career college vs college

[shelterbay17]

How does going to a career college (vocational school) vs regular college compare in the areas of education, desirability as a hire, salary, etc?

The career college is 1 year (EMT-B and Paramedic) total.

The college is either 4 months or 6 months, depending obviously on days attended oer week.

Then the Paramedic program is 19 months.

Thanks

[VentMedic]

First, the school should be accredited by CAAHEP/COAEMSP.

You should then consider the cost. A "career votech school" that costs as much as one semester at Harvard is not worth it regardless of how fast one can finish the program.

Votech schools will usually give just the minimum amount of hours required for certification in your state and little else. At this time, the number of minimum hours for Paramedic will also vary from state to state.

A good college program should offer college classes such as Anatomy and Physiology, the same level nurses take, as prerequisites to entry into the program.

If your son or daughter decides later after getting a Paramedic cert that this isn't the career for them, they will usually have no college credits and must start over if they want to go to a real college. If they choose to go to another votech, they may end up doing the short term fix "job" route instead of trying establish an education toward a career.

However, at a good community college, whatever credits earned can be applied toward another degree. This will at least apply for the general ed and the sciences while some of the other classes may be used as electives. If your son or daughter decides they want to advance their education, they also will have a good start. The votech credits may not always transfer to higher education.

The pay as a Paramedic at this time does not differentiate as to where you went to school. However, working toward a degree at a college does show ambition that one may want a career and not just a job.

Edited May 3, 2009 by VentMedic

[paramedicmike]

Vent pretty much hit it head on. Votech type training, in many cases, won't leave the student with anything that will transfer on into either another field or into a college level educational program.

Also, a college level program that requires pre-requisites such as Anatomy & Physiology, math, psychology, english, rhetoric and writing, history and more helps round out the educational foundation that will allow your son/daughter to better integrate with the people they'll both be working with and treating.

You didn't say where you're from, but if you're from Oregon then your son/daughter will be required to have a college degree. Take that for what that's worth.

Going to a more traditional college (community or four year) may not get your son/daughter to the end goal (i.e. certification) as fast as s/he may like. But it will benefit him/her in ways that may not be immediately evident. With any luck it will also foster the idea that this segment of medicine is a never ending process of learning. The more one learns the better a provider one becomes. The patients treated are the ones who will most benefit from this.

And that's who it's really all about.

Good luck!

-be safe

[AnthonyM83]

My opinion is that regardless of job you intend to go into (remember this may change...decide you don't like it...get injured and forced to retire...etc etc), you want your end goal to be a 4-year degree. You can start at community college, then transfer to state. Or go straight to a 4-year. Private, Public. Just end up with a bachelor's. That's baseline (for hireability and being well-rounded and life experience). Then go for your specific job training (whether that's a PhD to be a chemist or a certificate to be a paramedic).

Of course, many are successful going different routes, but there's no way to know if that'll work for you.

I'm at the age where I'm starting to see friends "stuck" when they realized their LE or EMS careers were not for them and are now trying to get back into real school.

[shelterbay17]

My opinion is that regardless of job you intend to go into (remember this may change...decide you don't like it...get injured and forced to retire...etc etc), you want your end goal to be a 4-year degree. You can start at community college, then transfer to state. Or go straight to a 4-year. Private, Public. Just end up with a bachelor's. That's baseline (for hireability and being well-rounded and life experience). Then go for your specific job training (whether that's a PhD to be a chemist or a certificate to be a paramedic).

Of course, many are successful going different routes, but there's no way to know if that'll work for you.

I'm at the age where I'm starting to see friends "stuck" when they realized their LE or EMS careers were not for them and are now trying to get back into real school.

thanks for all the info....passing it on to my daughter.

btw..... she is in Florida

[VentMedic]

btw..... she is in Florida

I figured you had to be either in California or Florida.

Definitely go with a community college in Florida. Or, there are a couple of decent state tech schools with good programs. Avoid the private career schools and especially those that say they now offer a "degree". They are over priced and will not be a benefit to the your daughter's education in the long run. The price of one year at these "career schools" could easily pay for a real college degree.

Some hospitals also restrict what the students from these programs can do during their clinicals because of their bad reputations. For example, the students may not get to do live intubations but must rely on manikins for their entire check offs.

With any luck these private career schools or "medic mills" will disappear over the next few years. They have done very little to improve the Paramedic as a professional and have been a hindrance to improving it as a profession. They have mass produced Paramedics to where Florida is saturated and some are still flipping burgers at Burger King after they graduate from these schools.

