What are the "top" cosmetology schools?

November 18, 2009 8:55 AM

Which cosmetology schools are considered reputable/"top 10?"

I know there's a list of colleges and some well-known names there, but I haven't been able to find such a thing for cosmetology schools. If location is important, I'm in Chicago.

The main thing I'm looking for is a solid reputation, as well as more frequent job opportunities/higher starting pay (compared to other schools.)

posted by biochemist to Education (4 answers total)

I don't think this is the sort of thing for which they are any solid numbers. The data isn't collected most of the time, because there are just so damn many schools that compiling enough data to have anything like a complete list would be a monumental task. Most schools' reputations are state-wide at best too, which makes the incentive for compiling such a list pretty low.

See here for more info. I'd take the recommendations for potential ranking sites with a grain of salt though. VastRank, for example, lists Rice University as the number 6 academic school in the country. Ahead of Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia, the latter two of which don't even crack the top fifteen. I don't think so.

You may well have to compile your own list based on the information available from school websites. Since you're looking in a fairly narrow geographical area, this shouldn't be insurmountable.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but there really isn't a resource which gives you what you want as far as I can tell.
posted by valkyryn at 9:54 AM on November 18, 2009

Pivot Point is located in Chicago.
posted by hortense at 10:34 AM on November 18, 2009

Best answer: My daughter attends a Paul Mitchell school and I can't tell you how impressed I am by how they run the school. Very fun and creative environment, excellent reputation (in my neck of the woods, at least) and as a plus, they're very much about the environment and giving back to their communities. Consider going for a tour. They'll explain their philosophies, methods of teaching, talk about placement, and show you the classrooms and the salon.
posted by contrariwise at 12:36 PM on November 18, 2009

I would recommend Aveda (there's an Aveda Institute, their teaching school, in Chicago) as a reputable and top cosmetology school. The Google maps page has all kinds of helpful info, including links to reviews of the school itself and also of the teaching salon.

Caveat: I have not been a student at Aveda, and I've never been to the one in Chicago at all (the one in LA is great, though!).
posted by librarylis at 10:30 PM on November 18, 2009