We took on a PCDI grad where I work, and they did not prepare her
Posted By: Oh no on 2006-08-20
In Reply to: Cheap MT courses - AH
adequately even to do radiology work. We utilized her as a temp for a few weeks, and the only thing that got her by was her good English vocabulary. She didn't even know when to ask questions a lot of the time. She didn't know how to utilize reference books or websites, either. So I had to look over every report I had time to and make corrections. Any reports that I couldn't check went straight to the radiologists. Thankfully most of them caught on that we had a newbie and they needed to check every word. It was a shock to them.
Acute care would have been leagues over her head, poor thing.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
PCDI grad
Hi, I graduated from PCDI and have been an MT for about a year now. I had to struggle a lot at first, more than people who would have graduated from the better schools, I am sure. I feel very good about where I am at now, though. I have two jobs, one part time and one full time, and have been working at home since December of last year.
However, if you feel you have not learned anything it may be best for you to look into more training. I would not turn around and tell someone looking to get into this field to go to PCDI. There is a big difference from what we learned and what reality is.
I am not trying to discourage you. If you have the will, I am sure you will do just fine. I would, though, really assess how you feel about it because if you wish to go this route, it will take a lot of work on your part. Good luck to you!
The schools that prepare you
to get a job at graduation are Andrews and M-Tec. Both are on-line schools that are extremely thorough. They are quite affordable for all you get, at only around $4000. That's like community college price, and yet the education is extremely specific to precisely what's going on in the industry. Either school will prepare you to a T and you will have no regrets.
We have had several CS grads come and admit CS was not all it was cracked up to be, and they should have done Andrews or M-Tec. They can get jobs and work, but they had a lot of catching up to do on their own to fill in the holes of their education.
CS gets promoted because they PAY people and companies to promote them.
Go to the M-Tec and Andrews websites and see all they have to say. One or both will test you for aptitude for this work. From your post you seem to be fine in the English department, which is critically important.
http://www.mtecinc.com/
http://www.andrewsschool.com/
This site discusses schools: http://www.ahdionline.org/scriptcontent/mtapproved.cfm
Either one will prepare you equally well (& give you the best education of any MT school).
Call each school and speak with Linda (Andrews) and Susan or Kathy (M-TEC), and then go with your gut as to which one you feel most comfortable. You can't go wrong with either of them.
I don't know about the footpedal issue, but M-Tec does teach expanders.
NEW GRAD WITH A JOB! YES, IT CAN & DOES HAPPEN! I'M NOT AN ANDREWS OR M-TEC GRAD!
I just wanted to share that I'm a new grad from EvCC/CS (Everett Community College utilizing CareerStep courseware), and I GOT A JOB! I'm IC status doing straight transcription and start working from home June 1st! I was offered .08 cpl, 24-hour TAT, and no ESL!
I'm posting my news here for a couple of reasons:
1. I want all the new grads out there job hunting to see that there are companies out there willing to hire you! I applied to only 4 companies, and I got this job on day 18 of my job hunt!
2. I'M NOT AN Andrews OR M-Tec GRAD! I believe those are probably great schools, but they are not the only schools that produce grads who get jobs! I graduated with high honors and earned real transferable college credits. If MT work does decline in the future and I need training in a different field, my credits will follow me.
I do believe getting that first MT job is about being in the right place at the right time! I also feel very lucky to have only applied to 4 places before landing this job, but my training played a huge part in that "luck." This company requires 100% on their employment tests, and without the great training I received, there is no way I would have made 100%.
In the end, great training, determination, hard work, and great networking skills will get you an MT job!
PCDI
I am actually a current student of PCDI's program, and I am seriously beginning to regret my decision to use this school. They lead you to believe that they have employment placement over the phone, but I have now come to find out that they only write you a letter of recommendation because there are so many students in their program. They take 6 weeks to grade lessons, so I have been doing all of my lessons at once and sending them in with 2 1/2 months between shipments. I become rusty between assignments and practically have to relearn everything again. I am not happy with PCDI. I would never recommend this school to anyone considering an education in medical transcription. I am looking for a mentor to help me because no company is interested in hiring me. One company actually told me that they will not hire new graduates from PCDI. This upsets me but it is hard to blame them. If anyone as aware of any company that will hire from PCDI, please let us know!! The whole reason I decided to begin a career in medical transcription is so that I can be here with my family while I bring in income. If I have to get an office job because no one will hire me or give me a chance then the purpose of this entire education is defeated.
pcdi
do you feel like you were trained for the equipment that is out there? have you been able to find a job?
pcdi
well that's good to know. its also great to find someone nice in this room. i have come across some rough people in here.
pcdi
MEANING??
