Huntington Jr. College, WV

[Joanne Wilson]

Is anyone familiar with the program offered by Huntington Jr. College? I have found their web-site most informative.
http://www.huntingtonjuniorcollege.edu/index.htm

[Joanne Wilson]

Sonja, thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it. May I ask if you are also working outside of the home while taking this on-line program? Married? Children?

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I took a peek at their program. Their marketing strategy is good. That picture they used - a nice, thin and pretty girl - making life good great. Take a look how they make the steno machine stand out. In real life, the steno machine would have been to the right of her because it would be a more natural position.

Sonja is only five weeks into the program. Their program did not say how speed building is done - and I thought that was rather important info to have.

Are you going to jump ten words at a time or twenty - or twenty-five? My first school was twenty. My second school was ten.

How many teachers are teaching the program? Just one!!! (like my first school), or two? Are the teachers previous court reporters? Do they have a Bachelor's or Master's degree - and know how to teach? My first school was 90(A); 80(B); 70(C); and 60(D). Yes - we could get 60 percent accuracy and pass the class with a D.

Are you going to end with a teacher assistant, who is part of the two voice - and she can't speak on timed writings? That's not funny!!! We had one student teacher, at 225 - and she told us she was just told to speak as fast as she can.

They did state the ultimate goal - 225/200/180 at 95 percent accuracy.

[Joanne Wilson]

Mary Jo, great input! Thank you. You asked questions that I would have just ass-u-me-d were 'yes'. Great, great input!

[Joanne Wilson]

Mary Jo, I'm comparing College of Court Reporting and Prince Institute, according to CCR's website, they require case CATalyst4 student software. I cannot even find that specific software on the company's website. And as for steno machines they require a 200SRT or 400SRT. From what I've read these are rather old program's/machines. Whereas Prince requires Stentura Protege. Note sure about software, it just states, "Case CATalyst Student Software - Information available upon request." Odd, but maybe they state is that way because of software upgrades??? I will find out.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

The 200SRT and 400SRT are probably the cheapest machines available - so that's why they selected those. They probably want everyone to have the exact same machine to minimize student problems. As for the software, I should think the school would be furnishing the CAT software as part of the program cost. The software should already be set up on the schools computers - and the students are going to utilize it - like when you are in a computer class, the school provides the Word and Excel.

A good thing to remember - unless you have money to waste, don't waste it. If you can start the program with a cheap writer versus a Stenura Protege, start out cheap. You can always upgrade when you're done.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

That is probably a good program. But I would have liked to see things like: (1) We teach Phoenix Theory; (2) Our instructors are ---; (3) Our speed building consists of ---; (4) At X speed students will be introduced to CAT. The info for the school is glossy, good for marketing, but it lacked real substantial info.

[Joanne Wilson]

That makes me feel a bit more comfortable. I am also seriously looking at College of Court Reporting in Indiana. My god! I certainly couldn't find many other careers this expensive to break into could I. GEEZ!

[Joanne Wilson]

Another program I have looked it is Prince Institute of Court Reporting.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I know you're all real excited about getting into a court reporting program. But it doesn't have to be expensive. If you already have a good legal background (legal secretary), a good medical background, you really can learn court reporting without the help of an expensive school. Of course, I went to school. Back in '75 school was touted as the way to success of life.

There are a few online courses for court reporting too. First you get a machine (manual will do). Then you get a theory book (probably Phoenix). Learn the theory. The book will be self instructional. After theory, then you start making sentences. Then you start out at 40 WPM in speed and work your way up. My guess is you won't get computerized until about 180. However, when I went to school, CAT didn't exist, cell phones didn't exist, home computers didn't exist. I grew up in the day when you kept a quarter on you in case you had to make a phone call from a phone booth.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

To make you all feel even better, I am going back to reporting after being out twenty years. CAT was relatively new when I got out - and the cost started at $30,000 - and was about $15,000 when I got out.

I recently got a Stenoram II. It's a tank, looks like it will last forever.

[Joanne Wilson]

No No! You are not! I am learning from you questions!!!

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I don't know the answer to that one. Each state may have its own requirements. Florida has NO REQUIREMENTS. When I got out, Hillsborough County had 13 court reporting schools. They were run by previous court reporters - who found more profit in teaching court reporting than doing court reporting.

Those schools were touting court reporting as an 18 month program!!! And they were pushing them out in18 months. So what does that tell you. The ones being taught by previous court reporters, they were charging $30,000 for the schooling.

I was always curious as to what happened to those court reporting students. I'm sure they got student loans for those programs. I wondered if they actually paid off the student loans, got a job, got angry.

For the requirements for your state, you will have to check your state's guidelines. You should also go to NCRA and check what they require to take the RPR.