Altius 'MCAT Everywhere' program, reviews?

[KhanArtist]

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Hey guys! First time posting on here, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered. I am a non-traditional applicant (practicing PA, to be more specific), and I have recently decided to apply to medical school. I am planning on taking the new MCAT 2015 in August, so obviously I am scrambling trying to figure out how to prepare for it. (Mind you, I'm 5 years out of undergrad and it's been a while since I've looked at any of this material.)

I've been doing a lot of research on the various MCAT 2015 prep courses out there, and I stumbled upon Altius. Overall, it seems to have very positive reviews, but the only problem is that I do not reside in one of the seven states that it is offered in, unfortunately. I noticed that Altius is now offering the 'MCAT Everywhere' program so that people in my situation can still take the courses virtually through their live classes.

So, for any of you who have had experience with this, or know of someone who has taken this version of the Altius course, I would greatly appreciate some feedback. Is this the right course for a non-traditional applicant to take, or is everything going to go over my head since it's been a few years since I've taken my prerequisites? It's a lot of money to dish out, so I want to make sure I am making the right decision.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Roscoe11]

I took the "Altius everywhere" course this past fall and I 100% recommend it!! The course definitely demands a lot of commitment, but the strategies work!! I was taking two classes and working as a scribe in the ED while taking the course. If you choose the course (and I really hope you do!) don't half ass it. Commit and see it through. I brushed off the verbal section more than I should have and focused more on the PS and BS sections and it is the reason I didn't break 30, I only got an 8 on verbal :/


PM me if you have more specific questions

 

[KhanArtist]

Thanks for the response! This was really helpful. I'm definitely leaning towards Altius, especially with their emphasis on one-on-one tutoring, which I'm sure is incredibly useful.

One quick question - How did you feel about their coverage of biochem? This was one class I never took in undergrad, and I'm wondering if the Altius program will be sufficient enough to cover the biochem material I need to know for the new MCAT 2015. I'm considering also enrolling in the Kaplan 'Foundations of Biochemistry and Behavioral Science' course, just because I do not feel all too confident that I will do well without having some background in biochemistry, and they claim to cover everything you would need to know for the MCAT 2015 without taking the formal classes for biochem, psych, and sociology.

Thanks again for the help, it is greatly appreciated!

 

[Roscoe11]

The one-on-one tutoring was amazing, and I still keep in touch with my tutor even though we were on polar opposite sides of the country!! Everyone there is super friendly, and I would definitely give them a call. Even if you leave a message they get back to you super quick.

Don't be afraid of biochemistry!! It's not nearly as scary as you think it is! I am currently taking it and have an A in the class. The way I look at it is - everything we have learned in all of the basic bio's, gen and organic chemistry put in practical scenarios. Instead of just saying "oh what happens when this chemical reacts with this chemical in a laboratory setting," Biochem focuses on those relationships in more practical scenarios in the human body and the world around us. The first line of my biochem text reads "Biochemistry is, literally, the study of the chemistry of life." Many many many of the topics in Biochem you will have already seen from previous course work, i.e. thermodynamics, DNA, cell transport and the list goes on.

As far as the biochemistry and Altius goes, I took one of the last MCAT's in January so Biochem wasn't emphasized nearly as much as it will be on the new MCAT, but in general Altius was VERY good about covering material that you need to know and cut out all the extra fluff. I had asked my tutor about how they were approaching the new MCAT and they said that they had a team working on developing the curriculum for the new MCAT, so not only working on biochem stuff, but also the sociology and whatever else they added to it. (I haven't look too far into exactly what the new one has on it, because I was focused on taking the MCAT once and being done with it. I didn't want to entertain the idea of having to take the MCAT twice, and having the 2nd time be the new version) I feel as though during my altius course they still had us cover more biochem than was recommended at the time, and it definitely paid off. The entire course paid off.

