Concorde Career College – San Diego

The physical therapy program is accelerated and the teachers really care if you succeed

I graduated from Concorde in November of 2014 from the Dental Assisting program. I enjoyed every module, every instructor, and colleague I met! Everyone seemed so enthusiastic around campus from the staff, the new students, reps, all the way down to Carl, the security guard down at the doors.
I read all these reviews and it just boggles my mind to see all these horrible remarks of a school that assists you in a career chosen by none other than yourself. I had no problems whatsoever, I took full advantage of the learning resource center down stairs, was fully equipped with materials I didn’t necessarily have and I never complained. I always felt like my needs mattered & my questions or concerns were answered. I wasn’t judged or mislead in any way, the course was straight forward, accelerated at best, but the knowledge & respect I gained while being here was well worth my time!
Marc Marasigan, one of the Admissions Representatives who is actually one of my closest friends now, helped me through the process of enrolling, it was an easy step here and there, a couple signatures & I was touring the campus. Saw a lot of friendly faces & potential in every single individual I met while I was there! I tried on my scrubs & the next thing you know it, I was at orientation, then at the blink of an eye I was in class on my first day ready to excel in the new career field I had decided to go with. I admit I was a bit nervous & scared of what I was getting myself into but as the modules went by & every test I passed with an «A», school just started getting more & more exciting. I aced state exams, finals, pop quizzes, I even enjoyed typing up 5 to 10 page MLA format essays with sites cited. I never knew that going back to college would result in meeting great people & having instructors that been have in the field long enough to teach with their eyes closed & become great influences & friends to me!
I could have never graduated with such positivity if it weren’t for my colleagues, instructors & staff on campus such as the Dental Assisting instructors, Mrs. Galindo, Mrs. Dydasco, Mrs. Evans & Mrs. Garcia. Each & every one of these instructors have positively influenced me to be the best Dental Assistant I could possibly be! I couldn’t be more thankful for the help of Graduate Employment representatives Ethan & Mrs. Remmer to search all over San Diego, CA to find the perfect office for me to have my externship & potentially, my first career employment in the field I’ve studied so hard to complete.
I could never level out the gratitude & appreciation I have for Concorde & all of the wonderful, gifted members/​friends I’ve included in this review! With much respect & appreciation, I’m proud be a Concorde Career College Alumni, Class Of 2014.
Much love & respect,
Bryan M. Bernardo, DA
Lamplighter

This school is all about money and their credits do not transfer! Why waste your time going to a school where if you wanted to further your education you could not, instead you’ll be re doing classes! I almost got sucked into their «lvn» program that cost about 30,000 and above! Took the teas and everything! Once it came down to the financial aide part they told me I would need to make a down payment and then even with student aide monthly payments of 200 or more?! In no way would I put myself in debt like that! I was approved for tons of student aide and even that wouldn’t cover all the program?! They wanted me to take out a concord loan! Umm no way. I decided to enroll southwestern college and do my prerequisite with credits that will actually be valid and transferable! Please take heed and think do you want to be stuck in debt to a school that is accredited but courses have no leverage in the real world or go somewhere that your financial aide will cover every drop? Think

Horrible administration reps! Super unorganized!!!
How are you gonna call me and expect $ 600 and Official transcripts from multiple schools in less than 24hr to be able to apply to a program I had been continually contacting you about?!
When I asked why I was being contacted the day before the LAST day to apply, my rep stated she just received an email notifying her tomorrow was the last day. and she says defensively it was my responsibility to have all my documents in order according to «The catalog».
What catalog? Can’t find any deadlines anywhere in the shitty packet of photocopies I was given!!! That’s why I had been calling for two weeks. to find out what is the next step…
I should have known from the first day as I waited for 45 min for my set appointment, and then was shuffled around by 3 different reps & given different information by each one.
Horrible representation of a program that would cost me 65,000!
FORGET IT! I’ll take my chances at Southwestern!

