During the month's of May to graduation of course in August, UMA first reported my certification of attendance to the VA. Allowing me to receive my VA education Benefits. Then mid May UMA contacted me saying they needed my transcripts or they would have my VA education benefits stopped. I contacted my previous schools and ordered the transcript to be sent to UMA, I even emailed confirmations from the schools that the transcripts were ordered. As far as I knew everything was good to go. I continued my classes as scheduled, making the Deans list all the way through graduation. I did receive an e-mail confirmation that student finance had made some changes to my Pell grant but could not get an answer to why it was changes or adjusted from them. While I was finishing up my last course I received a letter from the VA stating that UMA owed them money that was paid to them for my attendance and that I had to also repay the housing allowance I received during this time due to not being certified. I called the school to find out what was going on. According to there record's they had not received the transcripts so they had it stopped. And that it was to late to fix the problem they created. Even after they did finally tell me they received the transcripts and that no credit from those would be given. I was directed to contact UMA cares. From them I finally received a copy of my financial ledger. It shows they received my benefits from the VA but returned it the same day I recieved a copy of the ledger on Sept 4th. It to them almost two weeks to get me copies of the certification that were sent to the VA. One of the certifications that was sent on May 25th stated that I was not eligible to use or receive my GIBill benefits and that I was disenrolled. I am still battling with UMA because I did what I was suppose to and now I have over three thousand dollars of debt to UMA because they lied to the VA. With no notice to me from UMA.
I have been going to Ultimate Medical Academy for over a semister now. I have a 4.0 GPA. I receive a pell grant and student loans. I was wanting to see what other scholorships or grants that are out there to help pay for my associates in Pharmacy Technician Course. I called the state and they gave me 2 programs that I qualify for "Florida Student Assistant Grant" and Florida Work experience grant".
Both pulled up under Ultimate Medical Academy school as qualified school for these grants. State told me that I had to fill out the FAFSA which I already have and then tell the school to put through for these programs after the FAFSA has been processed. There is no other way to get these programs.
I called UMA school and told them I wanted to try to qualify for these programs and that state said the school has to fill out for the programs from their financial aid office. Here's the kicker! Financial Aid office of Ultimate Medical Academy said " you have the pell grant and student loans which is paying for your tuition.
We don't file anything else on your behave for grants and scholorships. You have to go to the sight for the scholorships and grants and let them file for you". I told her the state of Florida said the school has to do it and her response was we" don't do any other programs but loans and pell grant".
This school is always talking about helping their students ect and so on. It makes no sense to me not to put these things through to help a student finance their education. It does not hurt for financial Aid to help a student get the education without having a high student loan. If Florida saids I am eligible then I should be able to get it. School is holding loans over my head!
I attended UMA from Jan-Oct of 2012. Enrolled in the pharmacy tech program. Long story short, my teacher, Mr. Stephen, was a certified pharm tech himself. Never really cared for him to begin with, He was very mean to some students and had very little patience.
To jump ahead to the point of all of this he would often disappear telling us he was "In the lab origanizing" when he reality he was in his car sleeping off his hangover. This happened often. Every 6 weeks we were on a wheel program and new students would join. One student in particular was a basket-case from the get-go/ He never shut-up and knew everything.
At one point he was caught with a bayonet-type knife in the classroom and nothing was done about it. He later was caught red-handed cheating on a final exam, again, no reprimands here either. Eventually my teacher,Mr. Stephen, was fired for drug and alcohol use with said student. That student, however, was once again, off the hook......
After the dismissal of our teacher we had 3 different teachers "covering" this position without any pharmacy tech experience. This was completely frustrating. Nobody obviously cared as long as they kept getting enrollments and taking peoples money, why should they? My teacher for my final exam review class had just graduated from pharmacy school.
Although very sweet, she barely spoke any english and even she agreed, the curriculum we were given was not accurate at all and she did not understand any of it. I had faith in her because she came from a very good, Real pharmacy school. She never taught a day in her life so just went along w the instructions she was given.
