Pima Medical Institute review: unprofessional 70

Hello i am currently attempting 2 enroll in it's at pima houston. I'm wondering if anyone can describe 2 me the enrollment process, specifically the interview and acceptance timeframe. Then she stated they would call me with a writing assignment? Do they actually deny ppl? Someone plz reply, school begins soon and I need 2 inform my employer. Now even though I was skeptical in the beginning with the career specialist questioned my transcript as if my gpa was so low they were grading on a "5 point" GPA. (I never heard of it but hey...) Then it was to final aid 2 see if i could afford it. That's what she said.(Im gonna leave that alone). However I proceeded with the necessary requirements but when I called back today she still didnt seem as enthusiastic about a new student n new career as I am. Regardless of reviews OTA is something i want and what i do kno is when one door closes another opens... ( N if i do not i may need to inform higher up)
Again: someone plz reply. Thx

I 100% agree that after Pima has your money they don't care about you. Externship sitespecially are horrible. They treat extern as a class but you do no school work. Us students pay for extern as a "class" learn nothing on it, provide free labor, and get treated like garbage. When we leave our sites and say we will not go back...the school threatens to kick you out. They take your honors, your money, your dignity, and give you no choice in the matter. Someone needs to start a class action based on the free labor for extern sites and report to the better business Bureau and go after them for bad business practices. Someone NEEDS to do this. Do not waste your money.

Pima-Houston/Katy
Im not even sure where to begin. I first learned of Pima through the internet, I attended to gain more knowledge to be able to pass the pharmacy technician PTCB test, become certified for IV and Compounding (already was employed by a pharmacy, worked as a pharmacy tech trainee +2 years). At first the school projected itself to be such a great school, with a high success rate of passing the state tests & graduating, especially in the pharmacy area, the counselor i had, Mr. Donovan, insisted that I would get a great education and get recognized for all the things i would soon accomplish. IT WAS SO DISAPPOINTING to find out how their system really works. They go by sequence, so every new sequence you get new students, which means each new sequence which occurred every 4-6 weeks, you start from the beginning again, so the new students could "learn the curriculum too". you never finish one sequence to progress and learn more things to build onto your knowledge. you just keep starting over. To make matters worse, the houston location, for some reason cannot keep a steady teacher. Within the 5-6 short months i attended (course is only 8 months long) I had 5 different teachers. Each teacher we had would either quit or get fired, and each new teacher we got, started from the very beginning again. I kept reporting to the "student service counselor or coordinator" Ms. Karen Darejean, and instead of being of help or of concern, she would give excuses and a nasty attitude. She was never helpful in any way, and never had good attitude towards the students. To make matters worse, the books we paid for which accounted for $750.00 of the tuition were INCORRECT. All 5 teachers we had, including pharmacists I personally knew, all stated that the books we paid for were incorrect. The quizzes, tests, and finals were all based off of this book, which Pima created and provided. The packet work and book work given were from this book also, they didn't have correct answers provided with the multiple choice questions and the book would give contradicting statements. The teachers would often refer us to google to help us grasp a concept, find an answer or to find clarification. LOL. To put the cherry on top, when my 5th teacher finally quit (the day before the final) the schools head administer Mr. Hiene came into the class that morning and said, "does anyone know why Mr. __ quit" he further went on to say that we still have to take the final and he would find someone to grade it, and if we failed he would consider letting everyone take it again. He then said verbatim that "when we figure all this out, I will throw this class pizza party." This class was full of paying adults, who wanted answers and the education we paid for not a pizza party. I finally gave up trying to be optimistic and got pretty tired of the poor grading system, unstable class/teacher environment and the pure mere fact that i hadn't learned ANYTHING since i had been there. I approached the administration and began telling Mr. Hiene about how disheartening and disappointing this school had become to me and that I felt that if it wasn't going to be fixed that I wanted my money back. Instead of taking what I had to say as a paying student into consideration or concern, he disrespectfully spoke loudly over me, my concerns, and my rights as a paying student/ customer. He told me that I was being disrespectful and that he wasn't going to approve my full refund.

I withdrew from Pima and I honestly couldn't be happier. That whole school is a HUGE misrepresentation of what their trying to sell. I left that school without any gained knowledge, and with wasted time.
If you're considering applying, RECONSIDER.

