Do you want a lucrative, stable career? Are you looking to gain expertise in a highly sought-after skill? Do you want to work in a field where you actively improve the lives of others, every single day? Look no further than welding.
Since traditional four-year college educations have increasingly become the norm, the US has experienced a deficit of skilled trade workers. The price of a traditional college degree is rising, and its worth is decreasing at the same rate. Pursuing a degree in trade ensures your expertise is in high demand.
Potential careers for welders include construction, manufacturing, plumbing, carpentry, and even aerospace welding.
What are the best colleges to hone your welding expertise?
Four Year Universities
Most of the best welding programs are at technical colleges, but there are some traditional universities that offer an exceptional welding education, if that’s what you’re seeking.
University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
The University of Cincinnati is a public research university located in southwestern Ohio, in the heart of Cincinnati. It is not a selective school, with an 86% acceptance rate. It has an undergraduate population of just under 30,000 students. University of Cincinnati offers a welding certification, which can be pursued no matter what your major is.
University of Cincinnati contains the UC Ground Floor Makerspace, which contains the technology to explore a variety of trades, including electronics, laser cutting, textiles, wood shop, and welding. For $49, students can receive a TIG welding certification, where students will learn to use a TIG welder and equip an darkening welding shield.
Ferris State University
Ferris State University is a public research university located in Big Rapids, in western Michigan. It is not a selective college with an acceptance rate of 88%. Ferris State has an undergraduate population of over 14,000 students. The University offers a Welding Engineering Technology program, which is the largest welding degree program in the United States.
Ferris State’s welding program seeks to teach its students welding from a theoretical, design, and engineering standpoint. Students go on to pursue a diverse array of career paths. These include the automotive industry, the agricultural industry, and the engineering of robotics. Ferris State also boasts a vast amount of resources to support its students, with seven laboratory spaces adding up to 22,600 square feet, and large lecture halls for teaching theoretical components of welding.
Technical Schools
The welding programs at technical colleges are equipped with impressive facilities and resources, encouraging hands-on training. Technical schools also tend to have smaller class sizes which ensures students receive individualized attention.
Collins Career Technical Center
The Collins Career Technical Center is a vocational career center, focused on training both high school students and adults. It has a 100% acceptance rate, meaning it lets in all prospective students. It is located in Chesapeake, Ohio, at the southern tip of the state. Collins Career Technical Center has less than 500 students. Collins offers a full-time welding program and teaches many relevant skills.
Collins Career Technical Center’s Welding program takes nine months to complete. It takes place during evenings on weekdays. This is convenient if you’re working a full-time job and otherwise would not have time for college. The program spans from August to August. After the program, students are trained in metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding, and more. Students also learn to use power tools and read blueprints.
Lorenzo Walker Technical College
The Lorenzo Walker Technical College is a trade school located in Naples, Florida, in the southwest of the state. It has a 100% acceptance rate and just under 500 undergraduate students. Its Welding Technology program seeks to instill students with various welding techniques, including SMAW and TIG processes, as well as MIG and flux core. Hands-on practice is a priority for this program.
Not only does Lorenzo Walker’s program teach students welding techniques, but it also places a heavy emphasis on employability. Students are taught skills outside of welding to establish a baseline in broader technical skill proficiency. Once the program is completed, students have knowledge of many components of the manufacturing career cluster.
Lakeshore Technical College
Lakeshore Technical College is a community college located in Cleveland, Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee. It has a 100% acceptance rate, and a very small undergraduate population with under 500 students.
Lakeshore offers a Welding-Industrial program which focuses on three electrical welding processes:
- Gas metal gas welding
- Gas tungsten arc welding
- Shielded metal arc welding
The most common careers of graduates from Lakeshore Technical College are welders, cutters, brazers, and solderers. Lakeshore follows the academic model of competency-based education which emphasizes students being able to learn at their own pace, using primarily hands-on techniques. Due to the small size of Lakeshore Technical College, students will receive vast amounts of individualized attention. Choosing Lakeshore for welding nearly guarantees you will come out of the program with honed expertise, no matter your learning style, pace, or schedule.
Fox Valley Technical College
Fox Valley Technical College is a technical college located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a half hour outside of Green Bay. Fox Valley has an acceptance rate of 100%, and it has an undergraduate population of just under 1,800 students. Fox Valley offers a broad array of metal machining, fabrication, and welding certificates and apprenticeships. All these certificates prime students for a specific career path—such as a welding technician, fabricator, or machinist.
Some of these certificates and apprenticeships are:
- The Welding Fundamentals Certificate, which prepares students for entry-level welding positions.
- The Welding Industrial Technology AAS, which trains students to become industrial welding technicians in fields such as electrical safety and robotic arc welding.
- The Welding Production TD, which primarily focuses on welding different metals, reading blueprints, and dealing with bills for materials.
- The Welding/Metal Fab TD, where students learn to develop a production cycle from the initial concept all the way through the final welding stages.
Davis Technical College
Davis Technical College is a technical college located in Kaysville, Utah, twenty minutes north of Salt Lake City. Davis has a 100% acceptance rate, and has almost 7,000 students enrolled. It is one of the highest rated technical schools in the US. Davis Tech’s Welding Technology program in its School of Manufacturing offers welding training to both high school students and adults who have their GED.
Davis Tech’s Welding Technology program offers a basic introduction to a wide breadth of welding and cutting instruction. It provides students with knowledge on welding and shop safety practices, blueprint reading, and welding symbology.
The cutting processes students should walk away from Davis Tech knowing are:
- Oxy-Fuel Cutting — the use of oxygen or a fuel gas flame in order to heat up metal, ultimately cutting it up.
- Gas Metal Arc Welding — the use of an electric arc between a wire electrode and a workpiece metal to heat up and cut the metal.
- Shielded Metal Arc Welding — also known as manual arc welding, this refers to the use of a coated electrode to cut with an electric arc. Unlike gas metal arc welding, which is semi-automatic, SMAW is largely manual.
- Flux Cored Arc Welding — also known as dual shield welding, this refers to cutting via a continuous wire fed electrode and a power supply using constant voltage.
- Gas Tungsten Arc Welding — the use of a tungsten electrode to weld metal.
Although Davis Tech doesn’t offer as many certifications as other welding programs, the wide variety of techniques taught can prepare students for a broader range of careers.
Lincoln Electric Welding School
The Lincoln Electric Welding Technology & Trading Center is a trade school located in Euclid, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland and bordering Lake Erie. It is owned by and taught in conjunction with the multinational manufacturing company Lincoln Electric.
Lincoln Electric as a company revolves around welding technology. Its main products include welding products, arc cutting equipment, and robotic welding systems. Students of the Lincoln Electric Welding School are trained to meet industry standards on welding, and its large budget enables students to have access to the best resources imaginable.
The Lincoln Electric Welding School provides a wide variety of services to students at all levels of welding experience. Beginners looking for their certifications, welders with years of experience, and manufacturing leaders may all find themselves within the Welding School, seeking different types of education. The school itself boasts over 150 welding booths, 130,000 square feet of space, and even a VR training lab. As the school is a part of Lincoln Electric, students are able to network and receive state-of-the-art training by industry professionals.
The value of a welding education
Pursuing a career in welding opens up your future, both to jobs within the industry as well as a variety of different manufacturing positions. There are many different ways to seek a welding education. Some colleges offer a welding certificate along with a traditional education, some provide a part-time program to accommodate students’ careers, and some consist of intensive, full-time certifications and apprenticeships. No matter what your needs, there is a welding program out there for you.
