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Utah College of Massage Therapy Review - recommended

February 16, 2006

One Therapist's experience at Utah College of Massage Therapy.

I graduated from the Utah College of Massage Therapy (UCMT), the Salt Lake City, Utah campus, which was the only branch of the school at the time, about 10 years ago. It now has several branches in multiple states, including Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. It is accredited by ACCET (Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training). However, I've never been asked if I attended an ACCET accredited massage therapy school, so this should matter much less to the student than the school's claims of its importance. When I enrolled, students could choose between their six-month, full-time day class, or a year-long, part-time night class. Because I needed the income from my day job, I chose the night class option.

Requirements for getting into the school were, and remain, minimal. One needs a high school diploma or GED in order to be accepted. The school does offer financial aid to people who qualify. This may be needed. When I enrolled at UCMT, tuition was approximately $4,000 for the night class; the day class tuition cost was slightly higher. Currently, the asphyxiating cost of tuition for the day or night classes at UCMT comes in at over $11,200. The massage school justifies this, even if no one else can, with increased classroom hours, inflation, overhead costs, and paying "qualified" instructors (though some of them may have just graduated themselves, mere days before they start teaching you). At least the cost includes books, a new massage table and a shirt (required UCMT "professional attire"); massage chairs are extra in case you were wondering.

The courses have remained much the same over the past several years, with minor adjustments (as per instructor) and with several courses being added or dropped (as per the school). At times, UCMT offered "extra" classes outside of regular class times that students could take, sometimes free of charge, if an instructor wished to teach a particular massage course specialty that was not already part of the core-curriculum.

While I was in school the core curriculum massage courses included the following:
Massage I: introduction to massage therapy, including techniques in effleurage, petrissage, friction, and tapotement
Massage II: a "building on the basics" course for massage therapy
Seated Massage: using a massage chair rather than a massage table to deliver effective massages, particularly to clients on the go, more on this later�
Trigger Point Therapy: identifying and working on trigger points, in the traditional Janet Travell techniques (see: http://www.pain-education.com/100143.php)
Sports Massage: massage for athletes, which focused mainly on running athletes
Russian Sports Massage: sports massage, Russian style � heavy on technique
Deep Tissue: now called Structural Integration; it is a watered down version of Rolfing � comically believed by many UCMT students (and faculty) to be the same thing being taught at the Rolfing Institute
PNF/Facilitated Stretching: a course on stretching, one aspect in which one should have high expectations of a massage therapist; though a comparison, say with what physical therapists are required to learn in school (actual PNF � Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation � of which stretching is only a part) is quite different.
Cranio Sacral Therapy: a very non-scientific approach using extremely light touch; believed to balance, regulate, and improve cerebrospinal fluid flow, which is purported to fix a variety of ailments
Acupressure: acupuncture, without the needles
Shiatsu: a Japanese technique, much like acupressure, with an emphasis based on the eastern philosophy of balancing body meridians
Touch for Health: another non-scientific muscle testing technique with dubitable results
Human Anatomy: This course is perhaps UCMT�s strongest selling point. It is one of the best experiences the massage school offered. Ironically, it isn't really a UCMT-developed course at all, but rather a slightly watered-down version of the undergraduate biology human anatomy course taught at the University of Utah, run by the long-time teaching professor there, Mark Nielsen. The best benefit is that students participate in cadaver-based lab sections AT the University of Utah. The course is strictly taught by University of Utah undergraduate student teaching assistants (TA�s) who have taken Mark�s course as University of Utah students and were subsequently chosen by outstanding performance in the course.
First Aid/CPR: the minimal requirements for getting certification in CPR and first aid
Professional Development: this mostly centered on ethics and emphasized putting together a viable business plan � a course that most students feel was a waste of time, only because no time was spent really helping students map out an actual business plan at all. I do remember hearing how nearly every noun was a metaphor for something else on a regular basis.

There are numerous other courses taught at UCMT, especially now, with several expanded "career tracks". These can be found on their ubiquitous, though very user-unfriendly websites. UCMT really puts the word web back in website. One can at least start navigating by typing in UCMT in Google or by visiting www.ucmt.com.

