American Career College Reviews

Don’t go ACC! Find another school! I will make sure to spread the word because they spend their money on advertising to rank them the best career school. They are not!!!

On-site in the lab with no AC is poorly combined as a class and pharmacy and outdated old chairs and stools limited supply on medications to fill or they don't have it or you have to reconsulted the medication to fill it. So for $11,865.00 where is the portion of that 6,000 being spent on??? I am only learning how to fill prescriptions but it's not sufficient. We are using outdated equipment to package medication that are beans when to fill an Rx. We use beans to count out. One of the instructors stated in class that the department has gotten a new pill counting machine but the instructor fails to replace the old with the new one if there is one at all. I don't know. I am only learning the bare minimum about pharmacy. I am not being trained to give customer service and the cash register is digital like the ones in the pharmacy at the stores it needs to be updated.

With very little teaching by one instructors who stated to our class in a Zoom that they are not here to "teach us" and that we have to learn and read on our own, and teach ourselfs the material and figure it out. We are learning a new chapter every week and having back to back exams and quizzes with outdated exams, reviews sheets that are given but are back from 2015 are not helpful and old assignments that are given to work on that stay on rotation. The sad part is that nothing is being updated to learn and know real-world pharmacy. I also believe that the calculations we are being taught are outdated too being that I saw the right way how to to do a dosage calculation, the right way for a math problem on Youtube being that this is a fast pace program.

I am doing my best in this with a C average that's the honest truth, I watch Youtube to help me learn about Pharmacy to enhance my learning because I received very little teachings learning in a Zoom with the instructor doing the calculations for you and not teaching it back to and there was a lack of group interactions on the Zoom and a lot of watching the instructor work out the calculations and moving on to the next problem with asking anyone for feedback if they are understanding how to work out the problems for themselfs. I even failed a module last month because I could not make it to the labs onsite due to family issues. I am worried about how I am going to do on an externship with only knowing how to decode SIG and count beans and fill Rx. I guess I will just watch another Youtube video to be ready.

Upon signing up, here are a couple things we are told: 1 - The school tuition costs include EVERYTHING you will need from start to finish, INCLUDING NCLEX exam (this is listed clearly in the student handbook as well, but we will get to that disaster later). 2 - The school is available to help you with anything you need. 3 - The school has amazing clinical sites picked out where we will get in field, hands on experience. Lies, lies and more lies. Lets begin!

Term 1: First term of LVN program. My theory teacher was amazing. She changed my life and outlook on nursing for the best. My Clinicals experience, however, was another story. We were at a facility in Brentwood, (Brentwood Rehabilitation center) where we were not allowed to do anything. I mean anything at all. We sat in a room for hours and did homework. Our clinicals professor was also a complete joke. She basically would tell us that she didn’t have time to review our care plans and that she “didn’t get paid to take work home”. How did she not have time if we were sitting there doing nothing?? What a joke.

Term 2: Theory teacher was great, again. A much better teacher for clinicals, nothing to complain about with her specifically, but yet again the facility itself was a NIGHTMARE. Fountain View sub-acute & rehab facility, to put it lightly, is hell. The staff was beyond rude to all the students, would not let us participate in any type of patient care (besides 2 wound care nurses who were incredible, and are the only reason why I didn’t drop out of this disastrous school in term 2). Not to mention, way more than half of our clinical weekends were spent on campus, sitting and doing nothing, because we were so unwanted at the site. A site that also has so many HIPAA violations and health violations I’m sure if it was properly assessed, would be shut down in a second.

I appreciate the study time, but that I can do at home, for free. I am paying for (or believed I was paying for) educational, hands on experience at top-notch facilities, that will prepare me for a nursing job in the real world. I can easily say more of our clinicals hours were clocked sitting on campus chit chatting about life and watching Netflix, than obtaining actual hands on experience. Nearing the end of term 2 I got completely fed up and for a third time brought this issue up to my ADON and the program director. I was assured by my ADON that this would be solved by placing me in the best clinicals site we have, LAC+USC. Great. Or so I thought.

