Penn Foster

I have worked one year after completing my certificate for MT. Writing papers, the section on the legal system and general office procedures were a waste of time. Most, if not all, of the course should focus on medical terminology in all fields as well as hands-on typing of reports. I wish I could recommend this course but have actually steered several friends away from it. I did like the on-your-own pace.

I am 10 months into my medical billing & coding courses, and I find Penn Foster to be a great online school. I have a B.A. degree that I acquired several years ago at Idaho State U. so I know what it is to study in a high-quality school. Yes, it takes self-discipline to study on your own, but Penn Foster offers the materials and resourses to get the job done. Their texts are well written and accurate. I have several medical professional friends who have examined my materials, and they have found the content to be correct. I haven't had any payment issues with them because I paid the entire tuition at once. Overall, I would recommend this school.

Don't expect any help getting a position after you graduate. They also do not inform their students that you must have 2 yrs experience to land a medical transcription position or take the certification exam that will cost you at least $600. Would not recommend this corse unless you have the finances to be certified.

I have mixed reviews on Penn Foster Career School, mostly not good though. First of all, the fact that it was a "work at your own pace" school for the medical transcription program made me choose this school since I am a busy mother of 3 kids. Well I started the course around April of 2009. I paid my tuition in full around January of 2010. A few months after that, I recieved a notice from them billing me an extra 75.00 for "extended study time." I was under the impression there wasn't any time limits for courses. Not only that, when they graded my material it would take several weeks (a few times it took almost a month) for me to recieve my graded material back for me to see. You are not suppose to send in the next exam until you recieve the last one back so this was very frustrating, waiting on them. I just started doing my work and sending it in regardless of when I recieved the previous assignment since I was charged for their slowness and that made things very complicated. Now I was blessed enough to find a job as an MT for a wonderful company and they provided me additional training as well before I even graduated from PennFoster. I came to find out as I was working and doing school, the teachers or whoever graded my material didn't quite know what they were doing. I have learned more at work and their training then I ever did at PennFoster. Not to mention PennFoster provides you with the very basic equipment that you need to be an MT. Their universal stop/start software is only a student version which cannot be used in real working enviroments which to upgrade was over 100.00. I felt that should have been included in the tuition I paid. I have been finished with my coures for over a month now and I have yet to recieve any information on wether I will recieve my diplom and when, even after me contacting them several times. The only things that I like about the school is that you can do a payment plan, it does provide you with the basic knowledge you need to be a medical transcriptionist and it is fairly easy. Although, I think it would've been better for me to go to an actual college in a building so I would have hands on training and I could speak to my teachers face to face. Don't let them fool you with the work at your own pace story or you'll wind up paying extra like me.

Received my certificate in Medical Transcription. I received an A, but that didn't matter. I have finally given up on getting a job as an MT. Do not go through this course, it is not worth your time or money. If you really want to become an MT, enroll in M-tec. I told my friend to enroll in M-tec and she is already working.

i got the certificate and it took me two months to get it after i got the certificate in the mail, it looked fake not only that but they said that i would be able to work anywhere but when i went to apply for a job in LA Fitness and some other gyms...they didn't even know who Penn Foster is and said that i need a different certificate.....this school is a waste of time and money......

Ok, so I started the Dental Assistant program a few months ago, and it all seemed GREAT!! But, little did I know, they are not an accredited school!!!! Yes, they are accredited in some ways, but not in the ways for getting a state license to work. I found this out two weeks into the program, and I HAVE to finish seeing how I'm using military funded money. I have to pass..which isn't a problem..it's REALLY easy, actually too easy. I just hate that I didn't research more into it before choosing to enroll and paid. I called around and sure enough, I will have to go to an accredited school (hands-on) to be able to get a degree worth using. I'm pretty upset that I used $1,000 for this programs when I could have paid a little more for the CORRECT program. I would definitely look into what type of accreditation you will need for your seeking job and see if PENN FOSTER has that accredidation...chances are..it won't. Because most careers involve too much hands-on work to do online! Hope this helps!!

I am almost through this course. I started in November 2008. I spent 3/4 of my time on english, law courses (2 of them), computer courses, and had to write research papers on every single class. If I had spent all of that time learning dictation and medical terminology I would be an expert by now. Wouldn't recommend this unless you want to waste a lot of time, work very hard, and not even get good grades. I think this program will go away or be totally revamped.

They took my money and wouldn't give it back. I have 2 master degrees and they wanted me to take my basic classes all over again. They said that they were associated with Maryland College so I called that college and they said that they have nothing to do with Penn Foster. Penn Foster is a rip off and a fraud they take your money and refuse to give it back when they've caught.

Ok... I took the Medical Transcription course at Penn Foster... I took the whole course, received my certificate, etc. After 2 months of looking for and testing for jobs, I finally spoke to a company who told me that basically, that I will have a VERY hard time finding a job with this education... And she was right! The only way I was able to find a job is to get taken on as an intern for 3 months. So yeah, imagine how angry I was after all that money, and work to find out that now I have to intern for 3 months with NO pay in order to get anyone to hire me... The only reson that I even had an opportunity to speak with the woman from the company that I am not going to name, is because I did great on my testing, however, with having Penn Foster on my resume as my education hurt me.. So I am still with the same company that offered me the internship, but REALLY don't be like me... spend the extra dollars and go through CareerStep or MTEC... SERIOUSLY!... If you don't listen to me I will say "I told you so!" lol