Soma Institute

Alumni Feedback
THE GREAT:
1. The teachers were wonderful and with a variety of backgrounds to share much knowledge with us (Chiropractors, Massage Therapists and Science Professors from local universities.)
2. The classes were intense and I found myself having to study a lot in order to pass my exams (I do not remember having to study this much for my undergraduate degree.) Subjects included are Pathology, Physiology, Anatomy, Kinesiology, Histology, Principals of Massage, several massage modalities and clinicals.
3. Our class was made up of 7 working adults who worked in other fields and were looking to make a switch. I enjoyed the small class environment.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE:
1. Parking is expensive (Weekend and Night parking was $ 17 and since it is in downtown the only other option is public transportation.)
2. The Business Training offered as part of the program is useless. They need to focus on hiring an instructor that can give students the necessary administrative/​business/​marketing training to be successful entreprenuers.
3. During the initial tour and admissions process, they should make sure they do not deceive students by making them think that securing a job with high salary potential is a piece of cake. They will show you a list of jobs that pay over $ 35 an hour but what they do not tell you is that you will not be working 40+ hours a week like people in other fields. Massage Therapy is taxing on the body and most can’t perform more than a few massages per day. In addition, This is a very competitive industry and starting out you will not have an established clientele to keep you working 40+ hours a week. Every MT I met had to remain working in other fields in addition to being MT’s in order to sustain their lifestyle. On average what I consistently heard from practicing therapists is that it took them about two years to build a clientele to sustain themselves solely on their MT career. As an MT you will be a contractor for the most part which means that you will be paying your own taxes and overhead. The pay that I Chiropractor/​Spa/​etc. will pay you is not your take home pay. There are other job opportunities in chain spas, gyms and hotels that hire MT’s as employees but they either pay you a very low hourly rate or want you to have a significant amount of work experience. Keep in mind Massage Therapy is an expensive program to study and most likely you will have debt to pay back, it is taxing physically and emotionally so it is unfair to accept a low wage for your services.
4. They need to teach services that are in demand and cut down on the sciences (Pregnancy Massage, Infant Massage, Shiatsu, Thai Massage, Reflexology, Aroma Therapy, Light Therapy.)
5. They need to revisit the body mechanics they teach students to use. I left there with a lot of pain in my thumbs.
6. Also having students work on other students before knowing enough is dangerous. I still feel extraordinary pain on the right side of my neck from students taking the stretch too far.

Student Clinic — -
They ask far too many questions about your medical history that are none of their business
and are not necessary at all. My massage girl, Kate, gave me only 45 minutes instead
of the hour I was promised. And she did not do my whole body or even half of it. She didnot
seem to know how to release my tension with deep tissue work. She must be a raw beginner. So I would avoid her
if you go. I would give this place NO STARS based on my experience. I will not be back
there. (I hope the other girls are better!) I have had much better experiences at other massage schools!

I was first introduced to Soma through my company which always promotes their free chair massages. I finally decided to take Soma up on the free chair massage offer before investing any money into a full 50 minute massage.
The event was promoted to my entire building for the hours of 3pm to 5pm. I went down a little bit earlier for a well timed break from work only to find no one at the advertised location. I’m a patient person so I waited for about 10 to 15 minutes and then decided to visit the floor that Soma is housed on in an effort to figure out the actual start time. I ran into a massive group of students and a few instructors that were having an impromptu photo shoot camera phones. I inquired about the event as well as the start time but no one knew about the event occurring. After having no luck with the group went to the receptionist and was told the event was going to be starting at 3:10pm.
I waited back in the advertised location and that time came and went so I decided to do a last ditch effort of finding out the actual start time. I went back upstairs and there were two new receptionist that had no clue of the event nor the start time of the event. Both receptionist checked with the instructor and was given another «start time» of 3:30pm. The receptionist didn’t seem to care when I explained that I had already been given three different times and that this was a bad first impression for their services. She brushed off my comment and went back to talking with her co-​worker.
The only positive thing that I got out of this experience was that I didn’t invest any money and the office is actually very professional looking. Unfortunately the people that I encountered didn’t seem to realize that they are promoting the Soma brand when someone visits their floor. I was unimpressed with the level of customer service from the administrative staff as well as the students that I encountered. I will not be investing any money into Soma in the near future but if I happen to walk pass on a day that they give out free massages I may try to out in an effort to test out the quality of their services.

