempts you have to pay as far as I’m aware.
There was some complaints about the inadequacy of the classroom and lab facilities. With regard to my class, we are in a lab with approx 4X8 desks and 3 foot stools with no back rests and no mechanical ventilation and it is terribly uncomfortable.
With regard to the bathrooms, I have read the complaint and I must say they are kept clean but there are no paper towels to dry your hands. The complaint about the vending machines is warranted and in my time at the school all of the machines have been broken down at one time or another. When I first started my class the switch for the water fountain was exposed and remained that way for some time.
Lockers - Lockers are provided to you and a partner. They are very small and you are encouraged to keep your books in the lockers. They are of poor construction and there is concern that they could be broken into. There are security cameras that monitor the area but one must question whether or not they are actually recording any activity.
I have to agree with the complaint about working in the lab and having to deal with the noise. I do appreciate the fact that we are being trained to work in the trades and I'm sure that we will have to deal with this on the job. As far as I can see the noise is and probably was created by the students learning the renovation trade (construction). When I went through the tour it was explained to me that this trade had a separate building to avoid these problems. This is not the case in my experience. To give an example as I am an HVAC student we were attempting to weld our copper pipes but we had to ask the two construction students to remove their construction aprons from our workbench in order for us to complete our project which caused some conflict with the HVAC students. The two days that we were at the lab it was very difficult to hear our instructor and it was clearly evident that our instructor was frustrated in the fact that he couldn't clearly communicate with us.
Books and Tools - With the tuition of over $15000 you receive your books and tools. Lets talk about tools first. Most of the tools are made in China or Mexico, the only worthwhile instrument provided is the volt-meter. Quite frankly I’d be embarrassed to walk onto a job site with any of the tools provided. Books - We have gone through 10 modules and each module has fallen apart with use because the bindings are poor quality. The books also have mis-spelled words and inaccurate answers after reviewing each assignment.
Lastly I have attempted to attend each day of class and I know there are many students that haven’t done so. These students could be the ones posting complaints on-line. The complaints about their instructors may be justified, but my instructor will not rest until everyone in the class understands what he is teaching. If you really want to learn a trade it’s up to you to apply yourself and learn. I have attended one other trade school in the past and there are issues with NATS that I can see. But if you apply yourself and listen to the teacher’s years of experience you can learn a lot at this school.
If there are any instructors that read these postings, stop with the politics and work together.
PS, I’m not a big fan of Mike Holmes’ picture...lol
Update - Dudes, update to my commentary, I failed the G3, missed by 2%. P@!%!d right off, totally embarassed. I have to give heads up to my next teacher Rick for being patient while I studied for my G3 again....lol My previous teacher Bob I have to give kudos to him for letting me come in early and study for the exam (G3). Thanks very much, hugs and kisses to both of you.I do have some personal issues that I would like to let people know about.
I believe these are privacy issues and I have made Joe Rombouts aware of them. We were asked to review the 2 teachers named above. We were presented with the forms with a teacher sitting right beside me and across from the other two students along with a staff member from the front office who told us to complete the review. I questioned why we were filling out the forms as there were only three people in the class and why did we have to fill them out with a teacher and a staff member waiting for us to complete them. As far as I was concerned this was not an anonymous review. Firstly there were only three of us in the class and secondly the staff member and the teacher were there along with Joe Rombouts telling us that we had to complete it. One can only wonder what those two teachers would have thought about us after we filled out the review as they knew we were the only 3 students they had in the past 15 weeks. At the time of the survey I had only completed 10 - 15 weeks of my 50 week course and I wondered what if I was to have these two teachers again would they think badly of me. If the teachers received a bad review they would know it came from one of only three students.
Guess what got my G3! Thanks again Bob & Rick. Spent 5 weeks with Marco, cool dude. We had 2 people left out of our class of 6. Showed up today and was advised that we had 4 more students added to our class of 2 remaining. I am very angry as we had no warning that this was going to happen nor did we have any warning of who our teacher was going to be. I voiced my opinion to two teachers and Joe Rombouts advised me that two teachers had already let him know that I was upset.
I've decided to leave NATS and pursue my G2 elsewhere. Not a big fan of the left-handed sharpeners, lol. Nor was I amused by the fact that we weren't made aware of new students in our class. Mr. Rombouts said we had to live with having more students in the class, not this dude. Spent too much money to have to face another challenge with more students that are challenged themselves and my bank account has also been challenged to attend this school. This dude did not get full funding.
P.S. I lost a shitload of dough in the vending machines and the washrooms were still clean.
cash grab
"Rick James" review is 100% spot on. I graduated a year ago, I was reminded of the school recently and was inspired to warn as many people as possible about this place.
I can't post the picture but I have one of around 60 guys in the "lab". with the handful of equipment they had. It took us students to suggest a lab schedule, it felt like a self taught course that you would pass no matter what.