All I can say is I went to Pima Medical Institute Tucson for their RN program and now I am making $64k a year as an RN rather than

PIMA is garbage! Tomorrow is the last day of class for me. The first instructor I had (Mrs. Martinez at the Albuquerque location) called students out to the hall if they got a bad grade on a test or just plainly let them know how bad they did in front of the whole class! She was upset with me because I missed 2 days of school. I have wisdom teeth extracted and was taking heavy medication so she made it a point of asking the class if they can text me and tell me that if I don't show up for class that I would fail or my grades would be in jeopardy. I confronted her in the class and was kicked out. I was transferred to another instructor and she is amazing (Theresa Diaz)! There is no better instructor for dental assisting than Mrs. Diaz. Now it's time to go to externship and the person who was suppose to set it up had quit. This being done, it cause great conflict between the person assigning us our sites and me. I asked about where I was being sent to and at first she had no idea. Then I mentioned that I was interested in modern dentistry, which is a cosmetic dental office. Volandra the site coordinator said it would be fine for me to go ask if I could extern there if they accept me. They accepted me with open arms and when I came back to let her know she said that I could not be sent there because there is already another extern working at that site. I asked then why tell me it's ok for the two externs before me that were sent there to work together? She said she wasn't aware that, that had happened and their accrediting body does not allow it. So it allowed it with the other two externs but not with me? I'm sure people are smart enough to realize the mistakes that this school makes or try to put students in fields that they are opposed to. I over and over explained no pediatrics dentistry! And she places me at a pediatric office! Now I'm going to be acquiring a skill that is not going to be useful to me because I don't want to nor have I ever wanted to work at a pediatrics dental office! So I paid $14, 000 to be placed at a place that I have no interest in? And they say we have no choice over our sites? I or anyone has to pay a ridiculous amount of money to do something they don't want to do just to make their jobs easier? How does that make any sense? And the people on here supporting pima are nothing but people who work there! Or got lucky and were given the education they wanted! Not education that is forced on to them! By the way, I'm graduating with honors and am second in my class with the highest grades!

I graduated from the Vet Assistant program in Jan 2013 from the Chula Vista campus with a 3.8 GPA and academic honors. My experience was great! It was bumpy at first with our teacher leaving after a week and the seniors being rude to us newbees. But once our new teacher Ms. Brewer came along everything was great. She is a Vet Tech and has been one for I believe 20 years. She shares life experiences and gets the answers if shes unsure. I suggest you make friends, because it is wonderful having them to study with and also ask questions. Try to never miss sheIter days since you learn so much with hands on experience. was hired within a week of my externship. The credits do not transfer but they told us that I think 5 or 6 times so if you're shocked about this that surprises me. Hope this helps good luck

Hello everyone, I recently completed the accelerated radiography (xray program) this is for people who have allready learned and been credentialed with a limited license and worked in the feild for 2 years.
at that point I felt like I knew it all pretty good so I didnt do much research on the school since it is the ONLY program that accepts a limited credential as a pre requisit.
the cost 19, 000. and for 3 months they send you anywhere in the US they feel like.
I was a guinea pig for a new site in washington.. I drove from southern CA to washington only to have the instructor they tell me that their system was set up to reteach everyone what they had learned in books over 13 months and I was supposed to do it in 1.5 months.
after a grueling beat down in this army hospital I finally got word from the school to go home. I waited a few weeks and they put me in Reno nv.. ALL OF THE TRAVEL, FOOD AND A PLACE TO STAY COMES OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET and you have to quet your job and move in order to travel in most cases.
The teachers very seldom got back to me the same day I asked a question and usually responded once I had all ready turned in the homework or taken the test.. there is probably 5% of people that can TEACH THEMSELVES FROM A BOOK but most of us are not that fortunate. I did faily well in the fast pace, "learn" a subject in a few days and take a test the next week. After completion of the program I feel as though my training was limited and the lack of hands on experience has left me sum what inadequate.. I passed my boards but I do NOT recommend this program to anyone. Please save your money and frustration. take it from me. go back to a JC and even do a wait list. All limited techs feel they all ready know everything and just need the license. this is not true and the realization that you know nothing at the end when it counts the most will be a bitter day when you question what you spent the last 13 months and 19 thousand dollars on. It is well worth it to start over at a JC even though your credits from limited scope wont count you will be much better off.