Attending this establishment was the worst decision I have ever made. They’re a business and like all businesses they want your money. However what makes this place different is you won’t get your money’s worth. The instructors, specifically in the surgical technology department have admitted during a lecture that «they’re not there to teach but to facilitate students», they’re very unprofessional, they make tasteless offensive jokes and comments and occasionally use profanity directed toward the student. Some of the instructors go as far as fraternizing with some of the students out side of school, needless to say they have greater advantages over students who aren’t friends of the instructors.
During my time at this place I maintained almost perfect attendance a 4.0 GPA, and 6 years experience in the medical field however that wasn’t enough to pass the course according to the school. I decided to challenge this decision, mentioning what happened and what I had experienced. I escalated this experience to the corporate office and they don’t seem to mind how the students are treated but they did remind me more than once that I had to pay for the service that wasn’t honored on their end. Obviously grades don’t matter, student advocacy dosen’t really exist, the staff in surgical technology have no sense of ethics, integrity or pride in what they do.
I hope this review was helpful and informative, good luck in your educational endeavors.

do not attend this «school». unless you want to deal with Filipino professors that didn’t attend school in n the USA and have no fucking clue how to even speak English!!! currently in the lvn program. the class started with about 35 or so, now is down to like 15… yes a lot of people drop at the beginning due to financial or personal reasons… but how the fuck are these idiots dropping people that are serious about studying that have families and even quit work to attend the school how the fuck in the 10^th month attending??? they will tell you we have 100% passing rate for nclex… no shit… if you only have 5 fucken students left… anyways do not go here… if you are a vet by all means avoid this shit school

I went there last year, and so far I regret attending. I don’t get why they allow you to enter in different mods (portions of the curriculum) you might enter at the toughest part of the course and finish with the intro.
I had a good teacher the first half, but they switched get with someone not used to teaching the course even though she had experience in the field in the past. With her it became self paced class.
I attended because I thought they would help me get a job as well, it’s been 7 months and nothing. Only recently did the job placement department contact me which was strange, because I gave them my resume right away but it got lost or never saved. I’m looking for a job on my own because no leads so far from their side.
Overall I wasted time, money, and opportunity to work instead of wasting time going to the class. Dean’s last multiple times, but that hasn’t helped so far.
I understand they have lots of students to help place in jobs, but maybe they’re just taking in too many students they can’t handle properly. If they help me get a job I’ll give them 2 or 3 stars, but with the other experiences contributing I wouldn’t go any higher.

I just want to start off by saying this is the worst possible place to go to for an LVN Program. The location, students, front admissions employees/​staff are ghetto. The bathrooms are nasty and have a lingering body odor stench ²⁴⁄₇. If I would’ve read more Unilocal reviews and did my research on Concorde vs. Kaplan, I wouldn’t have been wasting my time, money, gas, and Concorde’s bullshit. The only reason why I signed up here in the first place was because they supposedly had a 100% pass rate for the NCLEX. I guess I can believe that when there are only 8 – 12 people left in a class. Meanwhile, Kaplan had 40 – 50 students take the NCLEX and score a 76−80% pass rate, which is understandable and realistic. Concorde definitely has the worst employees. It seems as if they’re useless and never know what is going on. They fail to answer questions, find help, and are never available when you need them. I even show up in person and they still can’t help you. This place is very unorganized compared to Kaplan and I don’t even know why or how its still up and running. The DON doesn’t even care about the students, doesn’t acknowledge our bad reports for teachers. All they want here is money! The teachers and DON blame students for failing, but in reality its the teachers lack of teaching skills and experience. 79% of the class failed, while the rest just barely passed with a C for quizzes/​tests. They don’t assign us homework or give us study guides, but have us read 50 pages in the book and study 91 pages of powerpoint slides and have a quiz, test or midterm for two classes the next day. They don’t tell us what to focus on for the test, whenever we receive the test, the questions are always irrelevant or chapters that we haven’t even had a lecture on yet. I even stayed for tutoring several times for class and it was just a waste of time. I’ve learned so much more at Kaplan in two days of Cardio than a whole semester at Concorde. The teachers don’t treat you like adults, and are very disrespectful. The only students that benefitted from them were the ones that kissed their asses. I basically paid $ 38,000 just for an instructor to read me the powerpoint slide in class, as if i couldn’t just do that at home. This program is self-​taught. All the instructors couldn’t even speak correct English. One was monotone with an accent and the other had a really strong Filipino accent. If we had no previous medical knowledge, how are we going to interpret their medical language/​lectures, if we can’t even understand their English? I am really disappointed at this school and I would like a refund if i had the opportunity to. Please do your research before signing up for the LVN program.

