Pima Medical Institute review: unprofessional 70

I have been an educator for the past 5+ years. From what I have read on hear, it sounds like you all have a serious victim mentality. The only reason you feel you have not succeeded is based solely on you negative attitudes. Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself - Eric Clapton

I am currently enrolled and attending pima in the MA program at the Mesa campus and i absolutly love it! Both the teachers and the staff are great. iv had several times that i had to call the campus for something and all but once i got an answer and assitance right away and the one time they didnt answer someone called me back within 20 mins. the teachers are just there for guidance, this is college their not going to hold your hand and explain every little thing to you thats what homework and reading your text book is all about. I love Pima and would highly recommend it.
Sincerely,
Happy PIMA student

A big reason I went to Pima is they said they would help me get a job. They have stopped helping me find a job saying they have "new students to help" and have not contacting me in almost a year after sending emails and phone calls requesting help. They don't care about you at all. They will not help you get a job you want. That's why they put a huge emphasis on getting hired out of externship. If you don't get hired at extern you will not find a job.

DO NOT GO HERE FOR DENTAL ASSISTING! This school IS NOT accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) which will make it VERY difficult for you to become a certified dental assistant. Also they will tell you that " graduates of this program are granted a certificate" this does not mean that you are a "certified dental assistant" it just means they give you a peice of paper that says you completed the program. Do your research before you get into ANY school I did not and am paying the price of it now... 10k is unfortunatly my price for just a few books. I have no certificated in ANYTHING you don't even earn your radiography certificate. They will tell you that you do in admissions just to get you into the school and get your cash. They lie and once your in and realize this school is complete [censor] your already signed to pay them 10k and theres not a thing you can do about it because it is their word against your word. They told me I would have everything that I needed to become a dental assistant after completion of the program ( which I was moving to FL to complete in internship) It is now October of 2010 I graduated in June and till' this day I still have not been able to find a job. I live in Florida and there is not one dentist who will hire me. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA and was student of the month.
You can find other programs that are CODA accepted and will cost you a hell of a lot less than PIMA and you will come out with EVERYTHING you need. I don't even understand how this school is still in operation. The placement assistance in this school is a joke also the only thing they do for you is tell you to go on craigslist to look for jobs or monster. They will not call anywhere for you or even write you letters. Trust me DO NOT go to this school you will regret it everyday when your 10 k in debt and can't find a job and are paying over 100/month to pay your loan back on an education that got you nowhere.

Oh and also forgot to mention that they are ACCREDITED.

I can only speak for the Houston campus, but so far, I have no complaints. The financial aid workers are very knowledgable and have gone above and beyond for me. They even found me an extra grant that I qualified for in addition to the Pell. They are very detail oriented and make sure everything is correct so nothing gets flagged. They are extremely nice and courteous.

Also, my admissions rep was very upfront about what the program entails. She made sure I knew how much everything costs as well as the time needed to put into the program. She's always been able to answer my questions and seems to really care about the students.

The teachers are well-respected in the area hospitals. They have tons of experience and also are very professional. They are tough on attendance and tardies, but in the end that is a good thing.

I would recommend Pima in Houston -- not sure what to say about those other campuses.

A word about accreditation to clear up some common misconceptions. Pima is approved by the State Board of Nursing for their students to sit for the PN and RN exams. Pima is not currently accredited by the NLN, but that isn't an indication that their program is of poor quality. In fact, Pima's program is quite good, and is in high demand, as evidenced by the over 400 applicants for the 30 seats in January 07. Pima is not currently accredited by the NLN because NLN requirements stipulate that a program must have a class graduate, and then sit for the exams, before an accreditation review takes place. Once that happens, then Pima will have the same NLN accrediation that MCCCD, ASU, UofA and other schools within the state possess.