A few months at pmi changed my life alright, made it a lot worse. After a few months the school was a joke to me, nothin but cheating and good grades given for it. I would actually study n had 1 o the highest grades yet ppl cheating got just as good grades even tho they didn't know what theyt show up n ur almost guaranteed to pass n be a "professionaL". All it was for me was a big waste of time and headache for years to come since I quit this fraudulent school, and I didn't receive anything in the mail to pay off my loan until it went to default, how convenient. PMI is a joke and they were right about a few months changing my life, jus wish I had known it was for the worse. Thanks for nothin bunch o fraudulent rip offs

So glad I found this site. The most stressful and unprofessional group of educators ever experienced. I am also a university graduate and never in a million years thought I would encounter such an uncomfortable, unprofessional experience. I was also told I would have to start my clinical rotations 3 hours away each way in order to continue the program and was not offered another alternative until I made it clear that was unacceptable. When finished with the program I also discovered our instructors behaved like a bunch of high school kids gossiping and letting their pet students know our test scores, who passed and who failed the final exam etc. Yes, I did pass with flying colors on my own hard work reaching out for every other resource I could find outside of what this school had to offer, so I'm not just a failing disgruntled student. This school is way too expensive of a program to pay out of pocket and be treated the way this school treats certain students. I wish someone would have warned me. It would have saved a lot of unnecessary health stress issues associated with just trying to make it through since so much money had already been invested. Sounds like Phoenix is just as bad as Tucson. It is really sad this school is able to continue to get away with such unprofessional behaviors.

I Was disable from shere n sale please enable it [protected]

This was the worst school I've ever been to. Career prep teachers were rude! Didn't answer questions without looking at us like we were stupid! The teachers at these schools are a complete joke! I honestly can say I don't remember a thing they taught me! The teaching at these schools are worthless and a huge waste of money! I graduated from this school a year and a half ago they promised me to help find me a job which they still have not! So now I'm stuck paying for a worthless program and not even doing a job I went to school for WORST SCHOOL EVER!

Pima is the worst school ever at first there nice to you, but later they act like you don't even exist! The Emt program is worse . The first few weeks are good but later it's like what! Ahhhh they even think that you don't understand enything because you speak another language. We had like five instructors that talk so much that you don't even know what the freek there talking about. They spend a whole two or three hours talking they don't even show you want it is to lean. Dom, Aaron, Beth, jerry, mike are the instructors it's like why do you need more people, and they have a really horrible way of telling you that your failing or that your out of the program, right infront of everyone he points at you and tells we need to talk. Pima medical institute is the worst never go there not even the one in mesa dobson worst one even ! NEVER GOING BACK!

I can't say whether the stories on here are accurate or not, but I can, however, state my own personal experience. I am currently enrolled as a dental assistant at the Houston campus. My instructor, Ms. Jan Lewis, is not the "nazi" that another person on this board made her out to be. I have never had such a dedicated and caring instructor in my entire life. She bends over backwards to explain material so that her students understand the procedures and information. She goes out of her way to protect and instruct and teach her students. I have learned so much from this instructor. I have NEVER seen her just sit at her desk or walk around doing nothing. She has NEVER asked or left other students to teach information for her. She is a "hands-on" instructor who allows you to do your own work so you actually learn the proper procedures. I don't always like the politics at this school and I'm not fond of the job coordinator, but I have zero complaints about my instructor. She even goes as far as to help you with being happy at your externship and at finding a job. Obviously, she can't go out and get a job for you, but she does direct you as to where to look. If you work hard, she will work hard to help you. To date I have only 2 weeks left in my final sequence before I go on extern. I'm happy with my class and only time will tell as to how successful I will become with this career choice. Of course, my success depends on me and not upon anyone else.

