Got accepted to the Nascar Tech Institute in Mooresville
 

i recently toured the campus in Mooresville and i really liked what i saw. I have fallen in love with cars in general, performance, and modifications to them. With my grades and 100% attendance in school my entire life, my recruiter believes i have a good chance of being part of the motorsports side of an automotive career.

I was wanting to see if anyone else has went to UTI or the Nascar one in Mooresville, NC and what your experience was and where it lead you after graduation. Thanks

What are your goals? what do you want to work on?

Don't do it, look into the asep program at Central Pidemont or look into a local community college and see if they have any co-op programs with local dealers. That will get you further than the certificate they give you from UTI.

I've talked with the recruiters there and have toured twice.

It's NOT worth the price.

I want to hopefully go into racing. If not a master tech at a shop. everything i was shown looked state of the art, and they had employment assistance, along with training if i needed to go back for free.

All I know is that a lot of real shops run from NTI grads around here, most of them aren't worth a fuck.

i havent really found anywhere that has the recognition that they do though. ive hear of a place in asheville maybe ABtech or something like that?

If you can do it check out CPCC's program, they get you a job at dealerships while you goto school.

NTI's recognition is what would hurt you.

Don't get me wrong some people go, work really hard and come out better than when they went in. The job placement you speak of is actually to help people that relocate to mooresville and need a job while going to school.

Stay out of racing.... its a bad industry to ty to break into rightnow... no matter what line of BS the school sells you

Yep, NTI will say EXACTLY what you want to hear to get your $$$

I went to UTI, not NTI, but I have a few friends that went to NTI. Agree with the other posters, don't do it. While yes, I did learn a TON - I paid out the ass for it. You can get an equivalent education with an actual degree from a number of other colleges. UTI gave me a worthless completion certificate thats good nowhere outside of the automotive industry today. And grads of their 'graduate programs' are usually heavily looked down upon once inside the stealerships. Ever seen the South Park Episode 'they took our jerbs'??

UTI/NTI will accept anyone with a pulse and a checkbook...they just tell you "we only accept a certian number of people with certian grades...etc, a year" to get you in the door...then your off to ass-rape-ville and thrown out knowing little more than what you did to start and nothing to show for it excpet debt.

Advice,

If you have solid math ability and such, get into a University for Engineering. Join SAE and work with the Baja or Formula SAE clubs. Occasionally advanced power train design competitions show up. These things will get you employed and provide you with opportunities that will get you where you want to go. DSE founders Kyle and Stacy Tucker worked for GM and then started their own company and have put out some brilliant work that is heavily respected. Also, a BSME opens doors all over the place.

If your HS GPA isn't perfect, go to a community college and ace the core math classes and such, and you will get in, and not have to pay the insane tuition as a result.

It is not an easy ride, but the potential reward is where you want to go.

https://engineering.purdue.edu/fsae/wordpress/

Above is just one link to said programs, this one sponsored at Purdue.

I know this is probably a shift from what you were thinking, but if you are determined this is one road to get you where you want to go.

-B

This is exactly what I am doing.

I toured UTI and NTI several times and had a friend go to UTI in Orlando. He works at Bountyland Quick Stop and changed tires at a local GM dealership. That's what his UTI cert. got him.

I go to GTCC(Guilford Techical Community College) and I am studying to become a diesel technician and I am going to get a associates degree in mechanical engineering to go with it while I work.

This should set me up for life as far as working in the "industry".

I was told that if not only you can pull the part off the car and replace it with another OEM part, but repair an engine block by welding or machining it, a cylinder head or an intake manifold (just as examples) you will be worth x2 as much not only in importance and in need, but in monetary value and what you take home.

Learn a trade and then perfect it.

UTI is a joke.. I was setup to go and cancelled at the last minute, thank god... 2 of my close friends ended up going and coming back learning next to nothing.. I got a job at a local shop and applied at dealerships until I got on at one.. I was a line technician at the dealership within 6 months of working there making pretty decent money..

One of the friends that went to UTI is now a police officer, and the other one is at the dealership I used to work at making a good bit less money than me.. I have since opened my own shop and left the dealer. It is a tough time for the automotive industry and you have to be a damn good to make any real money in it right now.. I would look into something else if I was in your situation.

Craig

This is GREAT advice right here. Stay far far away from the service side of cars especially if you plan to go to a dealer. The warranty pay is garbage, the work is extremely hard and stressful especially on the new cars where tolerances are tighter and where there are a ton of electronics.

