LeTourneau University attempted to set a 3D printing Guinness World Record yesterday. They had 50 3D printers print the same thing at the same time. Impressive? Kind of, but not really.
LulzBot — our favorite 3D printer company — saw this and thought “that’s cute — we run over 50 printers a day on a normal basis!”. So just for lulz, they decided to film a little counter-record video featuring 109 LulzBot 3D printers running simultaneously.
To be honest, we kinda feel sorry for LeTourneau University — but it looks like LulzBot really takes the cake here. The university has a really cool policy for their engineering students though — all incoming freshmen students are required to build their own 3D printer for school. Whoa! To be honest it is a really cool way to force you to get out of your comfort zone and learn a bit about several different engineering disciplines.
To follow along the discussion and status of the record, a thread is going on over at 3Dprintboard.com. Stick around to see the video of LulzBot’s drool worthy server racks filled with identical printers.
Makes me think of an episode of Doctor Who or two.
Not to take away from Lulzbot’s 109 but, the LeTU record attempt had 102 printing at the same time, not 50. Guinness told the college the current record was 39 and they were looking for at least 50 before declaring a new record.
What’s the record for number of 3D printers working together to print a single object?
I think it’s 2.
No idea, but we had 50 running printing the inmoov robot once.
We can’t be surprised that a 3D printer maker would have & use a lot of 3D printers.
I think a couple RepRap gatherings tried to do that. I think MRRF tried last year.
I mean, tried to make a record of simultaneous running 3D printers in a building.
Ya, I think John @ SeeMeCNC contacted Guinness back then about doing a record at MRRF, and they weren’t interested (he would know the details, I think he just said that once). We didn’t bother to go to Guinness as it seemed they didn’t want a category for it. But now that they do have it as a category–we wanted to make sure it was recorded as ours. Though NASA or Lockheed Martin or somewhere like that is probably going to come along and crush it. ;)
i reckon it would be cooler if they were all on a larger system and could print together as a group on one large piece.
What if they all hung from the ceiling on some type of rack that behaved like an X Y Z axis for an entire room?
Dual head 3d printers already exist, they just print 2 identical object at the same time. In my idea, X and Y axis of all printers would need to be independent, which would be quite complex.
Maybe a bunch of scara arms or whatever those car assembly arms are called? All lined up around the edges of a room, imagine the chaos of arms swinging all over the place. The Whirling Room of Death 3D Printer.
We have done that where we put two Budaschnozzle hot ends on a printer side-by-side and they print the same part at the same time. It works just fine.
Any idea what the practical max is for concurrent print heads? That is multiple print heads printing copies of the same file using one x,y,z mechanism?
I don’t think there is any single number. On a standard RepRap, I wouldn’t want to go above two. A specially altered machine could go into an array of extruder nozzles, but it might have to be well-adapted to avoid problems due to added moving mass of the carrier.
We think we could do 4 on a TAZ without too much trouble.
Print an object made from Lego. Some assembly required.
looks like they missed it by 7 printers. Only 102 printers ran for LeTourneau University and 109 from LulzBot.
I wonder why they stuck music on there, I would rather have listened to the printers noise. Maybe it’s deafening.
It was just a quick & dirty recording. We plan to do a nice cluster one at some point. We’ll set up proper audio recording for that.
What is the point really? This is a record of having n machines doing “their thing” simultaneously – to me this seems to be only a matter of how many of those machines you can afford. Hardly an accomplishment (unless you are impressed by money and mistake wealth and skill).
They’re discussing that a little bit in the 3dprintboard comments, as to whether this is actually impressive or just… there. I think the thing that most people realize is that it’s not really a “press print, then done” sort of thing (Not even with BotQueue), because you have to build all of the printers, calibrate them, etc. They have to be well tuned to be useful. The main discussion revolves simply around whether those 3d printers just doing their day to day job is interesting enough to be a world record or not.
Ya, whether the category is relevant or not is up to Guinness to decide. But if they say it is, then here’s our submission. :)
There are world records for most clothes pins clipped to your face so IMO the most well tuned industrial machines operating at the same time is at least as impressive.
Perhaps there should be a standardized print file so it’s not just someone oozing PLA onto a platform saying it ‘works’
Free advertising.. clearly.
Bubbles, we didn’t build the cluster for advertising. That would be a very expensive ad! The cluster prints parts that are used in the next generation machines. We started with RepRap Clonedels which printed Prusas, then AO-100, AO-101, TAZ 1, 2, 3 and eventually 4.
