Penn Foster Career School online school is a complete and utter Ripp Off ,scam, misleading everything promised is not delivered Scranton, Pennsylvania

Hi everyone, I have taken the dental assisting course at penn foster. I read the descriptions of each class before signing up.  I took it upon myself after passing the D.A. Program to find out (researching it online)where to take my xray certification test. Found out where, took it, and passed with an 84%. I also took it upon myself to send letters to a few dental offices and asked them if I could work for free like an externship for a few wks and one said yes but I actually turned it down because I got hired at a pediatric dental office p/t and was able to take dental xrays.  The D.A. Program doesnt help you or mention much about the certification but I knew I needed it and did my own research.

Ive come a long way and now can do digital as well as film xrays, clean pediatric teeth with flouride treatments, chart, front desk procedures, as well as root canals/orthodontics. You just have to keep teaching yourself like online college classes. Some people can adapt to it and some need classroom instruction. I would def call penn foster and ask as many questions about the course as possible before signing up. I just thought Id share my experience with everyone on here and how I handled penn foster. Im on here because I was thinking about taking another course and wanted to check out the reports first incase it went down hill since 2004 when I took my D.A. Course. Good Luck to you all and hope you all can get some closure.

I took my first Certificate course at Penn Foster in 2006 for Veterinary Assistant. At the time I had only the experience of my own pets. I was halfway through the program when I was hired at a veterinary hospital, which was a major recommendation upon enrolling.

My aspiration to succeed drove me to finish the program without even researching to be perfectly honest. My only regret upon completion was that according to my state, and many others, it was not necessary to be certified in this vocation. This, however was not to the fault of the school. It was my responsibility to check things like that.

Currently I am enrolled in Penn Foster College's Veterinary Technician-AS. This time I have done my research and I am still just as happy with the program as I was 7 years ago. Upon completion of the program I take VTNE and the state exam and I will be a Licensed Veterinary Technician.

The point is, do your research. Some courses may in fact, be better to learn on the job or in a voc. course. But in my own course i still get, rather have to have, a recorded number of hands on learning through actual clinics and by DVM's and LVT's/RVT's.

I can see how you may feel as though you were cheated or did something for nothing. But just think about this, if you want to commit yourself to a career enough to invest in advanced education, find out what's actually required vs. what you receive from this or any other online school/program. If you are someone who needs social and structured studying, and you can't discipline yourself, then look into an on campus option. Only you can decide whether you will succeed or not.

Penn Foster has been around since 1890. They first started out as International Correspondence Schools (ICS for short). Over the years they have changed their names to ICS Learning Systems, Thomson Direct, Harcourt, and now Penn Foster.

I took two of their courses back in the early 1980's: travel agent and bookkeeping. At that time, I was working full-time shiftwork as a food service worker at a Catholic nursing facility, and my work schedule did not allow me to attend classes on a regular basis. I was only 24, I got tired of working the shifts, including nights, weekends, and holidays; delivering the food carts to the floors and smelling the patients' urine and feces, and I just wanted a whole new career.

My instructor for the Travel Agency course was Lucille Lazevnick. She always responded to my letters and help if I needed it. In fact, I even called her this one day, and she returned my call the next day. I even told her that I was unhappy with being a food service worker, but she said to be thankful that I have a job; even though I was preparing myself for a new career.

The hardest lesson that I remember having was on international airfares. I had failed the test twice before I got a passing grade, and I did the very best that i could on it. I just had trouble understanding and calculatiing the international airfares.

At that time, I was considering a travel career; specifically becoming an independent tour specialist. But as the years went on, I didn't want to sell anything and handle money; which is exactly what a travel agent does. So then I decided to keep travel as a hobby instead of a career.

My instructor for the Bookkeeping course was Joan Schaffer, but it was very hard; especially at the end where they gave you a practice set of keeping a set of books for a bakery.

In 1994, I found it hard to get a decent-paying job because I didn't have the computer skills that employers demanded. And besides, the jobs that I had at the time were either temporary or low-paying, without any benefits. I had seen Sally Struthers advertise them on TV. She always started out by asking, "Do you want to make more money?" I felt as though she was talking me me. A year earlier (1993), I had lost my job as a full-time dietary aide at a downtown Philadelphia hospital; which filed for bankruptcy, and was 36 million dollars in debt; leaving 560 people, including myself, without jobs.

Three days after I had started work as a full-time telephone market research interviewer (I was only making $6.00 an hour at the time), I signed up for their PC Specialist course. I took the lessons to work with me every morning and studied them while I was on the train. Later on, they sent me a desktop PC for me to do the remaining lessons. Anne Marie Mahoney was the chief instructor for this course, but there were other instructors who helped me out as well.

About two or three years ago, I had signed up to take their Creative Writing course. However, because I filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September of 2005, they would not accept me, but they did refund my $10 down-payment on the course.

Nowadays, Penn Foster advertising on TV; listing the courses that they teach, such as medical assistant, veterinary technician, teacher's aide, and so forth.

If I were you, I'd be very careful before you sign up with them I mean, how can you learn how to become a medical assistant or veterinary techinician by studying at home? Does Penn Foster provide you with the latest equipment for you to train on that the employers want? For most of their courses, you have to have hands-on classroom training, preferably in an industry-accredited and recognized course. And if you're going to become a teacher's aide, I'd suggest that you contact your local school district and find out what type of training you need, and that they will accept, before they even hire you.

I've been able to use some of the skills that I learned in my PC Specialist course in my previous jobs. I've have had a more positive experience with the school. But before you sign up for any of their courses; check them out first.

I took the Administrative Careers Course and I am currently taking the Travel Agent course. I would not recommend taking anything technical from these people because you need your hands on training. If you are interested in TV repair, enroll at your local community college or VoTech school and you will get the get the training you need, financial aid and placement assistance.