Oregon School of Massage - Salem Campus

"This might be lengthy so buckle up. I started attending this school in about April 2021 and dropped out i believe September 2022, attending 1-4 classes each term every term. Very old school, you have to call the school every registration day, wait for someone to answer and tell them what classes you want to take. Usually the line is busy so you probably won’t get the schedule you want. School demographic is primarily white, which isn’t an issue but there seemed to be a slight issue when I needed extra help. English is my second language and most of my english is conversational, I ask for extra help when things seem like “common knowledge” but they truly aren’t. My first term there my needs were ignored and kind of mocked? From the start the school was very questionable, and the curriculum and the way it’s presented is extremely flawed. They have pre-made packets that are extremely dated and LARGE (about 100 pages of hand outs, reading material etc), without these packets you’ll likely fail the class. When I first started attending teachers would print packets and hand them out, I think after 3 or 4 terms they no longer did this and you had to print them out from the online portal. These packets are usually scanned copies of scanned copies so the quality of the printing was AWFUL. They were all extremely dated and the “fillable” packet was very different to the other version.. & then there’s the lecture / power points, most teachers expressed that they got their class lists maybe a week or two before classes started not giving them enough time to go over these lecture notes and not giving them time to edit or revise them so a lot of them are dated and extremely hard to follow. Now let’s go with actual experience. My first teacher crossed many teacher students boundaries and would make us students feel uncomfortable. This teacher would comment on how my english was good, and how she didn’t think I needed her to elaborate on certain terminology after I had asked. Many micro aggressions and had to ultimately end up report this teacher. Great way to set the tone for what was to come. I believe all of my teachers were great after my fundamentals teacher. There was a very concerning turn around for office staff, especially at the Portland Campus .. When I finally decided to drop the program, I called the school to see if it was wiser to drop out or take a leave of absence and was told the bookkeeper would have to answer that question so a message was left. I went a week without hearing back, I called and left a message and this continued for a little over a month. I finally told them to take my banking information off of autopay and suddenly the urgency to call me back had kicked in. After all of that the president of the school was involved in all communication with me and the book keeper. She (bookkeeper) said she would need some time and would get back to me, no dates were given in this email. I called a few days later and asked for some dates to expect these things by and the bookkeeper said “as discussed previously these things will be done by ___”, I had to forward all communications because no dates or specifics were given. It took me over a month to drop out because the bookkeeper would not respond to any of my messages. I would ditch this school and find a different one."

"I am enjoying my time here so much! I've learned so much, and so quickly. Every staff member that I have came in contact with has been ultra supportive, and friendly. This is important to me because going back to school in my forties, with four kids and a two-three hour drive is a trip! Yes, the buildings are old, however, it really adds to the atmosphere, and it's not wasteful. This is the school my mother attended in around 1989, and is the best massage therapist I know! She highly recommended this school to me."

"Do not waste your money, find another school. This school is a joke with the local community of chiropractors and therapist. The staff are completely closed minded and love to push a completely liberal agenda with no thought of honoring the beliefs of anyone who thinks differently. The teaching staff are rude to students who do not think exactly like them. They do not support diversity nor do they practice any type of tolerance of others beliefs. The classes are poorly laid out with staff who talk more about their personal life and beliefs then educating the student in a rounded manner.."

"I'm disappointed with the facilities and the level of professionalism of the teachers. The building is very old and could use some remodeling, and the teachers have a hard time keeping students on track or following their lesson plans. The lack of diversity and cultural competency is also of concern to me. It is 2020, yet the school employees and teachers appear to mostly be middle age white women, which does not attract or represent the ethnic population. It appears that this school deletes negative reviews, so I will see how long this stays up. If I had to do it all over again, I would drive to a different massage school in Portland."

"I am an alumni and nurse. My only regret from my schooling is that it ended (besides ceu's). I miss the supportive and warm environment that i got to be a part of for 2 years. Everytime i come in for a CEU im happy and nostalgic. The sciences education was better than my nursing school (im an lpn so take that into account). I dont know what the quality of schooling is now but when i was a student it was top notch. I highly encourage anyone interested to try it out, sad to read about the hurdles of getting in the front door from the other review."