Awesome. Can you build another one for me then? I’d like a cluster of 250 machines. How much will it cost? What else do you need besides just the machines themselves? When will it be ready? How are you going to bootstrap it? We built all our machines.
I think you are really missing out on how complex, difficult, and how much work went into getting a cluster built of this size. We have printed 40 parts or so on everyone of those machines *AND ALL THEIR PREDECESSORS*. We’ve really been working on this for 3+ years straight, starting with Clonedels.
I see it as comparable to building a computer cluster. Yes, you can buy a lot of machines, but there is a lot more to it than just that. Way back when, I would build small clusters, and I think there are more details to consider in a 3D printer cluster than a computer cluster.
I would agree. You have so many moving parts that have to work in concert. It takes a lot of work to design, build & tune a reliable machine.
I wonder at what point do you decide to get into injection molding? Once a part design is mature, a mold can be made from aluminum and you can make parts per minute and not parts per hour. I noticed one of your competitors, SeeMeCNC, started injection molding several parts for its most recent model.
Yes, ideally we have fewer and fewer printed parts–fewer and fewer custom parts for that matter. We can scale up more if we have less to print. Though at this point, our cluster can outproduce what we need to manufacture, we don’t even run the cluster all the time.
Each generation of TAZ has had fewer printed parts. There were the most printed parts on the TAZ 1, by quite a lot. The Y part in front and back was a really large print and time consuming. Now that part is a metal plate. We also used to print the corner brackets, but now they are laser cut ABS.
We have talked to RepRapDiscount to do some injection moldng for us (and SeeMeCNC too, but they are too busy). But it is really really convenient to be able to tweak little parts here & there without having to start over with a mold. And the molds they can do inexpensively, we can do easily with a laser too. We have done some redesigning of the parts for molds–as a part optimized for a mold is different from a part optimized to print.
The Easy TAZ Mini (under development) will likely have a lot fewer printed parts and use more metal than the current TAZ.
tldr; at some point we’ll do injection molding for parts, but for now 3d printing ftw.
hmm have to finish building my #1
Lulzbot, what a terrible name.
Lulz
my personal record is 28 printrbots printing out of 32 or so. It’s weird to think I might have had the record 2 years ago
We do have some earlier generations of the fleet up on youtube too.
20 Prusas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=getxyJW3TfQ Some details of those machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-yi2m-5ijA
Here running 28 Prusas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcSR2CFxnAU
And about 40 AO-100s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MOZwQ_8mv8
Nice to see the Lulzbot farm continue to grow. Congratulations on your continued success guys!
Cool, thanks Simonious.
Oh yeah….well…..I can make a mold from a single 3d printed part and make over 200 parts.
Frigging 3d printers jumping the shark tank. Annoying.
Can you get me 100 Flexystruder bodies in the next few weeks plz? Thx.
While I’m sure Joseph Levesque is too busy at the mill making an injection mold to reply, the return rate on OP delivering is frighteningly low. Don’t throw out your massively parallel botfarm yet.
I am a prototype mold maker. Typical mold takes 3 days unless there are undercuts. I will make anything for anyone…..
> They had 50 3D printers print the same thing at the same time. Impressive? Kind of, but not really.
Impressive? Yes, if grammatically correct. Indeed, they had 50 printers printing identical items.
Yeah, this article is riddled with errors. The primary blunder being that the school actually successfully printed on 102 printers simultaneously. The article also takes on a painfully condescending tone towards the university for the record attempt. When you note that the school is home to a mere ~1200 students, I think one may find the accomplishment to be more notable than the article suggests. In the interest of sound journalism, it may be wise to fix these errors.
To be slightly fair, I had to dig through a couple links before I found the full details and the video. I will admit some bias because this is my alma mater, but the part that stood out to me is that 108 printers were produced by freshmen RepRap style from one original commercial box and 102 of them produced the expected output. Guinness aside, this is a different accomplishment than setting up a bunch of manufactured boxes.
It looks like you may have stopped reading a few links short.
We built 100% of the machines in the cluster. We also built the printers that built the parts for the printers that printed these printers. And we built 100% of the machines that printed the parts of the printers that printed the parts of the printers that printed the parts for the printers in the cluster. We’re generations deep in building and printing components for the cluster. We have built Clonedels, Prusas, AO-100s, AO-101s, TAZ 1, TAZ 2, TAZ 3, and TAZ 4. Each was printer was printed on previous generations of machines (except the Clonedels, which were from molds). En route, we also developed and improved aspects of the machines in all generations.