I agree snakes they are . They didn't want to find me a site, they sent me and 2 other girls to one site . The site told us all she was going to choose one . Of course they chose the skinny girl which was absent one to two days a week . The internship placement coordinator Sandra Wheeler on lv campus told me it was my fault instead of saying they chose the one best suited for the job . In the meantime i get forgot about, I found my own site she pulled me off acting like she was head honcho bc the site i was at " fired " her . So glad you feel better about yourself Sandra for doing your job and really hoping the worse from the A/B honor roll students that have perfect attendance and even got away with telling the director to speak dummy to me, he in return did tell her to look at my grades and she had no right talking to me like that which she got her way. not to mention the speaker of the school told me i was overweight yet shes got a hole in her neck ! I never asked whats that hole in your neck . Furthermore the school sucked and Sue Atherton you were an awesome teacher and too bad they know that and use you to lure students in . After her class the schools a joke . How is the speaker going to have a hole in her neck when her job is to speak ? So Ms. Parrish hows that hole when your out waiting for the bus ?I in return at least get to enjoy that passing u up while your waiting at the busstop. You guys took my education but you cant take away the karma you all will get in return of ruining lives that "chose "to go your school .

I finished the Medical Assisting Program at the north seattle location. I finished 2 yrs ago and still havent found a job and get no response back from career services. i think that they falsely advertise saying that they do job placement. the only thing i ever got after graduation were alot of emails with jobs on craigslist. i can do that myself. i want to fiule a lawsuit against them and will post the information up when i contact the right people, so that others may join... I think pima is the worst school and now im in debt to a school i cant even get a job for. a waste of my time and money. All single mothers/parents dont waste your time on a crap bag of a want to be school...

I am also interested in enrolling for the dental hyg program in alberqerque NM. I currently live in el paso tx graduated from Kaplan college as a dental assistant. I've been working ever since which is now 5years. So I then started at community college and I am done with all my prerequisite classes all I have to do is rank in June. But then my friend told me about Pima and convinced me to go with her this Friday to take a test. The lady I scheduled it with " Jaime" did not want to tell me what the test was of/ what subjects it contained. It scares me to hear all these horrible stories + I saw the news on 20/20 and they spoke about these institutes saying all they want is to recrute students for the money and hundreds of students grad but are in debt and job less and according to the " big bosses" they interviewed said it was a scam and she no longer worked there because she did not want to be part of any scams. So we'll see what they say this Friday. All these reviews really helped. Now I know what to look for and make sure I ask all my questions . Thank you(;

I am from Houston, Tx. Anybody have experience going to School in the PIMA Katy, Tx branch. I am planning on going to school and getting the ultrasound certificate there.

Any comments or complaints about that school?

I am interested in their certificate program for ultrasound in the katy, tx pima school.

Anybody have complaints or comments about this school?

I started Pima in 2011, to be honest i dont remember the month, a lot happened t me during that time. I enrolled being pregnant with my second child, they offer a leave of absence so i wasnt worried about it especially since i had about 3 months til i was suppose to deliver. I went into premature labor towards the end of my first class. I missed the last week of my first class and the first week of my second class. I called the director to see if i was still able to take my final and he said yes and i could still continue on with my class. My teachers were all very understanding considering i had a newborn baby in the hospital for three months. They were very lenient but that doesnt mean i didnt work hard to get good grades and tried my hardest to turn in all my assignments. After i took my first leave of absence i returned to continue onto the back office part of medical assisting. I went to the power campus in mesa and i had every instructor at one point. They were all knowledgible, experienced, and geuninely cared if you finished. About mid way through my back office portion of school i experienced TIA stroke. I took a leave of absence again because i was ill and couldnt work to pay for my child care for my children. Once i was able to take out additional loans i came back to school and finally finished. It took me over 1 year for a program that normally only takes about 9 months. I know i would have never finished if it were for the caring staff that always helped keep my head held high and never doubted my abilities to finish. A lot of people expect to finish and *POOF* you have a job making 15 bucks an hour. That is not reality. If you are signing up expecting that i would have to tell you thats a big no no and rarely occurs. Most start out at 9-12 dollars and hour and id say more than 70 percent of the time you will not find a job until about the second month of looking. This field is getting pretty flooded but its jsut about how bad you want it! I reffered two of my friends to this school during the time i went there and both of them are also happy with their experience and working in the medical field. In all of the people i met that attended my campus not a single one of them was unhappy with the school or their experience. I hope this helps any potential students

