Cortiva Institute Reviews

"Coritva Institute in King of Prussia Pennsylvania is a wonderful school. My experience here was definitely one to remember. I graduate in a couple of weeks. Tina in admissions is great! Extremely knowledgeable about financial aid, the Gi bill. The admissions process was quicker than expected. Students in the school are professional, goal oriented, and ambitious. The environment of the school overall is tranquil and conducive to learning. The instructors here are knowledgeable and offer one on one training. There is a ample time allotted for making up classes should life happen and it seems that the goal of the school is to assist students in becoming proficient in their career. I would definitely highly recommend this school to anyone looking for a career in massage or esthetics"

"Currently I am going to school for the Paramedical Esthetician program at the St. Petersburg, Florida location. Overall of the school, I would say that it is average. In general I think the majority of learning is going to be learning in the field after I graduate. The day class is packed, with a ton of students and you will definitely be able to make friends with many of the students. Jeff is very hands on and you will be doing facials from day 1- not bad at all. The only issue I would say is that with so many students in 1 class, there might not be enough of Jeff to go around (hehe) and it gets a little stressful. The night class is a third of the students and Margot is the sweetest and a lot of fun to learn from. She always has the best interest of her students. Margot will have you on the floor laughing, she loves what she does and is one of the girls who truly enjoys what she is teaching. For the most part, it is what you make of it. We all have bad days and sometimes just going to class can turn your day around. It was really easy to get enrolled. They do all of it for you and you will start school the next week. Candace did an amazing job with my financial portion and Morgan helped me through the paperwork. Very nice staff and great teachers at this location."

"DO NOT RECOMMEND, when I first started at this school, I was first told that I had to be an esthetician first before I could move on to learn laser treatments, at that time this was a lie, I found out later there were other options that they indicated to me were NOT available. They were available and not just available, available for the same price as they were charging I could have gotten double training for the same price elseware. Students beware and do your home work! Additionally, they can not keep staff, 30% of the time I attended this school our classroom sat devoid of an instructor, we sat in an empty room and were told to catch up on homework as they had no instructor for us today! Now the first few weeks were great, as we had an amazing teacher, but after a few short weeks she moved to California, later the last few weeks were great as well as we were moved into another class with another teacher, and she was wonderful as well, but the middle 2/3rds time we had NO teacher, or a drunk teacher who never showed up and ocationally a sub teacher who was borderline dementia, and rarely a great sub teacher from the night shift. But mostly... NO teacher! I am currently trying to find a way to get my student loans forgiven because this school defaulted on our contract in my opinion. Failure to perform, it is my understanding that in order to be a school and charge for an eduction you MUST have adequate instructors, 100% of the time. They did not. YES I graduated, but that was because of all of the educational materials available online that we went to for our training. you tube videos and phone apps for state board training. Most of my education came from online apps that were downloaded on my phone that I sat and did in an empty classroom, because there was no teacher. I even brought my laptop into the classroom so that I could go online to free resources to get my education while sitting in an empty classroom. So I, and many others feel that there should be a refund available to us. DO NOT GO HERE"

"This school SUCKS! Im in the massage therapy program and I DONT RECOMMEND ANYONE to further their education here. It's VERY unprofessional and unorganized there's new changes every week since i started. Also if you have trouble with learning in anyway this is DEFINITELY NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. They throw info at for 3 hours and expect you to remember it 5 weeks later for the final. There's no review there no one on one with the teacher there's no HELP AT ALL ! The teachers give you more attitude more then they help you. It's very hard to stay focused when you don't get the help And attention you need! I promise you if i knew this school was like this i would've nevered signed up for this school."

"I hate this place!!!!!!!!!!!Cortiva phxThe director (JR & R) & director (CK) of education are dumb as dirt. This school could have been a gold mine however; the Incompetency in the upper management is simply unbelievable!!!! they are what reality TV shows are made of (Hollywood you missed out big time at this location).The Director of education thrives on bullying students and having her staff work in a horrific hostile rascist environment daily as she is the antagonist every day, a so called leader of the school. CK is so unhappy and miserable in her own personal life she wants to make everybody as miserable as she is. How very sad to think somebody in a high management position thought she would be good in this position? THANK GOD for karma. karma is a B**** and trust in me karma will pay CK back in the end.The one positive thing in this school was my instructor Miss Jenn if it was not for her I would have NEVER stayed in this school or became the professional I am."

"Thankfully this place is closing. No one else can get sucked into the trap that I did. Gave this place a shot years ago, tried to drop out midway and was pretty pressured to stay by finance and another party. Never did anything massage therapy related after graduation yet here I am stuck with the debt. Too bad my outstanding $6k debt couldnt be wiped out with the school closing."

"I gave this place a shot for 6 months. I feel like I wasted my money. The students dont take the education seriously, the teachers dont enforce rules but if and when they do, it is selective. Its high school all over again. No respect is shown between the students. The quality of the education is not worth the money. The books are not grammatically correct, the material in the books is breezed over. Its a fast paced environment. Get in get out. The inside of the school is run down and in disarray. The carpets are shredded and stained. Its dusty. The walls are unbelievably dirty. The desks and chairs are painful to sit in and use. For a massage school, you would think they care about your body. There are high school games played among the staff. Popularity contests. There are better places around here for less and even better education. You just need to hours and knowledge to pass the MBLEx. Not this school."

