Okay here's the skinny on empire. They have you come in to be suckered into signing a contract. They tell you they can change your life, send you to an overated national competition blah blah blah! They show you pretty books, nice kit, gorgeous mannequins, but at the end of the day you dont learn how to cut hair!! Their technique "clic" is not consistantly reinforced by their instructors, because the instructors are not on the same page, they want to teach you what they know, not stay on the same page with each other. At the end of the day you will pay thousands of dollars and not know how to go about a simple clipper fade, long hair layered haircut, and your sorry # will be so slow at cutting hair, salons will have to retrain you in order to hire you.. Save you money go to your local community college, enroll in their programs, save money and learn how to cut hair. You wont deal with instructors in competition with each other!!!