Advanced Technology Institute (ATI)

My son graduated a year early from high school and decided he wanted to enter into a welding program. We did all research in the world before deciding on enrolling him in ATI. Everything looked on the outside as if this was going to be the right decision. Just a few weeks into the program 2 of the 3 instructors quit on the same day and they were apparently the best instructors they had. My son was not getting any proper instruction and the school absolutely failed him in every way. I contacted the vice president multiple times to see what they were going to do to reconcile the situation but he was completely unprofessional and did nothing. This place is absolutely pathetic! We lost thousands of dollars in this situation but I had no choice but to take him out of there and enroll him in Tidewater Tech school. They have 20 instructors there and everyone has been amazing and extremely knowledgeable and supportive! They also have their own AWS certification on site. They are also Tens of thousands of dollars cheaper and you get way more for your money! Do yourself a favor and go to Tidewater Tech. You will absolutely be thankful you did.

To start off. I am attending ATI to get my CDL class A license. You would think that this school is the worst do to all these one star reviews. All i can say is that my experience at ATI has been the best. They have an awesome staff. Kevin and Mrs. Tammy processed my enroll quickly and with no issues. The school director was very Respectfully and professional when he well comed our class. Mrs Lyn was our instructor for the first three weeks. She made the class fun, educational, and I admire her drive at her age. BZ Lyn. For the next three weeks we had Mr Pat and Mr Rashawn as our instructors. They gave us the best techniques to use on the road. Their experience and knowledge was excellent. In my opinion I would recommend ATI to any. BZ ATI.

I had the pleasure of touring the campus and meeting the instructors over the weekend. What a great team! As a repair shop owner it's very important to me that good training programs are available and ATI is that program! What stood out to me the most were the team members. Knowledgeable, passionate, and extremely professional. What a great place to open the door for a career!

I am in the CDL program and I am completely disappointed in this school. There are 0 properly working trucks for the road portion. They put trucks on the road that they know are broke and we have had two trucks break down on us on the road. Some trucks have no ac and when it’s 95 outside it’s about 110 inside the truck. I called Andy the Vice President of ATI to address my issues with the school and he gave nothing but excuses. Telling me that the broken simulator is a back up for broken equipment. The simulator should be used as a learning tool, not for a back up for broken equipment. My schooling here is being funded through the gi bill and I have contacted them too. Why is ati still taking in classes when they are waiting on parts for trucks and the ones they are using for the road are only getting patched to try to make it through. They need to stop taking classes and fix the trucks they have! But they won’t do this bc they care more about money then the education they are supposed to be giving us. I hope the va drops them and stops funding this school! No pint in reaching out to admin here, it will be nothing but excuses and no solution

I wonder if it's gonna make me rate this every time I go. 4+ times a week for the next 15 months. Probably safe to say its a decent place.

I am so disappointed in this school. Lack of working equipment and failure to communicate procedures and policies. At first we could blame it on the Covid-19. After several months of school my son learned little to nothing. Instructor's and staff unprofessional. Not willing to listen to concerns of students and parents. During a visit to school to address the issues I was faced with a staff member that had a sarcastic smirk on his face the entire time while speaking to him totally unprofessional. They ate only after your money.. they really don't care if you learn anything. Do your research better than I did. You can get an acceded degree from Thomas Nelson or TCC for half the price. I would not recommend this school to anyone and have no idea how they can stay in business.

I completed the Heavy Duty/Diesel Technology course a little less than a year ago and I was not very impressed. The whole program took about 15 months and there were many times I felt like it was a waste of my time. There's very little quality instruction in this course. The students are more so a "free labor" force for the CDL school. The instructors are good mechanics but are NOT very good at teaching. They have all this good training equipment that just sits there and collect dust. If your supposed to be learning how to fix engines, you better hope one of the CDL school trucks are broke or else you're screwed. They'll find something else for you to fix that has absolutely nothing to do with your current course of instruction. The only thing this program is really good for is getting you a job for one of their many partners in the area. Basically you're paying full tuition price for an outside job recommendation.

I am currently attending this school and This school is the absolute opposite of what they tell you. If you or your child is planning on attending this school don’t. The Instructors don’t teach you. Kelso is the absolute worst. They only want you there for your money and that Is all. They assign more work than what they teach and they also will find any type of way to fail you. DONT GO HERE!!!

I went to this school for 4 ish weeks and finally realized what I actually signed up for. All you do here is sit in a class room and take notes and pray you see any type of hands on. And the performance program is a joke the poor dusty Acura sits there and collects dust while you walk past it everyday.

I'm a military vet, told them to not enroll me due to personal and family issues near the end of my time there. Instead they enrolled me and got a month of pay from the VA. Prior to that their VA rep withdrew me mid class(for 4 months they had me registered under the wrong program!) and for a month I was declined VA housing allowance since the school had withdrew me. The school is incompetent they have a handful of good teachers, and they pick up whatever instructors just to fill a spot. Stay away from this school plenty of other schools you can attend for the money. Also the facilities and labs are run down. This was a mistake to attend this "school" do yourself a favor go somewhere else.