While enrolled at Pima in Colorado Springs, CO I attended the Dental assisting program. I am a single mom to a beautiful 4 year old and I currently have no help in that aspect. While enrolling at Pima, I made sure to talk to the "enrollment specialist" about these concerns and at that time inquired about attendance hours and the rules regarding attendance issues knowing as a single mom sometimes/most of the time my needs come last. I was told as long as I was able to furnish a doctors note in the event I/my daughter was sick or I had documentation to prove my absence was necessary I would be fine and that the absences wouldn't be counted against me. A few months later my daughter AND myself got ill. We ended up passing it back and forth for almost a month even after trying desperately to get rid of it. I made sure to get doctors notes EVERYTIME (because of the information given to me as to avoid termination). I also lost my grandpa shortly after mine/ my daughters illness, which I also had documentation to provide to Pima. I didn't go to his funeral however because two days after bringing in my documentation I was told I was on attendance probation... of course u could understand why my response would be "For what?". I came to find out some time later that IT IS NOT TRUE what they are telling people, You can't miss ANY time other than the amount aloud which is something like 20 class hours. I was under the impression (because of the "enrollment specialist" ) that EXCUSED absences would not count against my UNEXCUSED absences I was aloud during the program. It doesn't matter how serious your medical situation is, IF YOU LOSE A FAMILY MEMBER, if they already have your money they have no concern and they make you practically beg to stay in school if that's what u still want to do. I ended up basically making Pima my #1 priority (even though I have a full time job and many other responsibilities) in an attempt to complete the program. I lost my job in the process, which honestly I expected. I went into my externship in 11/2012, I had completed almost half of my hours required when I got sick again (mind you this is almost a year later, it happens). I was informed that because I had missed 3 days during my externship (Due to a doctor verified illness which I had supplied documentation for) that I was going to be terminated and have to go through an appeals process (which I did of course because I genuinely wanted to finish the program). I was so angry and asked at that point "what about the doctors notes I supplied verifying my illnesses or family death?" There reply, "that's just a formality, we can terminate a student at any time for attendance no matter what the reason". I went through the process and was finally accepted back to start my externship COMPLETELY OVER. I am barely finishing almost a year later than expected due to Pima giving me wrong information and making me start my extern over, did I mention they made me take a refresher class because they said I needed it because I was out for 90 days for the appeals process? Oh yea, and out of my own pocket too.. Long story short, If u plan on attending this school, I hope for your own sake you don't get randomly sick or lose someone you love while there because it will be YOUR FAULT (even though this randomly happens to people all the time). This is one of the worst experiences I have ever had with a school, its really sad because unfortunately most people that are looking to attend a trade school like this HAVE JOBS, KIDS and LIVES outside of there goals to further there education that simply can't be put on the back burner. And to those people: SAVE YOUR TIME, MONEY AND POSSIBLY YOUR SANITY AND FIND ANOTHER SCHOOL THAT ACTUALLY CARES IF YOU GRADUATE, BECAUSE PIMA ISN'T IT!

Hello in 2005 I took the Phlebotomy course. It was 2 months in class and 1 month at the externship. When I signed up for the course they were very clear about the externship, that it would be 160 hours, you can do it part time but its better to do full time. Our teacher the first week of class that we were really only going to learn how to draw blood and the very basic tube uses, and at the extern sites is where we would learn what we would really need to know because every sites is a little bit different. I didn't work during my externship and did my hours very quickly. I was very professionally treated both by the pima staff and my extern site staff. I was in a class with people that didn't take it very serious. I don't think many finished their program. I did my program to get my foot in the door and start working in the medical field. My extern site hired me as soon as I was done and I have been work successfully as a phlebotomist for 5 years now. After taking some community college programs, I have recently returned to Pima to look into their nursing program. I work at a local hospital that the nursing staff say good things about the students coming from Pima. When I attended their info meeting, the recruiter that looked over my information remembered my name from 2005 phlebotomy course and was very great to work with. I am currently apply for the RN program and will see how it turns out!

I also attended Pima in Colorado Springs, where I was told I was guaranteed employment before I enrolled and that I would start out at about $25 an hour. I found out about 4 months into my program I had been lied to about beginning wages, but was still told I had guaranteed employment. I took the Dental Assistant program and while I was there, my teacher, Heather burned my face with acid etch while putting the acid on my tooth. After she placed the acid on my tooth she took it off. Funny thing though, that tooth now has a cavity. I feel like it is related. I believe the school is a scam, $10, 000 for a program. Community colleges offer the same programs at a startlingly reduced price. If you are a student -DO NOT LET THEM PRACTICE ON YOU! NOT EVEN THE TEACHERS. If you are a prospective student, look at all your options.

