Acupuncture and Massage College

What makes people choose the careers that they do? While some may seek jobs solely because they guarantee financial success, others opt for pursuits that reflect their interests and passions instead. If your interests lie in alternative medicine and aiding others, you could find the answer to your calling at the Acupuncture and Massage College.

Located in Miami, Florida, the Acupuncture and Massage College is the oldest accredited acupuncture school in the state. For more than 20 years, it has fulfilled its mission of instructing and qualifying students in the art of natural healing. Along with its current offering of a massage therapy training program, and certification courses in shiatsu, tai chi, and yoga, the Acupuncture and Massage College offers a combined degree program in oriental medicine. Upon successful completion of the program, the student is awarded both a bachelor's degree in health and science and a master's degree in oriental medicine.

Although the oriental medicine program consists of the equivalent of four years of instruction, the Acupuncture and Massage College has condensed these lessons into a more accessible three-year program. As Joe Calareso, the director of admissions for the natural healing school explains, the scheduling of programs is a direct effort to appeal to and accommodate adult learners who are pressed for time but unaccustomed to the world of academia.

"We have a unique program schedule: we're both mirrored and modular," says Calareso. Thanks to the modular aspect of the school, adult learners need not be worried about being overloaded with courses once they enroll. Instead of attending four different courses per week, as is common at liberal arts schools, students at the Acupuncture and Massage College take only one course at a time for five weeks at a time. Though classes are only held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the Florida college's "mirrored" schedule allows students to choose between day and evening sessions of the same class.

But learning isn't restricted to just in-class time. At the natural healing college's on-campus clinics, second- and third-year students get to practice their skills on real patients under the observation of trained instructors. "Things happen in the clinic that don't happen in the classroom," explains Calareso. That's why even first-year students are asked to attend the clinic and observe more experienced students' sessions.

Thus far, the Acupuncture and Massage College's flexible, hands-on programs have appealed to a broad spectrum of students. "For as many students as we have under 30, we have that many over 50," says Calareso, adding that. "A third of our students are from other countries... It's a real international community." In fact, while the valedictorian of the graduating class of 2007 was 26 years old, the salutatorian was 66, and a graduate of the 2006 class was a 72-year-old who hailed from Cuba.

Despite the wide variety of students who attend the Florida college, the school still manages keep to courses small with an average size of 15 to 18 students per class. "If you're doing a hands-on lesson, a smaller class is preferable," says Calareso. "We choose to stay a small, private school."

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