So it is a bit of a different accomplishment than setting up a bunch of manufactured boxes (or kits for that matter).
So essentially… manufactured boxes… it’s just a company making printers. “I am dissapoint.” I’m sorry that your status as a factory (business) makes you ineligible for the same category of record, but of course I am happy that you are working hard to compete in what is sure to become a heavily over-saturated market.
How are we ineligible for the same category of record?
I admit that I didn’t read into the Lulzbot printers much as I didn’t see that as the highlight here. The printers looked identical in the video, and made an assumption. Still, I hat to dig into it to read about freshmen at my college building 3D printers and the video that goes with it. I was more interested in that than seeing how many printers a 3D printer company could setup at one time.
Lolzbutt, did you build your own printers? Because I am pretty sure the students built theirs. Had you built all yours, I would be more impressed. As it is, it sounds like you are trying to downplay an awesome accomplishment.
Are you asking if Lulzbot built their own printers?
Like… is that what you’re asking?
Really? Are really you as blazingly ignorant as your post makes you out to be?
I’m actually wondering the same thing as Lacy. Call me ignorant too I guess, but the article does seem to take on a tone of “downplaying,” both through blatant misreporting of numbers and through oddly aggressive wording. (I refuse to comment on your grammar in your above comment, as you may have been so overwhelmed with emotion that it was impossible to consider basic sentence structure)
Oops, yeah. Brain fart. Sorry.
Lolzbot is a 3D printer design & manufacturing company.
Yes, we built all our own printers and the six generations of machines before them.
I did not realize that lolzbot built their own printers. I guess I haven’t heard of the company or what they do. I am more impressed now. 109 is definitely more than 102, so I must conclude that the victory goes to the 3d printer manufacturing company and not the freshmen college students.
They’re in completely different categories; it’s apples to oranges in this case. lulzbot is one of the smaller entities in the market, I’m sure their “record” could be surpassed in a heartbeat by one of the more reputable players. They are small enough that they feel that they have something to prove is all. The University is in a category on it’s own.
Well, according to Terry Wohlers, we likely have the biggest cluster and he’s probably seen more than anyone on Earth.
Jeff, I find it more than a little disturbing that you are engaging a printing enthusiast in this way, and then attempting to name drop in order to gain credibility. Are you in fact speaking on behalf of lulzbot on record? Just curious. This appears to be a PR nightmare in the making…
To clarify:
1) We have posted that we believe we have the largest 3d printer cluster well before this latest record attempt started. There is even a thread here at hackaday about it, probably a year old or so. And up until this point, no one had ever been able to find a larger cluster.
2) You did email me and say you thought we likely had the biggest one. I didn’t realize this was private, if it was meant to be.
3) Since you (I’m guessing) have seen more of these around the world than anyone, I thought that was legit to point out that you too hadn’t seen a larger one. I was just collecting all the various data points we have.
FYI, I emailed Terry Wohlers and he didn’t write the above comment attributed to him.
OK. I was suspicious of a comment made only minutes after a name mention. It would be creepy if it really was.
OK, now I am replying to someone who is claiming to be Terry Wohlers in this thread, but actually is confirmed not to be. But they bring up an interesting point, so I’ll take another bite for the troll and explain about working with the students.
We already have been in contact with the professor there about our open source documentation, not just of the machine, but of the manufacturing processes. Our factory assembly line, our production spreadsheets, on & on is all publicly documented under free licenses. :)
MOD EDIT All the comments in this thread claiming to be Jeff Moe should actually be Jeff Moe now. If someone at Lafayette could stop screwing around and being a fartweasel, that would be awesome.
Is there a reason that this was removed from the article stream? I would rather the writers of this column address the issues here directly rather than try and bury this from view.
I think it was pushed a couple pages back because there are several newer stories. It’s about half way down page 3 right now: http://hackaday.com/page/3/
Thanks, Joe!
Oh. There it is. Not enough coffee in my system, I guess. ;) Thanks for pointing it out!
JDRM. Sorry. Ergh. Still not enough coffee in my system. :( You can take that as a general “Joe” rather than specific.