This was part of her externship I believe. So an easy gig for her. Turns out the material she was teaching us was not the correct information. We all ended up failing our certification exam due to it. To re-take it cost $120, each time. I never retook it again. She quit after teaching this class, by-the-way, agreeing that this school is not right!.
My externship was a joke,consisting of handing out cheap medication in a free clinic out of a room,not a pharmacy. The rest of the time was spent watching my extern lead watch Netflix movies on the computer.
I have not persued a career in this filed. I did not recieve a proper education and no respectable employers will hire students from this school due to their reputation. However, I still owe $10k in student loans. For what?
Ultimate Medical Academy and I agreed upon a total tuition cost of $17,000 and some change including books, supplies, and final exit/state testing. My graduation date was set to be July 12th of 2013.
I am now finding out less than three months before graduation, I have been charged over $28,000 with no explanation. My graduation date is pushed back to July 21st and now August 3rd, also with no explanation as I haven't failed any courses.
This school is out to rip people off, after much research on the internet, I am not the only one to have been ripped off. I wish I had done my research beforehand. Also they are impossible to contact. I have left over six messages with the financial aid department and cannot get a call back, yet somehow they find the time to send me threatening and harrassing emails.
They have now threatened that until I pay off over $5800 I cannot receive my diploma, saying that is my outstanding bill, however, if you look at the paper work, my actual outstanding bill is over $8,000. So I decide to email them and I get told my outstanding bill is now $800. This doesn't make sense.
They are out to take advantage of young people!!!!!
I am a student that is attending Ultimate Medical Academy. Everytime I receive my award letters from US Dept. of Ed. there are usually extra funds after tuition is paid. The school can disburse to the student. I have only received $1,000 in additional loans.
I request then funds and they tell me the funds will be disbursed but I have not received anything. This last time I requested funds, it was never disbursed and I've gotten several different answers as to why the money was not disbursed. None of which make any sense.
I was a student at Ultimate Medical Academy and they are a ripoff. I started going to school with them last April of 2017. Each courses was five weeks long and I feel I didn't learn very much in that time. My advisor really did not contact me very much, and some of the professor's would not get back in contact with you when you contact them.
June 10th, 2018 was my last day. Yesterday I got my cord for graduation and it was silver. I was told because of my GPA being over 6 point that I would be getting a gold cord for graduation. I called Ultimate Medical Academy and they told me the reason I got a silver cord is because they only go by the first three classes you take and your English class, and at that point they said my GPA was only a little over 3 points.
Now I don't want to go to my graduation because of this. All my other classes I aced and they don't even include them. So what was the point of going to this college if they only go by 4 of the classes you take. I want to go back to school in the fall but I don't know it I should after this experience with Ultimate Medical Academy.
I don't see how you can get a really good education by taking classes for only five weeks. I recommend that "No One" goes to Ultimate Medical Academy.
I gratuated the MCLA course a few months ago, kept up with my payments and was told at the beginning that I would receive my diploma if all payments were up to date. They refuse to give my my graduation papers until fully paid. Let me remind everyone that the school already received thousands of dollars through financial aid and the payments I already gave them. As far as helping get a job, they are worthless! My grades were excellent and my resume is flawless, there is absolutely no excuse! This school makes promises and they tell you exactly what you want to hear but they do not deliver! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND this school to anyone, big disappointment!
This is just a little bit of information that myself and practically everyone I know that went to this school went through! Don't be their victim...
This report is a about a gross Misrepresentation of United Medical Academy's selling of their school's credibility. I enrolled into the school being told that upon graduation I would receive an Associates Degree in Health Science. This could not have been further from the truth. The advisors told me several times that I was going to receive this.