OH, and I also forgot to mention in my post, that my mother used to work for Pima, and personally knows the President and Owner, whom she is currently dealing with to take corrective action for these employees who have treated me so terribly.

I attended the Mesa Dobson campus in Arizona for the Dental Assisting program. I had a 4.0 throughout my whole time here and on my externship(s) My complaints are not about bad teachers. Rhonda and Sue (DA teachers) are excellent teachers and know their stuff. Also let me just say, that the DA program is NOT challenging at ALL, and neither is the Career Prep sequence. A junior high student could finish this course with a 4.0...I had the worst experience here. Morning parking is CRAZY! I had to get there an hour early everyday to find a spot, and ALL of the parking lots around Pima have cops patrolling them so you can't park there - the places around it specifically banned Pima students from using their parking lots. My Dental Assisting class had the most students it's ever had, they had to cut out an entire section of the program, yet we still had to pay for it. We never got enough lab time and were often docked on our grades because of this. Career placement does NOTHING. They've contacted me maybe 3 times in the year since I've been there, each time I tell them I'm NOT getting their email job leads they're supposedly sending me, and each time they verify my email and say they'll start sending them. Haven't gotten one. I was severely discriminated against at my externship site (other workers were speaking Spanish in front of me, excluding me, and saying VERY rude things to my face), so I called my career placement rep and she told me she would find me another site. So, I left the first site. The supervisor at the first site called Pima and flat out LIED to them saying I made a big scene, said "I'm ###ing out of here" and that I stormed out. NONE OF IT WAS TRUE, and I was then put on probation. They wouldn't even LISTEN to my side of the story. I was lectured and yelled at for things that I never did, and was talked down to. Danielle Truba (spelling?) had a meeting with me, and basically flat out told me she would believe her extern sites over a student any day, and that I was lying. She also told me that the way I presented myself was not acceptable and that I should work on how I look. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! They don't know who their true customers are - the students, who are the ones who actually pay them and their salaries! Pima took the extern site's side instead of mine, and I was punished for it. I would NEVER EVER EVER recommend this establishment to anyone, and am currently researching how to get my $11, 000 back for tuition. I've earned NOTHING from studying here, and never did find a job in the Dental field. They don't help you get your X-Ray certification, and you are NOT a certified dental assistant. You get a certificate of completion of their program, and nothing more. Completely useless, and I am currently seeking legal advice to shut them down.

Do not attend this school! I am at the tail end of the advanced radiography program and they cannot find a place for me to do my extern. I was told that if it is not done within a month that I will be dropped. Yet they are the ones that are not coming through on the deal. I have money saved to travel and do my extern. This is no fault of mine. Well my fault for deciding to attend at Pima. I am already a limited scope tech and make good money. My grades are great and there is no excuse for not finding a site for me to complete the program. I am not looking to be handed a job as I already have a very good one. I just want my AOS and a chance to take the ARRT boards. But doesn't appear that it is going to happen. The person that is supposed to be placing me on my extern is on vacation and the director of the school doesn't know what she is doing. I do plan on complaining to everyone that will listen and a lawyer is in both of our futures. 18k later and nothing to show for it. Someone will hear about this. Please turn and run from this school. All they want is your money.

Worst school i ever attened. There was no excuses for the way the students are treated or misinformation given to anyone. Most of the teachers have such attitude problems, its a wonder they arn't floating around on clouds, like gods. Oh, and the family that runs it, all have no people skills, only threats toward the students, rather then guidance. Don't waste your time, I did, but had to return to a regular school to get what I wanted out of a program that costs 3 times as much, and no professional teachers.

Can someone please give some advice into my sitution, I am a student of the Tuscon campus and in the Medical Administrative Assistant program. My last class date was May 27th and still had no extern site. Was trying to be understanding and now it 2 weeks and now im being told that i need to come in and sign a leave of absence. And when i call it seems im getting the run around. When i was attending class, things went great. I understand PMI is not an university, but we are paying for this school and the reason i choose this because of their positive outlook. Just because class ends, we are not through, i cant graduate until I COMPLETE EXTERN. Extern is still part of my schooling. I look at it like this...I come to class and bust my butt and make damn good grades Im doing the work and extern is a place that I should be applying what I have learned. And I understand that it is not PMI's job to get me the job, to get me hired. But it is their job to find me the extern site. I am trying to be patient, but yeah, I cant just sit by the phone and wait for an extern site. I have bills and need to work. So, if anyone has any advice please feel free.

