The Art Institute of Pittsburgh

I finally get the chance to review college.
First of all, this school doesn’t accurately explain «everything you should know» before enrolling in it. The student dorms are in an ex-​nursing home and totally run-​down. Most staff are ok but some male instructors seem to show preference and clearly unsolicited attention to female students in their classes. The «career» they’ll help you get is, drawing caricatures of the visitors to a «Six Flags» in another state, for 50¢ above the Federal Minimum Wage, per hour; what graduates of this art school were offered by the school. I made sure to drop out of this school before student loans buried me, 2^nd semester.

Still waiting for resolution and now being told I’m $ 12,000 in the hole for a degree I’ll never receive because they kept extending graduation time for me. Opened a case with the BBB. Suggest others do the same. They’re CURRENTLY BEING SUED by the government by the way (the EDMC which owns the art Institutes is being sued for something like $ 11 billion) They’re telling me I’m beyond delinquent on my account, but I’m not really sure what they can do about it??? If you’re being sued by the government do you really have the right to report me to a credit agency?

This review is for the online division.
Is it possible to be in love with an inanimate object? Well, thats how I feel about AiOD. I’ve been attending the online division since… fall of 2010 after I transferred from AiOC. The shorter classes, interaction with people from around the US, cheaper tuition, and convenience of being online in the comfort of your own home. Everything about this school makes me happy to be an Ai student. I get a call bi-​weekly from my academic and financial advisers. Every single one of my instructors are there for me at a drop of a hat, and the classes are so easy to maneuver through.
The classes go by quick but with some time management, there is no better way and no other way I can imagine attending another school. I’ve completed the Residential Planning program with A’s/B’s and am now working on my Event Management program with strictly A’s. The instructors have no problems with giving letters of recommendations, I’ve collected a decent amount of them over the years.
Everyone is here to help. If I have anything I need help with, I have no problems getting it taken care of within the same day be it via email or phone call. Very happy with how my money is being spent.

I only took four classes at this school before I found out what kind of ppl they were. Just from within the four classes I took and I’ve had two or more Advisors and Financial counselors. The supplies they you have to go buy is crazy and they aren’t cheap. The issued me software (Adobe products) and told me it was covered in my fees and now that I have dropped the classes now they are calling me telling me I owe them money and if someone did say it was covered they made a mistake. The fees are ridiculous and they thinking they are doing you a favor but giving you a few dollars here and there. If I knew what i knew now? SMH

My BIL just graduated from AI. We visited this past weekend and everyone was super nice. They let us tour the campus, we saw some very interesting work.

I am an Alum of AiP. I’m not a fan. The teachers (most of them anyway) are pretty nice people. But the school in general is a rip off. I got a job on my own after graduation and the student services department wouldn’t stop calling me to try to get information about my salary so they could take credit for placing me. The fact is, I got that job myself with no help from them. It also took me six months to get my degree from them after graduation. Apparently they lost it and I had to call and email several times before I received an answer. My recommendation to anyone considering this school, go to a trade school or get an apprenticeship somewhere. This place is a waste of time.

I am currently enrolled in AiP’s online Food and Beverage Operations Certificate program and my experience has been very good. Although my classes haven’t started yet, my interaction with the staff has been encouraging and extremely supportive. When I contacted them for info they emailed me links to course descriptions, cost, financing, etc. My telephone conversations with staff have been set by me at my convenience and need. I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas and got more pressure to attend from them than I did from AiP. In addition, unlike many online school’s, AiP provides numerous tools to insure each student’s success. They have an extensive orientation program that fully prepares a student for online study. So far I am impressed with AiP. I gave them only Four stars for two reasons. First, I have not started classes yet so reserve full judgement until I’ve had that experience. Second, I feel their structure is for a novice, first time, college student. It is somewhat structured, with less flexibility than many online schools and definitely less than most colleges. Most colleges leave it totally up to the student to go to class, study, turn in assignments, etc. AiP’s supportive structure forces students into doing those things that will insure their educational success. I think these reviewers have missed out on a good thing. I am looking forward to my continued educational journey with AiP.

I live in Houston and am taking an online course through the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Boy what a mistake that was! I have an instructor named Dawn Massey who is terrible! I am 35 and am maintaining straight A’s on campus in Houston where I’ve been attending for 2 years. I do all my homework and sometimes have to complete it early b/​c I work in the Oil and Gas industry and can not always be sitting at a computer 24 hours a day. If you turn in assignments even a day early to this instructor she deletes them. Its juvenile and ignorant and just plain asinine!
I love my teachers on campus and have a great relationship with them and they treat you as an adult. I am talked to like I am a child by this instructor. Its people like this that ruin programs at schools. It’s sad I go overseas through three deployments and come back to be treated like an irresponsible child. it makes me sick to fight in a war for this type of person!

