Accredited Schools

Does anyone know if the Yacht Design School is accredited? I can't see anything on their website, and have been waiting a while for a reply to my email to the school.

 

Accreditation

Accreditation means that an accreditation agency has accredited your school. However, no one accredits the agencies, so accreditation may or may not mean anything. Some "accredited" schools are accredited by an agency they own themselves. The worth depends on the reputation of the agency.

In general, the agency accepted by the states, the federal government, etc. for accreditation of programs in technology, including naval architecture, is the ABET, www.abet.org.

They list all of their acceditations on their website.

 

I know...

YDS isn't. Tom does not see it as an issue at this time, but he is fully prepaired to go there if things change in the future.

 

acreditation

I was searching for the same information about and YDS is not sccredited. Westlawn is the only one in this sense, both state certified and nationally accredited. Hope this help you to decide.
All the Best, J

 

Accreditation...

Might be important for you if you are a US citizen and can get financial support studying. Other than that I don't know if the accreditation has anything what so ever to do with the quality of the education...

 

Erik. Good morning.

I´m the one who replied your message as "Guest" y-day as I wasn´t registered yet, sorry.

I´m not an American citizen, I live in Argentina. The financial subject is out of discussion at least for me, as all will come from a redouble of efforts, time and will and my multi holed pocket.

Of course an accredited school doesn´t mean quality of eduaction is the best of the best. You can study and learn in a non accredited one and become an excellent designer or study at Southampton and being lousy. Both cases and their alternatives surely exist all over the planet.

I believe both universities and undergraduate/vocational schools are the start line , they teach you the basics and give you tools, where to find information and so on, because finnaly what is left, it´s your responsability and skills to complete and complement those basics. (At least, this is what I remember from my past academic years, twenty something years ago.....)

In my case, to choose an accredited school makes me more confident about with whom I´m dealing with and not another one from the list. Just that, the rest is upon me. Got it?

Of course, I cannot say a single negative statement about YDS, they are probably very good and deserve all my respect in a whole sense.

All the best to you. J

 

I am having a lot of problems with YDS and wish that they were accredited so there was some avenue to follow up with! The school do not reply to emails, I have been waiting for over 3 months for work to be marked and have not received any response each time I ask about it other than that they are busy but they have the lessons. I have a lot of time and money invested in the school and feel that the way they are dealing with my situation is totally unprofessional. I think accreditation is not just important from a point of view of feeling comfortable with the school, but it also means you have some agency to go to with problems! I would keep that in mind next time I select a school.

 

You´re right Guest, I forgot to mention such important subject as "having to whom ring a bell" just in case.

Sorry having read you´re experiencing problems with YDS. The problem you mention is not a light one, maybe you are still in time to switch to Stamford and make a wise move. Good luck!

 

Sorry to hear about our problems with YDS guest.

Whenever I've been in contact with Tom he has responded promptly within a day or so.

I hope they'll better themselves

 

This sounds very unlike the YDS. May I suggest that you request return receipts to your emails so you are sure your emails are being delivered.

Revealing your identity and location might also be usefull. Are you located around the corner or in Tierra del Fuego? Are you really a YDS student? In addition, I think in matters even remotely personal you should reveal your identity and not sign as guest.

Have you tried raising the issue within YDS' own forum? If whatever you mention is in any way related to reality I suspect that Tom's answer would be very interesting.

Nicholas Cotzias

 

anonymity damages credibility

I would begin with, 'all due respect', but I have no idea who you are, "guest", and so can afford you no respect.

WHO ARE YOU?

HOW IS ONE TO RESPECT YOUR WORD?

If you truly are a fellow student of yacht design at YDS, you are well aware of the school's forum. Why not take your complaint there? I imagine that if your complaint is legitimate, Tom would feel most compelled to provide a solution.

I will look for your post.

DC

 

Gee, there are some people quick to jump in this forum and who take it incredibly personally!!! Yes, I am a member of this forum, though I was not signed in it would appear, re problems with YDS. Sorry about that!