I lost my iinternet access due to being very poor and unable to afford $90.00 a month of Internet service and there are no libraries here. The policy is that if you do not log in for 14 days you will be dismissed and fail classes. No financial assistance offered for this. I was three classes away from graduating. I have been dismissed owing $26,000.00 with nothing to show for it.
Now I've no way to continue my education and to become a productive person again. I found out that I cannot transfer any of my credits to another school.
Instead of digging my way out of poverty, I've only dug a grave for myself thanks to United Medical Academy and their Misrepresentation of their school. I feel like I've just been ripped off by a Scam School.
I am ssooooo hoping that that this report will save someone from the heart break that I suffer from and will never recover. Please research your. school and don't let yourself be taken by a Scam School. They retort to support you but it's only another con.
I am a student at Ultimate Medical Academy. My husband is going to school at Tulsa Welding school in Jacksonville, Florida. I am in school online. We both were having problems with work and wanted something better for our future and our children's futures. We already knew the sacrifices that we would have to make to further our education for a better future. Ultimate Medical Academy has a great online learning set up.
I have learned a lot and have exceptional teachers and advisers. Financial Aid on the other hand does not care about their students and will withhold loans that you apply for and have to pay back. I started school in August 2012 and my husband started in October 2012. We had a working vehicle until my husband started driving over an hour to get to
school. Then our vehicle started messing up. We have put every dime we had into this vehicle and still can not get it to run right. I applied for extra loans through UMA to help with us being able to go to school. My computer quit working a month before my first half of the loan was supposed to come in. They were supposed to walk me through the paper work for the loans and messed up. They told me to sign and email them back, so I did.
One of the emails was to send the money back, they did not catch the error, I did. I had to rent a computer and my rental was up. They helped me the best they could to get the money so I could do my classes. The second loan was supposed to be here at the end of December early January. They have had the money since January 3rd and still will not send it to me and it is January 14. We budgeted our money around this loan for us both to be able to go to school. We do not have the money for my husband to drive over an hour to go to school now because they refused to send money that I have to pay back. My husband is going to have to drop out of school now because financial aid wants to take their
good old time sending a check that I applied for and have to pay back. And on top of all this they are taking a percentage out for themselves after my school loans already cover financial aids fees. I called and explained my issues with them not sending the check and they do not care. These people do not care about anyone or what they do by waiting till the last minute to send money that I was supposed to have 2 weeks before. I love my teachers and the classes online are amazingly set up to learn. The school itself is top notch and worth every penny. The teachers and advisers work with you and really do care about their students. If you do not use financial aid for help then I completely
recommend this school. But if you have to use financial aid then be aware!!!! They do not care about the students at all. No matter how high your grades are or that you turn your work in on time or that you do everything that you are supposed to do, They do not care about you!!!!!
Ultimate Medical Academy promises a lot, but the promises are empty. When speaking to an advisor before attending classes, one is promised so much. Especially what is underscored is that one would be working in the medical field, where there are always jobs.
The classes were described to me as being six months long for an MCLA (Medical Clinical Lab Assistant). In fact, there are four mods which are about a month long each. So much work is crammed into that time to get students in and out of the school. It is almost like an assembly line. Into school, cram a lot of teaching into a short period, then out on externship.
After the four months of schooling one is given an externship site. For an MCLA, one must extern for 180 hours.
The complaint about the classes crammed together is because a student may have an issue with a medical clinical procedure, but is passed anyways. Other technical schools in the area ensure that all medical clinical procedures are done correctly at least fifteen times before the student may pass the class.
For the amount of money the school charges, the students deserve much better treatment. The faculty should care that the graduates reflect on how the school has trained them.
The cost of the program is expensive. If you are using Federal Student Loans, the school can only get about half of the cost from the government. The rest of the money is out of pocket, paid monthly.
Once one has finished externship the student is on their own. In this difficult economic atmosphere, MCLA jobs require experience and certification. For new graduates, if you are not hired from the externship site, jobs are difficult to find.