Ok, great, so now someone is using my name, Jeff Moe, and posting as me… The post starting “I just received confirmation that Terry Wohlers is…” is the troll. Sigh. I’m signing off…
If you’re gonna call LeTourneau’s attempt “cute”, at least get the number right. They had more than double the number you thought in 3D printers printing at the same time. It’s not like they are some company that makes these things for a living, it was 102 freshmen in college that made these. That in itself is amazing, that 18 and 19 students put together and ran over 100 of these things simultaneously. Immediately posting a “counter record” is kind of a jerk move. 109 professional made printers is less impressive to me than 102 teenager made printers.
well said
To be fair…each student was required to purchase and build the printer. From my sources on the matter, the engineering department forced students to purchase the units or face expulsion from the course. Many students were not happy when a flat $1000 “engineering” fee was assessed, regardless of courses taken. This was nothing more than a PR stunt.
This university really screws the student harder than a Philipino hooker on nickel Night. Which is ironic considering the “Christian” connotation. I would never ever send my child to that school.
A quality education is typically not cheap. Personally, I graduated from LETU with an $86000 education, and I totally think it was worth it. I would definitely do it again if I had the option to do everything over.
A quality education does not need to feel like you are being scammed for money either. The engineering department has been full of adjuncts teaching upper level courses. This is a horrible way to go about education. The teachers openly complain to students about budget cuts to the engineering departments budget to further other less desirable education paths. The sickening thing is that the school does this and then flatly lies to the students about being the best educational facility. I feel cheated. When I went to transfer out of LeTU due to the ineptitude of the computer science department after two years, NONE of my courses were able to transfer to a state university because LeTourneau is not considered qualified. So due to costs I as forced to stay at LETU for the remainder of my time and graduate with a worthless piece of paper.
What is funny is that this school flatly states in their promotional material that they are widely recognized around the United States. That is a bold faced lie. I went to the career services office and asked about employer partnerships to find a post graduate job. The people in that office stared blankly at me and simply said “Tell us where you want to go, we’ll see if we can talk to one of our students and get you an in” My jaw dropped. On my own I went to applied to several large organizations, Google, Microsoft, AT&T, and even several programming companies local to LeTU. None of the HR people I spoke with ever heard of the name LeTourneau. Seriously, I was appalled that even local businesses had never heard of the University and these were medium/large businesses with more than 50 employees.
After searching around for both my younger brother and sister, it is amazing how much LeTourneau is a bold face lie when it comes to educational quality. St. Edwards in Austin, Trinity University in San Antonio, just to name a few.
To address my concerns on trying to find a job, myself and my father were pissed at the lack of attention and help that was offered. We attempted to setup a meeting with the Dean of Students. On a multitude of times He refused to meet with myself and my father even after we had setup appointments. Citing that he was at a “Lunch meeting that went long” or his secretary covering for him stating “He didn’t come into work today”. Seriously, this was middle of the day, middle of the week, scheduled in advance. No Reason to miss the appointment. The time we were in his office and asked his secretary flatly what time he will be back. (The secretary was obviously flustered at our persistence) She flatly lied to us and stated 20 minutes. We waiting in his office for another two hours just hoping to catch him. Never Happened.
If you ever go to this school and have a problem, EXPECT to be dismissed as swiftly as a fart in the wind.
I paid nearly $100k for a piece of paper from a no-name school in the middle of East Texas that is not recognized anywhere in the job market. The only place it may be recognized is for PR Stunts like this and Handong University.
I’m sorry to hear about your experience in the computer science program, but I have to say that I’m a little confused by your statements. I have personally known a number of LETU graduates who went on to work with big name software companies such as Google, Garmin, Rockwell Collins, and L3 Communications straight out of school, so apparently there is no reason why LETU’s CS graduates aren’t qualified to work in the big leagues.
Personally, I graduated from the engineering program, and I have to say that I received an excellent education. In fact, I was directly recruited for my first job out of school because I was a LETU graduate, so I can personally attest to LETU’s good reputation within the engineering job market.