Ok people..to be honest It is no ones fault but your own if you choose to go to pima med. Inst. Do research on a school BEFORE you enroll! If you guys did research you would probably find that PIMA is NOT an accredited school! So your thousands upon thousands of dollars is wasted at a phony place! I went down to pima when I decided I wanted to go to school for nursing and the second I walked into the building I smelled a scam! I decided to put my education and money at a REAL college and I am saving thousands of dollars and I'm actually getting an education from an accredited community college. Be smart about your education. Do more research, ask questions don't be passive about your education this is your future your figuring out!

ill gonna start on sept 13 PIMA RENTON juz finish enrolling today the 01 woah what comments you have, its superb. I am so sure that there is no perfect school because nobody's perfect anyways.The fact is you go to school to get what you want to achieve in life, you have to be possitive in everything to make it to the top, think who or what ur inspirations to reach your goals and of course loving what your doing, well youll be surprised all of a sudden everything is done perfectly according to what you expected. for me, i dont care what school im going no regrets ill blame myself if something went wrong coz im the one who choose it, it is true that ur the one making ur destiny..well im sooo excited on my first day of class hello to my future career..xoxo

whow...I am so glad to have looked this up before going to this school. Think I'll save my money and go to a real college. After seeing what the vultures at Stanford Brown had to hussle me...oops I meant offer me ...I thought this would be a better decision although Pima doesn't seem to be any better. I went to flight school once and was scammed out of 70k so I'm very skeptical of all of these vocational schools. There are a lot of similarities between them and the con artists running that flight school (silverstate helicopters). I have no doubts that you are all right and that they just want your money. Thank you for the heads up.

I attended PIMA for the Dental Assisting program in Colorado Springs. I moved to Florida afterwards and completed my externship of 240 hours. I am not able to find employment and have done some serious reasearch into the program. IT IS NOT ACCREDITTED THROUGH THE STATE BOARD IN FLORIDA! They told me it was! They lied to enroll me and get money. The teacher Jan Lewis did not even teach us and walked around angry most of the time and pissed that she had to do her job! The students taught themselves. We all felt very uncomfortable to ask a question of any sort and the funny thing was she taught us a lot of information that was incorrect. Example she claimed sodium hypochloride was not used for cleaning out roots in root canal therapy and that a shepards hook explorer wasn't a shepards hook. WOW can you say DUMB? I graduated with a 4.0 and I was student of the month and am proud to say I helped the girls in my class more than the teacher. This school is a complete WASTE of money and time I would not suggest it to anyone not even my worst enemy!

ARIZONA POWER AND BASELINE NANNETT with placement is absolutly horrible as well as VICKI with student services. what a joke those two are. I cannot believe they still have jobs. They focus on the WRONG problems. If i knew these two worked here i would have stayed away from the entire school. i woulnt have given PMI and dime. i woulnt rather have given brookline double the tuition.
Again.
Disgusting excuses for human beings.

stay away.

I looked into the Pima, San Diego Campus Radiology program. Made an appointment to speak to someone about attending and two minutes after walking in they had me taking this math test in a little room. They stated that I couldn't even speak to someone if i didn't pass this test because I couldn't get in if i couldn't even pass this entrance exam... so i take the test thinking this is a waste of time, i don't even know anything about the program or the school or the cost. I was pretty heated at that point already, but I took the stupid test anyways and passed... which lead me to the admission advisor person, i guess because as others have stated, they are not very professional or informative, i really didn't know who she was ... pretty much she just told me that I'd have to interview with a board for entrance into the program and take another test... if I passed the interview and the test then i could start. The freaking program is "18 months" but only 6 of them are in a classroom and the rest of the 12 months you intern 40 hours a week... oh yeah and that's not paid... on top of the 29, 000 tuition costs... yeah that's awesome, i so want to work full time for free for a year and only have 6 months of classroom training... good luck working two jobs for a year... and then trying to get them to help you find placement after that .. well they do not have the best reputation for that either... just please be careful when going to these schools. You are pretty much just paying for the piece of paper that says you have the degree... you don't want to be in the medical field and not know what you are doing... trust me i've seen it and its embarassing and dangerous ... please be smart about your education... get educated the real way... go to a good school, work hard, put in the effort... don't just pay for the piece of paper or the title you'll regret it ...