PCDI
I have been attending PCDI but, I can't figure out if I should try to graduate. I have been able to find a mentor with many years experience who will train me. My concern is that when I need to branch off and get my own work, employers will want to see a completed course in MT. Any advice welcome!!
pcdi
I have gotten almost through all of the anatomy portion and supposed to be moving on to the third and final portion which is actual transcription.
pcdi
I think that if it were me, I would finish. You have nothing to lose by finishing. If nothing else, it may help you in the long run. You don't have that much more to go, and as I said in my last post, they may not let you get your money back for the tuition since you have already come this far.
It's PCDI
I think it depends on the individual,no matter what school you go to. It's the individual that either understands it or they don't. Practice makes perfect,the more you do,the more you learn.
PCDI???
That's where I took my course. When I find sample reports on the web they appear to be exactly as I have learned them, and the materials I obtained from PCDI are great resources. But, I'm still curious what others think of the training they offer? Is it up to par? I certainly don't want to be laughed at when I send out my resume!!!  Thanks! LISA
PCDI
You might not be laughed at, but sorry to say many places will not allow you to take their employment test, either. PCDI does not fully prepare you to work as an MT. You might get lucky. If not, you will need a better course, such as Andrews School or M-TEC.
Good luck to you.
PCDI
I believe I tested with about a dozen companies online. Simultaneously, I sent in my resume. I didn't go to PCDI, but if those companies are willing to let folks test up front, I'd think they'd want to see your skills before judging you solely based on what school you attended. I'd try those companies if you're worried about being laughed at. That way, you can prove yourself right away. Besides, it's good practice. There's a list of many MT companies on this site. Go through them to find the ones with the testing option up front.
PCDI
You may want to see the following threads for PCDI.
http://www.mtstars.com/find/index.cgi?board=medical_transcription-3&query=PCDI
http://www.mtstars.com/find/index.cgi?query=PCDI&board=main-1
pcdi
yeah i know what you mean i guess. i graduated with an a+ average from pcdi. but i have applied for two jobs and failed both of the tests horribly. I just felt like they didn't give me the real world experience. I guess i will just keep trying and practicing to see what happens.
I used PCDI and I can tell you.....
I felt lost!! I did pass a test to get hired where I am now. But I had to do a 6 month internship before getting paid, and boy did I have a lot to learn. I know they recently changed some of their curriculum, but I don't know if it is better or not. I do not think they are as extensive as you really need, but they will get you started, just don't be suprised if you have to do an internship to get a foot in the door somewhere.
PCDI
I am also finishing up with PCDI but have some medical background. I also feel let down. Who did you apply with that would consider you to test?
PCDI?
Did anyone take PCDI's medical transcription course? They just changed their name to Ashworth University. I just completed the couse. Do MT companies recognize this college as legitimate training?
PCDI?
Thanks for the response. My husband took a course from them, too. He got on with the city as a building inspector (he took the home inspection course) but he didn't make enough money off of it and had to go back to his old career.
PCDI
I currently attend PCDI. I am one exam away from completing the course. I have realized that PCDI only requires you to do 24 transcriptions. They total only 50 minutes of dication time! However, the CD they send you with those dictations have over 150 other dictations. I have been working my way thru them and I feel so much more confident about what I have learned. I know plenty of people have said PCDI is not a great school. But I know my medical terminology and in the process of typing all those dictations up I have increased my wpm. So while it isnt a top-notch school, I don't feel my money was wasted.
PCDI training
Nicole, you if do not know what H&P is after finishing a transcription course, then you did not get what you paid for!
PCDI teaches some grammar...
Believe it or not, PCDI actually does have a good section of their lessons put aside for grammar. I have still not mastered grammar (I'm not even close), but the lessons that PCDI gave me for grammar sure helped refresh some lost and forgotten rules!
See "Cheapie Correspondence Schools" post below for our most recent mention of PCDI. (nm)
(nm)
Penn Foster & PCDI can't help with job placement because it's too hard to find jobs for their
Not being mean, just honest. There's a reason they won't help with placement. They take your money for their course and don't care if you can get a job afterwards or not. And most people can't, because they are not trained well enough by those courses.