The rate of pay for this field, if one is lucky enough in this economic climate, to find a position is $9-$10 an hour.
To summarize, one is put through a factory like assembly line 4 month set of 4 courses. One is promised the moon before signing on the dotted line. One is ON THEIR OWN in this difficult economic climate after school and externship have been completed. The cost of attending this school is just too much money to throw away if one is not able to seek employment.
If being a medical assistant is what one really wants to do, research other schools, or try nursing.
These people are so misleading and will say anything to get you to attend. If you go here, please do not try to change your class.
To start, the advisers at UMA told me and SEVERAL other students that they would help with job placement. They don't. After your externship, you're on your own. Also, they were incredibly misleading about what is contained in the program and the amount of money students would be earning.
I was tricked into signing up for the Patient Care Technician program on the belief that it really involved giving medical care to the patient and would be beneficial to me for my future career. They told me that the Medical Clinical Lab Assistant program only involved sitting in the back of an office doing lab work and not working with patients. I was told that the PCT program was everything I wanted and more, and MCLA wasn't the program for me.
The PCT program is the exact same classroom material for MCLA except PCT gets a CNA class at the end. I was in a class with about 20 other students enrolled in the MCLA program.
After seeing what they did, I saw that MCLA was much more than working in the back in a lab. I did some outside research and found they gave me a completely untrue story to get me to sign up for the PCT program.
But why does this matter, you ask? The PCT program was $2,000 more than the MCLA program.
So after finding this out, which only took a few weeks after I started (back in May), I decide to switch. I'm almost finished with my externship, and they still don't have it straightened out. They're billing me for outrageous amounts and harrassing me. The campus president promised it would be fixed and it isn't. I've been down in peoples offices every weekday for 5 months now. Why is it so difficult? Is it really so painful to refund $2,000?
Now I won't be receiving my certificate of completion because they insist that I'm not up to date on my payments. Why am I not up to date? The head of financial aid told me to stop making payments because the difference in cost of the programs would wipe out the balance I owed to the school (of $800).
Going back to the completely misleading point.. They told my friend that was originally an x-ray student that businesses start hiring at $16 an hour in our area for the position. Come to find out, it's only $12. Same thing happened to all of us in MCLA/PCT. They promised $14+ an hour.. Now we find it's only about $10.50.
So, I learned the lesson to not trust advisers that work for the school and do my own outside research. I went in wanting to just take a simple CNA class, and they managed to talk me up from a $1,000 class to a $13,000 class. I was duped into believing they actually knew what they were talking about, and now I'm screwed.
If you go to UMA, be sure to RESEARCH the positions before you sign up. Don't trust the advisers at the Clearwater campus.
In my class alone, EVERY student was completely misinformed on job information, description, and income. Of course I know that these are different with each company, but they were way out of the ballpark. They could give a generalization when you sign up.. such as "Incomes vary greatly. You could be making $10.50-$14.00 depending on where you work and what you're doing." Or even down to the tasks.. "Well some companies will require you to work in a lab, while others allow you to work one on one with the patient doing (insert good stuff here)."
I'm not really complaining about getting screwed, just trying to warn other people. Also, if they tell you not to make payments.. just keep making them because now I'm not even going to get my certificate saying I completed the course.
I gratuated the MCLA course a few months ago, kept up with my payments and was told at the beginning that I would receive my diploma if all payments were up to date. They refuse to give my my graduation papers until fully paid. Let me remind everyone that the school already received thousands of dollars through financial aid and the payments I already gave them. As far as helping get a job, they are worthless! My grades were excellent and my resume is flawless, there is absolutely no excuse! This school makes promises and they tell you exactly what you want to hear but they do not deliver! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND this school to anyone, big disappointment!
This is just a little bit of information that myself and practically everyone I know that went to this school went through! Don't be their victim...
