University of St Augustine for Health Sciences Reviews

"I attended the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences for both my MOT and PPOTD degrees. I was looking for a school that would be flexible so that I wouldn't have to move to St. Augustine. I was able to travel in for lab weekends and complete the rest of my school work online. It is a rigorous program, but the faculty are dedicated and passionate about the practice of occupational therapy. The school offers a lot to it's students including simulated hospital experiences, tutoring, pro bono clinics, opportunities to participate in advocacy, social events, and they even support you after graduation through a very active alumni association. I am grateful for my training at USAHS and the preparation it gave me to excel in my career.Read Less"

"DO NOT ATTEND USAHS. THEY BEG US TO LEAVE GOOD REVIEWS WORST SCHOOL EVER. The professors are awful they act like they like you when u apply and now we are a piece of nothing to them. Half of us go to fieldwork not knowing anything and end up failing NBCOT bc we are so unprepared from this school"

"This university provided many learning experiences and opportunities that have greatly helped in fieldwork and will help in my career. The program director genuinely cared about my success as a student and future occupational therapist. The teachers went above and beyond to ensure we understood all information given. I will definitely miss some of the staff at this school, but it is comforting to know that I will continue to have some of them as mentors throughout my career."

"If you are thinking about going to this University, do it! If you are striving in becoming a healthcare provider, I truly believe this university will help find your strengths and confidence to help your future patients continue their story. My time at USAHS was a blessing. It allowed me to build a wonderful foundation in occupational therapy. As a newer graduate who is now working in an inpatient setting, I have found myself looking back at my didactic work, fieldwork experience, and mentors. I found the professors to be helpful and passionate about helping us succeed. Not only that the professors are passionate, they truly love what they do. I enjoyed listening to their experiences and found their insight to be beneficial. While the program is academically challenging and accelerated, it is doable. The education I have received has given me a continued path in my journey as a license occupational therapist with advance certifications.Read Less"

"This will probably be the most EXPENSIVE MISTAKE I have ever made! This school is privately owned and all they care about is money. I was in the Flex MOT program in California. Instructors are awful - almost all of them have outside jobs and are in the OTD program at St. Augustine, which makes me think they are only teaching there to get a cheaper degree. Most of the classes rely heavily on watching outdated videos on Blackboard, only to find out that instructors actually want us to do it a different way. The worst classes were our pediatrics, mental health and assistive technology- boring lectures, a lot of busy work and there was almost no NBCOT material covered. There's also no advanced technology like they advertise on their website. The education here is less than mediocre and the program higher-ups all know it. They promised students change each semester, but it never happened. We had class 9 times a semester, which comes out to 2-3 full weekends a month. The enrollment staff lied to us about that, probably to get more students to apply. Also, you will get screwed over on your clinical placement because the fieldwork coordinators are highly unorganized and don't communicate well.Read Less"

"The st. Augustine campus ROCKS!!!! They prepared me very well for the real world. All of my teachers were excited to help us learn and would find new ways to teach us when things got boring. They provided us with great resources and foundational knowledge to prepare for NBCOT as well."

"I attended University of Saint Augustine in Saint Augustine, Florida. I was able to complete my degree under the Flex (Hybrid) Program. Not only do I feel that the college prepared me for my future, I was also able to obtain my first position as an occupational therapist from the job fair they offered. I highly recommend this school and program. Since becoming a graduate, I have taken on fieldwork students who demonstrate excellence in the field of occupational therapy as well."

"As a member of the hybrid program, USA gave me the flexibility to achieve my goals without having to put my life on pause. The instructors are knowledgeable, compassionate, and facilitate a classroom environment that’s suited for all learning styles."

"I had an amazing experience at USAHS. The best part about my experience was that the faculty really cared. It is not an easy program, but they give you the tools you need to succeed. They don’t only teach you the academics, but they help you grow as a person, professionally and emotionally. I feel very fortunate to be a graduate of USAHS. They also support you after you graduate. They have an alumni association which connects current and graduated students which is a great advantage when you first get out.Read Less"

