Pima Medical Institute-PMI

I LOVE THIS SCHOOL! YA I SAID IT!!! I was hired right out of my externship, they gave me the tools I needed and prepared me for everything that could happen in my field. I was so prepared they didn’t want to let me go! I can’t wait to return for VT! THANK YOU MS. G!

Best school
I love it
Hands on
I also liked the online classes they have for Degrees

Be warning ! Do not attend this school, they are the profit school only. The only thing they care about is your money. Once they have taken your loan out they will show you the real color. Do not be fool by the fancy advertising. This school is full of politic. If you are belonging to any minority’s group to attend this school, they will not help you to get a good grade so you will be disqualify for getting a better position at the hospital or where is better pay. The school once had few good instructors, but either quit or been terminated, only the one still be there just for a paycheck. Let me give you an example just like that fat T. If you are attending or have had attended this school, you know what I am talking about. Let me tell you what! If you are a former student, you think you have been treated unfair by abused policy of this school, talk to your attorneys, they will take care for you. You pay tuition for their school, not the school pay for your education. The school must deliver what they promise to you from the beginning when you signed the contract. You have the right to be treat equal.
Be aware those 5 stars reviews at below, they come to this board try to advertise themselves.
Here is your best school reputation.
Instructors are lazy.
Incoherent.
Abuse.

If you’re trying to look for a good school to go to, I really DONT recommend this one :/
I attended PMI during 2015 & I was so excited and motivated throughout the entire program (pharmacy technician). I give this school such a low rating because they’re all in it for the money & also they aren’t helpful. They tell you they’ll help you find a job, & interviews, or if you had any questions, they will help you, but they really don’t. I’ve been trying to get in contact with them for help for MONTHS and nothing. I recently put out a review, & they finally contacted me so I ended up deleting the review, but it happened again. It’s just so upsetting to see how horrible this school and faculty is. I had very high hopes too.

I went here for an MA certification. This school is great if you would like to cheat your way to becoming certified in the medical field without proper knowledge of health care practice. The staff does not care.

Do NOT go to this school! Both my sister and my niece attended and are still unable to find work in their chosen field. Why? Because PIMA Medical Institute is a joke in the real medical world. They are a for-​profit school, which means all they care about is stealing your money. My sister and my niece never had to do any homework, never turned in one assignment for any of their classes and they were still given passing grades, not to mention their degrees, which mean absolutely nothing!
Please be warned about PIMA, and spend your hard-​earned money at a real school. It doesn’t matter what state you’re in, but PIMA is now expanding in San Diego and I am trying to let people know that this school needs to be shut down. Start at a real community college for your prerequisites and then move on to a university. If you go to PIMA and try to get your prerequisites for any nursing, vet, X-​ray or similar program at a university, those classes will be worthless and you will have paid for nothing!
Lastly, PIMA does not hire qualified (or degreed) professionals to teach their courses. How do I know? Because I have a friend who teaches at PIMA as an instructor. She doesn’t have a college degree, not even an associates, she doesn’t have any teaching certificates or experience teaching in front of a classroom, and she spent six months in jail for fraud! They do not conduct background checks on their employees, so whomever is standing in front of that class probably has zero experience as an instructor, let alone in your field of study.
PIMA hires anyone off the street just to get the classes filled with paying students. Do NOT go to PIMA, unless you don’t mind throwing your money down the drain.

I went to Pima for their Pharmacy Tech program & graduated almost a year ago. I originally went to study their veterinary courses, but am so glad I made the switch. I made great friends in the class & had an overall good experience. Mrs T was more than helpful through the months I spent there, always picking me up & encouraging me when I felt down & doubted myself. I couldn’t have done it without her guidance, & also the help from my peers!

I am reaching out to any veteran or student that has hassarred, experience up professional services or there gi Bill or Pell grant benefits were abused by this school. I know that the practices and policies that I have looked into are shady and I really want to prevent anybody from dealing with what I currently and have e perienced. Disscrimination, sexual misconduct and miss use of government funding!!! This place is a money pit, they don’t care about your education at all. DO NOT ATTEND THIS COLLEGE. I WAS TOLD BY the faculty that they do not support or care about service members prior or current. The grades were cut when they found out I was being re called AND I was followed into a room by a MALE teacher when I needed to breast pump.
If this has happened to any person I urge you to inform the Department of education ASAP!!!