Furthermore, private education isn’t cheap. LETU doesn’t receive millions of dollars worth of educational endowments like big state schools do, so there is no way that they can charge tuition rates that are competitive with the rates offered by state schools which are essentially subsidized with tax money (I’m not saying that either way is right or wrong, I’m just pointing out how it works). So you’re absolutely right, an education at LETU isn’t cheap, and there are a number of majors offered there that don’t really make much sense from the standpoint of cost vs. earning potential. None the less, the engineering program is not one of those. The quality of the education is very high, the faculty are outstanding, the earning potential is significant (I paid off all of my student loans within 2 years of graduation), and LETU’s reputation in the job market is sound. True, LETU is small enough that not everyone has heard of it, but those who have hired a LETU engineering graduate in the past are very likely to higher another because of the outstanding quality of most of their graduates. As for the $1000 engineering fee, I’m all for it. $8000 over 8 semesters is a small price to pay for the enriched educational experience that it allows the school to offer by updating lab equipment and improving educational facilities, especially when you consider the fact that it will take less than 2 months of work in industry to pay this off. The 3D printers built by this year’s freshmen are only a drop in the bucket of what all the engineering fee pays for, and believe me, it’s more than worth it.
As for PR stunt, just go ask any one of the almost 100 freshmen that participated. They don’t think it’s a PR stunt. They are proud of what they have accomplished and excited about being a part of the unique educational experience offered to engineers at LETU. When they graduate, many of them will be uniquely qualified to drive the upcoming additive manufacturing revolution, just as companies like Aleph Objects, Maker’s Tool Works, RepRapPro, and printrbot are doing now. In fact, I suspect that these companies will be tripping over themselves to hire graduates like LETU is producing in the near future as they grow and expand. “PR stunts” like this won’t be so “cute” then.
That being said, I’m not much of a fan of the school’s upper level administration above the department level, so I can sympathize with your sentiments on that point. They do dismiss students and the student voice, so I’m not surprised by your treatment. Even so, I still support the engineering program whole-heartedly, as I’m sure many other graduates from the education, business, computer science, and aviation programs do.
“I have personally known a number of LETU graduates who went on to work with big name software companies such as Google, Garmin, Rockwell Collins, and L3 Communications straight out of school.”
Most of those students had an ‘IN’ with a contact. The school did no help whatsoever in trying to setup contacts for a regular joe student. I had a fairly decent GPA and it was even better when narrowed to my field of study. The Career Services department was abysmal when it came to that.
One student got an internship with Google over their junior summer. They originally tried to go through the career services and was met with disdain for their current GPA. Apparently it was not “Good Enough” to represent LETU at Google and they practically refused to help. The student completely ditched their efforts with the school and ended up doing all the paperwork and prep solo without any help.
“Furthermore, private education isn’t cheap. LETU doesn’t receive millions of dollars worth of educational endowments like big state schools do”
You are correct. But, the mismanagement of school funds led to the small endowment it currently has. My dad was performing research on schools for my sister this year. LETU currently has an endowment of only 5 Million. For a school that has been in existence since the 60’s, that is quite mediocre. Many have 100 million+. This means that current operating expenses and building projects rely heavily on income from students and a reduction in qualified educational staff. Shame really. But yet the school still decides to take on financial burdens while increasing tuition rates an average of 14% every year.
“As for PR stunt, just go ask any one of the almost 100 freshmen that participated. They don’t think it’s a PR stunt.”
It Is a PR Stunt even if the freshmen don’t care or dont think it is a PR Move. A PR Stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public’s attention to the event’s organizers. In this case the school.
Yeah, I seriously could not stand the way Corey Ross completely dismissed myself and my father when he visited and setup the meetings. Atrocious behavior for a “Dean of Students”.
I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but I don’t think your experience is typical for LETU grads. When I graduated from LETU, I was offered a job at LETU and took it. I eventually took a different job closer to family. As a student, I was always treated fairly and felt my voice was heard. I had multiple options for employment upon graduation, and, thanks to receiving a quality education, still do if I were to move on from my present job. My education from LETU, though expensive, has paid for its self many times.
Unfortunately the only opportunity that was pushed in the classrooms was Rockwell Collins. AKA LeTourneau’s dumping location for CS graduates at the time. I had no inclination to go to Iowa. Visited that state once for a school trip, not a very hip place.
I have to beg to differ on your (LETU grad) statements about LETU.
IMO, LETU’s administration has been very helpful in helping me out from everything from tuition payments, majors changes, dorm room assignments and flight block scheduling (aviation major here). I entered college expecting the level of administrative helpfulness the level you’ve claimed to have experienced, but was surprised from Day #1 on how they go great lengths to support their students. I’m not saying this to advertise LETU, but I’m making observations from an objective viewpoints, considering many other institutions and organizations I’ve dealt with previously.
