Penn Foster Career School Reviews

"Extremely dry course material. Final graded interactive project was confusing and poorly designed. I passed all unit quizzes only to fail the final graded interactive project due to unclear infographics. Would not recommend a waste of time and money."

"Penn Foster is a great fully online school. They offer a good selection of programs at the high school, career and college level. Fast easy enrollment, affordable, accredited, accessible and friendly service. The online student community is awesome. The degrees are accepted by the government and private businesses. I have no complaints. The school offers military discounts and alumni discounts. I highly recommend Penn Foster to anyone."

"I took the Paralegal/Legal Assistant course from Penn Foster, as I was in a job where I worked with lawyers. It helped me greatly, and got me a promotion and a raise. I then finished my Bachelor's degree elsewhere and then went to law school. I used some of my Penn Foster learning materials to assist me in law school. And I already knew how to do legal research and understood how the law works! I've since been an attorney and a judge. I will always be grateful for my Penn Foster education!"

"Received my certificate. They did not even to try to help me find a job. Certificate is only a piece of paper to me. Did not tell me that I had to take state exams to get a job. Very much disappointed. This happened about 20 years ago. All that money I paid for certificate was a waste of my money."

"First of all, this school is only for people with willpower, independent learners, and organization. If you are struggling with mental health, finances, or family issues this school is not for you. They treat you better if you pay in full, the material is mostly read online and it is not updated. I do not like reading online, and recently, the e-book of the program is not available anymore for download. The exams were confusing, I am doing my Externship writing skills before applying to the externship which makes no sense. They send it back saying it was lacking information while in fact, I wrote what was in their material. I personally felt that this is a school for students that are heroes, not the average person that needs a boost for entering a marketplace like me (after staying 10 years as a stay-at-home mother). I would recommend it only if I know the person is very smart, organized, and have strong willpower.Read Less"

"I chose Penn Foster because it seemed affordable and listed everything I needed to know on site, so I wasn't bombarded by phone calls and emails from recruiters. I knew how much it would cost upfront and that I could pay in monthly installments was another deciding factor. I chose medical billing and coding and at first it seemed that I was going to learn specifically about this career path, until I passed the intro and went on to the next course. It's just fluff, basic math(fractions, addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, etc) and then there's grammar. I just wanted to learn medical billing and coding, not do everything I did in elementary and high school. I just want a course that's to the point and teaches me what I need to know for the career path I'm choosing, not fluff. I'm highly considering stopping this and cutting my losses. This course is set for two years but I just read that you can get your certification within 9 months, so maybe if Penn Foster cut the fluff, I wouldn't be wasting my time. This doesn't pay my present bills, so the sooner I have a certification, the better, and two years for a certification is just excessive. The courses and reviews are unorganized as well. In the intro section, the key take away notes and definitions were easy to find, record, and follow in each section. Now, they're all listed at the end of the lesson in one jumbled mess instead of the section they're supposed to be in. The flashcards they have are copy and pasted with the word of what you're trying to memorize stated plainly in the definition, so what's the point in trying to memorize it if it's already there?Read Less"

"I took the Microsoft office training and was very satisfied with the course as some of the other reviewers here have said you're not going to get your hand held you're not going to get spoon fed I had no issues with helper support and the training did help me in my career I would say if you want to go to a trade school like plumbing electrician or something like that you may get more hands on at an actual technical center however for office like work the school met my needs and did what they said they were going to do just make sure that you are disciplined and can dedicate the time it is not a nursery school it is a training environment from my money Penn Foster did fineRead Less"

"Hey Guys, I’m a graduate of Penn Foster High School (2014) and plan on taking a college course in engineering here very soon. All I can say is this school forged in me the drive for self improvement and education. Being a SELF PACED curriculum you HAVE TO BE DISCIPLINED, that has always been they’re claim to fame and it works IF you stick to it, it puts YOU in control of your future. I wonder sometimes where I would be without this school, being ADD I struggle with focus, discipline and concentration daily which makes me living proof that this school teaches you more then just what’s needed to pass….it also teaches you discipline, perseverance and an almost “unhealthy” drive to excel😉 traits that help you throughout your whole life. Trust me I would be in a bad place and probably never have reached where I am today without Penn Foster. Thank you.Read Less"

"I Just graduated Penn Foster and loved it. It is 100% online and self- taught. It isn't just handed to you, you have to work for it. Overall I enjoyed my experience and learned a lot. I would recommend it to anyone that thinks they would like self teaching and online. Enjoy it and stay determined you got this."

"This program for HVAC was a total joke. The platform they use is absolutely horrible and not user friendly at all. It is nothing but non stop reading extremely boring textbooks. They need to add videos and have instructors help you stay on track. You won’t be job ready when you’re finished."

"I had a good experience with Penn Foster Graduated and received my diploma within a few days after completing schooling. I was excited until I found out that Texas doesn’t except Penn Foster so much for nothing and dreams crushed. Not only that, but loss of money that I can’t get back."

"This school is a total joke.. They claim it is perfect for your working schedule but they demand you complete an unrealistic amount of work or you get charged for extension time. If you can't pay it they threaten to boot you out an you lose money. They give you good grades until your very last finals when they make it appear like you didn't crack a book. SCAM! Don't use this school!!"