Hello PMIStudent,

May I ask what campus you attend please? I have only seen two good reviews, yours and one on the Houston campus. I agree with you to some extent. Often people will say I hated this or that, movies are a perfect example. Opinions vary but when it comes to education, customer service, or things that could alter or enhance your life I find opinions can be usful. It's unfortunate but people don't tell of good experinces as often as they will a bad one. The fact is a lot of things are word of mouth and when you see this many bad reviews it is somthing you have to take into considration, especailly when the complaints are similiar. Maybe you could suggest that Pima post student evaluations. Or allow students to do it in a confidential way, seems like they need some postive reviews.

I think that you all souldnt judge PIMA on your own experience. Some things happen and you need to deal with it on your own and not blames others. You probably made the mistake yourself and dont want to admit it. PIMA is a great school with instructors who have degrees and have a string of knowledge in the profession they are teaching. I am ready to graduate and LOVE it here. It is the best choice I made, the staff and students have been nothing but friendly and helpful. I love PIMA. I know what I am doing. I have a great career ahead of me and was hired on from my extern. Give people a chance to experience it on their own and not scare them away by trashing the school. They do grade on your professional outlook to help better your professionalism because being in the medical field is all about professtionalism and attitude. Im sure you dont want a doctor who dresses like a teenager and smells to examine you. So think about it. PIMA is a nice school, and great for starting your career in the medical field. I HIGHLY recommend it.

like a previous poster, I was watching a documentary film about for profit schools then saw a pima commercial and decided to see what people were saying. I went to a traditional four year university and must say that teachers teach, meaning they do answer as many student questions as possible, in a way holding your hand as well. That is what they are paid for. Yes you read text books and do your homework, but a good teacher helps their students to succeed. Please watch the documentary, it has interesting information. It is created by frontline from pbs. Good luck in whatever path you choose.

I feel for the folks who had genuine issues. But, it's interesting that in 90% of the gripe posts, no one mentions what program they pursued, but they were dean's list students. If you went to Pima, or any other private college, for anything that DOES NOT require a state board examination, you decided not to soar & you have yourself to blame. Medical Assistants make maybe 25K, Phlebotomy- 32k... most of these programs outside of CCs are costing you 30-45K because majority of schools offering these programs are for profit. For that same price you could have become a real professional in Health care instead of settling for the peon level. So, again, you always wanted to draw blood for a living or be a medical secertary, or a glorified CNA when you grew up? Yeah Righ! Most of you posters didn't even research your fields of study, because you're griping about not being assisted by career services. Read a paper! Health care professionals are in demand, everywhere. So, nurses, respiratory, ultrasound professionals, I know you're not waiting on someone to get you a job because they're hounding you guys to start asap! So, if you're not the former, you must be a peon. Do yourself a favor & become a professional & stop being an underachiever.

To be clear, I graduated from Pima (Mesa) with a 4.0 GPA, completed my externiship with As, as well, so my complaint has nothing whatsoever to do with sour grapes, should anyone be inclinded to perceive it that way. That said, Pima was an utter waste of time, effort and money. The nurse who teaches career prep was the only instructor with knowledge. The subsequent teachers were HORRIBLE - lacking knowledge (even mispronouncing words), juvenile (trying to be friends on facebook with students and hanging out for drinks), incompetent (mismanaged classroom dynamics, graded unfairly which even I could see while earning As), and unprofessional (selling cookie jewlery and chatting on their cell phones in class, dismissing early and telling us not to tell on them, etc.). When issues were brought to the attention of the student services department, they bent over BACKWARDS to defend teachers and prevent students from pursuing additional redress with threats, for fear that their jobs would be in jeopardy for letting the situsation escalate. One teacher was finally fired, but we learned nothing in her class for 16 weeks out of a 32 week program, plus the 12 weeks wasted with another teacher. The financial aid office was a mess, as they initially refused to consider changes in employment in aid evaluation until I brought in a news article about the exemption allowed under Obama. Essentially, I knew more about the finanical aid process than the school expert and had to CLAW my way toward the refund that was owed to me. Promises galore about externiship placement were IGNORED. They take the money and run...you over! You mean nothing once the check has cleared. And, I say this again, as a "star student" with years of work experience, so I had no trouble landing employment (although I chose to walk away, return to ASU and pursue a new career path). I feel really sorry for students who are younger, with little work experience, who might be looking to Pima to provide that open door into a career in the medical field and who work hard, even with less than "perfect" grades because their options will be so limited. The entry pay in this field is not livable despite their promises. I guess it beats fast food if those are your options, but you'd be better off going to community college and pursuing a REAL education. Pima (Mesa at least) truly sucks and is not worth a penny!

