Hi my name isn't really Stuart but that's not why I'm really here. I contacted Everest re: their Admistrative Assistant program. The recruiter I spoke to was really nice and enthusiastic. This program included everything I wanted to learn, including Microsoft office programs. The price? 14k! $14, 000!! She was very convincing in telling me how much cheaper that is in comparison to spending tons of money at a University. I was excited and took a little time to think about it. But then I read some reviews on Everest and found that the reviews are mostly negative. (Please google) I did more research...

Everest is not an accredited school. (Check US Dept of Education or Google for info on the importance of accrediation)

Secondly, I found the same program at a local, accredited Community College. They offer an administraive assistant certificate. A certificate allows a student to take only classes that pertain to the degree. It's a faster process, and really for someone who is looking to get into a career quickly.. This program offres the same classes as Everest's program, incl businss courses, accounting, and all of Microsoft Offices. Their price? $26.00 per unit. The cert is 35 units total, for a grand price of $910. And of course, there are fees such as health, for which I paid $24, parking passes, and books. But even with the price of books I will be paying nowhere near $14, 000.

My advise...Everest is a school for those looking to take career-oriented classes, and get through them in a shorter time frame. Most community colleges offer this option as well via certificats or AA degrees, so it would be a good idea to start there first.

I'm on a mission to bring Everest down lol. Everest is run by a corporate machine out to make money, masked by over enthusiastic admission reps and convincing commericals. I do not support them. I was even going to apply for a job with them until I found more info. I would never want to be apart of an organization like that.

For those complaining about Everest's promises to find a job...I've been applying and searching for a new job for awhile. It's going to be tough, and no school has magical job placement powers. The job market is very competitive right now, and you'll more than likely have to go at it alone. If anything, you should be more corcerned about the fact that the Everest "powers that be" care more about making thier pockets fat than giving students a quality education. That's not to say that some of the classes are not of quality, but if some of the programs they offer can be done for cheaper at an accredited school I think someone that cared about me would tell me that.

This is more like a compliment verses a complaint. First, I want to address job placement. No school can guarantee that you will get a job. Let me repeat...NO SCHOOL can guarantee job placement. The whole thing of HELP of finding a job is just that. It's help, not a guarantee. A school can't help you if you go to them for help one time. You have to show that you are serious by consistently speaking with the school's staff in their job placement departments. You need to do that when you are a student, don't wait until after you graduate to start looking for a job!

Secondly, I want to address the transfer of credits. No school can guarantee that ALL of your credits will transfer. It is up to the receiving school to make that decision if they will accept those credits. Even though the degrees may the same, the programs are different. That means that one class you take at one college, may not go over the same information as another class. Do your research if you plan to transfer schools! (Common sense)

To get a job out there, you sometimes need education that is higher than high school PLUS experience. You have to know how to market yourself and be determined to get a job. You can't rely on anyone to get you a job, you can only rely on yourself. So learn to market yourself, get the education you need, and look for those jobs that you qualify for. NO School can guarantee that you will get a job when you graduate! Get a clue folks! The mistake is not the school, it's yourself for not using the resources to your fullest capabilities.

College or Used Car lot peddling degrees. Like myself and so many others who have fallen victim to these money hungry franchises aka "FOR PROFIT COLLEGES, " it feels hopeless. Student loans are now up to $40, 000, I had to decline a pre-med opportunity because I just found out none of my credits from Everest will transfer to any college I was told they would transfer to. When I called the college to acquire as to why I was deceived, I was put on hold, sent to various voicemails and had nobody help or return a phone call to an Alumni. The program was a waste of 2 years and for being a single young mother, I don't have 2 years to just throw away. Now I have to start my education over again somewhere else to get to where I wanted to be. DON"T BE THEIR NEXT SUCKER!!!

I have loads of info and evidence to back up every bad word someone has said of that fine example or "HIGHER EDUCATION."

Save yourself the hassle and go to a real college where people actually give a damn about "THE AMERICAN DREAM AND BATTLING ADVERSITY TO BETTER YOUR LIFE." Everest College only wants your Signature and your money then they'll boot you to the side like yesterday's trash. They prey on hard working Americans, minorities, single moms, and the under-advantaged. Just watch their commercials. Who are they depicting? Who do they target? All your evidence is right in front of you. WATCH PBS.ORG AIRED ON MAY 4TH, 2010. FRONTLINE NEWS: COLLEGE INC.


HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR YOUR EDUCATION?...PROBABLY NOT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!

I'M VERY INTERESTED IN ANY FEEDBACK OR ANYONE ELSE WHO CAN OFFER THEIR STATEMENT. I HAVE MORE INFO INCL. VOICE RECORDINGS, OTHER STATEMENTS, LETTERS, AND FACTS. [email protected]

I started attending Everest in October of 2009. I completed classes in May 2010. I am 33 years old.

I am currently doing my externship.

First I want to say that I have never been late. I had perfect attendance. I maintained a 97 percent GPA and was involved in their Ambassador program.

The first externship I was assigned to was a total joke. Like I kept waiting for a crew to pop up and tell me I was on Candid Camera.

Long story short:

The doctor, who was not actually a doctor, but a PA, apparently showed up whenever she damn well pleased. I was told she had been up to 2 hours late.

No one else had a key to the office, meaning that they can't do anything until she gets there. They also didn't get paid for the time they spent there, when she wasn't present. Whenever she decides to show up is when people start getting paid. She makes no effort to tell people in advance what will be expected of them.