WARNING — STAY AWAY!!! WARNING — STAY AWAY!!!1 WARNING STAY AWAYYYYY!!!
Stay away from these money hungry, taking advantage of students who are eligible for grants and loans, racist fake people. The instructors are okay, but they need to run like hell and seek new jobs before they lose their license to teach. The instructors can only do what they are taught by administrators. The administration sucks!!! The walk you through the paper process as though the students were dummies. That stupid laughing hyena counselor or whatever title she is referred too, has absolutely no skills to help the student academically. The rest of the crew that sits in that one room office is ridiculous. They discuss student personal information among themselves. They make other insinuations…, the list goes on and on with these people. If you decide to withdraw, look out. They will have every official in this school calling trying to lure you back in to this over $ 3000.00 ++ five week quarterly course. If they call or email me one more time, I will contact the local police department for harassment. Please be careful when enrolling into this cult!!! Warning!!! they will also start calling from other bogus phone numbers.
Make Art Institute of Pittsburgh Give us our Pell Grants and stop scamming us for our Federal Student Aid

I was fortunate enough to figure out that AIoP was a scam before I got too far into it, partially due to the reviews I read online, including this site, which is why I have returned to leave this review. Hopefully I can help the next person as I was helped.
Initially, I was completely unaware that this was more like a corporation and not really so much a school, and that the recruiter I was talking to over the phone was nothing more than a glorified telemarketer who receives commission or pats on the back based on how many sales (enrollments) he or she can shmooze people in to.
Although I read many negative reviews and horror stories about AIoP (including that even the other Art Institute schools refused to accept credits earned from AIoP), I decided I would still give the benefit of the doubt and approached my recruiter with some questions that should have been easy for any credible university to answer, such as, «can you give me examples of other universities that have been known to regularly accept transfer credits from AIoP?»
My recruiter didn’t have any answers, so he directed me to his manager who was far less polite than he was. In fact, she sounded condescending and annoyed to have to speak with me. She told me I was probably just getting cold feet.
When I started to ask my first question, she actually interrupted me me mid-​question to give me a pitch about how wrong I was about my question I didn’t get to finish. I let that one go while she prattled on with her script about how great AIoP was.
I didn’t get too many questions in during our very controlled conversation (she did a LOT of scripted talking), but I was able to at least get the big one out there: could she give me examples of universities that have been known to accept credits from AIoP? Her answer was that she was «not legally allowed to disclose that information» and cited some law I have never heard of before nor since, regarding student privacy. What? First off, I wasn’t asking for student’s names and addresses and work schedules. Most schools I have ever spoken to not only «disclose» this information, they brag about it because it’s good for their school. In the end, I got the answers I was seeking whether she realized it or not. I was transferred back to my recruiter, whom I then told I wanted to cancel.
She was the final nail in the coffin. Despite her odd attitude, I should really be grateful to her, because if I had not talked to her (or listened to her, rather), I would have probably gone through with enrollment and now be $ 60,000 in debt for a worthless degree.
I did cancel though, and I requested a letter stating I was cancelled (because I had also read horror stories of students being billed for entire semesters after only attending partially, or not even attending ever at all). It took a couple of weeks but I got it.

I am an alumni of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and I loved every minute of it. I’m sad to read the other reviews of people harassing them to enroll in the school as my experience was quite the opposite. I had a meeting about the program I was interested in, and they gave me a huge packet of information to take home and digest. In a two week time period, the admissions counselor checked in with me once. It was between here and another city school, and I felt like AiP was the best choice. I’m so glad that I did it too, it was the best three years I could have hoped for! A friend of mine that I went to college with has since gone back for another degree.
This past Friday my friend and I stopped by the gallery for the Pop Art Pop-​Tart Reception which was awesome. The students did a fantastic job and it’s always great to see local students in a national spotlight. I have recommended people to go to this school, and they have and loved it! If you’re interested in any type of creative career, go meet with an admissions counselor and get more information.

I was really intrested in this school. And I was exctited to start in october. But then they would not stop calling me, and emailing me. They do not call to give you more information they call yo get you enrolled. I was enrolled the first day they called and couldn’t figure out a way to change my mind because i started thinking that I didnt keep my options open. But now I feel like they are harrasing me from the emails and voicemails they leave. I feel that the way they go about things is all wrong, I have actually attened a university before and they do not do this type of thing. I feel pressured by them to go to this school. They told me that if i do not call them back that they will drop me. I work two jobs I dont have time to do what they want me to do right now and I feel that they do not get that. They have taken things two far I would not recommend this school to anyone!

Absolutely DO NOT give out your number to these morons. All I wanted was to be mailed some info about a couple of their online art programs. They never mailed me information and instead they’ve been calling me every single weekday (sometimes multiple times a day) for MONTHS. They never leave a message and they always call with a different number, so there is no way for me to report them for harassment or call my phone company to block their number. I’m seriously considering changing my phone number just to get them to go away. They almost always call me at work, and if they miss me at work it’s always way early in the morning since I’m in a time zone that’s 3 hours behind Pittsburgh.
I hate them, I will never ever attend any of their programs. Harassment is a poor marketing strategy.
4÷28÷10 edit: I THINK (knock on wood) I may have actually gotten them to stop calling me. It’s been a couple of weeks since I got calls. If you click on «contact us» in little letters at the bottom of their website, it says they’re legally allowed to harass you for 3 months. They had been calling me for about 10 months, so I started reporting every number they called me with to the Do Not Call Registry. Assuming you have your number on the Do Not Call list, you can file a complaint online:

I continued to do this every time they called me with a different number for about 2 weeks and they still kept calling, always using a different number making the process of reporting them long and difficult. So I used their contact form and wrote them a really blunt and rude email telling them to quit calling me. I’ve sent them polite, grown-​up messages before using this same form and it didn’t work, so make sure to be as big a dick about it as humanly possible. Let them know how you REALLY feel.
A few days later, no more calls. I’m not sure which method worked, but I recommend both because F them.

I have never attended this school and never will. Three years ago, and I emphasize the words THREE YEARS, I requested information from this school. I have since already gotten a bachelors degree elsewhere and they are STILL sending me mail, emails, and phone calls. Are you freaking kidding me? Get a life Art Institute. You are so desperate and no one wants to be in that sort of environment. Have your marketing manager go back to school and learn how to not harrass people. I plan on writing to you for the next three years to tell you how annoying you are. Thank you.