Penn Foster Career School

I was super excited to enroll and get a certificate. I am impressed now and I don't plan on finishing. I had no idea the program was just reading. I graduated High School a few years early by doing Penn Foster, it was fun, we had projects and hand on activity's. We watched a lot of videos too. With the career program I have nothing but endless reading to do. When I got to the Blue Prints class that's when I realized it was not going to work. Reading for hours on end about lines and CAD drafting helps... Read More me in no way. That's like reading about a video game and expecting your self to be great at playing it your first time. The blue print class would have been great if they offered a discounted price to download CAD on your computer, or if it came with a cheap version for free. If they gave you that as a learning tool the course would have been perfect. CAD has so many tools and options, you cant learn how to use it just reading a book talking about it. It would have been cool if they gave you assignments to draw up some prints, or even put a model house together.

A lot of the books you only read a few chapters. Instead they could send prints of just the chapters you need. Even send a small wood board and a door knob and have us install it as an assignment. They had me read about a lot of tools I have never used before. It would have been better if they showed a video of tool maintenance, use, and safety tips, with a small text included with it. The program was not challenging and very boring.

If I could give less stars, I would but unfortunately there was no option to do so. Do not give this school any of your time or money. The old saying goes, you get what you pay for and boy does this apply to this place. All they want is your money but they offer little to no help. I emailed my "instructor" numerous times during this "school" process and not once did I ever get a reply. They say they're all about communication and having someone there to help you along the way if you have any questions... Read More but every single one of my questions went unanswered. This is a self taught, self paced school, which I had zero issues with. If you struggle with that this is not for you but if you like to have your time wasted going over "How to form a great sentence" or "Ways to communicate in the office" or "How to open a word document" then this is for you! About half way through you start to learn about the most vital part, Medical coding and billing but even then its choppy, confusing, and half of the information is inaccurate and when the teachers grade your assignments and mark your right answers wrong, it takes them forever to get back to you and correct their mistake. I could go on and on and on about how much of a waste this school is. I will never recommend this school to anyone I know. Absolute waste of time. Absolute waste of money. If you can afford it, go to an actual school with teachers who want to see students succeed.

Absolutely the worst school experience I have ever been a part of. I had to become home schooled in my final semester of high school, and as I had all my credits except English, I had to take online classes at Penn Foster. That was a horrible decision. It took me until late July to do 16 assignments. I checked every day for the teacher to review my grade, but it took almost 2 weeks for them each time. I could not go to my graduation today because that. I would not recommend a single person to use... Read More this school.

I started the Travel and Tourism program in July of 2019 and it took me a little less than a month and a half to complete program. I've read other reviews saying the material is outdated, but I don't have that problem with the Travel and Tourism program. Everything seems up to date and I did actually learn alot. It is self pace and they give you a year to complete the program or you'll have to pay extra, and I was told this the day I started the program, to which they give you 6 days from enrollment... Read More date to cancel if you want to. I wouldn't say it was super easy or very hard but in the middle of both, you will need to take notes and study. They have tons of resources available in your student portal also to help if you get stuck on something. The only con i would say is trying to get a hold of someone thru email, I would recommend just calling them, and I've never had and issues when I needed to call. I know everyone has different opinions on the good, but I had a great overall experience with them.

My only critique of this school would be that they advertise as a "go at your own pace" online school, which I thought was great because my job has random hours/days off and I have a busy schedule. I signed up and paid it off early so I could save some money with the promotions they offered. About a year later I had a lot going on and I still hadn't finished my course, only to get an email from Penn Foster saying I had to pay $100 to renew my course for another 6 months which I didn't see ANYWHERE... Read More when I was reading about the school/program. That part was very misleading and they should really emphasize that yes, this is go at your own pace, BUT you should complete within a year to avoid additional charges. They really need to be more transparent about added costs. Just letting anyone know who might be interested in taking a course here because I wish I would have known that.

Current 2019 student, I find the student portal extremely well put together. This is a 100% self taught course - self paced course. You have 12 months to complete the coursework and then the option to extend your studies twice for additional time for an extra fee if you need to. This is common in most online certificate courses regardless where you go. Is it easy to cheat, well yes but why would you? You are just cheating yourself and i guess this is where your morals would come in. There is help... Read More via the student portal via facts and questions, instructor outreach and social community groups. I have found the social groups to be the most viable of all. The contract was clear in black and white, read what you are signing and understand, ask questions. I have found no promise after completion of career assistance or placement, may have been removed prior to my enrollment. The course is difficult and challenging especially if you have no medical background. Take initiative, use study supplements and outer resources along with the course. Upon course completion you get a free voucher to sit for the NHA CBCS exam and / or can sit for the CPC (You Pay) via the AAPC. If you do not have at least 2 yrs prior coding experience to the exam you will receive a CPC-A until your 2 yrs on hands experience is completed. I highly advise doing the AAPC Plexicode classes in addition to your course. This not only gives you real world on hands experience but it eliminates 1 of the required CPC- A years. Know before you sign what type of learner you are, and if you learn better by instructor, traditional classroom settings then this is not for you.