I had high hopes for this school and was really excited about going to the campus and talking to an advisor about the Radiography program. When I was called by their call center and given an appointment time I had spoken to Jeff. He said I had a full hour with the advisor to ask any questions I had and more time could be taken if I felt I needed it. I was told I'd receive a tour of the campus so I could see what their class room set up was like etc. I had the last appoinment of the day with Nancy at the Tucson campus on Monday. It was the worst example of student advising I'd ever experienced.. I was 15 min early to my 5:00 appoinment. I was asked to fill out a form that included my name contact info, info on education etc. I wrote my name down then was called by Nancy. She said, "Jennifer let's get started." She sits down and says, "what program were you interested in?" She did not introduce herself, nor shake my hand. She did not motion for me to have a seat even, so I sat and gave her the name of the program I wanted to take. She proceeded to give me info about the program and in mid sentence decided to take a phone call. Big strike one for me. She just told me my program choice would cost $29, 000 dollars, but she couldn't even give me her full attention for more than 5 minutes. After her phone call she proceeds to give me other info on other programs that had earlier start dates. Then in the middle of our meeting in walks a co-worker of hers and they proceed to talk about a student attempting to email them her transcripts but no one seems to have received them. I feel this is extremely unprofessional behavior on every level. This co-worker who walked in, did not even acknowledge that he had interrupted anything. Nancy did not say to him, I'm in the middle of something so I'll come talk to you when I was done. My presence was not even noticed. They spoke openly about this other student in front of me for about 5 minutes. When he finally left. Nancy didn't even apologize for the interruption. I asked a few more questions and at this point I'm thinking we are going for a tour of the campus, but no. Nancy says okay give me a call when you are ready to get started. You can head out that way. As I made my way, alone, to the exit I looked up at the clock, it was only 5:00 p.m. I had only been given 8 minutes, uninterrupted, of that womans time. She did not tour the campus with me or make me at all feel welcome or special. She did not inquire about why I wanted to go back to school or what I even did for a living, nothing. I think all she was worried about was getting out of work on time, and she made sure of that. Be very cautious when approaching trade schools, especially this one. Make sure you get the royal treatment because you will spend a minimum of $10, 000. Nancy lost her school $29, 000 in that very short advising meeting. I wonder how her superiors would like that!

I am looking at Pima for the nursing program, reading all these comments make me a little nervous but in all reality, what school or job is perfect? i am here in Albuquerque, NM and going to the school and looking into it, it looks promising to me. I agree with the comments that state its up to the students to go in and finish. If this school was so bad, why would they have excellent reviews and reputation with Hospitals? They have a huge number of graduates that succeed. So after reading all these comments, although make me a little nervous, also keeps me positive to the fact thati will succeed in the nursing program. So thanks :-)

I just emailed a letter to Mr. Luebke, the president, but now I wonder if it did any good. I went to the Las Vegas campus, and the instructors were wonderful. Anyone else I had to deal with was horrible. The big thing at Las Vegas is the threat of pulling your externship, even when they are responsible for whatever the issue is. I had my bank card stolen, and nothing was done, other than the campus director talking to my class. I have no placement assistance at all. I am thinking there must be something that can be done about that, such as suing for false advertising. Every week I see their ad in the Sunday paper, promising placement assistance. I can't even get my calls returned. What do you all think?

