Sanford-Brown Institute Reviews

"Thank God I never went to this school..I almost invested 34K in one of the most unprofessional schools ever..No question is really answered. I wanted to talk to admission about the ultra sound program, Richard suggested I take dental hygiene???? I never mentioned anything about dental anything...ALL THEY WANT IS TO FILL IN SEATS....THEY ARE UNPROFESSIONAL AND SAY WHAT EVER MAKES THE SCHOOL LOOK GOOD....PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE GOING TO THAT SCHOOL"

"I received a scholarship right out of HS 2001 and attended the Jacksonville campus for Medical Assisting. I worked as a MA for three years and realized MA was not going to take me where I wanted to go..My ultimate goal was to go for Nursing but counselors in HS nor at Sanford advised appropriately. I feel this was a waste of time. I have attempted several times to have my credits transferred to other universitys/colleges but NO ONE will take them! I am glad I received a scholarship and didnt really have to pay anything out of pocket to this school. I would not recommend."

"i went to the SB location in Landover, MD to see the school for myself. My first impression was that it seemed very unprofessional and lacked academic rigor. This was apparent in the quality of the admission employees as well as the attendees. I checked out all the little diplomas and accreditations they had framed and hung on the walls.. none seemed to be from any organizations that actually matter in the fields they trains students for.I wouldn't even consider it a vocational school so it seemed ridiculous when the admission's rep. was trying to convince me that the school was actually a medically accredited school. I later found out they were indeed not accredited by any medical fraternities such as CAAHEP.The biggest red flag to me was the fact that they had no printed curriculum. I kept asking what subjects will i be studying during the course of my 18 months training in the Medical Diagnostic Imaging program. Each time the rep. would tell me, "oh don't worry, just some math and physics and such." i started "worrying" with that answer. i was expecting to get detailed and defined printed brochures and literature about the program. I am not an 18 year old out of high school .. i have quite a lot of education under my belt. So i know what a real school should be like. Especially one that's charging in the neighborhood of $34,000 for a 18 months training program.As soon as the admission rep. told me that most other colleges have a waiting list of 2-3 years but they don't i thought to myself that can't be good.. there must be a reason why colleges have that kind of a waiting list! She thought that would be a positive things for their school but all it told me was that we allow anyone in as long as they pay us. Then they made me take these two tests that they hadn't even told me about!!! they were just putting me through this process where the end would have been ENROLLMENT! I was given unclear information about the schedule of classes. first they said the classes will meet during day and nigh, but then i found out the next session for the whole year was going to be only during night. Also i questioned the rep. about the accreditation issue and she was trying to make it sound like accreditation wasn't important and all that was important was to pass the board examination. but she failed to mention that the student wont be able to even sit for the board examination if she/he doesn't have about 1000 hours of clinical externship.. and with this program you wouldn't have been given that many hours for clinicals.there were many other red flags and unanswered questions. they just weren't professional. they made me wait for 20 minutes while i had an appointment and was at the appointment on time. I was never given a tour of the school... never saw the classes or the labs. the school was set amidst an office building with other offices around.. everything seemed hush hush. Their tests were designed very simple so that anyone would pass.This seemed like a poorly run assembly not at all a legitimate school of any kind. I am glad that i walked away and didn't budge under the sale's tactics of the admission's rep. I was being pressured to at least pay for admission so they could hold my spot. At the end i was sitting there thinking after two days of coming to this place i still don't know what classes am i going to be taking for the next 18 months! what are the requirements to become a sonographer?!!! none of these questions were answered. all they were doing was to glorify the field of sonography.. and that how well paid sonographers are and how abundant the jobs are for them! SO WHAT!? i needed to know how could they get me from where i am to there.. but the information was just lacking. and i'm sure so will be the education."

"I am a current instructor at the Pittsburgh school. It is all about the money. Most of our courses are not accredited and we have to beg area hospitals to take our students. Half of the time I go to work and don't even have a classroom to teach in or I switch back and forth between classrooms in the middle of class. It is very expensive; books are way overpriced and outdated. Some of our $200 books can be purchased for $35.00 elsewhere. I have only been here for a year and am currently looking for a job; but Sanford Brown isn't very impressive on a resume. Students beware!"

