Arizona Automotive Institute (transfer to, school, cars)

[enigmadsm]

Gretchen also made a good point...If he likes working on cars...Its probably not the best job. As weird as that sounds.
Personally i used to LOVE doing things to my own vehicle...Now i cant stand it, i just got so burnt out.

I also agree with Rambrush, doing a specialty route is the way to go for sure!

[carrguy]

As far as AAI goes, I was very pleased with the quality of education I recieved at the school. My parents bought me a set of tools (I chose the PROTO set the school offered as it was better quality than CRAFTSMAN and at a better price) but other than that I did it all on my own. The school arranged for housing and found me temporary employment while I was attending. They offered morning, afternoon and evening classes to allow students to earn a living while learning so I also learned how to support and care for myself. The best part though was that the instructors really got it. I mean they were hard core car guys. They were not English majors who got bored...They taught cars 'cause they loved cars. The study was intense with 50% hands on experience. If you couldn't build it and make it work properly you couldn't pass.
I went on to work as a mechanic for over twenty years before an unfortunate accident ended my wrenching career. I got into it because I loved cars and I still do. When I got injured I was devistated that my love would be lost. I stayed in the automotive field by learning to write service and am now a Service Manager at a new car dealership.
I have hired several students out of local automotive schools and community colleges and have found their skill levels severely lacking. I have also worked with a few other AAI techs and they have all been very skillful. Now keep in mind I attended the school some thirty odd years ago but I can tell you that these other yahoos giving you advice should think before they write. I don't care if you want to be a mechanic or a mechanical engineer...always do your research and attend the best school you can afford. Then pay attention to your instructors and chances are you'll go far. I learned more in one year at Arizona Automotive Institute than my current apprentaces have learned after three years of community college.

[blur07]

I know some people who go there and they don't have any complaints

[Toolguyb]

Great feedback- Thanks

[blur07]

so what's your verdict?

[rambrush]

Well said!
You musta been there close to when I went in 75-76

Originally Posted by carrguy

As far as AAI goes, I was very pleased with the quality of education I recieved at the school. My parents bought me a set of tools (I chose the PROTO set the school offered as it was better quality than CRAFTSMAN and at a better price) but other than that I did it all on my own. The school arranged for housing and found me temporary employment while I was attending. They offered morning, afternoon and evening classes to allow students to earn a living while learning so I also learned how to support and care for myself. The best part though was that the instructors really got it. I mean they were hard core car guys. They were not English majors who got bored...They taught cars 'cause they loved cars. The study was intense with 50% hands on experience. If you couldn't build it and make it work properly you couldn't pass.
I went on to work as a mechanic for over twenty years before an unfortunate accident ended my wrenching career. I got into it because I loved cars and I still do. When I got injured I was devistated that my love would be lost. I stayed in the automotive field by learning to write service and am now a Service Manager at a new car dealership.
I have hired several students out of local automotive schools and community colleges and have found their skill levels severely lacking. I have also worked with a few other AAI techs and they have all been very skillful. Now keep in mind I attended the school some thirty odd years ago but I can tell you that these other yahoos giving you advice should think before they write. I don't care if you want to be a mechanic or a mechanical engineer...always do your research and attend the best school you can afford. Then pay attention to your instructors and chances are you'll go far. I learned more in one year at Arizona Automotive Institute than my current apprentaces have learned after three years of community college.

[dd94595]

I would say that the school is great if you have no knowledge of vehicle repair. If your son already knows a little about Auto Mechanics, the school will not take him much further. It is very basic for the price. I went there and eventually dropped the school due to the lack of learning. I knew more than the classes were teaching and I saw no point to continue.

There is another automotive school in Arizona that is much better, it is UTI much more advanced learning then AAI. If your son wants to go to school to be a mechanic this would be a better choice. The automotive industry is a very good industry to be in. Cars will always be around and the technology is changing rapidly, those people who learn the technology will always do well and the schooling will teach you the basics of the technology. Most of the changes that happen in the industry can be learned easily by someone with the head start.