However, if your daughter just wants to be a Fire Fighter and is just using the Paramedic certification to get hired and has no interest in medicine.....

While I would like to say just scrap all of the above posts of information on education, it would still be good to be an educated Paramedic in the FD. Many of us here got our start as Fire Department Paramedics and some of us entered with a solid college education. Unfortuately, in Florida, to be a Paramedic in EMS, you may have to be a Fire Fighter. There are a few exceptions such as Lee County. I would also suggest a college based program for hiring on at Lee County since they are all for medically educated providers who can present themselves as professionals.

Edited May 3, 2009 by VentMedic

[AnthonyM83]

thanks for all the info....passing it on to my daughter.

btw..... she is in Florida

What county?

[shelterbay17]

I figured you had to be either in California or Florida.

Definitely go with a community college in Florida. Or, there are a couple of decent state tech schools with good programs. Avoid the private career schools and especially those that say they now offer a "degree". They are over priced and will not be a benefit to the your daughter's education in the long run. The price of one year at these "career schools" could easily pay for a real college degree.

Some hospitals also restrict what the students from these programs can do during their clinicals because of their bad reputations. For example, the students may not get to do live intubations but must rely on manikins for their entire check offs.

With any luck these private career schools or "medic mills" will disappear over the next few years. They have done very little to improve the Paramedic as a professional and have been a hindrance to improving it as a profession. They have mass produced Paramedics to where Florida is saturated and some are still flipping burgers at Burger King after they graduate from these schools.

However, if your daughter just wants to be a Fire Fighter and is just using the Paramedic certification to get hired and has no interest in medicine.....

While I would like to say just scrap all of the above posts of information on education, it would still be good to be an educated Paramedic in the FD. Many of us here got our start as Fire Department Paramedics and some of us entered with a solid college education. Unfortuately, in Florida, to be a Paramedic in EMS, you may have to be a Fire Fighter. There are a few exceptions such as Lee County. I would also suggest a college based program for hiring on at Lee County since they are all for medically educated providers who can present themselves as professionals.

I figured you had to be either in California or Florida.

Definitely go with a community college in Florida. Or, there are a couple of decent state tech schools with good programs. Avoid the private career schools and especially those that say they now offer a "degree". They are over priced and will not be a benefit to the your daughter's education in the long run. The price of one year at these "career schools" could easily pay for a real college degree.

Some hospitals also restrict what the students from these programs can do during their clinicals because of their bad reputations. For example, the students may not get to do live intubations but must rely on manikins for their entire check offs.

With any luck these private career schools or "medic mills" will disappear over the next few years. They have done very little to improve the Paramedic as a professional and have been a hindrance to improving it as a profession. They have mass produced Paramedics to where Florida is saturated and some are still flipping burgers at Burger King after they graduate from these schools.

However, if your daughter just wants to be a Fire Fighter and is just using the Paramedic certification to get hired and has no interest in medicine.....

While I would like to say just scrap all of the above posts of information on education, it would still be good to be an educated Paramedic in the FD. Many of us here got our start as Fire Department Paramedics and some of us entered with a solid college education. Unfortuately, in Florida, to be a Paramedic in EMS, you may have to be a Fire Fighter. There are a few exceptions such as Lee County. I would also suggest a college based program for hiring on at Lee County since they are all for medically educated providers who can present themselves as professionals.

Thank you.....this is all such good and helpful information....I appreciate it.

What county?

Pinellas County.....

[VentMedic]

Pinellas County.....

St. Pete CC is an excellent college for a wide variety of certificate and degree programs.

http://www.spcollege.edu/

Pinellas County also has Sunstar Ambulance with is one of the few non Fire services.

If your daughter still is looking at technical schools, Sarasota Tech would be a decent choice at a reasonable cost.

http://www.sarasotatech.org/index.aspx?page=180

[HERBIE1]

All good advice. My opinion-concurrently or after taking the EMS classes- take college courses and obtain a fall back degree/occupation. Accounting, computers, teaching - whatever their interest lies. As was mentioned, this business is rough on the body- and mind- and illness and injuries are a real problem and can cut short your career. It's good to have a back up plan- something to have in your back pocket. Get a teaching certification so you can teach EMS or anything else, for that matter.

Don't get tunnel vision and keep as many options open as possible.

The more tools you have at your disposal- especially in this economy- the better off you will be.

Good luck to them.