Pinnacle Career Institute Online Reviews

"I am very disappointed on how the staff handles their work here. From admissions to the instructors. They state that you should reach out to them if you have any issues or need help. However, when you do no one is ever available or will calm you back as they say. I had to get my transcripts and do all the enrollment paperwork myself. The addmissions rep helping me stopped helping and doing their job once my enrollment application was signed. Was a hard upsetting experience there. They accused me of being a liar by saying I never graduated Highscool or had attended my highschool and the information I gave was false. Which I dont know why they thought that if they knew I served in the USMC. Financial aid was a great help however my start date was delayed because they stated that my loan was denied do to a default loan which was incorrect. I never had a defaulted student loan. It took them a while to find out I was not lying. Once I stated my courses I also got a new job as a technician to help me with my understanding and my career path. I did start to fall behind a little but when I reached out to my instructor he didn't respond until 20 minutes before my course was to be ended. He requested I turn in any passed assignment and gave me a grade that was not the correct grade he submitted. When I attempted to complete my past due assignments I couldn't because he locked me out. I called everyone I knew to call and Noone has followed through with their promise to help and call me back with a solution...NOONE. My expiernce has been a total disaster. They automatically kicked me out and never verbally communicated with me any information at all or options. Do not enroll here you will regret even giving this school consideration. A waste of time and money. I am calling the US department of educational canceling any other payment to them and will be looking for a better experience else where. Thanks for the stress and negative impact you gave me. Ashamed that I was w more dedicated to this school and my success than the staff was...and they get paid to do nothing."

"I completed the Wind Turbine Tech program in 10 months. I had never taken online classes before so I was a little nervous. But my admissions coordinator was very helpful and supportive. There were a few times I started to fall behind and my admissions coordinator helped me get back on track. Online classes aren't for everyone. You have to be willing to sacrifice some of your free time. But once I got into a routine, I started earning solid B's and am almost completed with my program. The total cost was intimidating at first but Financial Aid helped me it more reasonable for me."

"I started my career in the telecommunications industry as a Tower Hand/ Tower Climber with no certifications for nearly 2 years. I was laid off and wanted to get back into the industry, despite my lack of credentials. I submitted over 25 applications to no prevail; my odds seemed stacked against me. I knew that I needed a competitive edge to get back into the industry, so I gave the admissions department a call and that call changed my life. I started at PCI in June of 2021: Despite the challenges I faced, I dedicated myself to education, and refused to quit. My hard work paid off and I graduated in February of 2022 as a knowledgeable Telecommunications Tower Technician I. As a TTT-1, I work for one of the best tower companies in the country. I have options to travel or stay local, and those opportunities to which the doors once seems closed, are now open. Thanks to PCI, I have the certifications I need to achieve new heights in my career and climb higher. Thanks PCI!!"

"The negative reviews I have seen must have had a different experience than me. With a lot of the training being online, you have to have self-discipline and be motivated each week. But if you put in the work you will get the results. The instructors were great and had real-industry experience. Career Services even helped me get interviews with multiple employers the same week I was on campus. I already recommended the Tower Tech program at Pinnacle to a few of my friends and they are going through the enrollment process."

"This school makes very unrealistic claims about how easy it will be to find a job when you graduate and about the pay you can expect. At first I was impressed with them. The ladies in admission I talked to were very sweet. I was also pleased with my instructors. They did a good job of training us. But when all was said and done, it was not even close to being worth the price. Tower tech companies are not interested in graduates from this school. They want to train you themselves; I know because many of them have told me so. The people at PCI tell you that when you graduate you will have tower tech companies begging you to work for them for $24 per hour and great benefits. That is a joke. The highest amount of pay I was offered by a company was $15 an hour. I can make more money working at McDonald's!! Other companies offered me as little as $11 per hour. No benefits. No relocation assistance. And now I am saddled with a crushing student loan debt. Also the staff at PCI mysteriously disappear when you graduate. They will ghost you like Caspar. Avoid this "school" like the plague. It is a total scam."

"I started the online program in April 2009..Finished my first course and was ready to start the second course. I got very sick and was unable to keep up the online classes so I asked the school if I could put my course on hold and pick back up where I left off once my health improved. I was advised I could do so. 3 months later when I was ready to complete my courses the school advised they no longer offered the certificate program I had started and if I wanted to finish I would have to go to the associate level which was longer school term and more cost. I opted to pass on this course. I had only took one class in the second term but the school would not give me credit because I officially "started" the class. I had financial aid which was taken back by the government when I stopped the class so therefore I have been paying on a student loan the school would not give me credit for that is of no benefit to me. I think it is a shame and should be against the law for them to do that when they specifically told me I could complete the course I was taking. I would not recommend this school to anyone and if there is any advice from anyone on how I could get my money back or at least not have to finish paying the still $5,000 balance I owe it would be greatly appreciated."

"I would not recommend this School to anyone. Especially if you are going for personal training. I found out that in the state of Tennessee you do not need a degree to be a personal trainer. You don't even need a certificate here. Most gyms do require a certificate to work there. I have multiple friends who paid $500 for an online personal training program and got their certificate to personal train. I basically went in debt around $17,000 for something that I do not need. On top of that, they have you take the nsca or Ace test and if you fail , you do not get your certificate to train. I did not feel prepared, I failed the test by a couple points and so did majority of my class. That's school bugs you after graduation date in order to record that you got a job and knowbake the school look good. I never ended up doing the personal training and I never ended up retaking the $100-$200 test.... just have a useless associates degree that will probably be laughed at..."