They were using white out on their paperwork, which is a no-no in medical offices and much of their charting was illegible.

The sole, existing employee was a 19 year old kid who does not have a phlebotomist's license and who is not OSHA or HIPAA certified, but is performing venipunctures and injections on patients. He had no idea how to take blood pressure manually. The doctor apparently just showed him how to do these things.

Blood and urine specimens were being stored in the same fridge with food and drink. Someone put a vaccutainer in the centrifuge, with a loose lid. There was plasma all over the counter.

I got a new site, per my own request, mostly because I didn’t want to work somewhere that was breaking so many laws, lest I somehow become implicated in them. I was reassigned to an organization that provides vaccinations, health screenings and various other services, to large companies.

The building I’m doing my externship in is not used to see patients, despite having several perfectly good exam rooms. Patients occasionally come there for routine blood work. But it is rare. It is actually a business office for an organization that does lab work, offers vaccines and provides health screenings for employees of large corporations.

Eight or so months ago, I let some overly enthusiastic admissions rep talk me into training to become a medical assistant. If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would not attend this school. I wish I had just gone back to college to finish my real degree, instead of putting myself even further in debt with this useless bullshit. They act like you need to sign up as soon as possible and you can't wait. They even do the loan information right then and there. That should have been a tip-off, that their priorities lie in making money and not actually educating or helping others procure employment.

The product that I thought I was buying from Everest in no way resembles what I ended up with. I did everything they said to do, showed up every day, did my work and whatnot. They make it sound so much better than it really is.

When the time comes, they are scrambling and desperate to provide their students with externships, when there aren’t enough to go around, and only a small percentage of them will have students doing anything remotely similar to what they learned at school.

And most of those sites, were they to hire you, will only pay you minimum wage anyway. I could have gotten a minimum wage job WITHOUT spending 7 months at Everest. Someone please tell me why I did this again? Because I can’t remember.

What irks me is how hard the admissions reps try to sell it. They embellish your odds of getting a better job. The stats I heard about this place got more a more dire, the longer I'd been in the school. My admissions rep told me that the chances of job placement were almost ninety percent. Slowly that number got smaller and smaller. A few months later, I find out that it's closer to 25, and that most of those people obtained their jobs on their own, without the assistance of Everest.

They tell you that you're guaranteed an extern site. But slowly that evolves into them encouraging you to go and find your own site, despite not having any real connections or resources available to us, to do just that.

When I dared to complain about my second site, they tried very hard to make me feel like I was the one with the problem, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I would even go so far as to call it brainwashing. We are lucky apparently, that they help us at all. Because apparently fifteen grand isn't enough to compensate them for their trouble.

I was told that they were going to drop me, if I didn’t stop whining, because being a medical assistant means having to do things like cleaning toilets and dusting furniture. None of which were we informed about duing our seven mods. Now I understand people needing a ride home. But I don't have an extra helmet anyway.

I actually don’t have a problem with doing that type of stuff. I just assumed that they would be in addition to my main reason for being there, which would be something medical in nature. It never occurred to me that my main purpose for being there was to.

Here’s what admissions reps need to be telling prospective students.

1. Medical assisting CAN pay up to $25 an hour. But the chances of that are very rare.

2. It’s more likely that you’ll be making $8 an hour instead, which is barely enough to live off of, when you’re attempting to pay back your loans.

3. Medical assistants basically exist to do all the grunt work, so the doctors and nurses don’t have to.

4. One is not intended to have a real career as a medical assistant. It’s actually considered a stepping stone to becoming an LVN, which of course you will do through Everest college, because the more money you drop there, the better.

4. Medical assistants will probably be doing very little that is medical in nature.

5. Medical assistants are likely to be glorified janitors, spending their time sweeping, mopping, cleaning toilets, watering plants, feeding the fish, dusting, taking out the trash, doing the doctor’s dishes.

6. Everest will provide you with an extern site. But the truth is, if you want a decent one, you’ll have to go out and find it yourself.

7. Everest will try to help you find a job, once you graduate. But the truth is, the chances of you being hired anywhere are only about 25 percent or less.

8. You can get a job just as easily without going to Everest, as you can if you DO go to Everest.

9. Everest will do as little as they think they can get away with.

Bottom line. I pray to God I get a job somehow. I cannot believe I fell for such a scam.

My complaint revolves around the parking! Before I continue I have read some of the other complaints and I am a little confused…

I had a great experience, met a really amazing admissions counselor (Shabir) who helped me map out a plan. My instructor was fair and challenged me, (Mr. Emblton) that is why I graduated and was hired at my placement (thanks Gina ). I read so many complaints on this board and heard so many from classmates and feel that they are at least as much to blame. I had tough days and heavy loads, which student doesn't? The difference in the outcome depends upon the response. Therefore my second complaint is against those who post rage rants while presenting half truths. Too bad this board doesn’t contact the business and give them a chance to present both sides.

Ever notice anytime someone fails that it is someone or some things fault and when they achieve their goals, it was because of them…hmmm… None of them posted their progress reports or placement evaluations...hmmm… I am responsible for my success and failure. Everest was a great school for me academically and I am better equipped for my future. There is no Wi-Fi and not enough parking space; they need to modernize their building. I feel that these investments can create a world class learning environment.