[AZ91]

My dad was an auto mechanic back east for twenty years. Made a very good living at it. We moved out here in 87. My dad had to find a new career because he couldn't make a living in the industry here.

[Todd TCE]

I had a studend work for me part time about 6yrs ago. He attended UTI part of the day and worked for me in the race shop a few hours a day.

In the time he was there I found he had great book knowlege but little or no mechanical skills. Meaning he could tell me the pressure of the highs and lows of an A/C system but hardly knew one end of a wrench from another. Let alone skills such as drilling holes via a drill chart, tap and die work or threads, working with sheet metal, hands on alignment w/o a machine....etc. etc.

When he left after about 8 months I took it well that he stated he learned more from me in that time than he did in school. Despite graduating high.

Bottom line is that it appears like many tech schools to offer good book reading and what I call "parts replacement" skills but little diagnostic and hands on thinking skills. But than today... more dealerships guys are pretty much parts replacers, not fixers.

[ViralYouth]

I am about to graduate from the diploma program at AAI and I will be straight up with you. I was recruited to AAI by my friend and I asked my dad if it was a good school. He attended back in like 70 or something like that when they had 10 hour days 6 days a week. I thought it would be cool because I don't have a job and what-not so I decided to check it out. I came all the way out from Palm Springs California and took a tour around 9 AM in the morning by one of the recruiters. The recruiter didn't know much about the program and was under the impression that in a phase 10 weeks of 5 hour days 4 days a week is enough to properly understand the material. Which I found out not to be true when I began my attendance. I'm able to absorb material really quickly but unless I do it repeatedly I have trouble retaining the material which is how the majority of the population is. Now during the tour I was told that in the engines class we would rebuild and run engines, drivability class we would rebuilld starters, and alternators, chassis we would learn to do brakes and suspension, and in transmissions we would rebuild and run FWD and RWD transmissions. Engines class wasn't that bad aside from the fact that my instructor only related the material to the racing scene which would be dragsters. Now I don't know how many people actually leave school and work on dragsters but majority of my class wouldn't so that was a waste of my time. I knew everything that I was taught before I came to the school to prove to my dad that I was willing to make the commitment. The only engines in there they had to "rebuild" were the GM 3800 which is a very common engine but we never had hands on with an overhead cam engine. Not only that but we didn't even get to run the engines. The engines were missing bearings and bolts, piston rings, and various other parts and we barely touched on each part of the class syllabus. I didn't even turn in any of my work except for key terms from the text book and I passed the class with an A. Now I don't know what kind of school actually passes someone that didn't turn in 95% of their work yet still passes them. There is something strange here. I moved on to drivability class and they had a couple pieces of equipment that the majority of shops out in the field don't have which is the Sun 450 and the Snapon Modis. It was nice knowing how to use them but odds are majority of the graduates aren't going to run into that equipment in the field unless it's a high end shop. Once again we barely touched on the class syllabus and when asked when we were going to rebuild starters and alternators we were told it's not important and not part of the syllabus. So I barely learned anything in that class except how to use a DVOM and that's about it. So once again that was a waste of my time. Onto chassis, this was a very basic class until an engine instructor came down to cover for the chassis instructor. I learned the basics and how to do a few things at home like align a car with a projector and level. This was an ok class considering the first 3/4 of the class was instructed by a bad instructor. Once again the majority was a waste of my time and money. Onto transmissions which is my last class before I graduate and this class I tried so hard to make the most out of so I could get into the transmission field but there are so many parts to a transmission it's nearly impossible to properly cover the material and we were only able to run one transmission which is FWD as they haven't purchased a new or even used RWD transmission. The transmissons they have there are the Ford AOD, GM 700-R4, and GM 125. All of these transmissions are automatic and we have no manual transmissions to work on. The transmission instructors are superb instructors overall.

1-10 Class Scale

Engines -2
Drivability - 2
Chassis - 4
Transmissions - 5

I feel I was robbed of my money and time. Honestly I wouldn't recommend this school to my worst enemy. If you or anyone you know wishes to attend this school you're better off going to a community college or better yet getting an apprentice job in the field and learning that way.