Naugatuck Valley Community College - Waterbury, Connecticut

PROGAMINGPROPHECY

⚠️ BASIC MOTORCYCLE CLASS ⚠️

The driving practice will be a total of 10 hours with a final exam that has 5 parts; it will dictate if you pass or fail. If you have never driven a motorcycle before, you have a 30-40% chance of passing. If you have driven motorcycles before, you have a 50-60% chance of passing. 1 out of the 5 parts of the final exam is a complete curve ball that most are guaranteed to fail; it's a sharp turn that you never practice along with a u-turn. They justify this part in the exam by claiming, "but you've practiced the u-turn." Yes, the U-turn, but not the sharp turn into a u-turn with severe minimum space. If the test is 5 parts, that means each section is 20 points. When you fail this section (and most will fail), your test result will drop to 80%, leaving you with 10-20 points left before you fail. My suggestion: DON'T SPEND $240 for a safety course if you have never driven a motorcycle. Find a friend or family member who's willing to help you practice before spending your money. I believe half of my classmates failed their test (myself included). The students who passed had already been driving motorcycles illegally and wanted to finally become legal. Instructor review: You have two completely different personalities, and it feels like you have a good cop (GC) and a bad cop (BC). GC is chill, laid back, and does his job well with a sense of humor. BC is good at his job until his patience runs out and becomes frustrated. When BC becomes frustrated, he will go from giving concise and clear instructions to then repeating to you multiple times that you have a high probability of failing the class. I can understand being direct and telling it how it is, but to continue repeating to a student that their likely going to fail is NOT effective communication. BC will also have frustrated moments where he will say things like, "I'm about to send you home." It's one thing if a student is being reckless. It's another if the student is trying their hardest to do what's required. (Good Cop is the tall chubby guy that reminds everyone he's too heavy for most of the bikes, and the Bad Cop is the shorter older guy).

Overall, the curve ball sharp turn into a u-turn part of the test is complete BS. Just do the actual u-turn track that everyone practiced instead of getting creative last minute. Now, to play devils advocate, I got extremely nervous during the exam and made a bunch of mistakes. After I did the second exam part, I already knew I had failed and was a split second away from riding the motorcycle to the front of their trailer, parking it, and walking off the track, back to my car and leaving. I decided to stay until the end and at least finish all 5 parts of the test. When you receive the results, I'll give credit where it's due and say, their very discrete, as they'll call each student out of the class 1 by 1 to give them their results. GC was great from start to finish; I even shook his hand as I received a failing test result. BC was great until he became frustrated, which in turn made him a frustrating communicator. Lastly, BC, if you're reading this... Don't ever ask anyone, "Why aren't you smiling? Riding motorcycles is supposed to be fun." After you've spoken doubt about their potential test results and have threatened them with,"I'm about to send you home." That's quite psychopathic.

Ann Farn

I was only there for one semester. I got very lucky with the professors (art his - Prof Franco and Prof Lebel for 2D design - highly recommend both).

The campus is clean and well maintained, plenty of parking.

The students are friendly and welcoming.

The bursar office and the career center did not meet my expectations. Everyone was nice though.

I wish they had Student ID scan security check in upon entrance to the campus.

It's a good college to take a few classes within your CT state college network. I would not recommend it as your home campus though.

T S

This a review from 3 years ago that somehow got scrubbed, I am reposting it because I noticed it was gone and they don’t get to get away with removing negative reviews: The advisors, reps and faculty members don't know how to respond to emails or answer phones. Their 2 year degrees take more than two years because they barely advise you on scheduling classes. This school tried dropping surprise tuition charges on my account and they tried negating my financial aid because their financial aid rules on the website are vague or they contradict their own rules and the CSCU rules for the whole state. Their appeals process does not work. Save your money and effort and study somewhere else if you can.

Edit:
My fianceé just tried to sign up for classes for the fall 2024 semester. She last attended in 2021 and decided to return to try a new program. She could not register due to a hold on her account for no reason other than being a returning student, and when she got in touch with someone by both email and phone, they said they would get back to her. Months later, flat out radio silence. She gave up and is now looking to try the program somewhere else to avoid the hassle. I knew it was bad when I was a student years ago but it was never that bad that they didn’t even help you sign up. It’s only gotten much worse. It’s like they purposely want to have as least as many students attending as possible or that they don’t want any business. What a joke.

Jazzy baby

This community college is absolutely horrific absolutely horrific one of the teachers yelled in my face literally in my face. They don’t take consideration in regards to disability. The dean has no idea what she’s doing. Defaming one’s character. It’s absolutely a shame. It’s a shame there’s never no parking nobody follows the rules but then in life does anybody really however, you’re supposed to educate not reticule you’re not supposed to judge or discriminate about what you think you know about the person about whoever send you an email about anything this school is so uneducated. It’s a free ride to get in to get out and that is it some of the staff are absolutely excellent. Unorganized don’t have any idea who is doing what instead of focusing on every single individual and what their needs are they don’t this school needs to be investigated I don’t think I would ever allow my child to attend the school ever the lack of education and unprofessionalism is just crazy. Do yourself a favor look at the reviews before you even want to attend this community college it’s bizarre.

Cullen Perreault

The Electrical Engineering Technology program is ABET accredited, so that's nice. You'll find that most professors are great here. Only had maybe 1 or 2 that weren't that good. I will say that the financial aid office is not very helpful. Seems that whenever I call, somehow no one knows how to help me. I called once for information on getting leftover grant money moved to another semester, as I had done in a previous semester. According to who I talked to, they've never done that... OK. So I asked about paying it out... She said they'd send a check. Well, its been 5 months... Wheres my $8?! I recommend not calling the financial aid office about financial aid... That said, everything else is great and I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an Associates Degree.

James DeCamp

Do not take the real estate course at this Place!!! Horrible course design and teachers who are clueless and not on the same page and if you fail the class you have to pay and retake 60 hour class. So much pressure to pass and they don’t care and you can’t see your final exam if you fail you just have to take their word for it. Other than real estate I have gone here for years and it was decent overall but I will never attend again because I even messaged the dean and they didn’t care 1200 wasted. Other places let you retake the final and help you if you don’t pass without redoing all the time and money.

Alyssa Danna

I had a great experience attending this school. The majority of my teachers were really great and helpful. I liked the small class sizes because it allows you to interact more with the class & create closer bonds in my opinion. The ACE center was a great resource which I utilized especially for my math classes.

Carlos Romero

One of the things that makes Naugatuck Valley Community College so great is its passion for innovation. They are strong because of their diversity and all of the resources you might need to succeed are here for you. Also, the administration, staff and faculty are more than happy to help. To make the best of your college experience, I would recommend that you get involved: there are many activities on campus to attend and clubs to join. Also, there is so much opportunity. Even scholarships. I love this college and so will you.