No, LETU is not a big league player. It is definitely true that most people don’t even know about its existence. But this I say: it does actually provide quality education, albeit it comes at a hefty price. The university is not a scam nor a brainwashing propaganda plot as you imply; the courses I’ve taken have given me important skills and knowledge that are relevant both in normal life and work.
You also subtly imply that one must graduate from a well-known, prominent institution to secure a reputable employment. I thoroughly believe that although this may be partially true in that some employers do look for big names, the implication that graduating from a small, unknown college will likely not get you a job with big companies is a lie in itself. I wish not to accuse you, but since you had perceived the university to be a lie and you believed in it, you lived in that lie, thus possibly preventing you from making the most out of a fair education institution. It is only in a particular Asian country I’m from where all students and employers actually “study” and hire, respectively, like lemmings, brainwashed as a whole to think the bigger and more famous a college is, the better their students will be for hiring. This is the reason why I ejected the heck out of its education system.
And yet, DO NOT dismiss Handong University. Despite its relatively young age, it is one of the few schools in Korea that actually provide a good education and is even actually considered to be one of the best in the nation. I’ve been to their campus multiple times and have seen and known their students personally, and they get the best of their school.
Overall, it appears that the way you looked at LETU has pushed you to be hostile to it, and therefore the university couldn’t be helpful to you, and thus you ended up with a $100k piece of paper, as you call it, that has “little” worth or recognition. To me, the institution is of great benefit to be part of because it does not fail to deliver high-quality education that not only teaches you relevant skills, but also requires high levels of discipline and commitment.
The bitter shall remain bitter, and those who are prospective shall learn and benefit.
I love that last statement. So much truth in that. I will probably wind up quoting you at some point. :)
IMO, LETU’s administration has been very helpful in helping me out from everything from tuition payments, majors changes, dorm room assignments and flight block scheduling (aviation major here).
Ah, see, they take money from the engineering department to help cover the Aviation departments huge losses. True, financially it is getting better, but overall the aviation department is like Big Oil, taking subsidies and not paying taxes. LETU Pushes aviation because it is one of the few Christian aviation schools. However, in doing so, it cripples the rest of the programs.
“Brainwashing Propaganda”
Forced chapel attendance. Frowned upon if you miss devotionals. Forcing professors to waste class time with a minimum 5 minute “come to Jesus”. LeTourneau is known world-wide. IE the mantra of “Every workplace Every Nation” is simply not true. There are too many to count. The school drives home the militarization of the Christian faith, far beyond day-to-day life to a point where it is suffocating if you simply want to be a student in a Christian environment.
“No, LETU is not a big league player.”
No it isn’t, but there are far superior players in the small private school field.
“And yet, DO NOT dismiss Handong University.”
Did I dismiss the school? Where are you getting that notion? No. re-read my statement.
“LETU has pushed you to be hostile to it, and therefore the university couldn’t be helpful to you”
Re-read what you just wrote. Now reflect just for a moment. I couldn’t agree with you more except in the reverse.
“The university couldn’t be helpful to you, and therefore LETU has pushed you to be hostile to it.”
The lack of support when it mattered was astounding. Please tell me how my going to the Career services and being told:
“We don’t have any partnerships. We don’t have anyone you can talk to. We cant even give you a list of companies in your field that are hiring Computer Science students. We can only help you once you have found a company you wish to be hired at. Oh but, wait, we cant even guarantee a basic phone interview because we would have to get in touch we a previous LETU grad who may or may not help us.”
Or what about my going to Corey Ross’s office to schedule a meeting, that falling through. Then my father coming from out of town and yet somehow, for 3 days he ignores us. Ridiculous.
“The bitter shall remain bitter, and those who are prospective shall learn and benefit.”
Yes, I am bitter about the lack of support, the lack of meaning, and the lack of a well-paying job. I learned my lesson about horrendous underbelly that is LETU and now I am helping future students benefit from my experience. Please
Honestly I don’t like chapel attendance either. That I could do away with.
However, I have to disagree with your assertion that the university is militarizing the Christian faith – personally, I very much hate to see those Jesus freaks going around town yelling “Jesus. Yeah. If you don’t believe in Jesus you go to…” but I haven’t seen the university or 99% of its people act like that. Not sure how it was during your stay but today, it is verily self-moderated and if you listen carefully during Bib Found or Bib Lit, the professors teach the Christian faith in a humble, community-oriented engagement, and this reflects throughout the rest of the school IMO. As for the devotionals, I simply let it pass through without much thought as I usually mediate on my own. (I will admit I have a roommate and suitemate that are very annoying – one is clapping his hands, “praising the Lawd”, bothering me from writing right this instant)
[“LETU has pushed you … couldn’t be helpful to you”
Re-read what you just wrote. Now reflect just for a moment. I couldn’t agree with you more except in the reverse.]
