Penn Foster Online: Scam or it worth it?
There are a lot of reasons why someone would want to take an online course. Sometimes you don't have time to go to an actual campus because of work or family, maybe you have a disability or just don't have a school near you with the courses you want.I found community college not for me. I tried going to other online schools and ended up at Academy of Art University which I have to say is A M A Z I N G!!! I loved it there and wish I could go back but just for summer courses I paid about $4000. Ouch. I'm still in debt but I can say that those 2 courses taught me more than I've learned over 5 years! I tried to go to the Art Insitute Online but found that their financial aid and advisors seemed to have no idea what they were doing. I knew more then they did and would frequelty correct them. -___-
So on went my search for a good education. I should note that my major is Graphic Design. I actually heard of Penn Foster searching web design online schools. I tried googling to find any type of review on the programs and found next to nothing. The only thing there was were the Penn Fosters own forums which can be somewhat biased. I was really hesitant to sign up but since they had a $1 down payment and you could work out payments I thought what do I have to lose I can cancel whenever I want. Of course I looked over everything I could on the site: the courses, descriptions, accredidation, etc. The courses seemed what I was looking for so I took the plunge. I was honeslty surprised.
So as soon as you pay for the downpayment ($1 as of 6/27/2012) you'll get the info to log in. You choose the username & password and log on. Since I've been to a couple different online schools I've seen user friendly designs as well as some.... not so user friendly. I was worried that it would be hard to navigate through the different courses or connect with your teachers. It wasn't. Everything is laid out for you pretty simply as you can see. The 1st pic is the Penn Foster web site showing the down payment option of $1. The 2nd is the log in screen. The 3rd shows how your courses would be listed. You do them in sequentual order and can't move on unless the first one's done. I didn't have a 4th pic so I just put that one up lol.
So I should note here that instead of actually starting immediately I put it off. I didn't mean to I just got side tracked. During that time (like a week) I had a friend sign up for the Veterinary Technician course. She was HUGELY disappointed. While it is accredited and you CAN get a license if you pass your tests, the way it's set up you need to be extremelly focused! They send you something kind of like a packet and then quiz you on it. That's it. No books, no video's, not much help on the forums at least not so far. Just a lot of pages and a quiz at the end.
So after she told me that I was even more nervous. Yes, I can always get my money back but I didn't want to have to search for another school. Again. I had already logged on and did some courses, I just had to patiently wait for my first shipment. I was a little scared they would just send me a lot of pages and quiz me like my friend.
So the day I got the shipment I was so nervous. It didn't seem that big but it was in a cardboard box. It didn't weigh a lot so I got scared. But no worries they sent an actual textbook! Not some random book "DIY guide" an actual education textbook. The unit was called Color Theory and the book went very in depth. It wasn't huge so I didn't get nervous about having to read it but it is more than a couple of pages lol. It came with a study unit to help make sure you learned what you read and some activities. I've actually taken a color theory class before and loved it and actually found this almost as informable as the semester class I took. My next shipment is almost on it's way and I'm so excited.
The intro to graphic design had a lot of good info and was very easy to read. I soon finished the orientation part and was ready to get my first shipment. Your courses are one at a time which is kinda good it lets you focus on one so you don't get overwhelmed. You can't move on to the next unit until you finish the first. Once you complete it (or sometimes after you do a certain amount of quizes) they'll ship the next unit.
xoxo, Dimples
*Note this is my own personal opinion, I was not given any type of compensation of any kind. BUT I'm not opposed of the idea ;)
So on went my search for a good education. I should note that my major is Graphic Design. I actually heard of Penn Foster searching web design online schools. I tried googling to find any type of review on the programs and found next to nothing. The only thing there was were the Penn Fosters own forums which can be somewhat biased. I was really hesitant to sign up but since they had a $1 down payment and you could work out payments I thought what do I have to lose I can cancel whenever I want. Of course I looked over everything I could on the site: the courses, descriptions, accredidation, etc. The courses seemed what I was looking for so I took the plunge. I was honeslty surprised.
So as soon as you pay for the downpayment ($1 as of 6/27/2012) you'll get the info to log in. You choose the username & password and log on. Since I've been to a couple different online schools I've seen user friendly designs as well as some.... not so user friendly. I was worried that it would be hard to navigate through the different courses or connect with your teachers. It wasn't. Everything is laid out for you pretty simply as you can see. The 1st pic is the Penn Foster web site showing the down payment option of $1. The 2nd is the log in screen. The 3rd shows how your courses would be listed. You do them in sequentual order and can't move on unless the first one's done. I didn't have a 4th pic so I just put that one up lol.
So I should note here that instead of actually starting immediately I put it off. I didn't mean to I just got side tracked. During that time (like a week) I had a friend sign up for the Veterinary Technician course. She was HUGELY disappointed. While it is accredited and you CAN get a license if you pass your tests, the way it's set up you need to be extremelly focused! They send you something kind of like a packet and then quiz you on it. That's it. No books, no video's, not much help on the forums at least not so far. Just a lot of pages and a quiz at the end.
So after she told me that I was even more nervous. Yes, I can always get my money back but I didn't want to have to search for another school. Again. I had already logged on and did some courses, I just had to patiently wait for my first shipment. I was a little scared they would just send me a lot of pages and quiz me like my friend.
So the day I got the shipment I was so nervous. It didn't seem that big but it was in a cardboard box. It didn't weigh a lot so I got scared. But no worries they sent an actual textbook! Not some random book "DIY guide" an actual education textbook. The unit was called Color Theory and the book went very in depth. It wasn't huge so I didn't get nervous about having to read it but it is more than a couple of pages lol. It came with a study unit to help make sure you learned what you read and some activities. I've actually taken a color theory class before and loved it and actually found this almost as informable as the semester class I took. My next shipment is almost on it's way and I'm so excited.
The intro to graphic design had a lot of good info and was very easy to read. I soon finished the orientation part and was ready to get my first shipment. Your courses are one at a time which is kinda good it lets you focus on one so you don't get overwhelmed. You can't move on to the next unit until you finish the first. Once you complete it (or sometimes after you do a certain amount of quizes) they'll ship the next unit.
xoxo, Dimples
*Note this is my own personal opinion, I was not given any type of compensation of any kind. BUT I'm not opposed of the idea ;)
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