I attended Pima in Renton. Our career prep teacher had no idea what he was doing. When he tried teaching the section on basic computer knowledge, I had to correct him repeatedly. I've worked for both Intel and Microsoft, I know about computers. I worked my butt of to pass the MAA course with a 4.0, and it has gotten me nothing. The staff is unprofessional, and don't count on them helping you find a job, because they don't really even try. They complain about having so many students to place, then get more placement people or fewer students. I've been done with school for a year, and my MAA certificate isn't worth the paper it's printed on, when it comes to helping me get a job. My MAA teacher was great, but I still wouldn't recommend the school to anyone. It was a waste of my time and money, that I didn't have to waste. I am seriously disappointed. Mine was the last MAA class they had, so now, they aren't even interested in dealing with the kind of employment I'm looking for. Completely worthless.

I'm really interested in going to PIMA for the Vet Assistant program. After reading these comments I'm a little concerned about even going here. But, I totally agree with "fafsaonline".

I have a question about that beginning tests that you take. What are they & what score do you have to have in order to pass? Is it also easy?

Listen, PIMA is about the teacher pointing you in the right direction, and you taking responsibility for the rest, the homework and tests and studying is all up to you because that's what college is. no one is going to hold your hand through this. you either get it, or you don't, and that's what weeds out the best of the best from the mediocre. that's just the way it is in college, almost anywhere you will go.

Plus, if you have a problem with your teachers, or administrations person, you need to speak to people higher up and make a formal complaint. Don't make such accusations based on one person. If one or two people aren't being as helpful, or as truthful as you expected, that means that you must speak with "The Big Bosses" and make sure that it won't happen again to someone else, plus- it really goes a long way towards securing your student rights.

It seems the entire capitalized education fraud agenda has robbed and defrauded millions
over the years like the corporatized insurance companies in this God blessed greedy nation of ours. The only ones singing God Bless America are the ones getting rich of of suckers.
It makes you wonder 'who' the real 'god' of this nation is. The god of wall street and the money loving turds sitting in their office chairs with their fat white ### smirking to
themselves about their next unwitting victims.

I have been thnking about attending PIMA in Aug. of this year, 2010, for the Occupational therapy Assistant progrm - the Mesa, AZ campus, but after reading these comments it makes me wonder if it'd be a good choice. does anyone know of a different school that has an Occupational Therapy Assistant Program in AZ?
does anyone have any comments about the Occupational Therapy Assistant progrm at PIMA in Mesa, AZ? Thanks.

I am currently in the respiratory therapy program at the mesa campus and I fully agree that this is the worst possible school the teachers are completely contradictive on their information, the people in charge dnt care about the students, the clinical director frequently comes in and makes comments like "###" which is very offensive to lots of people and to top it all off the school apparently forgot to complete my financial aid so now I'm not receiving the money I need to live. Worst school ever!

Well The Campus in Renton, WA was very nice! I am in the Dental Assisting program, and the teachers I have had (2) are so helpful and also are great educators. I am lucky I am in the Renton school, I guess! You guys have had a terrible time of it! When I first walked in, everyone was smiling and greeting me, especially the students. Everything was great, and when I started classwork, it was even better! I love PIMA!

I am currently looking at PIMA (mesa) for the nursing program. I need an accelerated program to get in and out as I don't have the time to waste with MCCC...they all have wait lists. After reading these blurbs, it makes me very nervous...

I hear Kaplan is horrible. I hear Everest is horrible. Are there any good programs out there?

i went to pima in 2007 at the mesa location for phlebotomy the teacher taight but as far as medical terminology if u dont knw it they wont teach it in this program and the teacher wont translate what things mean. I did pass the course barely and while i was in my extern ship i didnt fax my hours to the office and instead of just calling and asking for it (it was done and signed i just though they wanted them all at once) the lady began threating me to take away everything i had done and was very rude i also got pink eye and she threatend me again! i was lkike okay u want me to spread pink eye to eveyr patient int he hospital all over hours for my extern ship? So i went to a manager and i think the girl got fired however they failed to help find jobs all they do is help w your resume if that ive even been told we wont help you with your resume ive never been called saying hey we found somewhere you could apply nothing it was up to me. The mesa location is basically family ran and owned so if u cross one good luck. The only good experience i had was w the financial aid people there the only decent ones in that school and i dont even knw if its still acurate to say that.

all schools are like this including kaplan and high tech institute... but its up to you to finish... i think being in schools like this, you teach yourself not the teachers cos they dont know as much as we do. goodluck people.