"The USAHS Miami, FL branch is truly a business at the end of the day, with a high turnover rate, some poor quality teachers (several who teach diff courses), a lack of resources, and a consistent increase in tuition for what seems like made-up reasons. During the first week after you've been accepted, you will shortly realize how disorganized, miscommunication, and overwhelming this school is, which usually leads to a general panic in obtaining the syllabus and figuring out what room the class is in. My first year was online d/t Covid and charged full tuition including school resources we weren't using or had access to any of the sim labs, library, 3d printer, or any assistive devices. You honestly pay so much money to teach yourself and get yelled at for asking any questions including questions about any quiz/test that the entire class has already taken.I have had some incidents with professors talking down, openly criticizing, intimidating and humiliating students (in front of the class), including myself. For instance, I have had a professor fail me on a practical because I did not know a 1 pt. question (& ignored my emails asking how I failed based on the rubric), another professor, openly in front of the whole class, said she was worried about me bc of the questions I was asking bc I could've asked the students around me first ( I asked her how to submit my paper online after acting/presenting in one sim lab for the class), and another incident where I failed the Peds course and upon the first week of retaking the class with a NEW cohort those same professors emailed me saying how concerned they were about my lack of engagement and participation during lab and sim activities. One professor constantly would lecture us about professionalism but when we had a video chat appt. with an actual parent that professor was nowhere to be seen or heard and blamed us for her unprepared & disorganized calendar alerts. For clinicals, they took an extra 3 weeks to handle the last 5 persons' destinations past the deadline. The school will threaten you, NOT wanting you to find a connection yourself, or else you will get kicked out of the school. There are a handful of good-quality professors but they cannot carry the entire school by themselves. I feel like I learned most from them and with my CI's during my clinical. I don't recommend coming to this school.Read Less"

"Finding an OT program can be overwhelming, but at USA I knew I made the right choice. I started the residential OT program during the midst of Covid, but it didn't stop the ability of the school to provide the educational skills needed. Once we fully transferred from virtual learning (due to covid) to fully in-person classes it really elevated the overall experience. The professors are all extensive in their knowledge and always willing to share their expertise and personal experiences in the field (for various settings!). The bond you form with your cohort as well is one that will continue to grow with you through your educational journey and out into the field. Most importantly, however, I want to especially note the preparedness you feel as you go off to Fieldwork (because it can feel very scary!). I, like many of my peers, felt very nervous about it until I actually started my rotations and realized that the school really did prepare us much more than other programs prepared their students. It came through in background knowledge for approach to treating patients, being able to advocate for other treatment methods, and it especially shone through while taking the NBCOT exam. Even after graduation I'm still in contact with multiple professors from my time during the program and I look forward to being able to step out into the world as a proud graduate of USA and proud OT practitioner.Read Less"

"I can’t think of a better place to complete my degree. All the professors put students first, understand where we (as a Flex class) are coming from. The atmosphere and the campus is student friendly and the neighboring area is also beautiful. I am proud to become a USAHS alum."

"This has been a huge disappointment for me! The enrollment advisors lied to most of the Flex OT students! To be upfront, there is currently NO Flex class that has graduated from this campus. The first Flex cohort is just now finishing up the program, so there is no accurate NBCOT data. They also lied when they said that we're on campus once a month. We had lab 6 weekends one term and most of them were in-person lectures and NO benefit to our education. A lot of videos, group work on google docs and boring guest lectures. We had lab NINE weekends for our 6th term. Most of the labs are a waste of time since they mainly consist of lecture which can be done at home on Ring Central. There is a lot of group work, which makes no sense considering how much this program costs- the faculty expect us to teach ourselves. When we ask questions most of us are told to figure it out on our own, which is disappointing considering OT is a learned skill. We have brought up our problems to the director and were promised changes, but so far nothing.Read Less"

"USA should pay their students for attending their disgustingly overpriced mediocre institution fueled by wealth and greed. There were a few professors who were very knowledgeable and extremely supportive and that I appreciate so much. The other faculty: very knowledgeable but scary and intimidating, so asking for help was dreaded and came as a last resort. Then there were those who were kind and supportive, yet apologetically unable to answer questions on the subject they were instructing. I imagine that making student loan payments will feel like pure torture and robbery..Read Less"

"I don’t usually write reviews, but I feel it is my moral obligation to write one: I was in the MOT program. The tuition is painfully overpriced. Not worth it unless A. You are absolutely set on USA or B. money is not an object There is a lot of turnover amongst faculty, and it appears the ones who leave are those wonderful professors who USA just didn’t deserve."