I am afraid you misquoted me; “=the way you looked at LETU= has pushed you to be hostile to it, and therefore the university couldn’t be helpful to you” would be the correct citation. A side note – all my life, I’ve only had one bad experience with customer support of any sort, and that particular instance was due to a misunderstanding which was later resolved. The key ingredient to getting customer support to help you is not to yell at them about how long they put you on hold, but to wait patiently, discuss matters in a calm voice and say “have a good day,” when ending the call. Now I’m never saying that you did that with university support, but perhaps approaching the university with a friendlier, less hostile face perhaps might have led the institution to be of a little more help than simply sitting there with a square face – but since I don’t know the urgency of the matter you had to discuss with support, I will stop this topic here.
As I’ve said before, the university requires its students to possess a good big dose of discipline, and let me add one more: self-reliance. Don’t know about the engineering world, but the aviation school here, regardless of how resource-hoggy you claim it may be, requires its students to be top-notch professionals, basically expecting the students to research all needed information and do the paperwork themselves. Now, if the students are stuck on something they are aware of, then I’ve found the univ. support at Abbott Aviation Center has been incredibly helpful. However, the administration will not do everything for the students; if somebody misses the fact that they need to schedule and execute an FAA airman medical test before flight training, aww bummer! I know one fellow whose dream is to become a fighter pilot; he has no discipline – late/absent on 70% of the classes, already failed 2 aviation classes, overly absorbed with his gf and didn’t bother to know about what he needed to do to become a pilot until I told him on the brink of deadline – I am doubtful if he even is fit to be in the aviation world in the first place.
That example aside, the reason I assumed you downplayed Handong is your association of the institution with “PR stunts,” the concept of which, for obvious reasons, isn’t necessarily held with high regard.
I certainly defend your rights to your own opinion. However, if you sincerely want to help others from “this horrendous experience,” the I would advise you go to high school juniors and tell them about your thoughts.
I am sorry for the horrible experience I had – my high school academic advisor was as good as a stone, so I understand your hardships – but my experiences in high school and the support (or according to you, the lack thereof) at LETU has formed me to take important matters to tackle with my own hands and I certainly expect pattern this with my employment process in the near future. Perhaps our concept of support differs. I see university support as a go-to place when paperwork and other things get indefinitely stuck. It is a backup source of assistance that may or may not be there all the time, but nonetheless is there.
“The key ingredient to getting customer support to help you is not to yell at them about how long they put you on hold, but to wait patiently, discuss matters in a calm voice and say “have a good day,” when ending the call.”
Ahh Yes, this is exactly the type of treatment I got. I was told numerous times that this is what I should do…except the only problem was is that the other party never picked up my call. the few people who did, only did so to essentially tell me I was stuck with the product I paid for and essentially told to put on that LETU smile and hand over the money.
Oh right, the LeTourneau student is meant to take what is given to them because we are Christians and we should give our money away and just idle wait while nothing happens. No, I expect to get what I pay for. That is commerce 101. But perhaps I play the part of the fool, where I gave my money to a selfish school who did nothing when I nicely asked for it. Who did nothing when I ended the call with “Have a good day”. Who did nothing when I requested a meeting. Who did nothing when My father left his business card with the Dean of students secretary after the 3rd attempted meeting and said “Call Me, I am expecting it”. Who did nothing….are you catching my drift?
I attempted to start a dialog with the career services on the fall semester of my senior year. I visited the building at least a dozen times if not more over that semester and got no where as the staff basically stalled on everything. IE multiple emails with the same basic information was transmitted several times because they “Lost It”. Over the spring semester I attempted to get a dialog rolling again, but was turned down as the person in charge finally told me that they no CS connections or otherwise.
I attempted to setup a meeting with the Dean of Students but was stood up on multiple occasions. Then my father got involved and was once again stood up three times.
This school is designed only to satiate those that they deem worthy regardless of how much the student seeks help.
“militarizing the Christian faith”
The Bible professors actually get it, they were cool with their approach to how God should interact with life. I get that. You have a life to live, God should influence you in your decisions, but you still need to live happily.