Went here for an lvn program in 2013 until term 3
. It was intense and fast paced. There are few instructors that i like but there’s one instructor that failed more than half of the student in respiratory and cardio. Some instructors here shouldn’t be teaching at all because some of them don ;t even give an effort to tech and it seemd to me that they don’t even want to be there. They like to confuse you and some of them have very thick accent. Long story short, i decided to I transfer to Kaplan college which is more student friendly and they have better instructors that can actually teach better. I graduated with high gpa. I would recommend to go to community college or kaplan college for your lvn. I would not recommend going in this school.

Hi! Just wanna ask if there’s someone has enrolled or graduated at concorde under the PTA program? I’ve been making calls from the school but they’re not answering all my questions. I’m planning to take PTA and concorde is my last option. I don’t want to risk the money i’ll be spending. Please help. Your comments are highly appreciated. Thanks!

I’m an 08 LVN program graduate and judging by most of the recent reviews I see not much has changed. It can be a ghetto place, full of lazy staff & lazier students. CCC is a business first & foremost. Many of the teachers have no passion or skill for teaching. Financial aid dept are sharks do your own finance research & read everything you sign. It is a typical diploma mill. But I can tell you this, you will get out of the school what you put into it. Read those texts, volunteer in clinical & learn procedures– they will let you be lazy & do nothing but that only hurts you in the end. If you really want to become– whatever your profession is– you can be on the right path to it by attending school here. I am 7 years into my career and am beyond thankful for my experience at CCC. Not b/​c they taught me so well or the teachers were great but because it was an opportunity I otherwise would not have had due to the ridiculous wait time and competitive nature of the nursing programs at every other school in SD county. Don’t be fooled by their NCLEX scores. They drop any student who fails their mock board testing at the end b/​c if they let them sit & fail they’d lose accreditation. Class sizes are large so if you need your hand held you’re screwed. We were suppose to have less than 20 but we had 36 to start, by the second term we’d lost half & gained 5 from a previous cohort who failed & had to repeat. By the end of the program we had about 12 people left– 2 never sat b/​c they couldn’t pass the mock boards. If you get on a teachers bad side you better make BFF’s with an administrator to protect you. If nothing else this should teach you how to play office politics. It’s VERY fast paced & the teachers are disorganized so stay on top of your studies & be flexible. It’s a FT job. For us a 82% or less was considered failing; it is intense. Get a tutor or form study groups.
I’m going to attempt to drop a little knowledge on you who read reviews to decide if you should go here & maybe the ones who gave it 1 because they failed or passed but couldn’t find a job or afford their loan payment.
First off: You will NEVER learn everything you need to know to go straight to work from ANY college or technical school. You are lucky to get ANY hands on experience from any healthcare program, people from all kinds of schools come out with minimal skills. Today I am a charge nurse & I train new grad RNs and LVNs and I can tell you– they all suck. Every last one of them from tech schools and universities alike, with the exception of the ex-CNA’s or MA’s and that’s b/​c they had WORK experience. I did not become a nurse by going to CCC and neither will any of you. Don’t be fooled by the commercials or sales pitch– those people in the recruit office don’t even have degrees! Why would you take financial (loan) or career advice from some high school drop out? o_​O CCC is not going to train you to be a professional you will, however, obtain the requirements necessary to sit for your boards in order to become certified and HOPEFULLY get an ENTRY-​LEVEL job where you will then gain skills. The job placement assistance is limited so don’t depend on them. You better be networking throughout your program. Healthcare jobs are all about the politics, who you know makes a huge difference in rather or not you will ever get a job in a saturated market like San Diego. Vet & military spouses apply for VA jobs you’re good to go.
Secondly: I read these reviews and I think to myself in Kevin Hart’s voice «You people weren’t ready!» Who blames a school for not finding them a job? If you can’t understand accents healthcare isn’t for you! If you are mad because you signed up for a loan you can’t pay back that’s your bad, not theirs. The prices are absolutely ridiculous. But that fact is plastered across the internet and you signed your name to the contract so it’s not a surprise at the end. The price is not worth it for anything less than LVN/​ST/​RT/​DH program. If your potential wages are almost minimum wage then don’t bother taking out a loan (ie: MA/​DA/​MT/​CNA). If you think for a second that you’re not able or committed to finish the program don’t sign up. If you have babysitting, health, car issues they do not care, they already got your money. They are strict with attendance. They have a re-​entry process for people who get dropped. Speak up & advocate for yourself.
Lastly: Don’t do MA! Before you get into ANY field make sure the job market needs you otherwise it’s throwing money and time away. CA does not need more new grad healthcare pros– move out of state & get some experience. Understand by no means does that 30k translate to an automatic diploma, degree or job. Graduates from Ivy leagues can’t even find jobs these days. Know what you’re getting into before you sign.
Concorde could be a lot better but I am a proud graduate because it opened the door to transfer programs & a lucrative stable job in a field I love. It’s a legit means to an end.