I know that YDS have received my correspondence. My problem with the school is that I have submitted 6 assignments which they have had in their office for 2-3 months and have not marked them nor offered reasons why when I ask about them (they were fine with the first few lessons). I have no idea whether they have passed the grade or whether they need revision work, nor what is going on. When I write or email they reply after about a week telling me how busy they are, and side stepping my questions, but tell me how great the school is doing and how much money they are making (perhaps they could employ more staff?), and that I shouldn't compare the educational system to the Landing School because the Landing School train "draftsmen" not yacht designers! (I find that hard to believe..I think the Landing School have a great reputation and would train with them anyday if money and location were not an issue!) I personally think work should be turned around faster than 3 months, and that their dealings with me are unprofessional. Am I alone in having these kind of problems with the school? Reading this forum it would seem so.

I enrolled with this school because I am passionate about this area, and you can see from my earlier postings I was initially quite happy with the school. Right now I have a lot of time and money invested in a school and my education with this school, but don't seem to be getting educated. I am not sure what my lesson payment is buying me...printed pages, but no tuition? I can't tell right now because I have yet to receive anything back for a few months and not only will they not mark my work without reason, they will not send me future lessons until they catch up, which they don't seem to be doing. Does that seem professional?

While I can understand that they need to mark my work to be able to see that I am doing the lessons correctly, surely 3 months is far to long to hold up any student, and by this stage, my correspondence should be replied to and not ignored. It they replied and said, "gee, I am so sorry about the delay, your lessons are the top of the pile because you have been waiting so long", or something like that, it wouldn't be half as bad!

I spend most of my time in Annapolis Maryland, and the UK, so I am close to a reliable mail system (as reliable as it can be) - but the mail is not the problem.

When I was trying to pick a course I found this forum incredibly useful, and hope that my experiences can help others make up their minds. The start of this thread was about accreditation...I for one wish they were accredited, but that is because of these problems and not from an academic point of view (does that help guest?) I would hope this forum isn't just to praise, and can be used to talk about all areas of education, boat design or whatever section you are browsing!

ErikG, I was curious whether you work for YDS or are a student (it isn't very clear from your postings)? If you are a student, how far have you reached in the course and if you work for them, could you put my letter at the top of the pile with a yellow post it saying, please answer!

This isn't meant to offend anyone ( "betelgeuserdude" - does that identity make you any more legitimate than "guest"?), but purely share my views and reasons for selecting a school who was accredited in the future!

Sara

 

YDS Forum

Incidentally, I chose not to post to the YDS Forum on a matter such as this because it is not a lesson question nor general information point of discussion. It is more of personal interaction matter that listing with current students is pointless, but more to help those that might be considering which school to deal with. Though, of course I will be sure to let you know if the outcome is satisfactory or not!

 

Sara, well I'm definetly not working for YDS!
I 'm not sure I would want to either, the type of craft they work with are not quite my cup of tea.

I find it very disturbing to hear about these issues.
Personally I did start out on the course way back, but buying a house and an expanding family have somehow gotten in the way to really get a good momentum. Also I spend to much time here discussing stuff when I should be studying. Internet is heaven and hell at the same time

I do respect Tom's wealth of knowledge and sincerely hope that he'll fix the problem.

I do suggest that you raise this issue on the open discussionforum at YDS, if you do I think it might be extra effective since others read those posts to.
Have you asked wether it might be just one of those stupid things that can happen, that your stuff is actually missing and won't be graded if you don't send it in again? **** happens...

A delay of a few weeks I could accept occasionally, but not much more.

Good luck

ErikG

 

Westlawn

G-morning & G-afternoon to all of you.

I´m trying to read and catch all the information available about both schools and seems there are a lot of complaints about YDS.

I´m not in position to take part or do some valid statement against any institution as I´m not yet a studen for YDS or Westlawn, but would like to read some pro´s and con´s mainly from graduates or actual students regarding Westlawn as seems this will be my choice.

Also to those senior members at the forum, if he/she had heard about a Westlawn student from Argentina, this would help more than everything.

Thanks to all in advance, enjoy your w-end !

Jorge