"i attended this school in 2005 with the intentions on becoming a sonographer (Trevose, PA). while at the meeting with an admissions rep she told me you have to become a MA first before you take the sonography course. i didnt even know what a MA was and what they did. i was fresh out of high school and had no real desire to attend college and wanted to find a "job" fast without doing any hard work. well, 5 years later and fully mature i realize now that the decision i made then would haunt me now. i didnt do my research because if i did i definitely would have realized how horrible this school really was. their reputation was so bad that no one wanted to hire any students from their(of course i found this out mid-year when there was no turning back). my extern experience was the absolute worst. they guarentee that they will find each student an extern based on our schedules and one close to where we live.Not to mention they actually had a woman whose job was to find us INTERSHIPS! PLEASE! this was the biggest lie, and with limited time left i had to scramble to find my own externship. At this time i realized the mess that i had gotten myself into. and with no one to help me i had to figure it out all on my own and fast. i literally went through the phone book and called each medical center in phila and surrounding facilities in delaware county also. i left tons of messages and spoke with plenty of supervisors and still was turned down numerous times. finally, i found a health clinic in center city that let me complete my extern. unfortunately, they didnt have any openings and i wasnt hired. also, because of my horrible experience there i did not attend my graduation, but received my certificate still. because i didnt get certified i couldnt find a job and had little time to look because of financial responsibilities. after completign the program i had no desire to become a MA, and dont forget i now have a student loan that i will repay for the rest of my life that was not worth it. now at 25 yrs old im trying to redo what i should have done years ago and that was to go to college for something that you will love and to complete the hard work in order to gain rewards. the only positive thing i can say about the school was i had the best classmates and a great teacher Mr. Cade. best of luck to any potential students, but take my advice and do your research first and attend a community college or a least a school with a good reputation."

"I am a SBC graduate and can only say that school is what you make of it. If you worry about yourself and apply yourself then you will be fine. I have a great career because of the education I received and my fiance has recently enrolled in the school as well. You know if you look at the blogs for Wal-Mart or restaurant chains then you will see positive and negative feedback for them to. I guess you just can't make everyone happy. If you go to Community colleges then you find the same thing. The only difference is that the CC's don't care if you pass or fail and they don't care if people show up to their classes. SBC does and they stay on your attendence because they want you to succeed."

"My problem with the school was the rep who called me and acted as if she had so much experience and I was wrong for asking questions. She told me that I couldn't ask questions until I was enrolled, so I paid the money and took the test. I passed just fine but never got a call about whether I was accepted until two weeks prior to the course start date. I told her that I had already found a different school, but she told me to go to the mandatory orientation anyhow. Which I dismissed saying I had found a different school and was already ACTUALLY accepted. Then the day of her orientation she called me and left a message saying I wasn't doing the right thing, I needed to pick up the phone and call her and go to her school and hope I got in since I was on the wait list. COME ON!!! I told her I wasn't interested. Get off your high horse SBC, you're not better than everyone else."

"wow yal must didn't put into yal work good enough. i'm about to graduate and i've toured that school it semmed good and i saw the achievements of others that graduated from that school. i heard it's going to be a little tough but not too bad. well it's a good thing i'm hard headed cause i dont care what yal say i'm still going to go there and get my degree and be SUCCESFUL. look out for me here i come CLASS OF 2010"

"I attended the billing program in Houston, the SW location. I maintained a 4.0 in every class, and was told that I tied for the 2nd highest score ever achieved by a student at that location on my certifying test. Which would be great if they would GIVE me my certificate! I graduated and finished my program in JULY, and it is OCTOBER and they still will not given me my certificate!I have driven down to the school several times, and every time I am told they are kept under lock and key (the certificates) and the person who has the key just left for the day. Thats IF there is anyone in the office at all, as twice I have gone and the door is just shut and locked and nobody knows where the director (BJ EDWARDS) is or when she will return! I have made about 5 calls and NONE of them have been returned! I feel they have pretty much stolen 13,000 from me! I was an excellent student and never had or caused a problem, I finished the program, and earned the crappy certificate. And I wasn't even able to get a job, all of their contacts wanted to pay $8 an hour with an hour and a half drive one way, totally not worth what I paid for this 'education'. Any people I have found independantly don't find the school reputable, or require several years of experience. So i paid all that money to work as a receptionist (not their fault I can't find a job, I know, but Im SURE I'd be doing better if i could just PROVE that I went to school- with the CERTIFICATE). The school is in a bad neighborhood, with an extreme crime rate (look it up this is all a fact), in fact 2 students had their vehicle broken into during the day while I was a student. The building is in POOR condition- the rails are loose in places, and the elevator is dangerous as it keeps breaking down with people in it and shaking and making horrible screeching noises all thoughout the day. The parking lot is falling apart and metal poles are sticking up through it in some places. The AC frequently goes out and they WILL send you home and they WILL count you absent on the days they make you leave. Know why? because if you miss more than 3 days you have to pay to repeat the class, so they earn money by doing this, I've seen it happen to my fellow student. (for the record I never had to repeat a class for any reason) If you are going to invest this kind of money to your education- go to a college or JR. college where it will 1- give you more for your dollar, and 2- mean something when your done."

