Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Medical Assistants
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Northern Virginia Community College, Tidewater Community College, Centura College, and Richmond School of Health and Technology.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Richmond School of Health and Technology, Centura College, Heritage, and Centura College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Richmond School of Health and Technology, Northern Virginia Community College, Tidewater Community College, and Eastern Shore Community College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Eastern Shore Community College, Tidewater Community College, and Northern Virginia Community College.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Centura College, Heritage, Northern Virginia Community College, and Tidewater Community College.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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Centura College • Chesapeake, VA
Studying Medical Assistant (completion in 2000)
• 1/16/2012
"I was able to gain good employment with this certification and working from the bottom. However, I found it frustrating that many years after graduation, they forget and seem clueless on how to help you."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It accomplishes its goal. However, I would caution others regarding communication with the school. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | The school has been purchased and sold since I attended. Most of the employees have been replaced. The current reputation is as average as the last. |
| Program Quality | 5 | The information needed to be more up to date. Many things are all computerized now. Even as I entered the field, things were changing. It would have been helpful to be ready for the changes as we entered the field. |
| Instruction | 5 | The instructors were outstanding, from their experiences in the military. These made it easy to relate to real-life situations. The books were less than up to date. |
| How Difficult | 6 | The better instructors took additional time to be sure we were challenged. They met the criteria for the school, with added information and knowledge to better prepare us for the field and dealing with patients on a daily basis. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The book instruction was due to criteria required by the school. Even the teachers knew it was fairly outdated and shared their own stories of real-life experiences, to help update the situations and lessons. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | Allowed students the chance to break if there was a family emergency or for other reasons approved by the admin. Afterwards, you could still come back to finish the education and certification. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | More up-to-date, realistic equipment for hands-on clinical training would have been nice. It was kind of a shock going into the field with equipment that was not the same as the equipment we trained on. |
| Social Life | 4 | Social events were not supported at this school. |
| Placement Services | 3 | Job placement, although offered, does not have a strong sense of urgency. I was able to locate a position with a children's hospital before they were able to get me an interview. |
| Alumni Network | 1 | I have tried to contact them since graduating. Although it was several years ago, they have been difficult to get answers from. As I continue with the industry, I have updates and information I need access to. It has become very frustrating that due to time, even though successful, I cannot get a response. |
Fortis College • Richmond, VA
Studying RMA (completion in 2009)
• 2/13/2012
"I wish that the job placement program was better. I also think that the school should have a better screening program."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | I did learn things at the school, so I might recommend the school to some people. I would recommend the school to people that can study on their own. |
| Program Reputation | Other than the people that I when to school with, no one really seems to know of the school I went to. | |
| Program Quality | 3 | I feel like the school that I chose was more interested in the students being in class than in actually teaching them. I also think that my school had outdated equipment. |
| Instruction | 6 | I learned a lot in school. I had some very great teachers that did the best they could with what was given to them. |
| How Difficult | 6 | I was a full time student and had a full time job, so sometimes I had a lot on my plate but I did it all. I think the program overall would have been very easy if I didn't have to work full time. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | A very good mix of class room learning and lab working. I liked the lab learning better. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | The school had no weekend or online classes. You could enroll in day or evening classes, but once enrolled you could not change. |
| Academic Facilities | 3 | The school had one room which was the library and the media center. Most of the class rooms had a good amount of space in them, but the class sizes were big so the rooms often had too many people in them. |
| Social Life | We only had a cookout for Halloween. Most of the students had jobs and families. | |
| Placement Services | 1 | The school did have a job placement program, but I was only called for one interview. I was contacted by the job placement program people and I was told that for them to send out my resume, I would have to come to meetings twice a week. |
| Alumni Network | I don't even think that there is an alumni network. |
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