Well, where do I begin. I guess at the beginning...First, I signed up for the Medical transcription program because I'm a military spouse and this school was recommended by AHDI and the military education department. That's where their credibility ends. After they took my money and signed me up for the course, they sent me only some of the books that I needed and a faulty cd-rom that I had to haggle with them to replace (they wanted to charge me over $150 for a defective disk that THEY sent to me!) About two months into the course, I needed technical help which I was unable to get by merely calling their offices, so since I'm in SoCal, I decided to drive down there. When I got there, they were dumfounded to actually see a student! It was a sales/recruiting boiler room and nothing more. They scrambled to find someone that could help me...no teachers, no IT professionals, just one of the phone jockeys that wasn't busy at that moment. This person, during the course of our conversation, admitted that her only qualification for helping me and advising me in this course is that she had taken it just months before. What?!? Ok, so anyways, I thanked her for her help and removed myself from the closet that they had me hook my laptop up in and went home. A few months later when I called because the "graders" were failing all of my homework assignments, this same person (Katherine B.) told me that even though I was doing stellar work, I had to go back and enter mistakes into the reports so that the graders could see markups on them. HUH?!? So, let me get this straight, I have to add mistakes to my pristine reports to receive full credit? There's something seriously not right here. Well, I did it. I added an "and" or an extra "is" to all of my homework assignments, and guess what, I passed them all with flying colors! So, I get into my beginning practicum course and start churning out benchmark reports only to find that they have no concrete grading guidelines and, in fact, the people grading the reports don't even work for Allied, don't refer to Allied's or AHDI's text books for adherence to the style rules and basically make up the grading policy as they go along. Not only that, but the person in charge of the whole department, where all of the grading complaints go to, Beth T., isn't even qualified by AHDI's own rules to be affiliated with ANY medical transcription school whatsoever because she is a CMT-R which means she retired her certification who knows how long ago and isn't required to keep up her continuing education! AHDI requires that ALL educators and graders hold a current CMT certification. Shameful! You turn in a report, one grader fails you and another passes you and you don't ever learn anything but how to correct what other people THINK is wrong with your reports, not only that, you have no way of knowing if these "graders" are even qualified to be looking at your reports in the first place as there's no way to contact the individual graders, they are the ghosts of the program. I have some pretty damning emails from this woman admitting to all of this in black and white. Now that I'm almost finished with every course that was on my blackboard (my tuition has been paid in full), they tell me that in order to receive my certificate of completion, I need to enroll and pay for the Advanced course. I was never told this when I first signed up! I was told that the price I paid would be it and I would receive my certificate after finishing all the courses on my blackboard. This is criminal. I've since submitted all of this information to local, state and federal authorities as well as AHDI itself who has assured me that this is a very serious issue that needs to be rectified immediately. DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH THIS SCHOOL!! IT'S A SCAM! Please no more BS, let potential victims of Allied hear the truth for once!! If I've saved just one person from falling for their predatory tactics, the time I spent typing this review was well worth it. Class Selection The tell you what to take and then when you "finish," you need to enroll in and pay for more classes or they hold your certificate hostage. Teaching Quality The head of the department, overseeing all grading, is not currently certified as a CMT per AHDI requirements for all MT school staff. The only requirement for MT educational support is that the person has taken the course within the last six months. They don't have to be employed in the industry or certified in any way by AHDI. Financial Aid I was never offered any and they were very aggressive in collecting my monthly payments. Accreditation They are currently under review by the AHDI programs coordinator for being in violation of several of the AHDI MT schools regulations.

JulieHaydon

USA

I felt like I was being scammed when I found out that the Medical Transcription field is being phased out and will use electronic devices, rather than a separate human being to transcribe doctor's notes. This will become effective in 2011 and it is federally mandated. I believe I should have been told this when I registered for this course. However, I was able to get my money back for the Medical Transcription course, but not for the first course I took, which was Medical Terminology. I can apply that course to the medical coding course which this school also offers, and I am considering whether to take that course or the medical billing course they offer.

sandyapt2000

Boca Raton, FL

While working fulltime, mother of an infant at the time I was looking for a career change an a way to take courses online inbetween working and being a mother. After looking into a few online schools I focused on Allied because I wanted to work in the medical field without going into nursing. I questioned the courses like Medical Billing and coding because with time and experience this line of work can be done from home. After talking to the advisor I was just going to do Medical Billing to start, then work on possibly the Medical Coding. The advisor told me you get a year to complete each course, and they prepare you for the official test. I was excited because I was so into the administrative qualities of Medical Billing and Coding. Then the advisor convinced me that since I was applying for a student loan to pay for these courses it would be wise to do sign up for all the courses at one time. Medical Billing, Medical Coding and Advanced Medical Terminology (which is a course by itself, but required for the Medical Coding course) I agreed to sign up for all 3 and got the loan. I received ALL the products required at one time and got started with the Terminology first since it would be useful for everything. I completed and passed that course, received the certificate and started the Billing course. For 3 months I had to stop my studies while recoving from a serious operation, but picked it back up when I was well healed. At the end of the first year I was told I was out of time....for everything!! I called and asked if that was possible since EACH course was suppose to be a year long. They gave me a 3 month extension because of the health issue, but not the full 3 years I would have gotten if purchased seperately. I was devastated!! When my year ran out, it became near impossible to get ANY advisor to assist me, they figured they got paid and I am done. I was able to return the Coding course since it was never opened or started and have my loan credited for just that course, but never got to finish my Billing course, so now I am out of $6000 for a loan I have to pay, and never got to complete the courses I paid for. They completely misleaded me by convincing me to do ALL 3 at one time. Don't take the risk with them, go somewhere else.

Victoriasplace

Newfield, NJ

                               This course becomes increasingly difficult to pass             I have worked as a Registered Nurse for 21 years. I dropped the money and began taking this course online. I was also working at a Nursing Home and caring for my 88-year-old mother at home. I saw medical transcription online as a way to work at home with my mother as her Alzheimer's progressed. I practiced to increase my typing speed and began the course. However to attain certification as a medical transcriptionist the final test required a rarely attainable typing speed and an immediate accurate interpretation of whatever was dictated. Such skills may apply in a hospital, clinic, or doctor's office. However a medical transcriptionist at home working online can accomplish the same task using the extra  time available. I lost almost $500 dollars in tuition despite having the medical knowledge to complete the test. But I did not have the speed of a hospital medical transcriptionist. I took the course to do the work  online and care for my mother. The final required course test was produced for a medical transcriptionist who had deadlines to meet at a hospital.

Hudkins

Salem, IN

I was going to get into medical transcription and decided to go with Allied Schools.  I wasted my time and money unless of course I decide to go into medical billing.  The course was ok, and I did learn a lot.   I would not recommend this college though as they didn't seem to be a lot of help to me at all.  I did really well on the course in spite of the glitches with their poor software.  I spent $800.00 for this course and I wish I hadn't.  They charge $900.00 for job help by the time you are done with the courses which seems a bit high to me.  If I decide to go into billing I will choose another college to complete the training with.  For now, it's up in the air what I will do.  This course does cover a lot of terminology which was put together well as far as the bookwork went.  So I will at least give them that.  I definitely would not do this over again through them though.  Not satisfied at all!

Choirgirl8

Tecumseh, KS