The review written by Ashley B must be fake.
I am also a student of the dental hygiene school and feel that every positive thing she has said about the program could not be further from the truth.
It is true that the clinic is very nice and very clean, the teacher I’ve had so far have been mostly good, but the rest of the administrators are completely inept. Instead, they give you the run around. If you ask the program directer for something she sends you to student services, student services sends you to god knows who, and then that person sends you elsewhere. No one knows what they are doing, what they are supposed to be doing, and who is responsible for what.
Our experience at their school means absolutely nothing to them as long as they get their money. We are money cows to them, not students.
This school causes headache after headache. Definitely not worth the 60 GRAND!!! Save yourself a lot of money and hassle and go elsewhere.

I graduated from this «college» in 2013, a trade school which is a business, so of course they want your money but what institution doesn’t require you to pay tuition first? I went through their surgical tech program and let me tell you it’s no walk in the park, this is a VERY INTENSE program and if you have a strong desire to do something extremely challenging and helpful at the same time then this is right for you.
I already had a background in healthcare and had been doing it for over 10yrs just didn’t have any civilian credentials and that’s where Concorde excels in my opinion. This school allows veterans to obtain the credentials needed in a shorter time frame giving you the opportunity to pursue and continue a career in healthcare. This school has a variety of programs and they all have their own set of instructors, some good some bad, just like any other school in the America, but it’s ultimately up to you, to choose and succeed.

