I am a current Neumont student and I just want to tell about my personal experience. When I first heard about Neumont I thought it was a scam and just another tech school taking money. I flew out to visit the school and talk to some students. I decided to enroll and at the time I had NO programming experience. The classes are very fast paced and it is hard for a lot of people to keep up. Once you slack off it is really hard to catch up. You just have to be serious and focused and you'll be fine.

The dropout rate is pretty high. The school is like a job and being in class 5 days a week from 8-4 and then having homework every night is tough. There were days when I'd be in school until 4 then go home and do homework until midnight. It can get stressful. I believe the dropout rate is 3 out of every 5 drop out by the 3rd quarter. It sounds bad but if you think about it....only the ones who really strive to make it stay. That makes it better than a school that just graduates anyone who pays.

There are activities for the students. In just the last 2 quarters there were lan parties, a day downtown that included FREE Sundance Festival tickets, tubing in the snow at Park City, a day at Lagoon (an amusement park), a day at the zoo and other things I can't quite remember. This is Utah and if you want to drink/party you are kind of in the wrong state anyway.

I was sitting in the student commons toward the end of last quarter and a company from California was on campus doing interviews. One of the interviewers was walking through the commons and I heard someone ask them how Neumont students compare in interviews to other students. The interviewer said he does interviews at a lot of colleges and he honestly could not believe the level of the students at Neumont, that it was definitely above the bar.

Of course, not all students at Neumont are amazing but I feel pretty good knowing people a couple of quarters ahead of me are really getting multiple job offers rather than just hearing the school tell us how high the employment rate is.

Just to introduce myself, my name is Josh, and I am a current student at Neumont. I am about half way done with my education and have been apart of a lot of changes at Neumont, I have been on several student advisory boards and taken part in student government.



Overall- I feel that Neumont is a great school. It is not the traditional four year. It is a four degree done in two and a half years. There is a lot of hard work and it is not easy, with most students taking 20+ credits every quarter. The school is new, as it has only been around for about six years and I feel that is why a lot of changes are made every quarter, from classes being offered to school wide policies. What I really enjoy is that the school is small about 300-350 students when everyone shows up.



Stimulating Courses- I feel there are two types of courses at Neumont. Mandatory and elective. The mandatory classes are generally anything related to computers, Intro. to programming, Java I, II and III,and C# I, II, and III, just to name a few. Each of these classes are two parts. The lab classes where you learn theory with small labs and hands on programming while following along in class and the project classes where you program real projects, like in Java I the project was a working chess game, with several features and a competitive thinking AI or computer player. I have yet to win against the AI that I programmed. These classes are hard, challenging, and will demand most of your time. They cover a lot of information and you write a lot of lines of code. The other classes are easier. They generally have some level of busy work, but in my experience these are still great classes. The stress level is low so you can focus on the programming classes.



Quality of Professors- This can be a hit or miss experience. The teachers that are teaching the computer classes are really good teachers with their own teaching style, but most don't hold teaching credentials but computer science degrees. The school believes that our teachers are comparable because they have real world experience working for large companies. Most of the general education teachers do hold or are professors at other colleges like BYU.



Networking and Job Opps- The punch line of Neumont is that 94% of its graduates within three months of graduation have a job that pays to the average of $64,000 starting.



Area around campus- The area depends on how far you want to go. Biking, snow boarding/skiing, wake boarding, climbing, exploring can all be 15-20 mins away if you have a car. The train/TRAX takes people to down town SLC and is only a five minute walk. Around us is Walmart, Sam's, Subway, Quiznos, several other fast food places like In-N-Out and Five Guys and Fries. The mall, several banks , and a Best Buy are all just down the street.



Affordability- Neumont is not cheap. Tuition is $7500 a quarter + housing and cost of living X 10 quarters(1 quarter = 10 weeks 10 quarters = 2 1/2 years). To make the decision easier look at Networking and Job Opps.



Housing- The school is small and so every student that is not living at home will live in a school provided apartment(this is the housing cost mentioned in Affordability). The apartments are two bedroom, two baths, full kitchen(microwave, oven, stove top, dishwasher, sink, and cabinets), and a living room. Each student will have their own bed, and each apt. will have a couch/ love seat, dressers, and tables. Basically basic furnishings. The apt. also has a new work out room, pool, spa, and a steam room and sauna.



Extracurricular Opps- Neumont is not known for its sports teams and it doesn't have fraternities. Neumont is great for people who love computers. Neumont has a gaming culture. Most of our students play some computer or console based game. We have a soccer group. Many of our students take advantage of the free gym membership to Marve Jenson. Also, our time is limited. Remember 20+ credits each quarter.



Teacher Student Ratio- Freshman classes generally have higher student/teacher ratio's. My main computer classes had about 15-20 students. This number can be as high as 30-40 students. The popular classes generally have higher student ratio's as well. But several classes at Neumont generally have lower number of students. My intro to Flash class had 8 students.



