I am just a the beginning of the court reporting process. For the past 20+ years, I have been a trial consultant. With the down turn in the economy and also feeling a bit burnt out, I am looking to make a career shift and add to my skill set. Court reporting seems to be a natural fit given my background.

I need advice / direction on schools, certification, how long I can expect the training to take etc. I am located just south of Houston, Texas and I am leaning heavily toward online training and since I am self employed I can invest as much time as needed in completing it. I am very motivated to do the training as quickly as I can. I am interested in learning more about internship and future job placements.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer. The best to all in 2012.

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Hi, Reena.

Two choices for you:

(1) The College of Court Reporting (http:/www.ccr.edu)

(2) Mark Kislingbury's school (http://www.mkcourtreporting.com)

CCR is very structured and correspondingly costly.  Mark's school is new, but it should get you out into the field the quickest, starting from scratch.

Good luck ... and hope that helps.

--gdw

Thank you for the direction. I noted that Mark Kislingsbury's school is not listed by NCRA. Is that a concern?

Hi, Reena.

Mark's school has only been open for a few months, so probably not.  I'm pretty sure they're looking at it pretty closely, though!

Hi Reena,

I just started my theory at Prince Institute in Denver, Colorado.  They also offer online classes and I can't tell you of a single student (including myself) who has had a positive online learning experience, especially if time is a concern. 

There is simply no replacement for direct instruction.  Online theory students who have transferred to the classroom are always painfully behind.  My teacher put it like this: Would you learn to play to the piano online? If you can, I would highly recommend receiving supplemental instruction, especially if you want to boost your learning curve and speed. 

I was also a former paralegal before I entered into stenography and I have to tell you I don't see a lot skill transfer, typing included.  A good typist does not necessarily make a good stenographer.

I just started writing a blog about my experiences as a student and have a list of all active student blogs I can find on the net. 

Stay in touch!  Best of luck!

http://scoring225.blogspot.com/

Just came across your post today, and I'm wondering how your journey in court reporting school is going. Have you chosen a school and got started? I have been attending court reporting school online since October 2007. I attended Sage College in Moreno Valley, CA online for four years, and have transferred to Bryan University six months ago. Bryan is also very structured and does a great job of pushing us students to succeed. They use RTC for practice and tests.

I have one word for you... practice!!!  Even in the beginning, practice is key even if it only serves to get you in the habit to be able to practice later on!  It takes time to build up the stamina it takes to sit and type for hours on the job.  That stamina building starts now.  I can't tell you how many of my fellow students fell completely apart when transitioning from theory class to speed class because they never practiced and thought that as long as they passed their tests, they could forget what they learned like we all did in high school!  

I would steer clear of online training if at all possible.  This is something that makes almost no sense even when someone is standing in front of you, showing you what to do!  If you do have to do an online course, make sure you shop around and don't pay too much for it.  I go on campus but only pay $175 in tuition each month.  Yeah, only $175 a month for as long as I attend... if I quit, I owe nothing more.  The online program in my state is about 5 times that cost!!!  

If you do have to do an online program, try your best to get a group of fellow students together so you have some live people to check in with, gripe to, bounce questions off of, etc. even if it is through Skype or e-mail.  It takes a village to raise a court reporter!

I would also suggest you network as much as you can with reporters in your area and across the country.  Many are very nice and willing to e-mail or talk with you as a sort of mentor.  They can tell you how it really is and offer their own insights as a working professional that you won't be able to get from your college teachers.  

If you need a group to start out with, feel free to join mine on Facebook, Court Reporters in Training.  Just search for the group and then request to join.  I put recordings on there of all my theory and speed lessons so you can listen to them and practice!

Good luck to you!

Jen

Reena:

Hey there! I'm Cale. I'm a court reporter and also live in Houston, Texas.  Nice to meet you.

If you are just south of Houston as you said, then you will want to go to Houston Community College in Alvin. They are known for an incredibly robust court reporting program, and it's my understanding that they have a very healthy graduate percentage and certification percentage. It's just a good program over there.

However, I don't think they offer anything online. 

I, myself, attended the Court Reporting Institute of Houston, which has just shut down as of a couple of weeks ago and has migrated completely online. They were fully accredited, as I attended that school from my very first day of class all the way to getting my Texas CSR license. Their online program is pretty good, as far as I am hearing it from other people.

Mr. Kislingbury's school is very new. He may be working on getting proper accreditation from NCRA. I am not sure. But I will tell you that his style of court reporting is very good for today's market. If you are wanting to make big bucks in court reporting, his online course may be one of the better choices for you since it is specifically geared towards writing very fast real-time.

As far as interning or job placement, most court reporters work in a freelance method. Unless you are chosen by a judge to be HIS court reporter, then you are looking at more of a self-employed environment. You can always work with a court reporting firm that is good about taking in newly certified reporters (Ross Reporting, for instance) and interning them out on depositions.

But, as far as job placement, that will really be up to you after you decide which arena of reporting you want to work in (freelance depositions, courtroom proceedings, CART, captioning, etc.)

Feel free to contact me anytime at cale@passthecourtreportingexam.com

Take care!

-Cale

www.passthecourtreportingexam.com

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