The courses worth taking are M-Tec and Andrews. Their graduates
Posted By: me on 2008-09-06
In Reply to: Needing Advice - Nancy
are usually able to get jobs without 2 years of experience that is normally required. Is if worth it? Do you have small children, a husband, do you want a social life - then no it isn't worth it. If you just want to do this PT, in addition to a FT job, it might be okay for a short time, but it gets harder and harder to make a living as an MT. A lot of companies use offshore MTs, they get the good work and the crap gets left for us, or it all goes and we get stuck editing it for pennies and you end up working for minimum wage. You'll also burn out in a short time trying to do both.
if there is just you and you don't care to have a life then it would be okay and if you have a knack for it you can make some decent money. If you are a respiratory tech in a hospital talk to people in your department. Maybe you can start out doing work-related transcription without having to go to school and you can get a small taste of what it is like to see if you really want to pursue it.
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Is it worth taking the RMT exam?
Does passing the RMT exam help you find a job if you have no experience? I'm wondering if I should try to take this test.
Andrews, MTEC, and CareerStep produce graduates that are regularly hired. NM
x
Spheris hires graduates only from MTEC, Career Step, Andrews
nm
M-Tec and Andrews as the 2 best, definitely worth the money. See message.
They both have instructors, Career Step does not. They also use REAL books, CS uses books written by the person who sells the course and they are not as good. I took the CS course and if I had it to do over, I would choose M-Tec or Andrews instead.
You will be limited as to companies you can work for using only dial-up, and I think that's actually getting worse as more and more places require high speed internet.
Why do we have to take more courses
Why should we have to take more courses when we just graduated to get hired somewhere. That doesn't make any sense. Are there any companies hiring new graduates without this retarded request?
best on-line courses?
Hi all,
I'd like to take an on-line MT course; can anyone recommend one over any others? I plan on doing an internship for experience when I'm done for a while so I can get an actual paid position. How hard will it be to start working from home as I have a 20 month old that I want to stay at home with.
Thanks!
To compare courses ...
Why don't you check out Andrews and MTec's websites to get an idea of how much actual dictation you should have had to transcribe. Radiology is mostly anatomy, so if you had thorough training in anatomy and physiology along with concentration on acute care, you had proper training for radiology, IMO.
Just like home MT courses, not all SM
community college courses/programs are created equally.
I respectfully disagree with you about community college graduates receiving a sub-par education. Some maybe, but definitely not all.
I attended an EXCELLENT program at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. The program director is a CMT. We had 2 semesters of medical terminology, 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, a medical calculations class, a medical ethics class, 3 semesters of medical coding, 5 semesters of medical transcription (we transcribed the beginning and advanced SUM tapes two times each), business communication (intense grammar course), a 360-hour externship at a local hospital or MT service, along with all of the general education courses needed to receive an associate's degree.
So, while some CC programs may not put out qualified transcriptionists, others do an excellent job of preparing their students to succeed. I tested with and was hired by Medquist the month before I graduated, and I started the Monday after graduation. Granted I was a newbie and was slow and made some silly mistakes (as all newbies do), but I had a solid education, which made a huge difference.
So if you are trying to decide which program to attend, make sure you do your homework (whether you are choosing a home correspondence course or choosing to attend a community college program). Find out what classes are taught, which transcription tapes they use, whether or not they help with job placement, who is running their program, etc. Knowledge is power! :) Good luck to all of you who are struggling with this important decision. 
Warmly,
Chickadee
Cheap MT courses
A course from M-Tech or Andrews may or may not get you a job right after completion, but that's not the only way to get into the field. I took the good advice of some very helpful MTs from this board and shopped around my area for a job. With my meager PCDI education that I studied over about a year and spent $795 for, I was able to get a position at my local hospital ($15/hour!!). I will be in-house for a while, and then I will have the option of working from home. You do what will work best for you, but I didn't have an extra three grand lying around to train for a job when I could pay out less money and then get paid to better my skills.
cheapie MT courses
Some, not all, seasoned MTs are not very helpful. They can be very discouraging and try to convince new MTs that unless they get their training from some expensive school like M-Tec or the Andrews School that they won't find a job; I wanted to train with one of the aforementioned schools but just could not afford it. Most of my MT training was on the job. In later years, I took a Medical Terminology course. Currently, I am enrolled in a formal training program, because I would like to become an RMT and eventually a CMT. This is how I found a recent MT job: 1) posted my resume on MT daily; 2) posted my resume on Transcription Matters; 3) company contacted me and made me an offer without my even testing with them; all this occurred within little over a week's time. I only have 4 solid years of MT experience (specializing in Urology, Rehabilitative Medicine, and Psychiatry). Hallejulah!
NO courses can offer certification
Just to clarify, there are no courses which can offer "certification" in medical transcription, so there aren't any "certification courses."
If you want certification, you have to take the AAMT certification examination, which, if you pass, will grant the CMT certification.