I had to submit an application to get readmitted and then had to go through a meeting with financial aid all resulting in them which I feel was the run around because I was told I would be notified as to how to best place me, but I had to also pay $ 50 a month while taking classes. I had enough I was exhausting my finances just to get through this place and only to get the run around. I decided I was not going to return to Soma because I didnt feel that it was the best decision to do in terms of my education and my chance at establishing myself as a serious massage therapist. I only hope that my review will help others make an informed decision about the schools they apply and attend and graduate from. I didnt want to walk away, but I don’t want to have a repeat of being dismissed from school again only permanently. I also noticed the last time I was there that the school seemed to be having a hard time keeping people enrolled. When a school starts putting out an unusually high number of pamphlets out on their front lobby table that’s a sign they’re seeing a decline in enrollment into the school. Apparently, people are getting better at screening schools through reviews here on Unilocal and talking to people who had gone through the school. In the time I’ve spent there and talked to a few who graduated they were having a time trying to find a job so that also shows an area that is lacking is the better preparation of finding a job after graduation. I’ve seen people in other massage schools getting jobs straight out of school. Some of the instructors who I really had the great pleasure of being in their class can actually take their talent as instructors to other schools and be considered a valuable asset to that institution as teachers of massage therapy.

After receiving a number of their free massages in the lobby of my building I thought I’d try out the full length massage. Big mistake. I get that this is a school but this was about as close to a real massage as a nightclub is to a carrot. First off, it’s one big room – very loud room I might add – so you hear everyone’s conversation and there are probably 40 people in the room with nothing but a flimsy curtain separating any of the tables. I have no idea why they wouldn’t want to at least try to replicate an actual spa envinonment and request that their students not yack like they’re at a party.
The guy who did mine had no clue how to give a massage and truthfully, it felt like his hands were dirty. Ick. I left about 20 minutes into it-​it was that bad that it wasn’t worth finishing. And as for the soft music and soft lighting another reviewer noted, if you consider loud talking soft music, then it’s there. The lighting is clinical, flourescent tubes, as I recall. As noted in another review, I would never go back and I would never try another student clinic.

I’ve been massaged here by the students. Who can complain about a free massage? Not me. Sometimes the massages are out of this world. Sometimes the massages are like being checked by a medical professional for tumors.

I looked into Soma as a choice for massage school for myself. Never have I been to a school before where I debated about leaving before even meeting the admissions staff. I actually texted this idea to a friend of mine as I sat waiting, and wondered if it would be too rude to run for the door and not return. As I stood up to leave, the admissions staff member came out to greet me. Ugh. Stuck.
The entire meeting and tour I kept thinking I should politely excuse myself as this was a waste of their time and mine, and I knew there was no way I would attend. The staff member was nice, but totally unprofessional, unqualified to be doing admissions work, and to be blunt, they are blatently dishonest and misleading to potential students.
They have coined the phrase «clinical massage», which is genuinely more of a marketing term than anything else. There is no such thing as «clinical massage». And anyone who knows anything about the healthcare or massage field knows, the biggest downfall of the entire massage field would be if it became medically billable to insurance carriers who would dwindle down all earned payment of therapists just as they do to clinicians in the medical field. One of he biggest benefits of massage therapy now is that fact that it is largely not affiliated with the medical community, and is an excellent holisitc option for people who are looking for alternatives or additions to western medical treatment, an option that is therapuetic and healing without being invasive or forcing you to spend time in cold sterile hospital or doctor office environment that feels stuffy and draining.
The «interview», which I found to be an oddly inappropriate term considering it was a sales meeting for them to sell me on their school rather than the other way around, was largely focused on making sure I know they are the one and only true school of professional or «clinical» massage and the others are merely teaching people how to work in spas and give loofah scrub downs.
The reality is, there are many excellent massage schools out there, and most of them seem to have a far greater and deeper grasp of the whole mission behind massage therapy as a therapy in the first place. This school is set up like a hospital, right down to the «clinic» where students practice giving massage on members of the public, in a room that is like an ER, with individual beds seperated only by hospital curtains. Yes hospital curtains. No, there will be no soft music here, no privacy, no soft conversation with your therapist about which areas need more attention or if you need to lighten up the pressure etc. This my friends is all you need to develop of heavy case of white coat syndrome, right there on a massage table.
After suffering through an entire tour and high pressure sales session, I finally stumbled back out onto the street, thankfully feeling my time was not completely wasted, as I knew now more than ever, that I would never attend Soma school of massage, nor would I ever recommend it to anyone else, nor would I ever go there for a massage. For those looking for a massage or a massage school in the Chicagoland area, try a more professional, comfortable and therapuetic experience, like New School of Massage, or Cortiva. These folks seem to have a handle on the fact that clients want to be treated like people, not patients, they want to be pampered, not prodded, they want to receive therapuetic massage from highly skilled individuals who have a firm grasp of the human body and also the human spirit. If I want «clinical», I’ll got to a doctor, if I want healing I’ll see my massage therapist, who will have trained anywhere other than Soma.