At the time I enrolled, UCMT was really the only massage therapy school where I lived, in the state of Utah, at least the only one with any notoriety to speak of. Dozens have since sprung up all over the state. Most of these relative newcomers likely have some root connection to the Utah College of Massage Therapy (e.g., school owner is former UCMT student, or instructor, or even both; instructors are UCMT-trained therapists, etc�). Being the first has not made it the best necessarily, but it did give UCMT a head start in order to gain a strong foothold in the massage industry of Utah (even in the country), given that there was little or no competition to deal with for quite some time after it had opened. As a student however (and for many who were naively employed by the school), one quickly found that scruples were entirely wanting among many of the rather incestuous (in the business sense) and nepotistic lot of administrators and faculty of the school. Little, if anything, has changed in that sense. This negative aspect of the school isn�t helped after hearing rumors of sexual relationships for job positions or better grades, and browsing through common surnames in their catalogue (and for those who know much more, some may have different last names, but they�re still very intimately connected or related, even as closely as father and son). Not to say one can�t sleep with coworkers or be related to someone else at the school and work there, it�s just that these issues wave serious red flags as to one�s qualifications.

The student clinic (clinical internship) was a mandatory requirement at the school. The clinic, open on Saturday and Sunday was (here's a common metaphor used by the students) a dairy farm. Students often felt much like cows on a dairy farm, brought in and encouraged to increase school profits and treated rather poorly during their brief tenure. Some viewed this as a way of paying their dues and were able to graduate and move on with their careers. The public was invited to receive a 50-minute student massage during clinic hours. Students were expected to work five hours each weekend, on either day, until the required number of clinic hours were obtained, which remain the same, at roughly 119 hours.

The school didn�t (and still doesn�t) pay students a dime for their services (they claimed that student tuition and fees were drastically reduced because of the clinic profits, but I didn�t see it then, and I certainly don�t see that now, especially since an apprenticeship with a licensed massage therapist costs nothing, and both the trainer and apprentice make money during the apprenticeship). However, the school did provide the massage oil (a cheap 50/50 baby oil/mineral oil combo), the massage tables, and the so-called massage rooms � curtained off sections in large classrooms, lacking in privacy in nearly every imaginable extent.

In addition, students were even strongly discouraged from accepting tips from their �clients,� propagated by a threat that accepting money was violating Utah State laws. In reality, it isn�t illegal to accept tip money at all � if someone feels like giving money to you, don�t feel like you have to decline the offer. However, I strongly believe the administration�s thinking was that if the �clients� were expected to add a tip on to the cost of the massage, business would decrease, and the school would make less money; not that UCMT couldn�t take a small hit like that either. In multiple ways, this set up the demise of the prospective student therapist, because the students find that they can�t really charge much more than what was being charged at the student clinic for their massages after they graduate if they want to woo any clients away from the clinic; a clinic that students are expected to seek clients for, in addition to paying for the advertising the school puts out; then even if they could charge a little bit more, they�d never make any money on tips.

At any rate, the weekend clinics were always packed. People were turned away nearly every day of clinic because there was simply not enough time. I believe little, if anything, has changed in that respect. Droves of Salt Lake City residents and others, from as far away as Provo, Logan, and even Evanston, Wyoming, would come to the weekend clinic because of it�s relatively low cost. Students are still heavily encouraged to give five massages during their five-hour time shift in order to accommodate more people, and hence, make more money. The cost of the student massage has also increased from $18 when I was there, to $25. Students who had graduated from the school can get massages for � price, in exchange for feedback to the student (which is sometimes appalling to take from someone who graduated less than 6 months earlier and who has done nothing in the massage field since graduation).

My idea of a more student-friendly massage therapy school would be one that included a small number of required massage classes, followed by a large and diverse selection of specialty massage and massage related electives that eventually met the requirements for �graduation.� I feel it is a great waste of time and money to take numerous courses that don�t apply, even remotely, to what one wishes to do in a vocational school. Even more depressing is that some massage therapy school courses are, to be blunt, such utterly useless, imaginary therapies, offering no benefit whatsoever, lying somewhere between the realm of fantasy and science fiction, which some call fantastic science, others call it something much less kind.