All of these comments about the school's primary goal of obtaining money, it's lack of state and national health organizational certifications, the instructors and senior staff members are dead on. While I technically attend Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, I've sat through several classes full of "refugees" from the PIMA Program, or people who had attended there. One individual in particular went through some very stressful events recently involving a divorce, and PIMA, for it's part, opted to boot her from their program due to the problems she was going through (they were affecting her grades, essentially). Many, many individuals I know have had no luck finding any kind of employment in their particular fields of expertise, and PIMA's reputation helps very little - it seems as if a lot of former PIMA students and graduates I know at PPCC had their chances of employment derailed by being associated with this place. And also, I wouldn't exactly trust their credit hour system, if that's what they use - a good friend of mine enrolled at PPCC after they sent her packing thanks to failing grades (once again, this person also was enduring a tremendously stressful period in life - PIMA offered no help in dealing with the situation at all), and none of the credits she earned while in her particular career program transferred.

Does anyone have any comments, thoughts, feedback, etc. on the Physical Therapy Assistant program at Pima's Albuquerque campus? It will be most appreciated.

I have to say PIMA is not responisable for you getting a JOB. IT'S YOURS.. Try offer you some help but they can't get you a job and promise you a position with someone. You need to do that on your own.

My mom went to PIMA and has no issues finding a job at all. I am now attending PIMA in DENVER, CO and I don' have any complaints at this time. Besides some of the students who like to disrupt the class but other then that, the teachers are great and i haven't had an issue with them at all.

I would suggest a Community College rather than a vocational school. Especially this one, since money is their number one interest. Once they have your money one may as well not exist. If one should need assistance of any sort, talking to an actual person is practically impossible.

I went to the campus today in Tucson, AZ and realized that basically all the reviews here are pretty accurate. They promised me 1-on-1 time with a counselor and financial officer and it didn't happen. They went straight into the cost and then into the test that they don't tell you about until the second before you take them. The review regarding Ms. Nancy was also spot on...she was pretty stupid if you ask me and thats putting it nicely. She was very rude when another specialist got up to speak...she interrupted several times and was laughing and giggling like a 12 yr. old girl with one of the male "specialists". It really seemed like she needed attention, which is a weird time to try and get it, in what should be a professional setting. She seemed very uneducated and UNPROFESSIONAL. After today and the feelings I got about the school were not good once I was there. I'm going to go with my gut on this one (because my feelings are usually right) and head to a REAL school on Monday. Good Luck to those of you that trust your hard earned money and higher education to PMI and infamous Nancy lol.

everyone here needs to take their complaints higher to tge better business burau pima has an A+ rating because none has filed a complaint against them. If we do not speak up or voices will not be heard posting or complaints ob here does nothing but waste time. Go to the better business bureau site and post or there under pima I will be doing so and hope you all will too.

HERE IS A LINK TO SHOW THEIR DENTAL ASSISTING PROGRAM IS NOT CODA ACCREDITED AND YES THIS IS A BIG DEAL!
http://www.danb.org/exams/ada.asp

Here's the thing, and someone said it earlier, no one can hold your hand through college. With that being said though, teachers have to teach. I do not attend this school, nor do I have intentions to. I saw the commercial and started researching it just for the hell of it, and I stumbled upon this forum. It sounds the school is an unaccredited rip-off, with teachers who couldn't give a [censor] less about the students. Not having your hand held, and self-taught education are two totally different things.
This school sounds like it sucks, and furthermore Mr. Holliday, so do you. Thank goodness I will never have you as an intructor.