I went here for a student massage and it was excellent. My therapist was Sam and she had magic hands.
Positive: $ 35 for 50 minute massage. you cant beat the price for the quality. Check-​in is very professional and you are brought back promptly. you are given a posture and range of motion assessment before your massage. A supervisor comes around to address any concerns and treatment plan.
Negative (for some): you are in a room with other people. you are behind a private curtained area but you can hear others. So if you are a person who needs absolute quiet to relax, i wouldn’t recommend it.

I graduated from the SOMA Institue in 2006. Not having any massage schooling prior to that experience I did not have anything to compare it to. Knowing what I know now, there should be an entire program dedicated to the correct body mechanics. I developed tendonitis twice in my wrists before I took a body mechanics course. Unfortuantely, SOMA does not offer such a course so I had to go to a neighboring school where I finally learned the tools needed to take care of my body.
I was just on SOMA’s site looking for CE’s…as usual, the prices are really high and it’s rarely a 6 or 8 hour course. Sometimes you want an introduction into a course before dropping several hundred dollars.
P. S. Jade, while tipping isn’t necessary, it’s certainly appreciated. Greatly!

I’ll admit — I’m usually the first guy to pop a few muscle relaxers and wash them down with a glass of scotch at the first sign of any sort of muscle pain. Lately, I’d been really concentrating hard on my hamstring developement and I had gone too far on the squat rack that afternoon lol.
I started with the usual combination of flexeril, scotch and my one true weakness, ambien. I knew I needed something more so after I sobered up I scooted on over to the Soma Institute. I got set up with a man named Scott and he worked my hamstrings really well — it was very enjoyable. Afterwards I took a hot shower and a few more flexerils and I have to tell you — I feel fresher than ever lol! 5 stars!

At first everything seemed fine. Then one by one, things started going downhill.
First, their is a hospital setting. One room, plenty of people in it to get massages. And their is only a curtain to divide the spaces. I heard every conversation within a few feet of me and some of them were not short or held in a lowered voice. Killed the atmosphere.
Then there was a point when the therapist bumped into my head.
She was all over the place. No organized technique. Just rub here, then here, oh, and then I’ll go over here. It was bad.
Shortly after that, I realized she also smelled like onions. Maxwell St. anyone? Yuck, how can you massage someone while smelling so bad?
Then, since it’s school, her «supervisor» came around to every section and asked a few questions of the students about the massage they were giving. This would have been fine if I weren’t partially exposed. It was just my leg but I believe she should have covered me up while those MEN (their were two of them) walked into the room. I didn’t go in there wearing a skirt or shorts, so who says I wanted to be exposed in any way?
Later that day, my body felt sore. I didn’t have any problems when I went to the clinic, I just wanted to relax a bit. When I got home, my foot was so sore that I had to limp across the pharmacy to buy ibProfen. My muscles were sore. Have you ever kicked a soccer ball the wrong way? That’s how it felt.
I woke up the next morning to a feeling like I had been in a fight or a car accident. My muscles hurt more than you can imagine. I mean EVERYTHING hurt. She went overboard. She was rubbing me way too hard but I was thinking that it had to be that way for me to be able to relax. I thought there was some sort of method to her madness.
The only thing that came from this was more pain. Especailly considering I had NO pain when I got there. Wow. Don’t go. It was not worth the $ 30 I spent. There will never be a next time. Ever. I will stick with the spas that I’m used to and never give a student another chance. She ruined it for everyone. Seriously.

My body hates me. I spend too many hours on anti-​ergonomic chairs at home and school. What to do when self-​muscle rubs are ineffective in relieving pain and you’re an unpaid educational volunteer (aka student)? I looked up several student clinics at massage schools for an affordable treat. Not only did Soma have the best price ($ 25 for an hour), it’s also conveniently located in the Loop.
The student clinic gets quite busy. Book an appointment ahead of time. You’re escorted to a semi-​private area similar to hospital rooms (with curtains separating you from other customers). There is soft lighting and peaceful music playing, but it’s definitely not quiet. You’re in a room with dozens of other people, after all. The student assigned to me accessed my health and conditions before getting to work. Yes, I was practically naked underneath the cloth (optional, but recommended), but I can’t imagine enjoying the massage if I was wearing a thick sweater. I enjoyed every minute of it and my body felt like a vegan jell-​o afterwards. Mind you, professional masseuses charge $ 60-​$ 125 for similar services. I have no complaints. Seriously, $ 25 … no tip necessary.
They really should rename their school to the «Soma-​ahhhhhhh» Institute.