At first I thought doing the "everywhere" course would be weird being that you actually don't go somewhere in person for the course, but looking back at it I'm pretty sure I would have hated having to go to an actual location for the prep course. Just like with any class, you cannot be prepared just by showing up to the meetings, you need to put in work on your own outside of the meeting times. As you stated before, "It's a lot of money to dish out, so I want to make sure I am making the right decision." You are exactly right, it is a lot of money, but if you commit to the course I have no doubt it will pay off. A friend had given me his kaplan books a while back and I never even opened them. I felt so confident with the teaching methods of altius that I didn't want to even read another method that might contradict the thought processes and strategies I had developed. Be prepared to set aside more time than you think. Your tutor will be very upfront with you(at least mine was), and depending on what you have going on outside of altius, they will tell you that if you are serious about preparing for the MCAT you have to eliminate some things for the time being, whether it be working fewer shifts, taking fewer credit hours, or not participating in leisure extracurriculars you may be involved in. Your tutor(again, this is with my specific experience) will not take any excuses. You are expected to complete everything that is asked of you each week for the private tutoring session, and if for some reason you are not prepared they will cancel/postpone that days meeting because it is pointless to meet and go over material that you simply are not adequately prepared to discuss in detail. It is for your own good. I had it happen to me and it only made me dig my heels in deeper and work harder. Of course you will not lose that meeting, you WILL meet for every session you paid for, but you will be wasting your own time by having to go over more material in a shorter period of time in order to stay on schedule. The program itself will not delay, you simply have to play catch up for that week. Anyways, I feel like I'm rambling, I just never wrote a review for altius and I was VERY satisfied with the program. I absolutely recommend them and really hope you commit to it! You will not be disappointed!! Again, I can't emphasize enough how much of a time commitment the program demands, but a solid MCAT score is one of the most satisfying feelings/rewards!!

 

[KhanArtist]

Roscoe11 - I cannot thank you enough for your helpful feedback. This is definitely the most useful and informative review I have seen of the Altius program. Sounds like you had an awesome tutor (hopefully I am as lucky). I am more than ready to spend the next 3+ months completely dedicated to preparing for the new MCAT. I have cleared my entire summer to make sure I have no other distractions and can commit completely.

I'm not sure which Altius program you opted for, but the ones I am looking at include "small group review sessions". I have always been a little hesitant of group studying simply because you could be studying with a group of students who are at a more advanced level than you are at the time, or a group of students who are not at your level quite yet, which can make learning the material a little cumbersome. I'm not sure how Altius structures this portion for the 'MCAT Everywhere' version of their program, but if by chance you had experience with this, could you tell me what it was like for you?

Again, thank you so, so much for the help and advice!

 

[Roscoe11]

Glad I could help!! I opted for the "Gold" package (the middle tier). The "group review sessions" are lead by a tutor, certain days it is your personal tutor leading the group and other days it is one of the other tutors, they are all great! As far as the sessions go, don't be afraid to make mistakes!! we all make mistakes, and I guarantee that during the group sessions as you stress out about being "embarrassed" about getting a question wrong, the stress of the situation will have you not making the same mistake twice!! To be brutally honest, the sessions are not for you to learn the material, this is done on your own. The sessions are to reinforce the material and find weak points in your armor so that you can improve upon it after the sessions. I gotta run, but if I think of anything else I will let you know!

 

[sweetx56]

I took the Altius summer Gold package in 2013 and spent over 1000 hours studying for their program. I completely regret it. They cram a ton of students into a tiny classroom with picnic tables instead of desks which makes it very difficult to focus. The tutorings were held either in that crampy classroom or the public library next door which houses a predominent population of homeless people making it dificult to find available study areas.
Next, Altius states on their website that the average altius student recieved a 31-33 score in 2013. This is far from the truth. The way they calculate this is very decieving and a lie. (PM me and i'll tell you how they calculate it.) I know several students in my 2013 class that scored 10 points BELOW the national average; me included.
Do not take Altius. It is a terrible course.

 

[Seth Joo]

I would honestly go with Kaplan over any other test prep company there is a reason why Kaplan is the biggest name in the industry.

 

[Roscoe11]

big name doesn't always = quality. The list is endless in that regard...

I took the Altius summer Gold package in 2013 and spent over 1000 hours studying for their program. I completely regret it. They cram a ton of students into a tiny classroom with picnic tables instead of desks which makes it very difficult to focus. The tutorings were held either in that crampy classroom or the public library next door which houses a predominent population of homeless people making it dificult to find available study areas.
Next, Altius states on their website that the average altius student recieved a 31-33 score in 2013. This is far from the truth. The way they calculate this is very decieving and a lie. (PM me and i'll tell you how they calculate it.) I know several students in my 2013 class that scored 10 points BELOW the national average; me included.
Do not take Altius. It is a terrible course.