Ultimate Medical Academy Reviews
During the month's of May to graduation of course in August, UMA first reported my certification of attendance to the VA. Allowing me to receive my VA education Benefits. Then mid May UMA contacted me saying they needed my transcripts or they would have my VA education benefits stopped. I contacted my previous schools and ordered the transcript to be sent to UMA, I even emailed confirmations from the schools that the transcripts were ordered. As far as I knew everything was good to go. I continued my classes as scheduled, making the Deans list all the way through graduation. I did receive an e-mail confirmation that student finance had made some changes to my Pell grant but could not get an answer to why it was changes or adjusted from them. While I was finishing up my last course I received a letter from the VA stating that UMA owed them money that was paid to them for my attendance and that I had to also repay the housing allowance I received during this time due to not being certified. I called the school to find out what was going on. According to there record's they had not received the transcripts so they had it stopped. And that it was to late to fix the problem they created. Even after they did finally tell me they received the transcripts and that no credit from those would be given. I was directed to contact UMA cares. From them I finally received a copy of my financial ledger. It shows they received my benefits from the VA but returned it the same day I recieved a copy of the ledger on Sept 4th. It to them almost two weeks to get me copies of the certification that were sent to the VA. One of the certifications that was sent on May 25th stated that I was not eligible to use or receive my GIBill benefits and that I was disenrolled. I am still battling with UMA because I did what I was suppose to and now I have over three thousand dollars of debt to UMA because they lied to the VA. With no notice to me from UMA.
I have been going to Ultimate Medical Academy for over a semister now. I have a 4.0 GPA. I receive a pell grant and student loans. I was wanting to see what other scholorships or grants that are out there to help pay for my associates in Pharmacy Technician Course. I called the state and they gave me 2 programs that I qualify for "Florida Student Assistant Grant" and Florida Work experience grant".
Both pulled up under Ultimate Medical Academy school as qualified school for these grants. State told me that I had to fill out the FAFSA which I already have and then tell the school to put through for these programs after the FAFSA has been processed. There is no other way to get these programs.
I called UMA school and told them I wanted to try to qualify for these programs and that state said the school has to fill out for the programs from their financial aid office. Here's the kicker! Financial Aid office of Ultimate Medical Academy said " you have the pell grant and student loans which is paying for your tuition.
We don't file anything else on your behave for grants and scholorships. You have to go to the sight for the scholorships and grants and let them file for you". I told her the state of Florida said the school has to do it and her response was we" don't do any other programs but loans and pell grant".
This school is always talking about helping their students ect and so on. It makes no sense to me not to put these things through to help a student finance their education. It does not hurt for financial Aid to help a student get the education without having a high student loan. If Florida saids I am eligible then I should be able to get it. School is holding loans over my head!
I attended UMA from Jan-Oct of 2012. Enrolled in the pharmacy tech program. Long story short, my teacher, Mr. Stephen, was a certified pharm tech himself. Never really cared for him to begin with, He was very mean to some students and had very little patience.
To jump ahead to the point of all of this he would often disappear telling us he was "In the lab origanizing" when he reality he was in his car sleeping off his hangover. This happened often. Every 6 weeks we were on a wheel program and new students would join. One student in particular was a basket-case from the get-go/ He never shut-up and knew everything.
At one point he was caught with a bayonet-type knife in the classroom and nothing was done about it. He later was caught red-handed cheating on a final exam, again, no reprimands here either. Eventually my teacher,Mr. Stephen, was fired for drug and alcohol use with said student. That student, however, was once again, off the hook......
After the dismissal of our teacher we had 3 different teachers "covering" this position without any pharmacy tech experience. This was completely frustrating. Nobody obviously cared as long as they kept getting enrollments and taking peoples money, why should they? My teacher for my final exam review class had just graduated from pharmacy school.
Although very sweet, she barely spoke any english and even she agreed, the curriculum we were given was not accurate at all and she did not understand any of it. I had faith in her because she came from a very good, Real pharmacy school. She never taught a day in her life so just went along w the instructions she was given.