Admin/Staff- Each department at Neumont has about 3-6 people in them with several departments. I would estimate a admin/staff of about 60 people.

The truth about Neumont University is that you get back what you put in.



Neumont is a small tech school offering BSCS/MSCS programs (as well as newer BTOM/BSDE degrees). It is accredited through ACICS.



I started Neumont in 2006 and graduated September 2008. A month before I graduated, I received a great offer and am currently still working for that company.



Was I a 4.0 student? No.

Did I struggle? Yes.

Did I almost get kicked out of the school? Yes.



Did I work RIDICULOUSLY hard to graduate? Yes, and that's the whole point of my review. I knew nothing about computer science or software development before I started, but I was able to graduate and land a great job afterward.



Positive:

+ The school focuses on project based learning. I was able to work on projects that mimicked what I would be doing in the "real" world (albeit A LOT smaller scale).

+ Small class size. It's easy to get questions asked and answered during class.

+ If you're unable to get a question in, most instructors will take the time out to meet with you if you're struggling with concepts.



Negative:

- If you're looking for a school with a lot of social activities, this probably isn't the school that you want. The Utah campus is small and there is little opportunity for social activity outside of group gaming and LAN parties.

- The school is quite expensive, and I was unable to find a lot of opportunities for scholarship(s)/financial aid.

- Workload. Neumont University is extremely demanding. Public colleges typically recommend 12-15 credits per quarter, and the norm (at least when I was there) was 18-24 credits per quarter. Expect class from 8:00am - 4:00pm with at least a few hours of study/homework every night.

- The career services department is great if you want to work locally, but you're basically on your own if you want a job outside of the greater Salt Lake area (like me). However, this doesn't mean that you won't get a job. About 2-3 months before I graduated, I had my resume finished and began submitting applications. I'd probably sent my resume to around 60-70 companies and heard back from only 3 or 4.



-To the previous reviewers-

concerned prospective student: Don't forget that people typically only post their opinion when it's negative. When I attended the school, they did exactly as they said they would. I learned valuable skills in computer science, software design, and project management.



As far as accreditation, Neumont is fully accredited through ACICS (see the doc here: http://www.acics.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/11.12.09.pdf or optionally go to http://www.acics.org/default.aspx for more information).



concerned parent: I agree with you on some points. I found it frustrating that we'd have little to know say in policy or decisions that affected all of us, but that's typical of most schools public and private.



When I attended, the "Laptops Down" policy wasn't in effect. However, it makes sense after seeing the distraction that laptops had become while I was there. There were multiple students in almost all of my classes (me included at times) that wouldn't pay attention to lecture and instead would be gaming, browsing, etc.



The school doesn't "force" you to lose sleep studying, but I think they should make prospective students/parents VERY aware of the commitment that they will have to be successful at Neumont. This isn't a typical school, so you won't have typical school commitment.



I agree with you about the current administration. We used to have a president and dean that would constantly check in on classes and students to see how they were doing. The president while I was there knew every student by name.

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Neumont gives you the tools to succeed, but it's up to you to utilize them. They're not going to hold your hand.

Neumont is an accredited member ACICS  recognized by the US Department of Education for charting the course of US Higher Education and recognized by Forbes, USA Today, MSNBC, and Nightline for their innovative approach to applied Computer Science education.



Currently,94% of graduates are placed in the field of computer science or technology wihtin three months of graduation at average starting salaries of $62,000.  Detailed placement data is audited by our accrediting body and based off confirmed offers (offer letters) give to Neumont gradautes.



Academically, Neumont models our program around the needs of industry, working in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Nike, eBay and other local and national companies to provide our students the handson education required by tomorrow's technology leaders.

To ask questions about academics or to read accurate student reviews I encourage you to log on to Neumont's student forums.

Academics:

As a current student, I find that the coursework can tend to be overwhelming at times, but it is certainly not impossible to cope with. The teachers are (usually) lenient enough to work with you if you're having a tough time. There is plenty of tutoring going on as well. Sometimes I do wish that we had more time to cover more topics, but I trust that we go over enough of the core concepts to achieve a well rounded understanding.



College Life:

This section is seriously lacking. I don't feel like I am getting the full "college experience". To be quite honest, it more or less feels like high-school all over again.



Location:

Although I don't hear much the same from my roommates, I have grown quite fond of the area. Coming from a somewhat rural area in Texas, I find the surrounding city a pleasant change. The mountains present great opportunities for skiing, mountain biking, and hiking. The music scene here is great too; there are events going on constantly.



Campus:

Being comprised of two floors in an office building, Neumont is far less than stellar in this area.



Social Scene:

In terms of student organized groups, Neumont offers up Orders and Clubs. Many clubs have sprung up and just as quickly died out; few stand the test of time. Neumont does hold events on occasion. Mini golf, movies, concerts, sporing events, water park trips, LAN parties...