Post-school employment is extremely varied. Some say success or failure is determined by what one wants to go into (e.g., spa practice, seated massage business, working out of home, work for chiropractor or medical doctor, massage therapist to the stars, or the athletes, cruise ship massage, etc�). Others claim it is business location, or advertising. Some still are naive enough to believe it has to do with how good one is (but, don�t get me wrong, it does have a little to do with that). However, one thing has remained transparently evident over the years, on which, the majority of my massage therapist peers and I agree success is largely determined. How many X chromosomes do you have?

More women than men use the services of a massage therapist. OK, that wasn�t striking a blow to anyone yet. Can�t we divide the masses up evenly between the sexes? Well, no, it�s not that easy. You see, most (not all) women greatly prefer receiving massages from friendly, knowledgeable, caring women. While, on the other hand, most (again, not all) men (the relative few who do get massages) prefer receiving massages from pretty women. Either way, the therapist in most demand has two X chromosomes. Sound harsh, extreme, unfair or sexist? Deal with it. It�s not as if pretending such issues don�t exist will make them go away, it merely makes people not want to admit them because they become taboo societal issues instead.

Though most male therapists despise the notion that they are at a distinct disadvantage, (probably due, in some great part, to propagated massage therapy school myths that tell men they are not at a disadvantage in order to not lose a cent of potential profit from the male population), the truth is, they are. Using the word disadvantage is really quite an understatement; could I conjure up a better word to use for the radical imbalance of preference given to women in the massage industry, I would use it.

A male therapist may overcome this �inadequacy� to some degree, at least enough to make a living, with success proportional to that of his creativity and resourcefulness. He may manage a massage clinic or spa, run some other type of massage business (just not working in it for the most part � hire female therapists instead), or provide legitimate continuing education seminars for massage therapists. Which brings me to the inevitable soapbox on continuing education. Every time I get advertisements for these seminars, and there are a great many, it is grossly apparent that few are even worth their time to read. They have become so ridiculous, so far-fetched and so absurdly expensive, as to assure the recipients that the promoters have lost touch with every form of reality altogether. Other options include working for a doctor (M.D., D.C., D.O.) who will hire therapists for their talent, rather than their genes, or their lack of skirt shortness, blouse sheerness or cleavage revealing and enhancing apparatus (not that all successful women are successful or hired on these standards either; some, I would even like to believe that most, do have a sense of ethics).

Seated massage is typically friendlier toward male therapists than is the standard massage table experience. This is because sitting in a massage chair with all of one�s clothing on combined with the elimination of skin-to-skin contact via massage oil drastically diminishes the otherwise, somewhat inherent intimacy of massage, which works better for and among sexually self-conscious men. By the way, it has been my experience that seated massage, as a business, is typically more economically rewarding than other massage businesses. However, it doesn�t have the same relaxing appeal or provide, to the same extent, benefits gleaned from getting a work-over on a massage table.

On Being a Very Healthy Skeptic: or, How to Avoid Being Taken Advantage of:

Had I known better at the time, I would have chosen an apprenticeship over a �formal� education at a massage therapy school in order to get my required Utah license. Of course, this requires an immense amount of self-determination and willingness to search for, find, and convince the right person that one wants to work with, but it costs far less � it even pays, it allows the student to focus on his/her choice of specialty, and it helps develop a much greater potential for gaining and retaining clientele. Whereas, UCMT�s devotion, or that of most any massage therapy school, is to lavishly spend your hard-earned money on questionably ethical, �round the clock radio and TV advertising to recruit: (1) more students, or (2) more of their own clientele for the weekend clinic.

One should also be cautious about any claims or advertisements made by any school. Their sole function is to get your money. For example, when UCMT reports that �they placed� 97% of their graduates, it really doesn�t mean that they placed 97% of their graduates. It does mean that, after one throws out all of the graduates who didn�t seek a massage job (a relatively high number of students in each class), of those that wanted jobs, UCMT claims to have placed 97% of them in jobs � of any kind, in the massage field; not lucrative jobs, necessarily (like they�d like you to believe from their advertising), just some massage industry related job. However, the majority of that 97% constitutes therapists who found or created jobs on their own with no help from the school at all (though the school�s faithful employees won�t tell you this up front). The math looks grim when this is taken into account.