Oh my god...I want to cry right now. I currently am attending Pima (in my second sequence) and I was just having a discussion with my fellow classmates about how our teacher doesnt even teach us, all she does is make slides on things we should know, and reads it. There is no teaching inv0lved in that. I just took a test that had trick questions on it...i wanted to cry because after reading in my book when i was done with the test (knowing i must have gotten those questions wrong because of confusion) and realizing my first answer was the correct one, i was enraged. Isnt it enough that we basically have to teach ourselves all of this crammed in information outside of class, that now youre giving me confusing questions on the test on top of it so that I fail!?...all im given is the books...why are the teachers being paid if theyre not teaching and im doing all the work!? She doesnt even assign homework to promote deeper understanding. Its impossible to learn the amount of information given in the time frame, 2 tests every Wednesday about piles of information given within the week!

So I went on the internet, feeling scammed, to look and see if other people have had issues with the teachers, learning styles and the crammed in information and this is what I see! I knew this wasnt right...ive been in college before, and it wasnt like this. When i came in to inquire about the school, I was rushed into taking a test that day which was easy, they made me feel smart because I passed...and the next week was guided into signing up for class to start the next week and getting a loan. I knew something about this school was just too good to be true...then the fact that im noticing im not being taught and then given tricky quizes...i feel overwhelmed with how much information i have to study (i portion it out, so some things I have to guess on).
I was already in debt before i came here. I came here to change my life around...and now Im just seeing my dreams being crushed before I even finish...wow. I hate you Pima...I dont even know what to do...

My teachers there were very unpredictable. We had teachers quiting every 14 weeks...The only teacher I had a good experience with was the career prep teacher. They didn't teach us half the things that I saw on my extern. This school doesn't care about your well-being even though they say they do. Don't waste your time and effort coming here...This is coming from someone who thought it would be a great start to my career. Def. not worth the 10K!

PIMA is the worst school ever i went there thinking that this would be a great oppourtunity. Boy was i wrong. Everything was great for the first two weeks. Then our teacher was sick for about two weeks and we had a sub who was not even teaching the material we needed to learn. So two weeks that we could be learning went down the drain. Then the teacher came back and told us since she had been sick we would have to do double the work and take three tests a week. That was absolutly rediculous that we would be punished and have to do more work because she was sick and the sub didnt do her job. Then it got even worse we had a total of 6 teachers in about 2 months because most of them decided that the workload was too much and they werent getting paid enough. So everytime we would get comfortable with the teacher and the style of their teaching they would leave. In that two months we also were left alone without a teacher until they could find someone and i didnt learn ### and the director came in to talk to our class one day and told us we had a few options we could relearn everything by staying later even though we there till 10pm or we could come in on saturdays and use up our personal time. Then he told us if you want to take it up with the head director of pima you can write him a letter and try to get back some money for the weeks you werent taught, but there are no guarantees he said.
Haha these people are snakes and I would never recommend anyone to step foot in that place its a rip off and a scam. And i still owe them money to this day and for what i didnt learn anything. Pima makes me sick!

I had similar issues with Pima. They rarely returned my phone calls, and if they did they would tell me that they have thousands of students and graduates that they are working with; WELL IF THAT IS THE CASE THEN QUIT ADMITTING MORE STUDENTS INTO YOUR PROGRAMS THAN YOU CAN HELP FIND JOBS FOR, YOU ONLY WANT OUR MONEY, AND DON'T CARE IF WE END UP UNEMPLOYED AND IN DEBT. IT'S DISGUSTING!