Wrong. As I said, her English vocab & grammar were great, but PCDI didn't teach her enough medic
With an adequate school she would have been great. She had been a secretary for years and had transcribed business dictation previously. She just couldn't learn enough terms in 3 months or whatever.
new grad
I see I left out the word
'hire' in my post!
Jewels
I'm a soon to be VLC grad...
... I've had no problems with the VLC. The instructors are wonderful, especially Carol. The tech team has always been helpful if I needed them. My materials came as scheduled, maybe a few days late but I live in a very rural area so wasn't expecting them on the EXACT date.
I've found the course to be very good. I've already tested for several companies, though I am a few days shy of completing the course, and have been told I am testing very well.
One thing about the VLC is you make your own deadlines, ect. and you will get out of it what you put in. Don't just rule out VLC because one person had a shipment problem.
New grad pay
I started as a new grad doing acute care at 7.5 cents a line. This was a year and a half ago with a large national. However, I think a new grad should be careful not to set expectations too high if they want to get a job.
CS grad here...
I have posted on here before about my experience with CS, it was all good.
I had NO problems getting a job right after school, or getting new jobs since. I think it was money well spent. :)
CS grad
I am a CareerStep grad. Their course is at your own pace. There were no mandatory online classes at all. There were chats that you could participate in, but they had little bearing on the actual course material. There are no instructors; you compare all your course work to a computer program. If your answers do not match verbatim what is in that program you then have to decide whether your answer is correct and phrased differently or wrong. Student support is available by phone and email. Looking at my email logs, I sent in 26 questions/concerns. I got 18 replies. There is a student forum, but any question you post there is typically answered by fellow students. I got through the course in 9 months, but I did work a full-time job during the course. I chose not to pay extra for the job assistance package and found a position through networking on a forum outside of the course.
I did get a job within a short time of graduating, but I trained with 2 M-Tec grads and an Andrews grad. They were way ahead of me from a newbie point of view. I felt like I was constantly swimming upstream just to keep up with them. I ended up getting some of the workbooks they had in their courses and studying at night which helped a lot. In retrospect, I probably should have taken a harder look at the course content and given less weight to the cost issue when choosing a school.
I hope I answered each of your questions, and best of luck to you with what ever course you choose.
M-TEC grad
M-TEC can be completed in various amounts of time. It just depends on how much time you invest daily. I started on May 23, 2006 and graduated on December 10, 2007. I had a lot of things interrupt my studies, but I still graduated before needing an extension. However, extensions are available on a month-to-month basis if you need more time than 18 months to graduate. The course is great, the instructors are knowledgeable and very helpful. All in all M-Tec is the best! Good luck!
M-TEC grad
As an M-Tec grad, I can assure you that we have incredible marketability, and did you know that M-TEC currently has a 100% placement rate of their grads? (I'm sure Andrews' rate is just as good too though - helpful, huh! hehe)
I have never gotten an "Andrews is #1" vibe; the vibe I've always had is the "Andrews and M-TEC are THE top schools" vibe. You cannot go wrong with either school, but M-TEC gets my vote. :)
CAI grad
Hi Erica. I'm a CAI grad and I have 2 friends that are also CAI grads. I loved the course. The director is great about answering any and all questions. They have a great message board for students. They also were very helpful with job placement. Good luck to you!
CAI Grad
I graduated last June and had a job within a week and a half. It is a really good program, easy to follow home study. I needed no additional guidance. When I took the course it was done in 6 months, now I think they give you a year for the same program. More than enough time. I really enjoyed the class. The dictations at the end are tough, but they are trying to train you for the worst of the worst.
NEW GRAD
DO NOT let her apply with TOTH Transcription. They hire anybody, particularly new grads to just type the work, but you will never see a pay check. TOTH is a scam operation. You have to trust me on that.
Look on the forum for all the complaints against Toth Transcription.
New Grad
I did graduate with a certificate in medical transcription. Any help would be appreciated, although from all of the boards I have read it look like you have to be in the right place at the right time. I guess everyone eventually gets that first job.
New Grad Help
 Help! How did everyone get their start in the MT business? I just graduated from Penn Foster and I have a medical office background and have worked as a medical claims insurance analyst for 14 years. I have applied to every online MT business I can find, but with no luck. Does anyone have an ideas?
Thanks
Kim
Sorry, but I am a CS grad. I can
of the education one receives there, but also to their business partnerships with the companies that are paid for everyone student that signs up with CS. I can attest to the fact that Andrews and M-Tec provide a more comprehensive MT education than CS does because I train new MTs. Our company no longer hires CS grads because they require far more remedial training and mentoring than grads from the other 2 programs.