Oh Concorde, what is there to say about this «school» that hasn’t already been said. First off I argee when people state that this place is a joke. I went there thinking it was going to be a great way to get into the medical field quickly and be a good start to get me ready for when I pursue my nursing degree. I already had a bad feeling about this school when I went in for information and was pressured to sign up right away. I was looking at other technical schools but the others ones had a waiting period. Long story short I made the mistake of signing up for their MA program.
The program itself was not hard, I studied and managed to make Deans List every time. That being said it was no thanks to some of the teachers. The first teacher I had was horrible, Ms McCoy, when it came to her I just read the book on my own and taught myself most of it. She was to busy arguing with students and complaining about religion and politics to actually teach. The second teacher, Mr C was actually pretty cool, but then two weeks into classes he got let go and we got stuck with Ms McCoy again. Ugh. Finally our last teacher Mr Gama was probably the only one who was fit to be a teacher and actually knew what he was doing. When it got down to the clinical lab, the school lacked enough supplies and teaching tools. You figure all that money they manage to scam you for they would make sure their lab was up to date and useful, and not charge you for printing school work out at the library by the way. Lame.
Finally you finish classes and your internship and excited to start working! Wrong. That joke of a «career office» did not help at all. I tried to get them to help for months, calling and emailing and never getting a response back. I even went in to their career fair which was just a room of 5 different people telling you about their company, but not hiring. Finally after applying to so many places I found a great job, all on my own without the help of these clowns. All in all, this place is horrible and I regret coming here. After they get your money they will forget about you. Save your time and money and do some research before attending these types of school, especially this one.

This school is a rip off so I got into term 3 and decided to transfer to another school come to find out I get a letter from the va saying I owe the va 4,000 dollars for over payment. I go talk to financial aide and after 7 months at the school they calculate that I’ve been there more than 75% so they keep my money and I have to pay the va back on my own. I left because of teaching was terrible after I realized what was going on I wanted to leave. Now I’m waiting until Friday to talk to the lady that’s in charge of Finacial aide to see how concorde do their math and figure Out how they calculate their percentages (since the women in the Finacial aide office don’t know) the stress and arguing I do with these people is ridiculous from the grades for finals not being posted on time hell you don’t even see your final to the terrible instructors (not all are bad but some).
I transferred to Kaplan and in the class im in 7 students (just in my class) all transferred from concorde because of teaching that should say something in its own right there

From day one of starting at Concorde, I have a had a strong dissatisfaction for the way things worked here. They are consistently inconsistent. Upon completion of my first mod, GE 100, I was placed into the DA program at MOD 150. Not once was I ever informed that the classes worked in rotation, and that I wouldn’t be starting from the beginning. To be thrown into a class that is supposed to be the middle of the program was just crazy. Tests that were administered had so many errors that we had to fight to get our scores corrected due to a failure to proofread the material you are testing us with. When I needed to submit an application to be a «lamplighter» my application packet was «lost» and I had to resubmit it because administration couldn’t even handle the simple task of getting the paper to where it needed to be. We, as students, were treated as glorified kindergarteners, which I found to be completely disrespectful considering we are all grown adults. And then, there is the mysterious «catalog» from which all rules are cited. Any time a staff memeber didn’t like what you were doing, they would say that…“its in the catalog.” However, this particular publication could never be fabricated to prove such points. On many occasions I tried to use my tablet as a means to taking hours of endless notes, but was told that I could not use my device because there were others less fortunate than myself who may not be afforded such luxuries, therefore, I may not use it in class. I’m sorry that I’ve worked hard to be able to have things such as a tablet, and I think that being held back because of someone else’s financial situation is just ridiculous. I finally make it to externship, and finding a site proved to be chaotic. I started my externship at MOD Squad Dental, and they were great. They took me into their office, and made me feel like part of the team. Mid way through my externship, I was transferred to Carmel Valley Dental because they were in desperate need of an assistant. After being there only a few short hours, I could already tell that it was going to be miserable there. The doctor and staff were so blatantly rude and unwelcoming that I dreaded going to work every day. I worked my hardest and did my best, but that still didn’t please them. Upon completion of my externship hours, I made an appointment to graduate at the school. Upon arrival I was told that there was no one in the department that could help me that day, and that I would need to come back again on Monday after I just drove for 30 minutes to get there. I explained that I wouldn’t be able to return due to time and my work schedule, and that was why I made an appointment for that specific time and date. From there I was bounced around to 3 different people, all of whom had no idea what to do for me. Finally, I was able to turn in my paperwork to another staff memeber from a different department who fumbled his way through the process. I was told to call back after the weekend to ask for some paperwork that I need to submit to my job, and when i called, I was given NO answers, and was told I would be called back within one business day. 4 days passed, and no return phone call. I still don’t have my answers. Today was graduation. What a mess. I had to fight to be given my rope for graduating with honors, and I was not appropriately given credit in the program for being a veteran, or graduating with honors. I find it absolutely ridiculous that on your schools «official seal» that you would have the word «official» misspelled. Just another reason to add to my very long list of why I would never recommend this school to anyone. Ever. The only people that I would actually give a 5 star rating would be to the DA instructors that I had in class. Mrs. Galindo, Ms. Dydasco, Ms. Evans and Ms. Garcia. Thank you for all that you do!