"I was warned about this program and I wish I listened. Professors aren't here to help but to be condescending. They throw you with NOTHING BUT BUSY WORK that contributes nothing to your learning. They ask for feedback and just get offended. Don't ask for constructive criticism if you can't take it. Tuition is going up and if I wasn't more than halfway in I would have gone to another program. Please save yourself and go somewhere if you're pursuing occupational therapy. You'll be paying to teach yourself.Read Less"

"The university of st augustine -st augustine campus is joke. Do not go their no one cares about you . It is the worst program ever. The school does not care about anyone and they purposely fail people. It is very depressing how you are treated. I would never send anyone to this school."

"Nearly half the class had to retake A&P. This will set you back about 10k. They will place you all over the country for fieldwork. They will tell you it's to give you a diverse learning experience but I would bet my life on the reason being they don't have good connections for placement. The program is extremely disorganized. The technology for online learning is excruciatingly bad. They will not show you your test so you can understand your score. Multiple instructors working on one course across different campuses so your professor is not necessarily teaching you what you need for the test or telling you what to study. Some of the professors are really terrible, actually teaching the wrong procedures. My A&P professor was clearly learning how to instruct on the job as she ketp changing strategy. The administrators are not helpful. Overall, there were a lot of red flags and shadiness and the school is so very expensive. $ is the point of this program. Not prepping students to be good OTs. I would say this school definitely borders on being a scam.Read Less"

"This school has been a complete nightmare and the $100,000+ price tag is an absolute joke. These instructors are lazy, incompetent, and the turnover is insane so there is always a new person in every office so you will never have the information you need. Your "class" is a bunch of online videos, powerpoints, and more powerpoints. Do not expect the small class size to mean that you're free to ask questions, many of these professors are bullies and will do whatever they can to steamroll any questions, usually because they don't know the answer. I have professors who will look you right in the eye and teach you the wrong way to do something. USAHS hires literally anyone because they're desperate to hide the fact that they're a diploma mill. Then fieldwork coordination is quite the experience. They send you hundreds of miles away from your campus (another sign of how clueless and out of touch they are with student's budgets and living situations) as a "requirement" aka they crank out so many unprepared students that they burn bridges with every facility within a 100 mile radius. Our class was expecting our fieldwork locations last summer and the fieldwork coordinators were frantically cold-calling every facility two months past the reveal date to put students in a seat. These people have no idea what they're doing and they think that emailing us to "not discourage prospective students from attending this school" is going to be a proper band-aid for all the corruption in this awful university. DO NOT COME TO ANY (and I mean ANY) ST AUGUSTINE UNIVERSITY UNLESS YOU WANT TO FEEL LIKE YOU WERE SCAMMED OUT OF $100K. Run.Read Less"

"Do not attend the University of St. Augustine unless you have no other option. Even then, you're better off re-applying to other schools. My class and I got completely screwed over by this school. I had 3 months of instruction in person before COVID hit. Of course this is not their fault and understandably, there was a time that the school went virtual. However, from my first term until my last before level II fieldwork, instruction was almost entirely virtual. Aside from ~$160 last summer, we have received NO reimbursement for the resources we were promised yet did not receive. Of course, at the time it was not the fault of the school that we could not benefit from these resources. It is their fault that we were not adequately compensated for it. During the past fall and spring terms, we were able to receive some on campus instruction (about 3 full days of classes per term). Although this was a step in the right direction, resources were still limited. Additionally, the PT students were able to attend classes in person weekly while OT students barely got any hands on experience. It is a requirement for PT accreditation and not OT, but that does not mean that hands on experience is any less important for OT students. Another reason to avoid USAHS at all costs is that they screw you out of fieldwork experience. OT students are supposed to have level I and level II fieldwork to gain real hands on experience outside of the classroom with real people. Instead, level I fieldwork was entirely virtual and we had to perform assessments and treatments that are meant to be hands on in a virtual setting. I appreciate that we had to adapt to the times and that is a skill that was learned. However, this skill is not nearly as valuable as the hands on skills we should have learned. Meanwhile other OT schools have allowed their students to have in person level I experiences. This left my peers and myself completely unprepared for level II fieldwork. My final, and biggest complaint is that we are paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend this school. During level II fieldwork, we are learning from a fieldwork educator NOT professors. There is no reason we should be paying the same tuition during level II fieldwork since the only instruction we are getting is about which forms need to be uploaded when and an assigned discussion board each week. Not worth my tuition. TLDR: you're wasting your time at USAHS.Read Less"