"If you want to be up to your neck in student loans this is the place to go. I could never find job placement and was even told that I wasn't likely to find job placement as we're all of my fellow classmates and I still owe $12,000 and I'm paying monthly and have been for years for nothing."

"I was led to believe by school admin that getting certified as a MIBC was impossible without this program. Not true. You just need to take the test. ALSO we were misled to think that this program trumps experience. We were literally told that this course is the same as "two years work experience". It was incredibly disheartening to be told that its cheaper and preferred by companies to train for someone within to get MIBC certified than to hire someone new, especially if you have no experience in that field. I was told directly by a hiring manager after always seemingly acing every interview (MIBC even had a required course on getting hired), that for-profit schools are looked down upon and not taken seriously. I feel foolish and ashamed that I had my parents co-sign a 12000 loan for a 10-month program when i could have attended a similar program at a,LEGIT university. Also myself along with every other MIBC student received the same listless email from the job placement specialist, regarding a scant handful of jobs that seemed few and far in between. Thus , another lie - when I was talking with the pci recruiter, he stated these jobs were always in demand. It turns out the pci recruiters get paid commission - quell surprise. The head of the coding program waw completely awesome, though. That place didn't' deserve to have her working for them."

"This school is terrible. I was enrolled and ready to start classes when I decided to withdrawal. Everyone you talk to is just so pushy and tries to push you into things. When I went to withdrawal from their school they would not let me and kept offering me other programs to enroll in, finally I was able to withdrawal and my admissions advisor was very very rude and unprofessional. This school only wants your money. Now I am having to get ahold of them to have them fill out a withdrawal clearance letter so I can attend another school and now you can't find a single person to talk to all you get is someone's voicemail. This school is a joke, do not waste your money here."

"PCI is a terrible terrible school. I have degrees I just attended PCI briefly because I wanted to pick up an extra trade. The financial aid office is a JOKE. THEY SWITCH STAFF LIKE IT'S NOTHING. THEY are very rude and only care about your money!!!!!!"

"I was a student at pinnacle career institute online for HVAC was recommend to by company the teachers was was engaged in the class and if you had any questions you could call or email them with problems you having with the class the boot camp was about 10 days really enjoyed boot camp it was small so you had more time to study in the labs for the hands on training I WOULD RECOMMEND PINNACLE TO ANY ONE."

"My first impression of the school was excellent. The over the phone assistance was wonderful...until my fafsa account encountered a bug. I was unable to resubmit my information and because of that I was cut from class with no warning. This happened twice and no was able to give me any information as per why or how to fix the situation. I built up a debt because of it and was unable to rejoin the program because of this. I have been hung up on and the over the phone assistance became less patient and helpful. Horrible experience and disheartening"

"Spent $12,000 , still could not find employment in the field I was "trained" for. I was actually told PCI and other non -accredited , for profit schools are looked down upon at multiple job interviews  by bemused recruiters (wheras part of the high-pressure enrollment script leads you to believe PCI is respected in the field.) Ultimately my next employment was at Walmart, despite being on the honor roll the entire duration of my courses. I don't think any of the medical billing jobs I applied for even called my references."

"I feel this is a scam. What you are not told is there is no one will hire you. You have no experience. The online degree does not help in any way."

"I got a job in a doctor's office and emergency clinic through my externship site. I went from not working to having two jobs its been great. I am now in school working on my RN. Get started right away."

"IT WAS A GREAT OVERALL EXPERIANCE THE CAREER SERVICES DEPARTMENT HELPED ME FIND A JOB WHEN I GRADUATED I AM SO HAPPY"

"Do not attend this school. I learned the hard way. I did not plan to end up getting pregnant, but I did. Well I attended their week boot camp, had a few complications of the pregnancy (sickness and others). Besides being treated like crap when I was at boot camp for being pregnant, I also received injuries while there that was uncalled for. When it came time to learn hands on, the instructor did not allow me or my partner to practice as much as she did the other two students. I see they show a lot of favoritism with students. Well I started my externship once after I returned home, well more complications put me into the hospital and then doctor put me on bed rest! I had completed almost half of my hours. I told all the faculty about the bed rest, one lady told me I could return after delivery and start off where I left at. Then I speak to my coordinator and she tells me I will have to complete all the hours all over again AND return to Missouri and redo the boot camp again. I will then also have to pay more charges. This school is definitely all about money. I checked my pell grants and I still had extra on my pell grant for the 2014-2015 school year that could have been used, but they want me to pay out of my pocket, THEN I will have to pay again out of pocket to re-enter school. PLEASE I'm begging everyone, do not attend this school either online or campus."

"This school is a huge ripoff and I do not recommend it to anyone!!! They lie, manipulate and are highly unethical! They didn't bother telling me they weren't accredited through the AAMA to which my state requires all medical personnel to be. They pretended they didn't know but they did. The laws were changed/passed in my state before I even began my classes online. They lied and I found out because I was offered an interview with a very highly recognized hospital and when I went to sign up for the AAMA test they informed me I couldn't take it because my school wasn't accredited!! This school tried to weasel their way out of the truth, they told me that I should just go to school in my state than but I am so far in debt from school tuition that I will NEVER go to school again!! They are a HUGE RIPOFF, they fire people left and right, they change their name when everyone catches up with them and starts researching them legally....it's unethical and NOT COOL!!!"

"Well first off the school staff never gets back with you unless they want something and the other part was the "oh we can place you in a job or at least get you information on jobs, we have several companies waiting for your graduation date" lies the school has done nothing for me, what leads they have gave me are bogus.. I wouldnt recommend this place to nobody unless they want to pay a lot for nothing."