35 years ago my dad had the decision to go the engineering route or service route and ultimately chose the service route because he was great at it and back then it was actually decent work. It seems like everyday he regrets that decision when they keep chopping warranty pay and expect you to put in 80 hours a week.....trust me and him, it is not worth it. Go get an engineering/accounting/nursing degree and work to live, don't live to work.

^X100 Both me and my sons love to wrench on our cars and we are all pretty good at it, but when it gets frustrating we can walk away, not the same at some shop, dealership or not. I went the high road and got my BSME from VT and I have never regreted it. My oldest son is going the communitiy college route and hopes to follow dad as an Engineer. He applied to UNCC but didn't get in. If you're local to Charlotte I highly recomend thier program, It's all automotive, but when you get out you have a BSME degree.

I worked my way through college working on a NASCAR Winston cup team (Sprint cup now) and trust me, it's only fun the first few times you go to the track, after that it's one of the hardest jobs you'll ever have. I also recomend the Formula SAE team, I was lucky enough to build the one car from VT that won the whole competition in '91. Four of the core guys on the team all now work in motorsports, two as IRL chief engineers and one for Joe Gibbs racing and Me (If you count my stint on the Winston Cup team). I work for a big company now doing engineering work and choose to work on my project cars for "fun"

My passion is coming back full circle after 20 years being an Engineer, I now have the money and the time to build what I love, and also go to the track as a car owner and driver (and wrench turner). I'm a wanna be road racer now, and I love every minute of it, never would have happend if I fixed other peoples cars all week long.

I agree with what you said here.. I do not regret my career path in motorsports its given me everything i have today...I without a doubt love what I do... but it has ruined my original love for cars... Id rather do a 1000 things before going to work project car in my garage... I dont care about going to car shows or drag strips..maybe a local short track if I know someone racing and odds are slim at best that id do that

University of Northwestern Ohio......look into it. I graduated from there, and you get an accredited degree. Not a diploma or certificate of completion......a DEGREE......

I have a degree in Automotive technology and High Performance Motorsports. I also landed the coolest job ever before leaving UNOH. Just get great grades, have 100% attendance, and youll have no issues. They even took me to SEMA twice and paid for everything while I was there!

http://unoh.edu/academics/college-of...orsports.shtml

/thread :)

i went to lincoln tech here in NY which is the same thing as UTI or the other tech schools that blow smoke up your butt. they tell you your gonna learn this and that and they don't teach you anything truly useful. they also tell you your gonna graduate and get a job making 60k+ a year....im sure you heard that. when i was younger i bought right into the BS they were selling. luckily i grew up working on cars and building muscle cars/street rods with my grandfather. long story short i came out of that school knowing NOTHING more then what i went in knowing, spent crazy money, and wasted a year of my life. all to get a certificate of completion or whatever it is they gave me. i am still in the field and work for a BMW dealership. Trade school didn't get me there. lol if i could go back in time i wouldn't waste the time or the money on a tech school, i would have gone to college and got a degree. and that is exactly my advice to you.

and i 100% agree with CTSmechanic. although i am still young (21), this career has somewhat ruined the hobby for me. i love what i do, but after a long day fixing other peoples cars, the last thing i wanna do is come home and get my camaro together. i don't wanna hear/see a car that i have to touch after 430 haha

good luck with whichever path you choose dude :D

I "graduated" from NTI in 2007. Don't believe everything the recruiters are saying. Getting hired by a race team is very difficult, even with their "employment assistance". I was in the top 5 in my class for grades, performance, and attendance. Went through Ford FACT and had an offer from one of the MSAT programs. Unfortunately, the MSAT wouldn't work out because by the time I was completed, I had close to $35k in student loans just from going to the school. I came back to Atlanta, and used the "employment assistance" which got me nowhere. I found a local GM dealer where I was put doing oil changes, tire rotations, and maintenace. I wasn't even given a chance to apprentice with someone from the outstart, even though I had the paper with the training, and some ASE certifications already. It took a year and half before I was ever given a shot on my own. Take it from me and everyone else that has already posted, go the college or other technical school route over NTI. If I had it to do over again that's what I would have done. I've been in a dealership for the past 4 years, and am currently looking to get a business degree, because that certificate they give you means nothing outside of the automotive field. I'm not knocking the school, because I did learn things like how to weld and do some minor fabrication, but for what it costs to go there, there are better options out there.