New grad needs advice
Hi, I am a new graduate and I had my first interview with a possible in office transcription job. I was offered $8.00 and hour and I was wondering if this was the going rate for new transcriptionist? They asked me what I needed as far as pay, I told them $10 hour... they said and I quote "you will get $8 hour" I live in Tennessee and thought that was low? Any advice?
recent grad
Just wondering if there are any companies that hire new graduates. I am a recent grad. (Dec 06) and I am having a heck of a time finding people who hire newbies.
thanks
Sorry about the typos ... I'm a CS grad. nm
x
M-Tec grad. Do they actually help you with the job search?
Anyone who graduated from M-Tec--
Do they actually help with the job search or just provide the list of partners they work with on the website? When I first graduated from M-Tec., I went through the list of partners, applied to several, and had been called back and offered jobs at all. I stupidly took a job with a company that I can honestly say I hate so far (and have only worked for 2 weeks there) and can't see it getting much better in the near future.
I remember getting an e-mail from someone--Kathy, Susan, Karen...can't remember who it was now because my entire e-mail account was wiped out and I lost that e-mail--but whoever it was told me that if I was having trouble finding a job to let them know and they would help out. I went through the list again, reapplied to many of the companies, applied to several that I had not seen before, and have not heard from any of them now!
I don't know if a lot of companies are just not hiring right now or what is going on. Nothing has changed about me and before I was getting calls and e-mail daily offering me positions. Should have taken one of those instead of holding out for this crappy one.  Oh, and I think the issue is also that I only want to work about 15-20 hours a week and a lot of companies are FT only.
If they help other than providing a list, could someone tell me who I need to contact since I can't find the information anymore? Thanks!
I agree with CS grad. NM
x
New Grad Job Search
Ive been reading this forum for days and everyday I get more and more discouraged. Today I found a post about PCDI, which is the school I attend. I feel confident in the education I am receiving. They send me emails outlining any mistakes I may have made, and I truly am learning from my mistakes with their help. I've begun the job hunt and am not having much luck. Everytime I come across another company, I check them here and almost all of them seem to be 'bad compaies'. Are there ANY good companies to work for? I've read the archives and have seen all the bad things about all the companies. But being a newbie and in need of experience, would be such a terrible thing to gain that experience from a "bad" company? I don't want to set myself up for failure, but I deperately need some experience. I have noticed Trans am hires newbies. I have read all the negative comments about them. But being in need of experience, isnt experience from a not-so-good company be better than no experience? Help please!!!
Another Andrews grad
I graduated from Andrews a few months ago. I cannot speak with any authority on the experiences of other schools' graduates, but I can tell you that doors were opened for me just based on my Andrews graduation. I heard comments from recruiters that were very complimentary and tested at companies who, according to them, do not consider newbies unless they are Andrews grads.
I found it to be a very comprehensive learning experience, and I felt very prepared to begin working on my very first night as an MT. I also got the job I wanted, instead of the job I settled for.
I'm not an Allied grad, but if they can't/won't help you get a job
after they "supposedly" trained you to be an MT, you sure as heck do NOT want to give them another 900 bucks. There is no way that is going to help you find a job.
Allied/New Grad
I wouldn't pay them another 900 bucks. They should have given you a business communication class that would have helped you to write a great cover letter and resume. You can get some good advice on Career Builders and websites like it on how to write your cover letter and resume. Did you do an externship/internship? If you did not, you should definitely gain some experience that way first. Your school should be able to help you out with that and should have done that for you.
Also, don't wait until you graduate to look for work, the sooner you start the faster you will work. Just don't give up! I graduated in December and just now got hired by some one, and I graduated with high honors. It can take awhile, but my understanding is that now is the "season" that the MT business picks up, and you are more likely to find a job now than later. Good Luck! 
I am a successful CS grad
Maybe I am in the minority but I had a wonderful experience with Career Step and have a very profitable job now. I graduated in 2005 and went to work for Spheris in acute care right away. I tested for my CMT exactly at 2 years and passed! I owe all my knowledge to the course through Career Step. If I had it to do over again, I would.
Just my 2 cents ...
HELP! Where can new grad get hired?
I am a new graduate ... where can i get a job? All the posts want yrs experience! how do i get any ... if no one will hire me?
Thanks for any help
|