Let�s look at a typical class of 30 students at a thriving massage therapy school. Of those 30, roughly four won�t even graduate (minimally) � and the school won�t count them (that would be bad). Of the remaining 26, seven of them will most likely never seek a career as a licensed massage therapist, so the school won�t count them either. The school will only count the number of graduates who want work as a massage therapist and graduate. Of the remaining 19 students, I would easily assume that at least 16 of them will have found jobs on their own, including working for themselves in their own business. So, of the 30 students, perhaps only three students need help finding a job. In order to get a 97% rate, they only have to make sure that 18.43 students of those 19 get jobs, but 16 of them already have one. It used to seem onerous, but not now. The school needs to help a maximum of only 2.43 of those 19 students find jobs to get their 97% �placed.� The school somehow manages to accomplish this apparently insurmountable task, and gladly takes credit for �placing� the other 16 students who found work for themselves. So the school probably only �places� two to three students of 30, which comes out to be much closer to 6% to 8% than the 97% rate that they may claim, or as much as 12.8%, if we only count the 19 who wanted and found jobs. It�s still a very long way from 97%. It�s really like they say, �Statistics don�t lie, but people who use statistics do.� Don�t get duped into thinking your favorite school will hand you a fancy, high-paying job in �paradise� by the time you leave, just because you went to school there. They�re vacationing in �paradise�, on your money, and it just so happens that you�re not their therapist.

I also sat for, and handily passed, the National Certification Exam in order to have the National Certification for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCTMB) credentials. I admit that I tried using this as leverage several times early on in my career in order to increase clientele or make myself look better than other non-nationally credentialed therapists, after all, this is what the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) hopes you�ll do with those credentials. This was pointless. People came to me because of my knowledge and my massage. Not once did someone come to me because of my credentials, let alone ask if I was nationally certified, just like they never asked if I had attended an ACCET accredited massage therapy school.

It seems the public doesn�t care where one gets one�s training, or what credentials one may have. They want a good massage. Of course, every �accredited� massage therapy school in the country and the NCBTMB would like you to believe differently. They spend all of your student tuition money or membership fees or certification dues on advertising, which aims to promote what they�re selling, not helping therapists become any better.

After eight years of NCTMB, and having received no benefit whatsoever from the organization or the credentials I dropped it. In fact, it actually costs a lot of money to keep the NCTMB credentials. As of this writing, it�s $225.00 to take the exam initially, and $100 every four years thereafter in order to keep the certification � on top of what it costs to take continuing education classes in order to be a candidate for recertification, though I highly recommend continuing education classes - well, at least those that actually have some trace of merit. I don�t need to revisit that again. I regret having wasted money on the national exam, though not as much as having held on to the useless credentials for as long as I did.

Currently, however, having NCTMB behind one�s name (though it still means nothing) is required in numerous states (having been successfully lobbied by the NCBTMB using my membership and exam money) for recently graduated students/apprentices, which merely forces the national exam on prospective massage therapists in lieu of a state massage exam, for which you�ll pay much more money and still receive no added benefit. In some cases, the national exam is offered as an option to the state exam; in which case, I would recommend NOT taking the national exam if you don�t need it (e.g., if you won�t be moving to a state that requires the national certification).

Finally, to be true to the sub-heading under which I have placed these comments, be skeptical of every word I�ve said. But then, be just as skeptical of every word that comes out of the school you look into. Do something most Americans consider irrational; take on some responsibility and find out for yourself. Go in and ask at least two dozen important questions that would make any school employee�s eyes glaze over with fright and a horrific sense of dumbfoundedness if they�re hiding anything from you. If they can�t answer your questions to your satisfaction, or if they don�t give you the answers you�re looking for, go elsewhere. If they�re going to take all of your money, you may as well get something for it in exchange, otherwise, you�ve just entered the school of hard knocks.

Submitted by an anonymous member.
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