This was part of her externship I believe. So an easy gig for her. Turns out the material she was teaching us was not the correct information. We all ended up failing our certification exam due to it. To re-take it cost $120, each time. I never retook it again. She quit after teaching this class, by-the-way, agreeing that this school is not right!.
My externship was a joke,consisting of handing out cheap medication in a free clinic out of a room,not a pharmacy. The rest of the time was spent watching my extern lead watch Netflix movies on the computer.
I have not persued a career in this filed. I did not recieve a proper education and no respectable employers will hire students from this school due to their reputation. However, I still owe $10k in student loans. For what?
Ultimate Medical Academy and I agreed upon a total tuition cost of $17,000 and some change including books, supplies, and final exit/state testing. My graduation date was set to be July 12th of 2013.
I am now finding out less than three months before graduation, I have been charged over $28,000 with no explanation. My graduation date is pushed back to July 21st and now August 3rd, also with no explanation as I haven't failed any courses.
This school is out to rip people off, after much research on the internet, I am not the only one to have been ripped off. I wish I had done my research beforehand. Also they are impossible to contact. I have left over six messages with the financial aid department and cannot get a call back, yet somehow they find the time to send me threatening and harrassing emails.
They have now threatened that until I pay off over $5800 I cannot receive my diploma, saying that is my outstanding bill, however, if you look at the paper work, my actual outstanding bill is over $8,000. So I decide to email them and I get told my outstanding bill is now $800. This doesn't make sense.
They are out to take advantage of young people!!!!!
I am a student that is attending Ultimate Medical Academy. Everytime I receive my award letters from US Dept. of Ed. there are usually extra funds after tuition is paid. The school can disburse to the student. I have only received $1,000 in additional loans.
I request then funds and they tell me the funds will be disbursed but I have not received anything. This last time I requested funds, it was never disbursed and I've gotten several different answers as to why the money was not disbursed. None of which make any sense.
I was a student at Ultimate Medical Academy and they are a ripoff. I started going to school with them last April of 2017. Each courses was five weeks long and I feel I didn't learn very much in that time. My advisor really did not contact me very much, and some of the professor's would not get back in contact with you when you contact them.
June 10th, 2018 was my last day. Yesterday I got my cord for graduation and it was silver. I was told because of my GPA being over 6 point that I would be getting a gold cord for graduation. I called Ultimate Medical Academy and they told me the reason I got a silver cord is because they only go by the first three classes you take and your English class, and at that point they said my GPA was only a little over 3 points.
Now I don't want to go to my graduation because of this. All my other classes I aced and they don't even include them. So what was the point of going to this college if they only go by 4 of the classes you take. I want to go back to school in the fall but I don't know it I should after this experience with Ultimate Medical Academy.
I don't see how you can get a really good education by taking classes for only five weeks. I recommend that "No One" goes to Ultimate Medical Academy.
I gratuated the MCLA course a few months ago, kept up with my payments and was told at the beginning that I would receive my diploma if all payments were up to date. They refuse to give my my graduation papers until fully paid. Let me remind everyone that the school already received thousands of dollars through financial aid and the payments I already gave them. As far as helping get a job, they are worthless! My grades were excellent and my resume is flawless, there is absolutely no excuse! This school makes promises and they tell you exactly what you want to hear but they do not deliver! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND this school to anyone, big disappointment!
This is just a little bit of information that myself and practically everyone I know that went to this school went through! Don't be their victim...
This report is a about a gross Misrepresentation of United Medical Academy's selling of their school's credibility. I enrolled into the school being told that upon graduation I would receive an Associates Degree in Health Science. This could not have been further from the truth. The advisors told me several times that I was going to receive this.
I lost my iinternet access due to being very poor and unable to afford $90.00 a month of Internet service and there are no libraries here. The policy is that if you do not log in for 14 days you will be dismissed and fail classes. No financial assistance offered for this. I was three classes away from graduating. I have been dismissed owing $26,000.00 with nothing to show for it.