Term 3: Theory teacher, again, awesome. Clinicals… LAC+USC, when we were allowed to be on site, were better. BUT the lack of days we were actually allowed to BE on site, ruined it. By this point I was completely fed up and filed an official complaint to the Accreditation Board. They opened a case, and of course the school made everything look perfect, so they closed the case.

Term 4: At this point I was so ready to just be done with this hell hole of a school. Term 4 went smoothly, we had a great theory professor again, and clinicals were actually better. I was looking forward to leaving the school with less hate in my heart towards them (LOL), but of course, that would soon change. We knew once we finished term 4, we complete VN500 (a 2 or 3 week review) and then had to take a HESI exit exam to officially graduate from the school. What we were told, since day one, is if you pass the HESI that’s it, you are done with classes and the school sends your paperwork to the board, and you get your letter to register for NCLEX.

I took my HESI, passed on the first try (yay), and found out my paperwork had been sent to the board. We were told also, by Ms.Ina **, that we MUST attend one session of review within 45 days, in order to have the exam paid for, otherwise they will drop us from the program. Fine, understood. I attended one review as instructed. 2 months later I got my letter from the Board that I was eligible to register for my NCLEX. I was SUPER excited to have finally gotten this, so I rushed home to register and take my NCLEX ASAP so everything was fresh in my mind.

I begin registering and I get to the payment page, so I look on my letter for my code for the school to cover the cost (Like we were told from day 1), and there’s nothing! So I called my term 3 teacher, who is now the schools ADON, and he said that the school does NOT pay for Nclex! I was shocked and befuddled completely, because like I said since term 1, we were told otherwise. I presented my concerns to him, and he then changed the story. He said, “Well, there is a stipulation. The school will pay for your NCLEX IF you attend all review sessions (after having already graduating and passing HESI exit) and you get a 60% or higher on Ms.Ina’s practice exams and she feels you’re ready”.

I was like, excuse me? I graduated already, I passed my HESI first try, I am ready. I shouldn’t have to take another exam to prove myself AGAIN, when I don’t even go to the school anymore. He suggested I speak with Ms. Ina and Dr. ** (the schools director). Lo and behold I emailed Ms. Ina and left a voicemail and didn’t hear back till she emailed me a day later basically ignoring all my concerns and telling me to speak to Dr. **.

Dr. ** at least pretended to hear me out. He stated he would look at my grades and get back to me. Being I am a straight A student that passed all my exams with flying colors, I assumed it was a case by case basis and he would get back to me with the code. However, he then proceeded to tell me that this is not the case and what is listed in the paperwork is that the school pays the registration fee of $150. I explained to him yes, that IS in the paperwork, right above where it says the school covers the $200 for NCLEX. I even screenshotted the paperwork and sent it to him. He then proceeded to state all paperwork had been revised and he began to list ALL of the conditions in which the student must complete, in order for the school to pay for the Nclex; NONE of which we were EVER informed of!!! NONE of which are listed in our paperwork. Completely just made up rules so they don’t have to give us what they promised us.

All we were informed of was the “45 day rule” which he claims he never even heard of!!! It seems that the administration just makes up rules as they please in this school. I was told by Dr. ** that he would bring my case to the “Executive director” of the school, so I waited 2 days to hear back from him. When I finally reached back out to him, it sounded like he had zero intentions of calling me back, and just gave me the same BS runaround.

A bunch of my classmates have reached out to him as well and he doesn’t return their calls. I understand that passing rates are important, especially to a school like this, BUT that is not my problem. I know when I am ready to take my exam. I am already fully graduated and done with the program. Why should I be required to pass some other BS exam that I was NEVER informed of to begin with, from some ridiculous woman. Who, by the way, talks about a mile a minute and her lecture style is ALL over the place.