HORRIBLE! I’m urging all veterans to avoid this school. They abuse the GI Bill to the full extent, keep your Pell Grant and they are trying to charge me 4000 because I’m back on active duty service and can not continue school. Please, re consider. This school has been nothing but a problem and there are so many people being taken advantage of! This school only cares about getting your MONEY! They offer worthless degree programs, if you call an associate’s in applied science a degree. The teaching staff is very bias, the tests are opinionated, HIGHLY unprofessional. They do not care about their students at all no matter what they tell you.
I am a mother of 2 and at the time needed to pump because my son was breast feed, my male teacher followed me into This room with a curtain so I could pump. I thought he had left and I pulled the curtain back to leave and there he was, in the same room as me! It took all I had to not lay my hands on him! There is student teacher relationships going on OH and if you don’t speak Spanish, good luck getting through COMMON CORE without being able to flirt with the teaching assistant! GROSS I’ll be seeing you in court!
From one Vet to another trust me on this one! There are better schools and better ways to use your money, learn from my misfortune!

I went here awhile ago for the Veterinary Assistant Program in hopes to continue to the Veterinary Technician Program they were offering also. I had the worst experience in every aspect at this school. As soon as your in, the staff is extremely rude and unhelpful. I spoke to the director several times about my teacher and the experience and she not only was rude herself but kind of kept giving me the run around. The teacher I had showed up late, made rude comments, was a horrible teacher. The assistant was better that the teacher. The director said they would look into reimbursing me as long as I were to not post anything on social media about my experience. I never shared my experience until now, because guess what they never cared when I was done. There job placement services was also untrue. I think I received a couple emails but that was it. Don’t waste your money at this school.

I feel so well prepared ! I love how caring the instructors are at this school. I’m currently almost finished with the veterinary assistant program and currently in the process of applying for the veterinary technician program at the same school.
I know that once I graduate, I’ll be job ready and very well prepared to succeed in my particular trade.
Thank you so much Pima !

I am currently enrolled in the pharmacy technician program. There is absolutely no standards when hiring these teachers. my instructor is Mrs. T. and she is by far the worst teacher I have ever had. She is very unorganized and I dont feel as though she teaches us everything she is supposed to. She will tell us she has powerpoints, etc and then we spend the class sitting there waiting for her to bring them up; which sometimes never happens. There is constant conversation in the class and very little teaching. She told us someone complained that she isnt teaching us and seemed rather upset about it. Her solution was to give us tons of work. well you’d think she would at least teach us the information we would need to do all these packets but no, i guess we have to go home and read our books. I honestly feel like this is a complete waste of my money and time but Ive already been in the program this long… She is continuously teaching us wrong then when someone points it out she looks in her book and has to follow the books steps in showing her how to do it. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TEACHING?! She seems to get irritable whenever someone asks her a question like we are supposed to understand the first time she tells us. She will skip steps in the math making it almost impossible to understand how to solve the problem. I am pretty much learning from the books they have given us. So i am paying 10,000 dollars to learn from a few books. That is very unsettling. I am not quite sure how she got this position but I just hope i’m able to get some kind of work after all of this.

On line x-​ray course for PIMA is a scam! They will tell you that they have clinical locations at the area near your home so that you will sign up. It’s all a lie! they don’t even know if they have affiliations with the hospitals they are showing you. They just want you to sign up and pay the tuition only to drop you in the end and tell you to go to a far location and spend more money. By then, you will have no choice but to proceed because you have already spent your precious hours to pass the theory and just need to complete the clinical. Even the change of location is a risk. They sent my son to a location only to waste money in the end because they have no affiliation with the hospital and PIMA will not reimburse you. PIMA DOES NOT CARE ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY/​SIGNATURE! I’VE REACHED OUT TO THE MANAGEMENT AND THEY CONTINUE TO IGNORE MY CALLS. INVEST YOUR TIME AND MONEY AT A MORE REPUTABLE SCHOOL.