Now I've no way to continue my education and to become a productive person again. I found out that I cannot transfer any of my credits to another school.
Instead of digging my way out of poverty, I've only dug a grave for myself thanks to United Medical Academy and their Misrepresentation of their school. I feel like I've just been ripped off by a Scam School.
I am ssooooo hoping that that this report will save someone from the heart break that I suffer from and will never recover. Please research your. school and don't let yourself be taken by a Scam School. They retort to support you but it's only another con.
WARNING stay away from United Medical Academy.
I am a student at Ultimate Medical Academy. My husband is going to school at Tulsa Welding school in Jacksonville, Florida. I am in school online. We both were having problems with work and wanted something better for our future and our children's futures. We already knew the sacrifices that we would have to make to further our education for a better future. Ultimate Medical Academy has a great online learning set up.
I have learned a lot and have exceptional teachers and advisers. Financial Aid on the other hand does not care about their students and will withhold loans that you apply for and have to pay back. I started school in August 2012 and my husband started in October 2012. We had a working vehicle until my husband started driving over an hour to get to
school. Then our vehicle started messing up. We have put every dime we had into this vehicle and still can not get it to run right. I applied for extra loans through UMA to help with us being able to go to school. My computer quit working a month before my first half of the loan was supposed to come in. They were supposed to walk me through the paper work for the loans and messed up. They told me to sign and email them back, so I did.
One of the emails was to send the money back, they did not catch the error, I did. I had to rent a computer and my rental was up. They helped me the best they could to get the money so I could do my classes. The second loan was supposed to be here at the end of December early January. They have had the money since January 3rd and still will not send it to me and it is January 14. We budgeted our money around this loan for us both to be able to go to school. We do not have the money for my husband to drive over an hour to go to school now because they refused to send money that I have to pay back. My husband is going to have to drop out of school now because financial aid wants to take their
good old time sending a check that I applied for and have to pay back. And on top of all this they are taking a percentage out for themselves after my school loans already cover financial aids fees. I called and explained my issues with them not sending the check and they do not care. These people do not care about anyone or what they do by waiting till the last minute to send money that I was supposed to have 2 weeks before. I love my teachers and the classes online are amazingly set up to learn. The school itself is top notch and worth every penny. The teachers and advisers work with you and really do care about their students. If you do not use financial aid for help then I completely
recommend this school. But if you have to use financial aid then be aware!!!! They do not care about the students at all. No matter how high your grades are or that you turn your work in on time or that you do everything that you are supposed to do, They do not care about you!!!!!
Ultimate Medical Academy promises a lot, but the promises are empty. When speaking to an advisor before attending classes, one is promised so much. Especially what is underscored is that one would be working in the medical field, where there are always jobs.
The classes were described to me as being six months long for an MCLA (Medical Clinical Lab Assistant). In fact, there are four mods which are about a month long each. So much work is crammed into that time to get students in and out of the school. It is almost like an assembly line. Into school, cram a lot of teaching into a short period, then out on externship.
After the four months of schooling one is given an externship site. For an MCLA, one must extern for 180 hours.
The complaint about the classes crammed together is because a student may have an issue with a medical clinical procedure, but is passed anyways. Other technical schools in the area ensure that all medical clinical procedures are done correctly at least fifteen times before the student may pass the class.
For the amount of money the school charges, the students deserve much better treatment. The faculty should care that the graduates reflect on how the school has trained them.
The cost of the program is expensive. If you are using Federal Student Loans, the school can only get about half of the cost from the government. The rest of the money is out of pocket, paid monthly.
Once one has finished externship the student is on their own. In this difficult economic atmosphere, MCLA jobs require experience and certification. For new graduates, if you are not hired from the externship site, jobs are difficult to find.
The rate of pay for this field, if one is lucky enough in this economic climate, to find a position is $9-$10 an hour.