"DONT COME HERE This school is ignorant. Everything they tell you is a lie, they never let you use school supplies and they make new rules like were children in elementary school everyday. Ms J. is the best thing here. Other than that the corporate and the president and and other high up staff are unsupportive and only care about your money."

"Not enough kinesthetic learning. Broken massage equipment such as warped face cradles and parts. Dirty sheets in clinic that are shared with a hospital. Slow, old computers for student study that connect to a overly locked down online network thanks to the system admin. 600+ hours and the most kinesthetic instruction you get is in the 1st term. When they sucker you into staying long enough to where they pocket half your tuition if you withdraw they start giving you more lectures and less hands-on experience. For the last stretch of the program, they toss all the students into clinical training and prepare you for the mBLEX. If you need help with anything, then you are told you are supposed to know it by now-- try to make friends in the other classes. Cortiva is very much so a second high school and a popularity contest. If you have absolutely no interest in the anatomy of things or an interest in protecting the ethics of the massage profession-- then they'll still pass you through their school. I wish I would have taken my money elsewhere."

"Thank YOU: Mr. Davis, always checking in and giving solid advice. Mrs. Helen and Mrs. Anna for giving me the opportunity in the work study program. Mr. Hank for CONSTANTLY advocating for his students. All ALUMNI and Teachers..THANK YOU for TRULY being THAT village-Gemini"

"10/10 would not recommend this school. From the very beginning it was terrible. Went through multiple teachers within the 7.5 months. Wasted a lot of my time. There was constant fighting and arguing for a full 2 months. If I could get my money back I would. The teaching was horrible. It was more like you were on your own kind of thing. Never had a real lecture in class, and half the time we didnt fully finish stuff in the lab. Really disappointed"

"All I can say is Do Not Waste your time!! Going in with some knowledge of skin may help you. Unprofessional, rude immature students and staff. Miss information giving by staff members. Staff members from the instructor to the school director talks about everybody students and staff. Terrible"

"The whole program is OUT OF ORDER from start to finish. Some faculty members including the school president does not have your best interest at heart and miseducated themselves. You will not learn much of whats needed to get you through lab or Clinicals"

"2016 graduate of Cortiva- Joliet IL. Initially I found this a wonderful opportunity and change in life. However after graduating and trying to find sustainable work - my opinion has changed. I live 10 minutes from my campus and the crank our 30+ therapists every 12-15 weeks making almost impossible to find full time employment within a 30 mile radius of home. I've read other reviews and am in the same boat...we're like lawyers...more out there than needed. I've also now had severe issues with their "in-house" loan; they've allowed me to fall through the cracks and have been hesitant to help me since they transferred my loan to a servicing center. Cortiva has now placed me into collections because their contracted service center "failed" to continue to send me updated statements for payment. Now Sunrise Credit Specialists now want $2880 due in full. I've spoken to 3 different financial aid reps who've all said they'd look into this just to not respond to emails or contact me with any and all information. A waste of time and money for rushed through courses and supplies."

"Paid too much for a degree/certificate for a job field that is flooded with LMT's that make on avg.$15 hr. This is not a career that will suport you full time, this job field has alot unpaid time, do to the way bussiness is done, if they dont have clients, you sit and make nothing, but you still have to be there and avalable. The staff is very good, but less than 1/4 of them are still teaching at the location in Scottsdale where I attended, BIG turnover in less than 4 years. High number of LMT's graduate (would say this location 20 to 30 every 3 months from this location), but less than 10% are still in the job as LMT's after 1 year."

"This school is very focused on money. The curriculum is not that much better than anywhere else to be honest. They charge you $12,000.00 and it's not worth it. In those fees are $430 for a table you can get online for much less (and of course they make it seem as if they're doing you a favor), a "student fee" of $330 that is for a little lotion and some $5 Cortiva t-shirts you are required to wear, among other hidden corporate fees. I wouldn't have such a problem with it if they weren't putting all that into the loans you have to get to go there if you can't pay cash. The staff in general are snooty, and treat you worse and worse as the course goes on. Almost everyone in my class was put through the ringer by their ridiculous corporate polities and bureaucratic atmosphere. I would never suggest a friend of mine to go to this place. A lot of us are still waiting on our licenses because they failed to submit paperwork and still haven't done it. If you're a veteran like I am, expect to have problems getting your Pell and GI Bill money."

"Pushes students though a program with minimum level of education/skills training, provides the barest of job placement support, that leaves the students high and dry with nothing but a large student loan to pay with no Job. This school is a massage school mill."

"I have always used spas but never quite knew how someone became qualified to work at one. Having appreciated Biology in school I did understand that the muscles of the body work closely together and are intimately related to a person’s health. I wanted to explore the field of massage therapy so I enrolled here in Philadelphia in Cortiva Institude. The classes were full of hands on exercises and I spent less time in the books and more time learning the art of massage therapy. The tuition was very affordable and now that I have a degree I have a full range of spas and day resorts to work at in the greater Philadelphia area. Without having to spend too much money on education, Cortiva Institute opened up a world of job possibilities. However, working mostly in the day, I only wish there were a greater number of night classes that would have allowed for my schooling to be even more convenient. Cortiva, however, always provided me the support as I juggled both work and school."