I am currently attending PIMA for dental assisting and so far I am loving it! The staff is very friendly and make themselves available to you when needed. This is a fast-​paced program so you really have to be able to keep up with weekly homework assignments and weekly quizzes. If you are a self-​disciplined, hardworking individual who truly wants to succeed, then you will have no problems here at PIMA.

I am currently enrolled into the Dental Assistant program starting this September at the Mesa campus. I gave them five stars because the staff was very helpful. My medical career specialist Debbi Roberts was very informative about the program, and requirements. Including the pros and cons about the program. She directed me to Elizabeth, my financial aid advisor, and she helped me with my Fafsa. I applied for tribal scholarships and she was very helpful and didn’t hesitate to send my FNA along with other documents. The school itself, has rules but makes me feel as if I’m in a hospital, or dentists office. (it smells like it too lol) and I just cannot wait to start my program. They are all very nice and informative! Already a fan of Pima and I want to attend the school again for the Dental Hygeine program when it is available! Thanks PMI team! :)

I would rate zero if I could
If you want a whole overview of the school read below
I started Pima because I felt that it was a better school with better hands on training better instructors and much more
After going back-​and-​forth many times what the counselor to get me and rolled into the program she gave me a complete opposite of what I was really doing too and I was going to do Deborah was her name I believe when I used to go there she would tell me that every Friday we had tests and we did not have finals but the main goal was to get me and rolled into the school because all the school cares about is money. Once I was enrolled it was the first day of school there was an instructor there that went by the name Mr. D it was a great instructor motivated me a lot to keep going and his assistant Mr. P was also a great instructor assistant who is very courteous and generous. having their class will be the hardest class because it’s six classes in one you will be having test pretty much every day five or six projects five or six finals That class is to get you started into the program after that class everything else is pretty much easy.
You start with Miss S’s class next sequence she is such a lovely lady that helps you a lot and takes really good care of you.
If you get in any kind of trouble at that school they will take the instructors words over yours as long as you have signed the loan they don’t care if you succeed or do or do not succeed they just want the money I don’t want you or terminated from the school you still owe that loan and the loan is already there’s after Miss S’s class you will have three sequences of hell The next sequence is the back office where there is three instructors when I was there the three instructors names were Miss D Miss H and MIss T out of those 3 ms D was the only fair one and nice one. Ms H is really rude and thinks she’s the doctor in that classroom but yet doesn’t even have her degree in teaching if she does not like you she will treat you terribly she will do what ever she can to make you look bad. Anytime you ask her a simple question she has a rude comment back to say. MsT is the pale looking teaching who always thinks she knows everything better than everyone she also acts like she’s the doctor she will tell you all about how she parties how her children are involved in radical habits. she also Will get you in any sort of trouble you can to get you out of the classroom. she’s better than ms h with questions but she is also the type that will make you feel terrible and throw you under the bus. They will mark you late on your homework but it’s okay for them to be late on giving us assignments and tests. Not same respect is given at all.
The director of the school is a really nice guy
But the assistant on the other hand is terrible as well he doesn’t care about anything but your money he will terminate you for the littlest reasons and you will continue to pay that loan. They pick the instructors words over the students very unfair this is for MA choose wisely also when you are done you get help finding a job from career services and they don’t really help they just find anywhere and throw you there not a single care is give Mr R and Ms S of you’re looking for a high paying job Ma is not the place unless you’re experienced or have good connections otherwise it is a minimum wage paying job and Sev the loan /​fafsa advisor is terrible at explaining you cost you will owe more on you loan than he tells you ALL PIMA WANT IS YOUR MONEY BE CAREFUL AND don’t put your name on your books until core is over because they will charge you for that too !

One star is mostly for ELLIE. She is just terrible at her job.

