Thinking about attending American Career College.

Guest 360983 · Jun 15, 2010

How much will going to school cost you? How much do new grad LVN jobs pay in your area?

Most for-profit schools charge you an arm and a leg and the job market for new grads isn't great right now, especially in California (my guess as to where you are). You run the risk of taking out $$$ in loans and not being able to pay them after graduation due to no job/low paying job.

rppg · Jun 20, 2010

Be careful before signing up at that school. Like the previous poster said, you run the risk of having a low paying job and a huge loan to pay off. Also keep in mind that you won't be able to to find a job at most Los Angeles hospitals because they're no longer hiring LVN's. They hire RN's or those with a BSN.

That school has serious issues. For one, there is very high turnover with teachers. Pay is low so teachers quit all the time and your studies will be interrupted. Also the qualiy of teachers and teaching is really low, especially for the tuition you have to pay. ACCollege sucks in many, many ways. Beware.

Just check out their yahoo reviews: http://local.yahoo.com/info-20353088-american-career-college-incorporated-los-angeles

Live4Medicine · Jun 20, 2010

I don't know anything about where you live, but based on your age, have you tried looking at an affordable four year college for your BSN? As I said, I don't know about CA, but here in the south, LSU, Loyola, and other neighboring schools are much cheaper. Or perhaps you can get your CNA (very short program) and work in the medical field for experience and exposure while in school. That's the route I wish I had taken.

Hope that helps

happy2learn · Jun 20, 2010

Patience is a virtue and will save you thousands of money, which means you will be able to actually enjoy your life once you graduate!

Since you graduated so early, I assume you had good grades and you should be eligible for some scholarships. Have you also looked out of state? Many allnurses members post about the troubles of the California nursing school system. Maybe you could become a CNA, work for a little bit, then go to an out of state school to become a nurse. That way you have a little bit of healthcare experience, and some money saved.

jessiew · Jun 21, 2010

well yes i do live in california. and I graduated early because i took my proficiency exam. And its not that I don't have patience, I have been trying to enroll in college for the past almost year and there are NO classes. Community colleges over here are PACKED and unless you have priority its nearly impossible. unless the class is 0 units.

happy2learn · Jun 21, 2010

You may want to look into the LPN route. I've seen many posts from people in Cali talk about how hard it is to get into classes and the crazy lottery waiting lists. It seems a lot of them become an LPN, then do an LPN-RN bridge, then RN-BSN, or LPN-BSN.

They say that once your an LPN, you bypass the wait list or get top priority, something of that nature, so it takes less time and frustration. It usually takes about the same amount of time also.

Leelo714 · Jun 24, 2010

i currently attend the campus in anaheim, please please please do not go here!! they constantly treat you like a child, yelling at us for anything and when you do attempted to speak to them regarding a matter you are ignored. i never thought it would be like this so please if you can afford the 30 plus than look into another school.

Leelo714 · Jun 25, 2010

FYI we do have a high nclex passing rate :yeah:

Guest 360983 · Jun 25, 2010

FYI we do have a high nclex passing rate

What is the dropout rate?

Do you have an exit HESI or other mandatory exit exam? What is the pass rate on that?

Those are more important questions for future students to ask than what the NCLEX pass rate is. A low NCLEX pass rate will get a school closed. A high dropout rate or low pass rate on an exit exam won't, but still mean a student is less likely to obtain their license.

friendofthestudent · Jun 30, 2010

trailerparkmedic is absolutely correct. i know people who used to work there and they purposely would start 5-10 extra students because they were going to fail that many in the process (BTW - and get their money). plus, if you look - LA campus NCLEX pass rate is not that high (70s) and orange county's is getting worse over the last few classes - probably because they now take in 80-85 students every 3 months. thats a lot of lvn's per year.

remember too, at American Career College (or any for-profit for that matter) the admissions team is hired specifically to sell. at community colleges, they have no incentive to get more students (quite the contrary - they are cutting out students). admission reps at for-profits are paid to get you to go to their school (especially versus going to another for profit school). that is why they call you like crazy. you should take anything they say with a grain of salt.

use this board and other internet resources that do not ask for your phone number or the like to ask the key questions. you will get more reliable answers and not a salespersons story to get you to pay $32K.

Marie13 · Nov 29, 2010

I went to American Career College, I liked it, but we had alot of complainer students. I went to their part time program because I was working full time. I passed all of the HESI's and passed NCLEX the first time. They were super strict, like exaggerated strict, we couldn't wear excessive makeup (I personally would not want to), hair must be up and away from face, only earing studs, all white tennis shoes (non cloth), socks cannot be ankle socks and so forth.