As a business owner of a prominent dental practice I would not recommend participating in the extern program. I have participated twice to which both situations did not end ideal. The management of the externs is very poor with severe lack of communication between the extern, practice, & Concorde. The only reason I gave 1 star was strictly because I really enjoyed the second extern and saw great potential for her. I hope that in the future Concorde applies better communication between all parties involved, and increases the level of customer service for the practices they wish to hire their externs and/​or students.

Only reason I placed two stars instead of one is because of the over all appearance of the school inside and out compared to other medical mill schools. That being said make no mistake this school only sees you as a dollar sign.
If your considering Medical assisting or Dental assisting or anything entry level like that DO NOT GO HERE! I personally suggest Pima Medical Institute for MA or DA students. I attended that school for MA and it was night and day as far as the instructors. At Concorde you don’t even get certified when you complete those programs. What a waste of time and money!
If your considering the LVN program you can go here but then again why the hell would you spend that kind of money to only be a LVN when they’re being phased out of most hospitals and there’s already a flooded market of RN’s that cant find work? Just seems silly and wasteful to me…
I attended this school for the Surgical Technician program. Its a great program and most of the instructors are pretty good. The instructors will Ham it up and try and stress you out or piss you off just to see how you react because this is a fast pace field. In the «O.R.» the Surgeons will scream and yell and throw instruments because there mad at life choices they’ve made. Be ready for that! I’m a former active duty US Marine so having some nerdy Doctor yell at me because I handed him the wrong instrument isn’t going to ruin my day, but there’s sensitive people out there that just cant handle that. Also have a strong stomach, you cant be squeamish you will see some shit in this field!
Oh and there job placement department is garbage lol don’t even waste your time with them. Ive called and emailed them several times, and even went as far as to show up to the school to speak with them. Its like talking to a brick wall. Google is your job placement not them.
If you have any questions please feel free to private message me. I promise I will respond to your message.

What school in their right minds, calls you and says «You ruined this agreement we had between (The company) and Concorde. Also you took away one of the positions from your classmates. I’m very disappointed in you»
First off let me explain some things.
1. The way you left me that message is very unprofessional
2. You agreed to me accepting the job without my consent (Yea you told me a month and a half ago, about the position but you never followed up with anything. So i thought everything dropped off)
3. I called the company myself, and they were very understanding, they even told me the path i was going was a lot better. Also that the school should have kept contact with me.
4. Don’t barrage my cell phone AND my house phone with calls from all your different departments.
5. How the hell you going to have the nerve to call me 4 days before and say «your training starts Monday» when i have no idea whats going on. I have a life, I have a job you can’t just make me accept your terms.
This may not be the most professional way to handle this, But why should I even give Concorde Career College the Respect when they treat me as a quota.
The ONLY reason why i’m giving you an extra star is some of the instructors really know their stuff. All of them are nice and they help you when you needed.

The school acts more like a business than a school. They are more interested in your money than your education. The nursing program will cost you $ 30,000. If you fail, and half do, you pretty much lost your money. The school makes a lot of money from students trying a second time. If you read other reviews on the internet, many people call this place a scam.
Many of the teachers are poor educators. They are former nurses and aren’t always qualified to teach.
If you want to become a nurse, it’s tough. The private schools act like businesses and the CSUs and community college nursing programs are difficult to get enrolled in.