[MarMar27]

So I attend Sanford Brown Institute it will be year next month, it was all good at first until like the 4th month I was there we started having horrible teachers, in and out, people quitting, teachers getting fired, the school not having enough equipment for us to do clinicals, I mean LITERALLY its been bad, everyone has complained everyone is upset, its just a medical assisting course and its nearly $14,000 I feel like crying every time I think about having to pay these people back, I am not satisfied with the education we have received , no one is, we have wrote it in our surveys we have made complains and its always the same, Its like they hire any one to work there, then a lot of us found out that in the past classes we've had we didn't learn a lot of things we were suppose to, I have an externship to do in March and I don't feel comfortable enough to go out there and the school already has a bad enough reputation, I am not motivated to go any more but I'm almost done, I work Sunday - Thursday overnight and I go to the school saturdays and sundays 8 am to 4 pm and a single mom I am beat I want my weekends off, I also know that I am going to be making less money when I graduate than I am now, I don't know what to do I feel like I dug myself in a really big HOLE, I hate the school and I don't recommend it to anyone. (oh they also lied they are not accredited and they said they were).

[BIGBOPPER]

Ahhhh.. Join the Crowd. I went to National School of Technology in Hialeah for cardiovascular tech. The school, BTW, after getting raided by the F.B.I. in Broward county, changed it's name to Everest School. No proper accreditation here either. And with a C.C.T. cert I can get a job with maybe $8.00 tops, doing EKGs, and nothing else. All doctors offices now want nurses to run the Cath lab, or to do stress tests. No interpretation whatsoever.
There was one place that would take us C.C.T.'s, but they treated us like dirt, so badly that everybody quits, or gets fired. I gave up on healthcare and am now at M.D.C. doing computers. Even so, my 98.6 G.P.A. was worthless, because the school is not properly accredited! I want to scream too. You are not alone.
Some of the former students have talked about a class action suit, but so far it has never gotton off the ground. Maybe you could talk to your classmates and do the same too? Best of luck.

[MarMar27]

Yeah there was one student planning on that but she already graduated so I don't know if she is still going through with it. I know I signed the sheet she had going around.. But I actually wanted to do the cardio tech as well but they told me I had to do the medical assisting course first in order to get to that, but hell to the no I am not going back to that school, I'm dragging myself there every time I go, I feel like I've waisted my time and still am, every weekend. IF I was to leave now? Is there any other school that may possibly take some of my credits ?

[BIGBOPPER]

None that I know of. You could call B.C.C. or M.D.C. ( I am assuming that you are in Broward County, since that is where Sanford Brown is). You can just cut your losses and run. The community colleges are good for you, because they are
A) Cheaper.
B) Cheaper.
C) Cheaper.
And not to mention the fact that they are cheaper. The good news is, that you can still qualify for financial aid. And that the SalliMae loan will stay on hold while you are actively in school.
And if you are concerned about basic classes like reading and math, they have remedial courses to get you up to speed.
Now if you want to go for nursing, the bad news is that you have to have a high G.P.A. I'd advise that you visit the websites of each school, and look around. Msybe you can go for a different degree.
I would, however, avoid seeking a job in any thing that Everest or Sanford Brown teach. In south Florida, there is a glut of Echo Techs, and C.C.T.'s, and Billing, and Medical Assistants that getting a job in that field is ridiculous! I have a friend that just recently graduated from Sanford Brown, and he can't find any job at all! And Sanford Brown's placement office is of little help.
Explore what is available for you around. I know that at M.D.C. they have flexible courses, (They have morning, afternoon, and evening classes). Give them a shot and see what happens. Good luck!

[MarMar27]

Thanks so much for your help. I actually am in Tampa I do know where broward is that's where most of my family lives I was actually going to go to the one in broward cause I was going to move down there. Yeah Sanford Brown has a really bad reputation that's why I really don't want to go do an externship and be looked at as a fool, it's horrible, but if I leave now will they start sending bills asap? And I don't know I really want to leave but I'm almost done but I just can't take it. I wake up early on sats and sundays to go sit in a class and do nothing cause we really don't do nothing! I really don't want to even pay them back. Did you end up paying everest?

[BIGBOPPER]

Sorry I didn't know that Sanford Brown was in other places. I have SallieMae loans that I have to pay back, once I am through with school. I graduated from Everest, and worked for a job that was a total nightmare, then quit after I went back to community college. I am out of work right now, but I am going to school, so the loans are on hold. And the reputation that Sanford Brown has? I think Everest is worse, possibly. If you got government help with financial aid, they will send you a loan book after you leave, but like I said, they can put the payments on hold when you go to a different school. And, you can get more money for school through them. The payments were reasonable for me, if I was still at my job. But that job was miserable, working for a company that did over the phone EKG monitoring. They treated everyone like they were animals, and were more concerned over bottom line and productivity, than they were over patient care.
I couldn't work there. It literally drove me crazy, nearly to the point of hurting myself.
So I want nothing to do with the health care field now. I went to Miami-
Dade, and am now a computer programming major. I figure maybe better for me that I do not have to go near medical anything. Hopefully you can get a better deal than I got. But remember that there is an alternative that can help you.

[MarMar27]

Oh Ok, Yeah I heard everest is bad, and I doubt it's worse than Sanford Brown, but wow Ekg monitoring over the phone I've never heard of such a thing that must be aggravating, sorry to hear that at least it sounds like your way better off now, and Yes I have Sallie Mae as well, but this is a big lesson learned for me I am not looking forward to this Saturday and Sunday of school.

[BIGBOPPER]

but wow Ekg monitoring over the phone I've never heard of such a thing that must be aggravating.

Actually the job itself was neat, I met lots of nice people, Had patients that were related to famous people and one even had a famous country western singer over at his house when he called! I don't think I can say who though due to HIPAA, but she was nice too.

How it works, is a patient wears a monitor, about the size of a beeper that has two, sometimes as much as five leads to it. When the patient felt the symptom, or in the case of two particular monitors who sensed problems, detected the arrythmia, then they would hit the record button and then call us. We would gather their necessary info, pull up their chart, and then they would place their phone over a built in speaker in the monitor and press 'send.' We would then interpret the results, and usually thank the caller and let them go. Sometimes we would teach them how to better place the leads so that they would not fall off, and such. But on occasion, I would have to keep them on the line while a supervisor called the local 911 and got them help. Another technician would be calling the patient's doctor as well, to let them know what was going on.
Sometimes that can be pretty exciting. The bad part of the job was the management. When I started working there, they'd feed us, for christmas we got a party and nice presents, and so on. Then the president resigned suddenly, and the guy that took over, was some 'suit that was more concerned over bottom line. Keep in mind, they let us know that they had a $16 million profit the previous year, but now less dinners, employees couldn't throw pot lucks on the weekends, christmas was horrible. They would write people up if they sneezed practically. I hated it. Everybody there hates it. And they all of a sudden wanted us to do more and more calls, which meant we couldn't be nice to people anymore. It sucks. I am so glad I am out of there. It has traumatized me forever about doing anything healthcare related. I'm going to let my C.C.T. lapse, and maybe renew my food safety manager's license, and get another job at Dominos. *sigh*.

[MarMar27]

Oh wow well what can you say you live and you learn I think I am going to take a leave and go back cause I got a lot of stuff going on and I just feel like I am waisiting my time there every weekend.