Find Success in HVAC School: 4 Tips for New Students

You did it! You enrolled in HVAC school.

Unlike in high school, you’ll likely enjoy the freedom of adulthood while taking your HVAC classes, and greater freedom can mean more responsibilities.^[1] Like working. And paying bills.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to set yourself up for success:

1. Minimize distractions.²
2. Set goals and create a study plan.³
3. Manage your time and money.³
4. Take advantage of career services.⁴

See how to use them to get the most out of your HVAC training program in this article.

4 Ways to Make the Most of HVAC School

How can you do better in your HVAC classes and get the best preparation for a career in the industry? These 4 tips could help.

1. Minimize Distractions

When you look at your HVAC training schedule, it might seem like you have plenty of extra time in between classes. But you should also factor in how much time it can take to study. Each semester hour can equate to two or three hours of study time. In total, your HVAC training time commitment could be similar to working a full-time job.²

For example, if you are taking about 15 hours of courses, you could be studying and spending time in class for anywhere from 30 to 45 hours a week.²

If you have too many distractions, it could be easy to get caught up with them and lose valuable time that should be dedicated to your schoolwork. Some of the biggest distractions to avoid while in trade school can be video games, social media and parties.²

Video Games

Video games can be fun, but when you really need to utilize your time for coursework and classes, it can be best to try to steer clear of this distraction. Consider saving gaming for afterhours or weekends when you don’t have other priorities.²

Social Media

Social media can easily steal your time. One glance at Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest could easily turn into 20 or 30 minutes of lost study time. Try to avoid these websites—and maybe even your phone in general—when you know you need to study.²

Parties

Parties, and the beer drinking that often takes place at them, can be a big distraction for students. If you have a lot of school work, try practicing some self-discipline and staying home to hit the books instead.²

2. Set Goals & Create a Study Plan

There can be powerful benefits of goal setting, and they can help serve as a personalized roadmap for your educational journey. Try setting clear goals before school even starts.³

Below are some tips to help you create clear goals:³

• Visualize what your ideal outcome looks like.
• Determine why you want to get your HVAC diploma.
• Focus on what you want to learn in HVAC school.
• Decide what HVAC skills you want to master.
• Find your strengths and set goals according to them.³

When it comes to your schoolwork, set specific goals with a study plan. A study plan is all about learning how to study smarter and maximize the time you have available, as well as your resources. For example, scheduling to study for just 90 minutes at a time in short, concentrated bursts.³

3. Manage Time & Money

Managing your time and money in trade school can take some effort, but both can be important to your overall success as an HVAC student—and in life in general.³

You may be forced to balance your school work, personal life, job and maybe even some extracurricular activities. By prioritizing the bigger responsibilities, sticking to a schedule and using a planner, you may be able to avoid overcommitting yourself. This can help ensure you save time for what’s important.³

Managing money can be a challenge for anyone—and sometimes even a source of stress. But learning to successfully harness your finances can be a valuable skill in HVAC school and long afterward.³

Here are some money management tips:³

• Educate yourself about financial aid and how it can help you.
• Carefully monitor debt and the financial commitments you make.
• Create a student budget and track your spending.
• Take advantage of automatic savings accounts; a little savings deducted from every paycheck can really add up!
• Avoid too much reliance on credit cards.
• Create a plan to save for more expensive investments.³

4. Take Advantage of Career Services

Trade schools are unique in that they often specialize in one industrial area, which means they also often take the extra initiatives to help graduates make their way into careers after they complete their education.⁴

It is not uncommon for HVAC schools to have a dedicated staff or department that solely offers career services. Career services departments may offer students help with finding employment:⁴

• Internships⁴
• Job fairs
• Networking opportunities
• Resume preparation
• Certification resources
• Job searches
• Cover letter composition
• Interview preparation⁵

Optimizing Your Time in HVAC School

In HVAC school, you may have the opportunity to collect a wealth of knowledge and skills that you could carry with you into an entry level HVAC career.

When you take full advantage of the resources available to you and have a clear plan of action in place, you may have a better chance of success.

And some of the good habits you form during HVAC training can help with next steps like studying for an HVAC certification exam.

Additional Sources
¹https://blog.spcollege.edu/college101/high-school-vs-college/
²https://careerschoolnow.org/careers/study-tips
³https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/student-success-tips#setting-smart-goals
⁴https://www.imagine-america.org/8-benefits-going-trade-school/
⁵https://www.rsi.edu/about-career-services/