How to Choose the Best Welder Trade School near Westtown Pennsylvania
Locating the right welding school near Westtown PA is an important first step to launching your new occupation as a professional welder. But since there are numerous schools to select from, how do you determine which ones to consider? And more importantly, once you have fine tuned your options, how do you pick the best one? Many people start by checking out the schools that are nearest to their homes. Once they have located those that are within commuting distance, they gravitate toward the cheapest one. Yes, location and tuition cost are crucial concerns when examining welder vocational schools, but they are not the only ones. Other factors include such things as accreditation, reputation and job placement rates. So before starting your search for a vocational school to become a welder, it’s sensible to develop a list of qualifications that your chosen school must have. But before we delve into our due diligence checklist, let’s cover a little bit about how to become a welder.
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Welding Degree and Certificate Training Classes
There are a number of options available to receive training as a welder in a trade or vocational school. You can obtain a diploma, a certificate or an Associate Degree. Bachelor Degrees are available in Welding Technology or Welding Engineering, but are more advanced courses than most journeyman welders will need. Some programs are also made available along with an apprenticeship program. Below are brief descriptions of the most common welding programs available in the Westtown PA area.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are normally offered by technical and trade schools and take about 1 year to complete. They are more hands-on training in scope, designed mainly to develop welding skills. They can furnish a good foundation for a new journeyman or apprentice welder, or supplemental skills for working welders.
- Associate Degree Programs will take 2 years to complete and are most often offered by community colleges. An Associate Degree in Welding Technology furnishes a more well-rounded education than the certificate or diploma while still furnishing the foundation that prepares students to enter the workforce.
Some municipalities and states do have licensing requirements for welders, so don’t forget to check for your location of potential employment. As needed, the welder school you choose should prep you for any licensing exams that you will need to take in addition to furnishing the proper training to become a professional welder.
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Welding Certification Choices
There are multiple institutions that offer welding certifications, which test the knowledge and skill level of those applying. Numerous Westtown PA employers not only expect a certificate or degree from an accredited welding program, but also certification from a highly regarded organization like the American Welding Society (AWS). Different certifications are available based on the kind of work that the welder performs. Some of the things that certification can acknowledge are the welder’s ability to
- Operate in compliance with specific codes
- Work with specified metal thicknesses
- Work with certain types of welds
- Perform according to contract specifications
As earlier mentioned, many cities, states or local municipalities have licensing mandates for welders. Of those calling for licensing, many also require certification for various kinds of work. Certification is also a way to prove to employers that you are an extremely skilled and experienced welder. So just as with licensing, check the requirements for your location and confirm that the welder technical school you select preps you for certification as needed.
What to Ask Welder Trade Schools
As soon as you have chosen the credential you would like to attain, a certificate, diploma or degree, you can start to evaluate schools. As you probably know, there are a large number of welder trade and vocational schools in the Westtown PA area. That’s why it’s necessary to determine in advance what qualifications your school of choice must have. We have already discussed a couple of significant ones that many people look at first, which are location and tuition cost. As stated, although they are essential qualifiers, they are not the only ones that must be considered. After all, the school you choose is going to furnish the instruction that will be the foundation of your new profession as a welder. So below are more factors you might need to evaluate before selecting a welder technical school.
Accreditation. It’s essential that the welding trade school you select is accredited by either a regional or a national organization. There are two basic kinds of accreditation. The school may earn Institutional Accreditation based on all of their programs. Programmatic Accreditation is based on an individual program the school offers, for instance Welding Technology. So verify that the program you pick is accredited, not just the school alone. Additionally, the accreditation should be by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting organization, like the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). Besides helping make sure that you get a quality education, the accreditation might also help in securing financial aid or student loans, which are in many cases unavailable in Westtown PA for schools that are not accredited. Finally, for those states or municipalities that mandate licensing, they may require that the welder training program be accredited as well.
Apprenticeship and Job Placement Programs. Numerous welding diploma or degree programs are provided combined with an apprenticeship program. Some other schools will help place you in a job or an apprenticeship upon graduation. Find out if the schools you are considering help in placing students in apprenticeships or have a job placement program. The schools must have relationships with local unions and various metal working businesses to which they can place their students. More established schools may have a more substantial network of graduates that they can utilize for placements. These programs can help students find employment and develop relationships within the Westtown PA welding community.
Completion and Job Placement Rates. The completion rate is the percentage of students that enroll in an academic program and complete it. It’s essential that the welder school you choose has a higher completion rate. A lower rate might signify that the students who joined the program were unhappy with the training, the instructors, or the facilities, and quit. The job placement rate is also an indication of the quality of training. A higher job placement rate will not only confirm that the program has a good reputation within the trade, but also that it has the network of Westtown PA contacts to help students secure apprenticeships or employment upon graduation.