Other than that, you can take a course which will give you a "certificate of completion." And that is only worth the price of a piece of paper. Having that piece of paper is not what will get you a job.
What gets you a job is the ability to transcribe well enough that an employer doesn't have to train you all over again.
And then you have to keep it, so the transcription skills you pick up in school had better be top-notch or you'll be wishing you had just gotten a job at MacDonald's.
Cheapie Correspondence Courses
Hi everyone,
I really need some advice. I've looked into all sorts of different MT training courses - all I want (and need in the amazing job market in which I live) is a basic course to learn Medical Terminology and basic MT skills.
With this in mind - would taking a course like Stratford Career Institute's course, or ICS Canada's course help me get an entry level MT job? From there, would I be able to train on the job and take additional courses to gain more skills?
I am fortunate to live in a market where there are too many of these jobs and not enough workers. I even heard from one person that with just Medical Terminology you can sometimes get an MT job.
But, I thought at least one of these courses would teach me the very basics. Opinions?
Thanks,
Christina
I'm assuming you didn't take courses from one of the better
schools as they help with job placement. Have you looked into companies offering menitoring programs. I would love to mentor a newbie, but I get paid to produce lines.
They are legit, just not good. To take their courses you have to have
8th grade education, which should tell you they aren't that great right there. My teen son took one of their courses (not MT). It was very poorly written, if you flunk a test you can take it again and they will pass you, even if you flunk it again. There were lots of errors in it too.
I would look into a different program to take or try to find a menitoring program. It is difficult for people who have gone to some of the better schools to get jobs. Penn Foster does not have a good reputation so it will be much more difficult for you to get a job. I would try to find something local where you could work in-house for at least 2 years to get some experience.
MT schools are in the BUSINESS of selling MT courses.
Of course they are going to paint a rosy picture of this career.
Allied is not a very good course, and the MT companies know it. That's why they say they require 2 years' experience. (But they will waive that for grads of the better schools.)
Career step and Meditec-sister courses-sm
I understand these are two in the same course ran by sisters. One charges much more than the other. What makes Career Step any better than Meditec if the Meditec course is basically what Career Step is using to begin with, and the Meditec lady wrote the course?
People selling MT courses certainly aren't going to warn you
"Don't take my MT course, it's ***edited by Moderator*** and you won't be able to get a job afterwards." It's up to the person interested in becoming an MT to do some research about the job before plunking down money for training. If they do, they will learn that in order to be able to get a decent job, they need the kind of training provided at Andrews School or M-TEC, and not to try to save money on "cheaper" schools.
It's sad that people don't find out more about these courses before they slap down money
x
taking the course
HERRO??? I thought that taking the MT course would be a great idea having a past career in nursing and health insurance, but now that I'm about 1/2 way thru, I feel SOOO incompetent due to my grammar and punctuation errors. I posted a portion of a transcript to see if my punctuation was correct and the moderator deleted it...Another thing that confuses me is that a sentence can begin with "comes into er today..."; but in other parts of the transcript, if the sentence isn't grammatically correct, it's wrong. WTH? Anyhow, can anyone direct me to the best way to relearn punctuation/grammar as my educators will not reply to my e-mails or return my calls! Great school...javascript:editor_insertHTML('text','');
Help with taking test
Hi there....I'm hoping somebody can help me. I have to take a test using Windows Media Player (no foot pedal yet), and I can't figure out how to type in Word and still be able to use the keyboard keys. Any tips would be much appreciated.
How long is it taking all new MTs
I have been at this job for almost three months and I have yet to rest the goal everyday in one week. I can't wait until my little ones are in daycare/school again!
Taking Tests
I am considering MT as an at-home career also and I wanted to know what is the procedure to sending in resumes, taking the tests, etc.? Also, are you hired on an hourly basis or by the amount of lines you can produce in a certain time? Any help and advice you can send my way is very much appreciated.
It will depend on what course you are taking.
nm
I am taking Career Step course and ...
if you go to their forums, you can find that a lot have gotten jobs. The Career Step course is self-motivated. You do a lot on your own, but you have a support group to help when you need it. I have never had a problem w/ getting a reply back when I have needed one. It is taking me over a year to finish because I work full-time, and I am transcribing for a dentist that I started working for after I started the transcription portion of the course. Again, you have to be self-motivated, but don't you have to do that with almost everything?
Advice for taking the test!!
Just nervous.
Yeah, and if you can't make it as an MT after taking the VLC course,
you can always take their basket making class.
spare me - taking a MT course is not going to guarantee a job
can we skip the sell job here? She has experience, might need some QA with different work but certainly NOT a training course.
It all depends on the training course you are taking
If it's not Andrews, M-TEC, or Career Step, you're going to have a much harder time finding an at-home job. Not that it can't be done, just will be harder.
Thanks for taking time to answer.
x
Taking a quiz - I'm stumped!!
We do not allow test/exam/quiz questions on this site.
