1) Select your language carefully. If you are fluent in a language other than English, that may be a more valuable and lucrative endeavor. There are very few court reporters who can steno in French or Spanish, for example. If I had only known that back then!
2) Shop around for theories. Don't settle on a theory simply because it is taught at your local school. . There is a difference between stroke-intensive theories (Like Phoenix and StenEd) and brief-intensive theories (like Magnum, for example). I'm inclined to favor the latter though my school advocates for Phoenix. I wish I had known back when I started school what I know now. It's discouraging to have to do damage control after two years of schooling.
3) Shop around for steno machines and software. Again, don't settle on what your school tells you to buy. Schools are approached by steno companies to sell their products. Schools are most likely receiving commission for the machines they sell and don't necessarily have your best interest in mind. Consider something unusual like the Lightspeed as it is more light, portable, and cheaper than traditional machines. It will be difficult for you to adapt to it later if you go with a traditional machine first. Also, they offer their student software, DigitalCAT, for free. Save your lunch money!
4) Check in with your pocketbook. Will you be taking time off work or working full/part time while in school? Do you have children, or are you expecting to have them soon? How much time will you have available to dedicate to practice every day? Steno is not something you can pick up occasionally and expect to improve. You must have time to practice every day. This is not a joke, folks. Don't waste a decade of your life in court reporting school. Look to the future. Consider how long it will take to graduate and how much effort is required to graduate on time. Most students do not achieve the minimum speed of 225 words per minute within two years of full-time schooling. Think about the possibility of having to take (and pay for) continuing education. Make a commitment to practice as hard as it takes to graduate on time.
5) Consider teaching yourself. You can buy books and teach yourself and save a ton of money. Tuitions run very high across the board, and there is an epidemic of mediocre court reporting schools out there. If you can speak to students who have graduated and failed in a particular school, you can get a better idea whether or not the school does everything it can to help their students succeed. Consider purchasing Magnum Steno: Beginning Theory and teaching yourself at home. You'll most likely be teaching yourself in school anyways since most schools have self-guided programs. Heck, most CR schools don't have qualified instructors at all. In my experience, a tape recorder loaded with pre-recorded dictations would do just as well as a flesh-and-blood instructor. Join court reporting Facebook groups to ask questions, and buy an excellent English grammar book to perfect your grammar skills. Good ones include Morson's Guide or Margie Well's punctuation textbook.
More to come!
Yours,
The Steno Duchess
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