"I took the computer programming languages course in the java section i kept getting a plagiarism message on one of my quizzes. I tried to call the intructors and no response. The person that said its easier to communicate with the president over the instructors is true. When i called to withdraw from the course customer service picked up the my call quick. I payed the remaining balance so it wont affect my credit and quit the class. Two things i realized on this school make sure the course is uptodate what they taught me were teaching me was java, visual basic, and database the class included two books and an online printout. If i knew this is what i was getting and the headache with support i would of bought the books online at cheaper rate and done them on the side. My best recomendation is do your own investigation look at their curriculum of the class interested and look at the books they supply with each class. In their website Under the course u can see which text books they offer in curriculum. 2 if the books are not the latest or few years off you will be learning old things but not uptodate. 3 see if you can sit for licensure it will say within the class section. Accreditation and licensure is very important for lots of jobs in the real world. Do your homework before going with penn foster. Your local community college or training center might be best deal. I ended up learning the language i needed by buying coding books on amazon updated my resume got a job offer on what i learned with the coding book. If you are self taught and disciplined u can learn by yourself. Managers i spoke with with some many people graduating with not experience they look for licensure taken after college through national licensing centers to know they are prepared for the career of their choice. Not all courses offer licensures at the end of their corresponding class but usually those are easier to get entry level jobs without. For my programming job all i need was to prove the interviewing i understood the code what was wrong or missing and also i made a porfolio or the different codes i worked on my own time.Read Less"

"I learn best through hands on work and visuals like pictures and videos. This course offered little of those. For example, they'd talk about certain cuts but then not even have a picture of what they're talking about or how it's suppose to look. How is that helpful in anyway? They expect you to understand it just from a description? So now I have to pretty much learn through various youtube videos what I'm suppose to be learning in this class, taking up even more of my time. I don't recommend this course at all. Such a waste of money and time. It's so stupid.Read Less"

"LOOK ELSEWHERE!! I dont ever/usually write reviews on anything.. Unless its a good Amazon purchase.. This school is awful!! there is little help from the instructions, I am paying over 300 just in tutoring... Even my tutor who mastered in Accounting said that the verbiage in this bookkkeeping course doesn't make sense, its confusing, hard to follow, and they are teaching pretty hard accounting ( which my tutor says you will NEVER use)- I would not suggest this school for this program, I have done the veterinary assistant degree and it was well written and easy to follow.. But this course! AWFUL!! not only are they giving you complicated questions and tasks but they are having you read from a book from 2018, that has a ton of changes.. then the instructor's say when asked " oh yeah.. heres an updated task sheet of everything that is WRONG".... and it particular one instructor is rude, condescending and not helpful at all-- by the way you get a different instructor each time.. whoever is "on call"- and my only study time is weekends, which the school is closed so I cant even call to get accurate help... point being, go elsewhere if you want to know more about bookkeeping..Read Less"

"I graduated then found out this school was not valid in my state. I ended up throwing $2,000 down the drain. They say you can choose two companies to work for, but they don’t actually have a working program for that. I found a job on my own at a Walgreens who didn't help me obtain my license and made me do their 4 class short program again. I’m not sure why, if they have their own programs to get you certified on the job, you would ever need to use this school."

"If someone was interested in their carpentry class I would just recommend getting the textbook on ebay for $100 and stay away from their class. Constant technical glitches cause questions to be on the exam from a previous textbook not in use and navigation of their website isn’t the easiest. I’m currently sitting on an exam that needs to be changed to reflect the textbook that is in use so in the mean time I’ve made no progress for the last week while I wait for this to be sorted out."

"This school, if that what it is, has wrecked my credit. I registered but due to personal problems could not take the classes. It was easy to get in touch with someone from penn Foster before I registered. After, nothing. Would not answer the phone or emails. So they decided to send me to a collection agency. Completely wrecked my credit. Stay far away from this place, it’s nothing but a scam."

"Hi there, Pennfoster is great. It certainly teaches you if you know how to read and continue the steps of what it says. It is like opening up a cook book and making a recipe. Not too hard because the recipe is right there for you to learn. In order to learn you must first read. Sort of like instructions on how to assemble your toy Car. It takes patience and understanding. Nothing to do with a person talking to you. Full blown read it. Get it, show it and do it. You can call instructors for help or simply use the enternet... People think you need to do the questions repeatedly each a 100 times to remember the problem. Those are the people with Alzheimer. If you know how to read then your going to be just fine. If there are colleges out there, which there is that will take this high school diploma then no problem from there. You will be tought something whole entirely different in college face to face repeatedly depending where you choose to go. It is a get it done to move on to the next step in life high school diploma. Not sit and dwell on 50 same questions when you should get it the 3rd time. LolRead Less"

"The classes are good. The outside assignments are a joke. You will supposedly be assigned a “coach” or instructor which does not exist. You will receive emails saying your instructor is pleased with your progress which is a joke since you never communicate with a live person. Did I learn from the lessons? Yes I did but I would not do anything more with Penn Foster. Find a local technical college with hands on classes."