"I attend the philly campus and in the begining it was good i had some of the best teachers there which weren't many. As i started getting more into the program it got worse n worse. this school is a waste of money and time i am a student who works hard.its the instructors its like they hire people only off field experience vs. people with teaching digrees. I am a MA student i want to go for ultrasound i heard the ultrasound program wasnt as bad i'm debating if i want to persue ultrasound there or somewhere else. there is too much bs at sanford brown. oh and when they get you in they dont tell u everything. they are constantly changing things and never inform the students. i can go on n on. Good luck to those who give it the benefit of the doubt."

"Being from a Cardiac Ultrasound background of 20 years, everything that I have heard associated with Sanford-Brown is negative. In fact, as a clinicial instructor, the lab that I was previously employed at would NOT take Sanford Brown Students. Way too much money and not enough one on one from the instructors. How can there be when the classes are so large? Unless you are at a clinical site where the preceptors are willing to take you under their wing and TOTALLY teach you everything, your out of luck. 36,000 for an education and you don't walk out with a degree? I would definitely think twice about this one."

"I graduated from Sanford-Brown when it was UDS. I took the CVT course, I must say in defense of the school if you wanted to learn you will. The MA classes were just plain GHETTO!!! it's like they steered them to that course,my class was very professional, no one failed the course. I will say it WAS very expensive but i think worth it. Think real hard before you apply though it's a big decision to make."

"Stanford Brown is a GREAT school! The professors truly care and work extremely hard to help us succeed, but YOU have to apply yourself. Our success in learning and in the medical work place is on us. The truth is the professors are doing their job but ask yourself are you doing you're part to succeed?"

"There are a lot of negative reviews on Sanford Brown. Being a former student, I can agree with most of them. But what people have to understand is if you want to be successful in the Ultrasound field, you are going to have to work hard to get what you want & you will have to be aggressive about it. We can blame others for our predicaments but you have to look at yourself & be honest and say, "did I do my best to get what I want"? I read all these negative comments & I laugh it off. I am close to my class & I know others from the next class that came in. People have graduated & found jobs. Now they are registered in their respective specialties. You have to work hard. When there is a setback, you can't blame others but you have to keep pressing on. The school has many flaws. But it is what you put into it that will make you successful."

"It doesn't surprise me that most comments are coming from MA students. It also seems as if no matter what state you are in, we have the same issues. I am a student in Atlanta and I do see some of the students not handeling themselves as ADULTS. The DMS and CVT programs you HAVE to be mature. College degree or prev. college credits is required. With anything it is what you put in to it."

"The staff and financial office is all about them. Just Finish the MA program in Trevose PA. This is so True, what you put in is what you get. I put in and still has not received my CPR certificate nor my Diploma. Found my own extern site found my own job. They have a career center no help from them. I have a GPA 3.92 and applied myself very well. But the school don't do thier part."

"I attend the Trevose campus in PA. I don't know about the other campuses people reviewed for but our books are all the newest editions, and we got them on time, the first day of class actually. All of our equipment is fairly new, and we have a variety of each type. The computer labs are up to date with the newest software. We have access to an online library (from any pc), which is fantastic. Our programs are accredited and the price for the ARMDS exam is included in tuition (along with tutoring courses if needed.) I've had teachers bust people for cheating, and not pass students for going a half hour over the 10 hours allowed to miss for each class. Maybe other campuses aren't as strict? also nowhere guarantees you a job. my boyfriend graduated from a top college with a 4.0 gpa and still took him over a year to find a job. blame the economy not the school."

"I just wanted to say thank you to the reviewers. I have been on several different websites that reviewed this school and have found an OVERWHELMING amount of negative feedback. For the amount of money that they're asking I would expect nothing but STELLAR reviews and feedback! True, school and education is what you make of it but some responsibility has to lie on the school.Why pay that kind of money and put in the hard work if employers are not willing to hire anyone from this establishment!?? I have only seen about 3 positive feedbacks out of the 20 or more reviews I have read and if I had to guess I'd say those reviewers were employed by the school in some way."

"None of you that are tearing apart this school have half an education to begin with. One of the options is true... you either have terrible typing skills, poor grammar, or bad spelling. Education doesn't BEGIN in college... so perhaps it's back to the basics for you! (no wonder you had so much trouble in college. Hard to do well when you struggle with English, huh?)"

"The CVT program is a joke. They have the audacity to charge 32,000 for second rate training for a program that is NOT even accredited..the school is, the program isn't. The rules and regulations change from day to day and from student to student. The instructors either can't teach and provide you with partial information and if they are knowledgeable, they can barely speak English. BEWARE.. The general consensus is huge dissatisfaction all around. Everyone in the class has something negative to say.. Another endearing quality, they will accept ANYONE in that school and to be honest there are many people attending there that should not be in the medical field...at all. Think twice..the shame of it is that Cardiovascular Ultrasound is fascinating and an awesome career choice. Guess what? most places wont even interview you if they know you come from Sanford Brown :("