This is the best post high school education you will get. I first explored California College, and after finding the reputation and tuition being exponentially lower and higher than PIMA (in that order), I chose PIMA; boy am I glad I did! The teaching staff and material presented was that of the utmost professionalism. The pass rate for the state boards is phenomenal. I passed all the boards the first time and had my license to practice within two weeks of graduation. I nearly doubled my tuition rate with my first years salary, then made well above the amount of money I thought I would; plus I get to save lives! I attended the Respiratory Therapy program and would recommend this field to anyone that wants to be very involved in patient care. Don’t listen to the failures. 95% of the graduates are happy that I know, they are so busy making money and saving lives they just don’t Unilocal.Yes, the admission process is hard, but that is because they are trying to get you all of the grants and money they can!
It isn’t high school, it is a school for adults that want to take care of the sick people and animals.

I am a graduate from the classroom based Respiratory Therapy program (Associate’s) and the Online Respiratory Therapy program (Bachelor’s). As a working professional in the field, I can appreciate the emphasis that Pima put on not only helping me graduate — but finding employment after my education had finished. Class was taught with a «down-​to-​business» mentality, as it should be. You’re paying for your education — so people aren’t coming to waste time or goof off. It’s refreshing to sit in a classroom full of professionals who WANT to be there.
I started my journey in a place a lot of people find themselves at some point in their lives. I was unfulfilled and looking for my next opportunity both personally and professionally. I stumbled on Pima through someone I knew in the program. I shadowed an advanced mechanical ventilation class, and decided to enroll with the next group of Respiratory Therapy students. Class was fast paced — but I felt the instructors had a good feel for how much time we needed to spend on certain subjects. There was a nice balance between time spent in the lab and studying notes/​lectures. The presentations were always to-​the-​point and highlighted the need-​to-​know information. I felt like I always had access to the instructors before and after class through face-​to-​face office time & e-​mail. Classroom time is broken up with clinical externships to three different hospitals in San Diego. Clinical externships offered real time experience in the field with a working therapist. We got to participate in patient care and get a feel for our future careers. The preceptors were very thorough and offered hands on learning experiences with critical feedback.
After graduation, I was offered the opportunity to take a position in another state. I was given a full-​time position with a sign-​on bonus! I fulfilled my two-​year contract, and moved to upstate California where I gained even more in-​depth experience. I am now comfortable working in the emergency room, with surgical patients, intensive care patients, pediatric and neonatal patients, and have gained experience allowing me to quickly adapt to emergent situations.
I now work in a supervisor position and have had the chance to help my department grow. When we hire, I know new graduates with a Pima degree are well educated and motivated candidates. They have the framework needed to be not only excellent care providers, but great co-​workers.
There are a lot of options in San Diego to get your degree, but if you are looking for a quality personal approach to a new career path — I encourage you to check out Pima.

I recently visited Pima to inquire about their RT program. I decided to come in to Pima despite of all the negative reviews. As I approached the school, the front desk staff were very polite. Within a few minutes after filling out a questionaire, I was taken back to meet with the career specialist. The information she provided was extremely helpful and straight to the point. She spent well over an hour talking to me about my options, the program, and the curriculum outline. I was never asked to meet with the financial aid department nor was I pressured to sign any document of any kind.
Pima was not the first school I visited. I have been doing research on different schools here in San Diego. I am very pleased with Pimas honesty and professionalism.
I am going back next week to take some assessments and go from there. So far Pima is the route I will be taking for my education.
I now know that people shouldn’t believe everything they read.