To summarize, one is put through a factory like assembly line 4 month set of 4 courses. One is promised the moon before signing on the dotted line. One is ON THEIR OWN in this difficult economic climate after school and externship have been completed. The cost of attending this school is just too much money to throw away if one is not able to seek employment.
If being a medical assistant is what one really wants to do, research other schools, or try nursing.
Anonymous Clearwater, Florida
U.S.A.
These people are so misleading and will say anything to get you to attend. If you go here, please do not try to change your class.
To start, the advisers at UMA told me and SEVERAL other students that they would help with job placement. They don't. After your externship, you're on your own. Also, they were incredibly misleading about what is contained in the program and the amount of money students would be earning.
I was tricked into signing up for the Patient Care Technician program on the belief that it really involved giving medical care to the patient and would be beneficial to me for my future career. They told me that the Medical Clinical Lab Assistant program only involved sitting in the back of an office doing lab work and not working with patients. I was told that the PCT program was everything I wanted and more, and MCLA wasn't the program for me.
The PCT program is the exact same classroom material for MCLA except PCT gets a CNA class at the end. I was in a class with about 20 other students enrolled in the MCLA program.
After seeing what they did, I saw that MCLA was much more than working in the back in a lab. I did some outside research and found they gave me a completely untrue story to get me to sign up for the PCT program.
But why does this matter, you ask? The PCT program was $2,000 more than the MCLA program.
So after finding this out, which only took a few weeks after I started (back in May), I decide to switch. I'm almost finished with my externship, and they still don't have it straightened out. They're billing me for outrageous amounts and harrassing me. The campus president promised it would be fixed and it isn't. I've been down in peoples offices every weekday for 5 months now. Why is it so difficult? Is it really so painful to refund $2,000?
Now I won't be receiving my certificate of completion because they insist that I'm not up to date on my payments. Why am I not up to date? The head of financial aid told me to stop making payments because the difference in cost of the programs would wipe out the balance I owed to the school (of $800).
Going back to the completely misleading point.. They told my friend that was originally an x-ray student that businesses start hiring at $16 an hour in our area for the position. Come to find out, it's only $12. Same thing happened to all of us in MCLA/PCT. They promised $14+ an hour.. Now we find it's only about $10.50.
So, I learned the lesson to not trust advisers that work for the school and do my own outside research. I went in wanting to just take a simple CNA class, and they managed to talk me up from a $1,000 class to a $13,000 class. I was duped into believing they actually knew what they were talking about, and now I'm screwed.
If you go to UMA, be sure to RESEARCH the positions before you sign up. Don't trust the advisers at the Clearwater campus.
In my class alone, EVERY student was completely misinformed on job information, description, and income. Of course I know that these are different with each company, but they were way out of the ballpark. They could give a generalization when you sign up.. such as "Incomes vary greatly. You could be making $10.50-$14.00 depending on where you work and what you're doing." Or even down to the tasks.. "Well some companies will require you to work in a lab, while others allow you to work one on one with the patient doing (insert good stuff here)."
I'm not really complaining about getting screwed, just trying to warn other people. Also, if they tell you not to make payments.. just keep making them because now I'm not even going to get my certificate saying I completed the course.
Missa Land O Lakes, Florida
I gratuated the MCLA course a few months ago, kept up with my payments and was told at the beginning that I would receive my diploma if all payments were up to date. They refuse to give my my graduation papers until fully paid. Let me remind everyone that the school already received thousands of dollars through financial aid and the payments I already gave them. As far as helping get a job, they are worthless! My grades were excellent and my resume is flawless, there is absolutely no excuse! This school makes promises and they tell you exactly what you want to hear but they do not deliver! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND this school to anyone, big disappointment!
This is just a little bit of information that myself and practically everyone I know that went to this school went through! Don't be their victim...
Tc Largo, Florida
U.S.A.