Some things work for others and some don't. I took the "altius Everywhere" program which was not at a physical classroom (like yours) and I also studied from August to January because I knew I couldn't prepare for the MCAT in 2 months. I don't know how you thought you could prepare for a test with SO much information in just a few months... My sessions were in the comfort of my own home on the computer with zero distractions. When I had sessions I made it known that I was not to be interrupted unless for an emergency. I believe this would be the preferred method for ANY program whether it is kaplan, princeton review, altius etc... Then again some things work better for you and some things work better for me. The "Altius Everywhere" program worked better for me.

 

[UWPharmD2007]

How would you rate the provided materials? I don't live near an Altius location however their claims on scores are interesting. I don't have TPR near me, so it's a toss up between Kaplan in person, or Altius "Everywhere". I'm leaning towards Kaplan in person given some of the poor reviews I'm seeing of Altius.

 

[Rei02sDinnerParty]

How would you rate the provided materials? I don't live near an Altius location however their claims on scores are interesting. I don't have TPR near me, so it's a toss up between Kaplan in person, or Altius "Everywhere". I'm leaning towards Kaplan in person given some of the poor reviews I'm seeing of Altius.

Do you like clicking on links to web pages in a word document? Because that's what you'll be doing.

 

[Roscoe11]

How would you rate the provided materials? I don't live near an Altius location however their claims on scores are interesting. I don't have TPR near me, so it's a toss up between Kaplan in person, or Altius "Everywhere". I'm leaning towards Kaplan in person given some of the poor reviews I'm seeing of Altius.

Do you like clicking on links to web pages in a word document? Because that's what you'll be doing.

The links are supplemental information to the actual materials you get. I found the materials they send you (which are PHYSICAL PAPER!) very easy to read, well written and helpful. There seems to be so much hate for this program. I found it VERY helpful. As with everything in life, you get out what YOU put in! Kaplan and the other programs are not going to make you a genius just by having you show up. You need to work on things on your OWN outside of the classroom. At the end of the day Altius helped me get accepted into medical school and I recommend the program.

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

@ Roscoe11, Thanks for the very passionate testimonial. We are so happy you enjoyed the program and did well on test day. We hope to help many students like yourself do likewise!

@sweetx56, your comments are unfounded libel. Defaming our integrity by suggesting that there is some "secret" or "dishonest" way we calculate the stats is completely uncalled for. No one needs to PM you for this info, the exact methodology is posted on our website for all to see, on the same page as the stats themselves. All stats are tabulated by a third-party accountant and his methods are widely accepted. I have cut/pasted both the methodology and the third-party certification below for anyone interested. Mostly, your comment is sadly ironic because we are the ONLY mcat program of which I am aware that is publishing student score results. This holds us accountable to students and to ourselves in a remarkable way. We cannot just take your tuition and wish you luck, as is the case in most courses. Our work begins AFTER you have begun the program. That is why we have all tutors track the progress of every student and report it individually to management, why tutors are held financially responsible for student performance, and why we have a student success committee that regularly reviews ways to help our struggling students. In the end, however, the biggest predictor--by far--of student performance? Program adherence. If you do everything we ask of you and do it well you will score almost without exception. I've seen that time and time again with my personal 1-on-1 students. Those who follow-through with my assignments do absurdly well on test day--far better than the national trends. Those students who have a thousand excuses, with whom I feel like I am constantly BEGGING them to adhere to the program or follow my advice...a few months later I get an email from the main office saying "Student X wrote us saying you are an awful tutor and altius is awful....etc." There are some students who pay for the program and then do very little of what we suggest. There are others who do most or a lot of our suggestions but have a very deficient skill set or background to overcome. We have never claimed that NO ONE scores poorly after taking Altius. We just show the distribution, which is an impressive "upward push" of the entire curve. Notice on the website that 10-15% of students still score below the national average---the impressive thing is that it is 10% instead of the 50% of students who score below average nationwide. The upper end is similar: one would expect 1% of examinees to reach the 99th percentile, but we see several times that among Altius students. No one can guarantee you 'x' score because YOU have to put in the work and YOU have to take the test.

There is a reason no other prep companies publish score results--they would reveal a broken test prep industry wherein most students of prep courses score in a distribution nearly identical to the national AAMC stats--revealing the futility of these status quo courses. That is the reason so many on SDN suggest self study. If they really understood Altius and how differently we are doing things over here, the self study vs. prep course debate would be very different. Our results page on our website sets a new standard in terms of accountability and transparency. What if every MCAT course published such results? I am proud of our record and the company I work for. These are stellar people, some of the best you'll find. You couldn't accuse more honest people with your false statements.

