I posted a week or so ago regarding the logistics of attending electrology school while living in my home state and flying out about 1 week per month to do my practical so I can continue working as I have a established licensed in-home esthetics / waxing salon that I cannot just walk away from to attend school in person full time.
I have a new dilemma now… and appreciate any and all input no matter how small of a tidbit it is! I will appreciate all of it!
Bit of quick background info first… I am a mid 40’s licensed esthetician in WA state (8 years practicing) where no electrology licensing exists. I know I want to get fully licensed and trained properly. Husband, three wonderful dogaritos at home and 3 grown children not living at home or dependent on us.
I was thinking the 3 California schools were likely my only option as I will have to make monthly trips by airplane to do all of the hands-on work. But then I discovered the two schools in Wisconsin. All schools I should note, I am still doing my homework on and have 2 school left to speak to still.
To get my license in California it requires:
600 hours total (340 theory / 260 hours practical in the seat)
To get my license in Wisconsin it requires:
450 hours total (210 theory / 240 hours practical in the seat)
Rough total cost for the program and essentials in California $10,500
Rough total cost for the program and essentials in Wisconsin $7,500
Wisconsin program is cheaper and also likely MUCH cheaper for the total costs of flights, hotel stays, food and transportation
Both states get me fully licensed with almost the same amount of hours in the seat, 20 hours difference does not seem like that huge of a difference overall in the big scheme of things but more hours is better for sure. But I have less time to complete it in Wisconsin at 30 weeks total vs 52 weeks in California.
With my background in Esthetics I feel like the huge gap in theory hours (340 hours vs 210 hours) may not be such a huge deal as I can read a ton of the recommended books posted here and absorb a ton of other information that is out there. I would also sit down and compare what the difference is between the two syllabuses to see just what I will not be learning in the Wisconsin course compared with the California course (if any) and seek it out on my own.
I wish money wasn’t a factor but it is a significant component as it will likely cost me $25,000 total if not more for this once I add in the costs of flights, food and transportation.
My head spins with the “What is really going to matter when I complete my course and look backwards”? and “What won’t matter nearly as much as I thought it would”?
When it comes down to the breakdown of the hours and the licensing (testing) differences between the two states… will it matter?
I plan to order some books and order a machine once I get some input from others as to what machine would be great start for me t(hat won’t be useless in a year) to practice using on myself (or my husband at some point, never clients) to get ahead while doing my bookwork.
I love to learn, and research is something I love as well, which is why I am here trying to tease out what are really the most important things when it all boils down when trying to pull off a long distance romance… I mean schooling 
.
Maybe what matters is the fact that it is going to be damn cold in Wisconsin and that it might make me so miserable and want to bash my head against the wall in regret compared to being on a beach 3 blocks from school on my downtime and within walking distance to the airport…?
Maybe what matters more is one school will be more flexible with me and will help me get my required hours in as efficiently as possible without sacrificing quality. (Such as more consecutive days in a row on a trip vs longer work days of 12+ hours). I prefer more days vs longer days.
My ultimate goal: Get a respectable state license, through a program I can be proud of while getting a quality education without a lifetime of regret of choosing a school and finding it was a poor choice.
I know some may think I am way overthinking it but the sacrifice and upheaval will be significant and just “diving in” without a bunch of planning will set me up for failure. I have a lot of ducks to get in a row before and once I pull the trigger so I need to be confident that my choice is sound because I will need to be focusing on keeping my salon running smooth during the time I am home, studying my tail off, making sure when I leave town that my 3 pups are well taken care of when my husband is working not to mention the logistics behind it as they would be going from home all day with me to some sort of provider as they cannot be home 12 hours unattended.
I have quite a bit on the line for me to do this but that is why I am here… to get my crap figured out so I can then “dive in” fairly safely knowing I can give it my 110% with confidence that everything at home and such is figured out and I needn’t worry (not too much anyway).
Any thoughts are appreciated.
All ideas and tips to make this process cheaper especially in CA is great as well.
Opinions on the schools themselves is very helpful and I do plan to fly out to visit the schools in advance so I can know I am doing my due diligence and not flying by the seat of my pants. If you have opinions not fit for the forum and want to say in private you can email me at: #yder#atopia@gmail.com (replace the 2 # symbols with the letter m)
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