Moderator
It's called taking advantage. SM
Two weeks at no pay? Two year contract? Please. More like 2 years of indentured servitude. Good luck with that.
Graduates, has anyone found
that M-Tec's curriculum was superior to Career Step? Also, for M-Tec grads, were you able to repeat a section (if you tested poorly) until you got it right, and improved? Was there a limit on how many times you could re-test on any given area (I'm thinking of my weaker areas that might need extra time.)
TIA! :) -Anne
Who hires new graduates?
Can anyone give me some ideas on who hires new graduates? I'm having no luck.....
Looking for graduates from either CAI or Medtranscription.com
Hi,
I'm looking into MT programs, and am looking for feedback from graduates of either CAI, or Medtranscription.com
Would like to know about your experiences with these places! Thanks! Laura
Any MT Advantage graduates?
I'm looking at the MT Advantage Career Center. I would like to hear from anyone who has taken their course. I'd like to know how successful their students are at obtaining jobs after completing the course.
Thanks Much!
It isn't just new graduates. The job market...sm
is not what it was in MT. I guess the economy has affected it.
One of the hardest things I've done was find a job after MT school. I searched and searched. I finally just kept applying and somone gave me a chance.
Are you taking tests and failing or not even getting responses? nm
s
When taking the online test with companies...
...that offer it, is it acceptable to use reference materials. I didn't see anywhere on the page that I couldn't. Just askin'.
I've replaced them in a desktop, taking apart a
laptop isn't quite as easy and I'd recommend you have a professional do it.
There is no difference in working on a laptop versus a desktop. If there is a problem it may either be an equipment issue, such as the sound card, or a setting issue. Maybe you need to update drivers or something similar. I've worked on a laptop exclusively for 6 years.
Support for AHP students and graduates
I would like to get any support or encouragement from other people who have either completed the AHP course or are currently taking it. I have read so many negative comments in here about the program. I am about 3/4 through the MT course and am now getting a little worried. Please share your stories and job searches to give the rest of us some hope. If all you have is negative comments, please keep them to yourself. This is meant to be a support group. Thanks!
Employers will hire new graduates of
well-regarded MT schools, schools such as Andrews, M-Tec, and Career Step. Unfortunately, PCDI has a very poor reputation among MT employers, so it might be that that is causing the problem rather than lack of experience since many well-known MT employers will waive the two-year experience requirement for graduates of schools that are known to turn out job-ready MTs (Andrews, M-Tec, and Career Step). You might have better luck with a local doctor's office or clinic that does only one specialty. If you continue to have difficulty finding work, you might want to consider supplementing whatever training you got throught PCDI with a course from one of the "Big Three". Their graduates generally have several job offers upon graduation, plus those schools provide placement advice and assistance to their graduates.
WHAT??? to say that if a newbie graduates from a top three, it makes
her as qualified as someone with two years experience. Puhleeze. That is simply wrong.
Just telling the truth. Many of their graduates
come here and say the same thing. Their program stinks. Any company that advertises on matchbooks and TV you really have to wonder how good they are. You never hear of M-Tec or Andrews advertising.
Spheris hires new graduates
Good luck!
Are there any companies hiring graduates?
I graduated from Career Step program and looking for a second shift position. Does anybody work for a company that is currently hiring graduates? Thanks for any responses! 
Hi, 'me': You suggest taking a mentoring program
for newbies.
Could you name some companies or schools which offer mentoring programs?
TIA
The better schools are not having problems placing graduates
I'm asking why the community colleges can't do the same thing. Why can't they go take the approval test with AAMT and prove that they are just as good as the so-called best schools, the ones that are approved because they were able to pass that test. Maybe that would help them be able to get employers to hire their students. Can they not pass that test?
Taking classes for medical terminology and "some transcription"
Most nationals will only consider you if you are an actual graduate of one of the AAMT-approved courses. If not, she may look for local clinics who are willing to train.
any new graduates live in Orange County California.
From what I gather, and remember as I was in your shoes 15 years ago, to get a job is tough. Are new graduates interested in working in externship program and a more experienced transcriptionist's residence for maybe 6-7 cents per line??? I have been pondering this and would appreciate any feedback.
I've seen plenty of these graduates scrounging for work.
This board isn't the only board in town, and I've seen many of the grads from your favorite schools searching for work just like everyone else. Just because "you" haven't seen it here doesn't mean it's not happening!
Besides, these schools are mostly affiliated with nationals, which IMO, stink anyhow. I'd much rather work for a nice small private. Nationals are not the be-all and end-all by any means, and they work with just a couple of the big boys. The ones who take the biggest advantage of their employees!
Keep looking Alicia. Don't listen to the school cheerleaders.
Are there companies offering 7 cents a line to new graduates? sm
This person has been offered 6 cents a line but I know the company and getting a raise will be like pulling teeth even if you do excellent work. This graduate will be doing acute care and feel like 6 cents is okay for clinic but 7 cents is more in line for acute care. This student graduated with honors from MT course.
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