The administration of this school is just a nightmare to deal with overall, and they don’t give a damn about their students at ALL. All they care about is getting you to sign up, getting your money, and then they completely push you aside along with ANY concerns you bring to their attention. It’s a scam. It’s a lie. Its all about the money. Do yourself a HUGE favor and go elsewhere. Even if it means being on a 2 year waiting list at a college. If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I’d be glad to talk to you!

I say this based on the number of people who've dropped from my class (I'm 7 months in of 18, and our class size has already dropped from 55 to 32), and the reviews I read here and on other sites. The instructors are surgeons, RNs, and all of them are certified STs. We have an excellent lab, with a lot of instruments and equipment. Our director is on the board of the Association Of Surgical Technologists, and helps write the exam. I see recent grads come in every week to brag about getting hired, usually just where they wanted. Based off of what I see everyday working in a major hospital OR, I can say with confidence that ACC is an excellent school, where I am learning much more than the average ST out there. As I mentioned, I guess I'd like to see their screening process weed out more people, so there is less time wasted on those who aren't serious (and then write bad reviews because they couldn't cut it).

I went ahead and completed the program, though many of the study materials were handtyped and copied, and saw that the program dragged out much too long, for what one learned. Also, the school talks about their placement office helping to find a good job-position, but all the applying and interviews for working in an Optometrist office, I had to go make on my own. In the end, the only job I was offered was at a Lenscrafter’s, and the job did not require any previous knowledge at all, and the job was listed in the newspaper, so they did not do much more than look it up online which anyone can do.

And lastly, they are not honest about job prospects in a field that hires mainly younger females that are bilingual - as I later learned on all my job interviews. I was in mid-forties when I finished their program, and as a male, and only fluent in English, no doctor's office would hire me. I later found one that would hire me part time, but it was for much less than what I was earning as a security guard, at the time. So, all in all, I got into continuing student loan debt and wasted over a year of my time for a big fat 'nothing'! I came away feeling they just want students, and they have no real regard for their course actually being right for someone.

You figure with a tuition of $35,000 you would have working equipment... Projectors don't work which affects us greatly, skills lab equipment outdated or broken, the class size is too big leading to an abundance of talking all day not allowing you to listen to the lecture. Overall morale of the class is very low and the guidelines are made to work to protect the staff not the student.

I have been asked to drive to different places all in great distance from me to obtain things they should have originally done and upon completion get told I have to make up for the day I missed doing their request. I am a good student and do what I am asked. I have good grades and respect my instructors. Please don't think I am some poor joe who is doing this out of anger for my grades etc. There are alternatives to joining this school - much cheaper, better staffed, better structure, and better student support.

I'm sure someone from the school will comment underneath this post asking to speak to me and that they apologize for the inconvenience blah blah blah. All they want is for the negative review to be deleted. This school BARELY IS RATED AT 3 STARS. Think about it... I hope you make the right decision and you open your eyes to the sad reality of this place.

Clinical locations are completely not conducive to learning. Especially if you are in the weekend evening program. The nurses and doctors don't want you there, and unless they know or have a long standing history with your clinical instructor, they won't let you do anything other than CNA work. The nurses see you coming and say, "oh good! They can help us feed and clean/change our patients.“ You’re not going to give injections or insert foley catheters, or have anything to do with their IV's. We also were required to have so many clinical hours of OB/Maternity/Peds and Mental health, but they didn't even have a hospital for us to go to do our clinical hours at!! They stuck us in a simulation lab with a guy who's not a nurse or doctor who spent about 30 minutes with us trying to explain OB on mannequins. You will be LUCKY if you get to perform any of the nursing skills ACC requires you to learn in order to graduate!

This school is very expensive and not at all what I was told or promised when I enrolled. I was so excited to start my nursing education when I first joined, but after attending this school I feel so cheated and robbed. I definitely don't feel confident that I can go out and work as an LVN. Don't waste your money here. Do your research and go to a community college. It will take longer but you will get an excellent education there.