Penn Foster Career School Reviews

"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"

"So let me start off by saying that if you are the kind of individual who needs to be hands on, or tutored, then this should be an obvious opt out for you. It is very self paced, and simple, if you take it seriously, it takes no time at all. my instructor was very hard to get a hold of, but I was also working crazy hours so emails were the majority of our conversations. They do evaluate you, you are tested, quized, etc. you have a whole network of other students to reach out to for help if necessary, and if you apply yourself, the internship is a breeze. I would definitely recommend it, considering pre- diploma I was making 9.50/hr and I got a dollar raise within a week of being at my job just for completing the course and presenting my diploma to my manager. I was also offered another raise in the event that I go do the AVMA cert test.Read Less"

"I should have read more reviews before signing up! This school is basically useless. I have not graduated yet, and probably wont. Just a waste of time and money. Everything is outdated, I couldve basically just researched everything online and it wouldve been about the same. Its almost impossible to get ahold of anyone also. I tried to get at least some of my money back, and all I got was a one sentence reply saying that I have completed too much to be able to get ANY type of refund at all. Go to an actual real college, not here. All they care about is taking your money and wont work with you at all.Read Less"

"First, dont let the 2017 graduation year fool you. I never graduated, but it was required in order to post a review. Having an interest in animal care I decided to enroll in Penn Fosters Veterinary Assistants program. Since I had no income my dad offered to help me and paid the nearly $1,000 fee for the course, plus a $95 extension I needed towards the end. I completed the course and it was time to set up my internship program. I contacted several veterinary places, including the one we use for our dog, and they recommended I get set up with one of the larger clinics or animal hospitals since I would learn a lot more. I learned though Penn Foster that Banfield Animal Hospital recognized their students so I went to our local Banfield. They confirmed that they did, indeed, take Penn Foster students and gave me the name of their contact person. Unfortunately she was not in that day. After several visits and a couple emails I never was able to make contact with her, meantime my extension was about to run out. I then made several attempts to make contact with the department at Penn Foster via email as instructed to see if they could offer any suggestions. To this day I have heard nothing from them and still dont have a certificate of completion or a job in my chosen field. It has left me with the feeling that once they get their money theyre done with you and dont care. Whats worse is my dad spent $1,000 for nothing. What a waste. My recommendation is to go to a real school if you want the training.Read Less"

"So not only was I not contacted by an advisor upon sign up, I never recieved any follow up at all. The "professor" was non existent. Theyve taken hundreds of dollars from me knowing ihavent gone online in almost 2 yrs STILL no one called me to follow up. The only time they ever called me was bc my debit on file was not in service anymore. Cancellation is a run around, i emailed on 2 occassions to cancel after paying off everything and it seemed as though they sent an automated message telling me I should stay in the program to "get the most from what youre paying" even tho i just paid it off. Now somehow I owe them more money. I had a terrible experience and will warn everyone the mess theyll be signing up for.Read Less"

"DONT GO HERE! Worst school. I ended up withdrawing because I did not like going online. I went back to the community college I had previously been going to. Still paying off the $1400 I owed Penn Foster for taking 4 classes there. I did a payment plan because I could not afford to pay all at once. When I finished out schooling at my CC, and starting applying to Universities, you have to send in your transcripts from previous schools. When I called Penn Foster to request transcripts, they wouldn't even talk to me about them until I paid the 400 I still owed on my account. So, I had to figure out some way to round up $400 because theres no way I was going to transfer without those transcripts. Finally got the money, paid off my balance, and was broke for weeks. I requested and paid for my transcripts, one copy to me and 4 copies to various other colleges and none of them were received. I spent $70 on transcripts, plus the $400 I owed to not get anything. I have had to call them about 30 times, each with a hold of about 15mins till someone picks up, and I continuously get different answers from each person. When I originally called to withdraw from the program no one ever warned me that I was not going to be able to get transcripts, etc. I am currently waiting to get a call back from a supervisor at the school because the student help center will not help me because I am no longer a student, and no other department is able to tell me what is happening. If this does not get resolved, I won't be able to ever attend a 4 year institution because they won't even look at my application without those transcripts. On top of all of this crap I have had to put up with, when I was actually attending the school, calling anyone at the school was a complete bear. You're on hold and transferring all of the time. The online website was under maintenance a lot. I never felt like I really learned much either because quizzes barely covered 1/5 of the material and you had multiple chances not the test and they would give you the right answers the ones you got wrong, even though it was already an open book exam. The school isn't even accredited!! When you go to get a job in the field no one wants to hire yo because they know how easy it is to get through the school and you don't have any experience! You're practically laughed out the door. WISH I COULD GIVE ZERO STARS!Read Less"

"Not worth it. They did not help me at all with the externship:l. They say they will provide you with a list, but when you ask for help all they say is "you have to do this part on your own". I could not complete my course I worked very hard on because of this one step. I ran out of time because vets don't do the externship said anymore."