The rest of the administration doesn’t quite get it. I always felt that the administration actively sought out students that would listen to the “Wrong Music” or wouldn’t participate in “Jesus Events” and attempted to “enrich” their lives. I know it isn’t true, but damn it sure felt claustrophobic at times. Just because someone doesn’t fit into their cookie cutter definition doesn’t mean they should be persecuted for not being “Christian” enough. I was a floor chaplain for a semester and I was amazed at how much they pushed us to invade the lives of our peers. More-so than a simple “hey, whats up?”
Every week they pushed us to have an active conversation with everyone on our floor about their experiences with Jesus in the day-to-day life of [INSERTNAMEHERE]. How are you serving God? Have you been Christ-like this week? Have you talked to anyone about God this week? It got more personal than that, they wanted me to keep a log of their family activities and turn it in. Disturbing! I flat out refused as that is too invasive and downright creepy.
“As I’ve said before, the university requires its students to possess a good big dose of discipline, and let me add one more: self-reliance.”
Yeah, discipline, Check, Self-Reliance, Check, although, I felt that they kept trying to hold my hand too much. With the many of students coming from a home-schooled background, it feels that the school caters and panders to that demographic which alienates the public schooled kids.
I didn’t miss a meeting and held a 20hr/week off campus job and full time during the summer at a local ISP performing server maintenance and network management throughout the entirety of my stay at the school. That job paid for a good portion of the costs. However, I wanted to go further and when I turned to the school they took my money and ran.
“sincerely want to help others from “this horrendous experience,””
I do, and I hope that these comments come up in the search results for anything to do with LETU.
“It is a backup source of assistance that may or may not be there all the time, but nonetheless is there.”
It is Career Services. Meaning they are supposed to help me find a job, not figure out why my paperwork that they didn’t help with is stuck in some HR department.
The only thing I can say that was good about that school is that I paid about $30k each for three awesome friends. But besides that, I wouldn’t spend a dime on them ever again, nor would I ever recommend them. When you approach them for any sort of support, they will not be there for you when you need them.
From my experience, having been in pretty bad trouble my share of times while at LeTU, (I’ve been told more than once that I should have been expelled more than once). I am not “deemed worthy” by the school in any sense of the term. My grades aren’t even very good, but I’ve got a good job lined up for when I graduate. Why is that?
Now speaking outside of my experience; perhaps putting myself into the shoes of an interviewer….. If your expressions are any indication of your attitude or personage in general (and our words and actions are realistically the only indication that anyone has of that), then I can totally guess why you’ve had so much trouble. If you have a problem getting into a new job, perhaps it has something to do with you. Complaining about your problem on hackaday isn’t helping you get out of your alleged rut, and it likely isn’t helping many other people. Without intending to sound caustic, perhaps it would help you to perform the following steps:
-Take a deep breath; calm down.
-Say a prayer; God is helpful, right?
-Introspect; why is your attitude so terrible? Is the school really in control of that?
-Improve your attitude
-Buy a suit
-Acquire professional resume assistance
-Present your improved resume and degree to a desirable company, while smiling.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Do read my resentments against the school one more time before making such a lackluster posting that missed the point entirely and failed to adequately address the issues discussed.
Not anywhere did I mention my post graduation experiences. I focused explicitly on my experiences as a student and the failings of the institution when a student sought help and guidance. I can tell you didn’t fair very well in comprehensive reading (poor grades, I understand). I had problems with the school and how they handled events, once again, read, comprehend, absorb, then comment.
.To answer your checklist as you felt compelled to make.
– Did that a long time ago after I gave the traditional middle finger to that school.
– Cant hurt.
– If you read my posts, you would know why my attitude was so terrible towards the school. Yes, when it fails to provide what you pay for, there is no reason not to be irate.
– Improve my attitude towards the school? Never. Otherwise I’m as happy as an IT pro can be.
– Owned 1 before graduation. Needless to say, I just needed interviews to wear them to. It never happened while I trusted LETU to help with my future career.
– After the LETU career services failed horridly in that department I sought outside help. I currently work at a bad-ass employer who lets me work from home and take off whenever I need. I guess that’s a perk of being a CIO.
– Sure it helped to make one, but honestly, no company really cares about a resume if they want to hire you, just a old formality.
Not really, but good luck to you to, you’re going to need it. I hope the school doesn’t pull a fast one on you. I’ve seen it happen to many students their Senior year.
corrections: last paragraph: “horrible experience you had”