There was even copies of the g2 exam being passed around after I wrote mine. Many believed the school actually manufactured them.
Learn from my mistake, just try and find a job in the field for HVAC, electrical, plumbing, construction. It might only start at $10 an hr but you'll start at that if you go to school or not and save 16 grand in tuition . it's very basic stuff that you could learn as you work.
Oh yeah and I think it's hilarious it takes someone who works for NATS to write a good review, you won't make $40hr after this that's ridiculous.
The government should shut this place down. they're waisting tax dollars by trying to grab all the free money floating around in the system for second career training. go to fanshawe!
The Mickey Mouse Club
First of all I'm not natured to be the type of person that complains I just have some facts about the school that I would like to share so future "Students" avoid this place!
My tuition cost $15830.00 total including books for the year (no idea how that amount is justified), basically the recruiters will tell you anything to get you in the door (get your money). For example 85% of NATS graduates are employed in the field. Now I come to find out this means 85% of the people that graduate from the school work somewhere Mc Donalds, Walmart, a temp agency etc etc... Not as an apprentice or tradesman necessarily.
Second, all grades are a gift at this place basically for paying your tuition and showing up to school, if you do happen to fail a test they can be rewritten as many times as needed until a passing mark is achieved. Some teachers let you cheat, or just make every test open book so students can actually pass with the instructor’s terrible teaching attributes.
Third, teachers, I had two awesome teachers and two teachers that left a terrible impression of NATS on me. The two guys that are great instructors need to find new employment. The two that aren't, were frequently missing from class, running errands when they’re getting paid to teach, doing work on the side when they are supposed to be teaching. Not covering the content they should be. Not being prepared for class making twenty five students sit for hours on end while the instructor figures out what’s going on!
The administration at this school is insane, the director/principle or whatever you want to call him is an ex police chief, that lies whenever he is asked a question. We were without a classroom for 10 weeks of my course, trying to learn and listen on a shop floor with banging and sawing going on ten feet away. When the chief was asked when we would be in a classroom he gave a 2 week time frame and after 10 weeks the class still was not finished.
Also there is no cafeteria, vending machines are frequently out of order. We had a coffee counter, that was replaced by broken vending machines!
Washrooms are a disaster, I've over herd several people in my class say they would rather go outside! (There are times I tend to agree)
When we finally got a classroom again in the 3rd module it was on the second floor with no A/C in the middle of summer. (It’s hard to learn with sweat dripping down your face) This was the second time the principle lied directly to my face stating we would have a new A/C unit the following week. It ended up taking 5 weeks and it was smaller than the old broken one that barely kept the room tolerable.
In the end what does this course mean? Well it's experience! The government doesn't really recognize the school! What I mean by this is that government testing is in no way included in the course. Also unless you pay to challenge the level one apprenticeship they don’t count your training towards your apprenticeship, although they will fund you to go there (go figure). From what I learned this 47 week course it could have been condensed to 20 weeks easily! (This is mainly due to the two terrible teachers)
So my advice to you if you want to take an electrical program, take one the government runs at a community college, because you will be prepared for government testing!
If I could trade what I know for $15830.00 I would do it in a heartbeat
Cheers
Rick James
Who's got an agenda?
I'm adding to my review which was an honest review of my experience. My only agenda was to help future students take good hard look at the courses offered at this school before taking the plunge! The salesman they have calling every number in the phone book recruiting people can be very convincing!
My class was very much in agreement with my criticisms of the school, some were more vocal than I was about it! I was also contacted via email from someone that owns or operates the school on a level above regular administration. To let me know one of the teachers I complained about had been let go. The other still remains the "Director of Electrical Technology"
I will try and get some classmates to write reviews. We all found out first hand how negative reviews are handled, because several times they were read in front of us as a class, usually people that wrote the school had vague complaints, but names were given and I wanted to avoid any harassment! Hence my use of an "alias". Also I have great respect for two of my instructors and would like to stay in there good books!
Where are the first hand positive reviews? Someone from administration could at least make one up couldn't they? Barb obviously has access to the school's student registry because she somehow knew "Rick James" was an alias
Why not release some of the teacher reviews from my class? I'm sure they've been shredded and thrown away by now!
Anyway I have no agenda in writing this review other than to help others. The other two posters are affiliated with the school!
The choice is yours who to believe!
There will be more where this came from!
Other Reviews from the web
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Get your diploma and be job ready in less than a year!
March 02, 2008Home Renovation Technology Electrical Technology HVAC - Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning. Welding Technology
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Business Description from the Web
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September 23, 2013
North American Trade Schools are dedicated to the principle that skill training should be directed to the needs of the individual and the employer. Emphasis is placed on quality workmanship, proper attitude and good attendance in order to prepare graduates for employment.At North American Trade Schools we realize the most important career decision you’ll make is to begin training for a new... more
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