Modern Equipment and Facilities. After you have decreased your selection of welding programs to 2 or 3 possibilities, you should think out visiting the campuses to inspect their facilities. Confirm that both the facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are modern. Specifically, the training equipment should be comparable to what you will be using in the field. If you are uncertain what to look for, and are currently in an apprenticeship program, ask the master welder you are working under for guidance. Otherwise, ask a local Westtown PA welding professional if they can give you some pointers.
School Location. Even though we already briefly discussed the importance of location, there are a few additional issues that we need to address. You should keep in mind that unless you have the ability to relocate, the welding program you choose needs to be within driving distance of your Westtown PA home. If you do opt to attend an out-of-state school, besides moving expenses there may be higher tuition fees for out-of-state residents. This is especially the case for welding degree programs offered by community colleges. Additionally, if the school provides a job placement or apprenticeship program, more than likely their placements are within the school’s regional community. So the location of the school should be in a region or state where you ultimately will wish to work.
Smaller Classes. Personalized instruction is essential for a hands-on trade such as welding. It’s possible to be lost in larger classes and not obtain much personalized instruction. Ask what the typical class size is for the welder programs you are considering. Ask if you can sit in on some classes so that you can experience how much individual attention the students are receiving. While there, talk with several of the students and get their opinions. Also, speak with a couple of the trainers and ask what their welding experience has been and what certifications and credentials they hold.
Flexible Class Scheduling. Some people learn a new profession while still working at their current job. Confirm that the class schedules for the programs you are reviewing are flexible enough to satisfy your needs. If you can only attend classes at night or on weekends near Westtown PA, verify that the schools you are looking at provide those alternatives. If you can only enroll on a part-time basis, make certain that the school you decide on offers part-time enrollment. Also, ask what the protocol is to make up classes should you miss any because of work, illness or family emergencies.
Online Welding Training
Welding is truly a hands-on type of vocation, and for that reason not extremely compatible with training online. Having said that, there are a few online welding programs offered by various community colleges and technical schools in the greater Westtown PA area that may be credited toward a degree or certificate program. These courses mainly cover such subjects as reading blueprints, safety,, and metallurgy. They can help provide a novice a foundation to initiate their training and education. Nevertheless, the most critical point is that you can’t learn how to weld or work with welding materials until you actually do it. Naturally that can’t be performed online. These skills need to be learned in an on-campus setting or in an apprenticeship. Online or distance learning is better suited for seasoned welders that would like to advance their expertise or perhaps obtain a more advanced degree. So if you should discover an online welding certificate or degree program, be very careful and verify that the larger part of the training is done on campus or in a workshop type of environment.
Welding Diploma Westtown PA
Picking the best welder school will undoubtedly be the most critical decision you will make to launch your new profession. You originally stopped by our website because you had an interest in Welding Diploma and wanted more information on the topic Coded Welder Training. However, as we have addressed in this article, there are a number of factors that you will need to examine and compare among the schools you are reviewing. It’s a prerequisite that any welding training that you are evaluating includes a considerable amount of hands-on instruction. Classes need to be smaller in size and every student must have their own welding machine to train on. Classroom education should provide a real-world perspective, and the course of study should be up-to-date and conform with industry standards. Training programs vary in length and the type of credential provided, so you will need to decide what length of program and certificate or degree will best serve your needs. Each training program provides different options for certification as well. Perhaps The ideal means to research your final list of schools is to visit each campus and talk with the students and faculty. Take the time to sit in on a few classes. Tour the campus and facilities. Make sure that you are confident that the training program you pick is the best one for you. With the proper training, hard work and commitment, the final outcome will be a new occupation as a professional welder in Westtown PA.
Other Pennsylvania Welder Locations
Westtown School
Founded in 1799 by the Religious Society of Friends, Westtown’s Campus is located in Chester County, PA, 25 miles west of Philadelphia. In 1799, Westtown was around one day’s carriage ride from Philadelphia.
Westtown is a Quaker school affiliated with the Friends General Conference branch of the Religious Society of Friends. All students are required to attend Meeting for Worship together with adults in the community who voluntarily attend (boarding students are required to attend Westtown Monthly Meeting on Sundays as well). Westtown uses the traditional Quaker practice of coming to unity in making some high-level decisions.
Westtown School first opened in May 1799. It was founded by Philadelphia Quakers who raised the money to build a boarding school and purchased land a full day’s carriage ride from Philadelphia—where they could provide a “guarded education in a healthy environment" away from the secular influences of the city. For many years, Westtown was nearly self-sufficient, with the campus providing raw materials used in the construction of its buildings and food for the people who lived and worked at the school.
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