And now I see where all the negativity towards PIMA and similar schools comes from. I have had the worst experience trying to enroll in this school. I inquired about the Vet Tech program, I was breifly «sold» on the program (which requires 8 months of their vet assistant prpgram first) given a test and then told to meet with financial aid (red flag #1 a school spending more time figuring out your money situation than your educational goals… I wasnt even offered a tour, yet they ushered me into a room where someone watched me fill out FAFSFA (something I aleady know how to do, but they made sure I checked their school off).
The next meeting they scheduled me for was yet more financial advising where I was given steps to take out a loan. My assigned financial aid officer Sev also hinted a few times that he was reluctant to spend too much time on me since I hadn’t signed an enrollment contract yet (contract aka guarantee they’re getting my money). And none of this money talk has given me any idea as to when I may be starting the program.
So I called today to see where I am on this supposedly long wait list and I’m told I have to take a background check before they can tell me that information. Oh you mean the private background check through «PIMABack​ground​Check​.com» (or some cheesy website like that) which I have to pay for? You want me to pay you to conduct your own personal background check when you haven’t even offered me a tour? The woman who was assigned as my admissions counselor completely brushed me off as if she suspects a felony is going to come up and I won’t be able to attend. Kiss my ass PIMA, as someone with a SPOTLESS record passing some bogus background check is the least of my concerns when trying to enroll in school.
I understand that you can’t take the test to become an RVT with felonies, but as I said, I have a spotless record so, that’s the least of my concerns.
I am however very concerned that this background check is through a PIMA affiliated website.
Anyway I’m DONE JUMPING THROUGH YOUR HOOPS PIMA. I gave a non-​traditional school a chance and you’ve showed me your true colors. It’s all about the $$$ (for-​profit education, well of course what was I thinking). I’m glad this all happened so I can move on and spend my money on a better respected degree (PIMA CHULA VISTA ONLY OFFERES AN ASSOCIATES OF APPLIED SCIENCE FOR VET TECHS. WHICH IS QUITE DIFFERENCE THAN AN ASSOCIATES OF SCIENCE AND NO THE CREDITS DO NOT TRANSFER TO TRADITIONAL UNIVERSITIES, AND THIS PATICULAR DEGREE WILL NOT GET YOU ANY CLOEER TO A BACHELORS).
I really want the people at PIMA to consider this review. I was excited to attend the program because it is AVMA accredited and local, but I definitley can not deal with this unprofessionalism and all the hoop-​jumping for two years. I feel like this school should be investigated for shady and misleading practices (no I wasn’t mislead because I went in skeptical, but some of the things they tried to tell me might fool someone.

Pima is a great school. If you’re not cut out for it, don’t go simple as that. If you have patience and some kind of intelligence and want to be there for the right reasons then you’ll be fine. I’m currently on externship and I’m glad I came here. I’m on extern with 2 girls from 2 other schools and I can say being from pima I am at least more professional than 1 of them thanks to the curriculum.

The dental department is a total mess. The commercials say their always available for extra help… That’s a lie. Their hardly available and if your lucky its only brief. I recently graduated and I still can’t get a email or call back. I just need the lead instructors signature. And copies of my certificates I recieced while in the dental assistant program. And yet I have yet to have a phone call returned or to be emailed back. I’ve made countless calls. And sent over 5 emails yet no response on anything.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL!
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE DENTAL DEPARTMENT!
The teachers and school made me feel so uncomfortable that I choose not to attend my graduation.
Complete disappointment and heart break.

I was interested in Pima so I made an appointment when I came in the secretary give me attitude so I spoke to Michelle she stared at me up and down and she was asking me a million questions she gave me the tour and then she took me to financial aid I don’t remember the girl’s name but she was rude to I felt that she was too good for me to help we went to front desk and Michelle was there talking to the Secretary they were talking about personal stuff shouldn’t be talking if they’re working so unprofessional I would say they need better staff so I decided to go to a different college and they charge too much

If I could, I would give this place ZERO STARS. All they care about is YOUR MONEY. Money money money money. The staff here is ridiculous. I was enrolled in the medical assistant program and the only instructor that even cared was mrs.kimmy. Everybody else that worked there was just there for the paycheck. I would never recommend this school to anybody.