So let me just start off by saying this is not your traditional institution. This place is self-serve. You do the work yourself and if you want positive results your going to have to work it out yourself. The staff here do not help you. In the program that I was in you are graded by the computer. No teacher. No homework. Nada. You learn on your own. There is no guaranteed career help and job placement. Theyre just telling you lies to get you to pay. This was money wasted that I couldve used towards... Read More my actual college tuition. But, oh well. You live. You learn. Just dont make the same mistake. Really do your research before you make a decision wherever you decide to go.

I took the Medical Billing and Coding program and honestly, I don't recommend it. I took a course previous to this at another school and that's the only thing that helped me. This course is very very hard, someone who has never had exposure to medical codes and the books would be totally lost. I was able to finish in 3 months only because I had exposure to the content previously. I wanted to get a diploma thinking it would get my foot in the door at medical offices but it's done anything but. If... Read More you want to get a job even as a medical receptionist you'll need to be nationally certified as a coder to really stand out. This diploma isn't what you're looking for. My biggest issue was I'd get high grades on my tests but the teachers grading them would mark answers wrong that were right. I'd call and justify my answers and they'd correct it but, over all it just wasn't the kind of experience I'd want anyone else to go through. I really wouldn't recommend this school I'd say go to an actual school or college and get the hands on experience because this course as far as the coding part goes, a first timer would fail miserably. The coding is way too advanced for an online school especially when you can't have in person help. Lastly, at the time I went they claimed to offer career placement but that never happened.

So let me start off by saying that if you are the kind of individual who needs to be hands on, or tutored, then this should be an obvious opt out for you. It is very self paced, and simple, if you take it seriously, it takes no time at all. my instructor was very hard to get a hold of, but I was also working crazy hours so emails were the majority of our conversations. They do evaluate you, you are tested, quized, etc. you have a whole network of other students to reach out to for help if necessary,... Read More and if you apply yourself, the internship is a breeze. I would definitely recommend it, considering pre- diploma I was making 9.50/hr and I got a dollar raise within a week of being at my job just for completing the course and presenting my diploma to my manager. I was also offered another raise in the event that I go do the AVMA cert test.

Starting out with the online training courses seemed like a great way to continue working and taking classes at my own pace. However, after completing a few courses, I have to change my mind. The first set of classes went great, but after trying to continue on to the next set of courses things got progressively worse. They changed my student number and now i am unable to view the classes I have already taken along with the scores I earned. I am unable to log into my new student account as well and... Read More am not able to get the issue resolved after a month of trying to contact the school. The only reason i am continuing with Penn Foster is the fact that my employer is connected with them for my apprenticeship course. i would not recommend this school if you have another choice.

DO NOT APPLY. DO NOT ATTEND. I never write reviews but had to speak out on this one. Do not waste your time with this school. It cost nothing to get in and everyone qualifies. I applied and started my course work immediately. A week into it I realized that the course material was so easy a 5-year-old could do it. I breezed through the first course in a week. I realized that this college was a joke and decided to drop out of it. I contacted support and they dropped me through email without hesitation.... Read More They mentioned that there will be a bill because I went past a certain pertage of the course and would owe them. I got the bill in the mail. Let's just say I owe Penn Foster more than a month's rent and my apartment is not cheap. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME IN THIS NATIONALLY ACCREDITED FLY-BY- C*** SCHOOL. Employers will laugh at you and you will owe this school way more than the degree is worth!

I should have read more reviews before signing up! This school is basically useless. I have not graduated yet, and probably wont. Just a waste of time and money. Everything is outdated, I couldve basically just researched everything online and it wouldve been about the same. Its almost impossible to get ahold of anyone also. I tried to get at least some of my money back, and all I got was a one sentence reply saying that I have completed too much to be able to get ANY type of refund at all. Go to... Read More an actual real college, not here. All they care about is taking your money and wont work with you at all.

I've taken several formal private investigator courses over the years and I am a licensed Private Investigator. I took this course as a refresher and for continuing development. Overall this course was in depth a general (not state specific). I have 3 observations: 1) Some of the course material is outdated. I think we can move passed 3.5" floppy disks and very outdated computer technology that is introduced as investigative tools; 2)The study materials looked like they were made in the early 2000's... Read More and the self-check tests and exams were worded poorly in some areas; and 3) There were no videos or anything to catch the student visually. It was an OK class for what it was, and still a better than some of the in-class courses I've taken. This course does set a foundation but my expectations may be too high.

Penn foster is a great college but it is definitely a real college in saying that it means you will have to pay a tuition every semester and you will have to study really hard. The material is hard material but not impossible to make good grades if you put in the time and effort. Some people that left bad reviews are most likely disgruntled because they thought they could just get a degree without putting in hard work and without paying. You can go to penn foster for pennies compared to other colleges... Read More what do you people expect ,its not free. If you are going to attend an online college get ready to do the work it sometimes can be harder than traditional college no one will be catering to you. You will need to know how to research and find other resources when needing help sometimes. I use you tube tutorials alot. Grow up and quit dissing penn foster ,I already have a couple of job prospects once I get my degree.