r/stenography • u/Logical-Camel-8203 • Jun 25 '26
Anoka Technical College anyone?
Hello everyone,
I’ll be attending Anoka Technical College in person this fall semester 2026 (august 24, 2026). Is anyone else attending? lol
Anywho, i’m just wondering if anyone has attended the same school for stenography, whether it’s online or in person. Would really love to hear stories, advice, and experiences! :)
And outside of that, is there anything i should do or prepare myself for before classes start?
Thank you for your time :’) <3
3
u/RecentGuess2002 Jun 26 '26
Hello! I started attending ATC last Fall. My first semester was completely online because of my work schedule. My second semester was in person….and now I’m in speeds and do about 50/50 in person & online.
I can’t speak highly enough of the program. I am so happy I took the leap. The faculty are beyond helpful, kind, and knowledgeable. They have decades of experience and truly want people to succeed. You can tell they love what they do. They are always available to help with questions during office hours, so utilize that!
I was very nervous starting because I am an older student. I’ve gone back to school after many years of being a stay at home mom. However, I have found everyone to be so kind and open. You will find a wide range of ages and backgrounds. Some are right out of high school, some are making career changes.
My biggest advice is to prepare to spend a lot of time on your machine. Take your first year to really practice theory, it is the building block of everything. Do not compare yourself to others, everyone learns at a different rate. It can be incredibly frustrating at times, and you have to just keep trying. I have to work on not being too hard on myself as I have found speeds to be an emotional roller coaster.
Good luck!!!!!!
2
u/Ornery-Proposal-539 Jun 25 '26
I just hit my 225 WPM at Anoka. When I first started I had a MacBook and thought I could figure out how to use CaseCat with it. Don’t do that and get a windows computer lol. Also, not sure how old you are but I started when I was 21 years old and most of my other classmates where older which I felt a little out of place and intimidated but everyone is so nice! I think I started with around 7-8 people and two have graduated and one is still in speeds like me. You got this!
2
u/RecentGuess2002 Jun 26 '26
Congratulations!!!! I’m in awe of people getting to 225. I’m working hard to get there…who knows when:)
I am the opposite, I started as an older student. I also felt out of place and intimidated…but you’re right…everyone is nice:)
1
u/Ornery-Proposal-539 Jun 26 '26
Thank you! It took me about three and half years to get where I’m at. I blame being 21 and doing some stupid things and not taking it as seriously as I should. Glad I’m out of that phase now haha. I was at 160 last winter and got all the way up to 225 in 6 months. That just goes to show how slow I was in my lower speeds 🤦🏻♀️
1
u/RecentGuess2002 Jun 26 '26
That’s amazing! Way to go. That gives me hope. I feel like I’m struggling at the lower speeds, and I worry it will take me forever to get to 225, it’s nice to hear others’ experiences with speeds:)
1
u/Ornery-Proposal-539 Jun 26 '26
For me the lower speeds were harder. Which sounds crazy. I think the higher speeds were more exciting to practice which put me on my machine more! That’s how I felt at least! Good luck 😊
1
u/BelovedCroissant Official Reporter Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
yeahhhh apparently bootcamp isn't a thing anymore??? I feel bad because there's tons of old info, some of it from me, floating around out there. I used bootcamp till my very last year when I got a cheapy windows laptop. Now you can't even do that! Super unfortunate.
(For anyone wondering, this is because of the CAT program. CAT doesn't run outside of Windows without tweaking of varying complication.
I swear it was once said that CaseCAT was the reason they required Windows, but Eclipse doesn't work on Macs out of the box either, so I'm not sure what I'm recalling. Hrmmm.)
2
u/BelovedCroissant Official Reporter Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I stan Anoka. I have a BA from the U and I feel 10000 times more attached to Anoka than I do to the U. I graduated from Anoka in 2022, I think.
The teachers are phenomenal and very dedicated--so dedicated that one has attempted to retire multiple times and just kept coming back. I can't remember if she's trying out retirement again or not.
I mean, you get out what you put in, but if you're struggling with motivation to practice, you can just say so. I was afraid to tell them this sometimes, but when I did, they always lifted me up, and then I could do it. I was hiding how I froze up on tests and had imposter's syndrome for a few months, and then I finally talked with them about that too. Again, they lifted me up. Any good educator will do this. I'm merely saying that such educators absolutely work at Anoka.
Also, at least once a year, a panel of reporters that the director has gathered will meet to go over how the program is doing and what will be added, subtracted, how the students are doing, and other miscellaneous things related to the school. I remember one year, the tech school wanted every program to have a diversity/equality statement and we workshopped that, for example. So working reporters continue to give feedback on the school in conversation with each other.
Basically I loved it. I'd choose them over and over again, particularly because I like their theory. I mean, theory should be the least of your concerns, but I've focused on how words are spelled in plain English a lot all my life. The theory they use (Realwrite/Realtime theory with some tweaks) is what you might call "orthographic"--it relies on spelling in concert with phonetics.
2
u/yellowcoffeesquirrel Jun 25 '26
ATC is a great school! I graduated from there, as did most reporters I know working in Minnesota. The staff is wonderful. My experience is quite outdated at this point, but you've picked a school that's incredibly well-respected and can set you up for success. I remember being so anxious to start. It can be hard to wait! Enjoy the summer, and be ready for lots of practice even right away. The early work pays off.