Hi My name is Delia and I am a 58yr old homeless woman almost without family too. I am in debt and jobless, but a «certified» medical assisstant.
My story is a long one. Me and my husband divorced in 1997 and it was just Me, My son, and my daughter on our own. I was an Drafter for a Big Company before which had military contracts, I was well paid, well benefitted. My husband at the time grew jealous and forced me to leave my career in order to be a mother to my Son. This later bit me in the behind as I had no job experience for many many years. Soon I was able to get clerical jobs, but something else was wrong with me. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I still batttle it today. My family did not want me, the only people who stayed with me were my children. they kept me going. My son tried his best, but his attempts were futile. It wasnt until later when I decided to go to PIMa medical institute. They had promised me a certification and a job would be ready for me. I graduated at the top of my class, keeping up with the younger people ;) I still had it in me.
Here is the sad news. I never got a job as a medical assisstant. I never got any job in the medical field with the skills that pima taught me. Every job required me to have 1 year experience, but i couldnt get that expierence if I didnt have the job in the first place! I pleaded with PIMA to helpme, give me a chance. They knew i did well in the classes and grades… But no. PIMA does not care about the elderly people that spent their last savings on a chance that maybe this would change my future…
Now, i am basically homeless as I live in a shack in Tijuana on my late father’s «property». It shelters me from the cold and heat. My son lives with his father as he was arrested not too long after we went homeless and is pretty much forced to live with a man he hates. But he’s trying. he goes to school and works a shitty job to help me out. MY daughter, bless her soul and heart. she did not want to see her mother degrade away, so she moved to North Carolina with Some Family and met a boy. They are happy over there I hear. She calls me from time to time. But jezz do i wish i had a secure job like I was promised from PIMA so i could afford to visit my daughter 2,500 miles away.
***** you PIMA

When I was interested in Pima’s Dental program I called them and spoke to 4 different representatives looking for information about their school. Extremely basic information like when is the next start and end date and how much is your school. There were two on campus representatives that were both extremely rude. They both talked over me, told me that I was shopping for schools, that the information I need can only be obtained by doing a walk through, and one rep. actually told me that my own mother would say to visit schools and not shop over the phone. I was apparently shopping over the phone by needing two questions answered.
When I called 4 other schools I was able to gather my needed information, put them in order of preferred to okay (like any normal college student would), and get a initial look on how they are with their customer service. After that I called and made an appointment with the top two for a walk through. I would like to say that my own mother would agree that I’m focusing on my best interest by having a plan.
Needless to say Pima Medical Institute isn’t at the bottom of my list, it’s not even on my list. The two representatives that I talked to through (800) 477‑7462 were helpful especially my second rep. If you are unsure about your decision to go here… Consider the fact that when you call the Church of Scientology they too want you to do a tour first.

I just completed the veterinary technician program at Pima. The classes themselves are fine, everything has something that can be tweaked, but the real reason they only get two stars from me is because the staff at the main campus is lazy and incompetent.
I am an Veteran and used my Post ⁹⁄₁₁ G.I. Bill to pay for my school. From the very beginning I was assured by the finical aid staff that there wouldn’t be any problems and that this would be a smooth easy thing. Boy was it far from it! For the past two years it has been nothing but a headache! At first they wouldn’t certify me until I had completed the class which always put me behind with the VA in getting paid. The staff would not take it upon themselves to figure out how to fix it, I had to do all the leg work. Come to find out the VA Representative at the school had not a clue about what she should be doing. At one point she even said «I go above and beyond for these Veteran and all they do is complain.» We can be certified up to 90 days out to ensure we are getting a pay check every month. I had to fight tooth and nail to get the finical aid department to fix that. I wrote a letter to the BBB, VA, and my congressman expressing my concern that Pima doesn’t support Veterans. A response was submitted to the BBB, but was blatantly lie on their part and Pima never responded to the VA or my congressman.
There is so much that I went through to get certified and basically doing peoples jobs for them that I could write a novel about the level of incompetence that is allowed to go on there. Even after two years of being there and constantly being on them about getting things done and corrected my last month they screwed it up and my payment was delayed.
The bottom line is Pima and it’s staff DOES NOT CARE ABOUT VETERANS!!! If you are a Veteran and are using your G.I. Bill to go to school, give your money to someone else, Pima doesn’t deserve it. They sure do enjoying taking our money from the VA every month to pay our tuition, but can’t do their part to ensure we are taken care of by turning in paperwork in a timely fashion.