FYI: From the Altius website, Results page:

Methodology
The 2014 MCAT Score Results Survey was conducted by a third-party accounting firm using the following methodology.

First, each enrolled student was assigned a random number as an identifier. A random number generator was then used to select students from among the population. When a student’s number was randomly chosen, they received an immediate phone call. If they picked up the phone they were asked three standardized questions about their MCAT score. If they did not answer the phone another number was selected. 621 phone calls were placed to obtain 121 successful survey responses. One person declined to reveal their MCAT score. After sufficient data was collected to achieve statistical power, the data were tabulated.

Included in the survey were all students who graduated from any Altius MCAT course during the 2013-2014 cycle. To be considered a graduate, students were required to complete a minimum of 7 of the 10 indicators of program completion provided to them at the beginning of the program—as verified by their private tutor.

CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

“TD Price & Associates hereby certifies that the ‘2014 Altius Student Score Survey’ was conducted independently by our firm in accordance with industry best-practices and a widely-accepted methodology. All data were collected, analyzed, and tabulated in-house and kept strictly confidential until the certified results were delivered to Altius management on January 2014. In our professional opinion these data are an accurate statistical representation of the population surveyed.”

 

[bumblebee611]

@ Roscoe11, Thanks for the very passionate testimonial. We are so happy you enjoyed the program and did well on test day. We hope to help many students like yourself do likewise!

@sweetx56, your comments are unfounded libel. Defaming our integrity by suggesting that there is some "secret" or "dishonest" way we calculate the stats is completely uncalled for. No one needs to PM you for this info, the exact methodology is posted on our website for all to see, on the same page as the stats themselves. All stats are tabulated by a third-party accountant and his methods are widely accepted. I have cut/pasted both the methodology and the third-party certification below for anyone interested. Mostly, your comment is sadly ironic because we are the ONLY mcat program of which I am aware that is publishing student score results. This holds us accountable to students and to ourselves in a remarkable way. We cannot just take your tuition and wish you luck, as is the case in most courses. Our work begins AFTER you have begun the program. That is why we have all tutors track the progress of every student and report it individually to management, why tutors are held financially responsible for student performance, and why we have a student success committee that regularly reviews ways to help our struggling students. In the end, however, the biggest predictor--by far--of student performance? Program adherence. If you do everything we ask of you and do it well you will score almost without exception. I've seen that time and time again with my personal 1-on-1 students. Those who follow-through with my assignments do absurdly well on test day--far better than the national trends. Those students who have a thousand excuses, with whom I feel like I am constantly BEGGING them to adhere to the program or follow my advice...a few months later I get an email from the main office saying "Student X wrote us saying you are an awful tutor and altius is awful....etc." There are some students who pay for the program and then do very little of what we suggest. There are others who do most or a lot of our suggestions but have a very deficient skill set or background to overcome. We have never claimed that NO ONE scores poorly after taking Altius. We just show the distribution, which is an impressive "upward push" of the entire curve. Notice on the website that 10-15% of students still score below the national average---the impressive thing is that it is 10% instead of the 50% of students who score below average nationwide. The upper end is similar: one would expect 1% of examinees to reach the 99th percentile, but we see several times that among Altius students. No one can guarantee you 'x' score because YOU have to put in the work and YOU have to take the test.

There is a reason no other prep companies publish score results--they would reveal a broken test prep industry wherein most students of prep courses score in a distribution nearly identical to the national AAMC stats--revealing the futility of these status quo courses. That is the reason so many on SDN suggest self study. If they really understood Altius and how differently we are doing things over here, the self study vs. prep course debate would be very different. Our results page on our website sets a new standard in terms of accountability and transparency. What if every MCAT course published such results? I am proud of our record and the company I work for. These are stellar people, some of the best you'll find. You couldn't accuse more honest people with your false statements.

FYI: From the Altius website, Results page:

Methodology
The 2014 MCAT Score Results Survey was conducted by a third-party accounting firm using the following methodology.

First, each enrolled student was assigned a random number as an identifier. A random number generator was then used to select students from among the population. When a student’s number was randomly chosen, they received an immediate phone call. If they picked up the phone they were asked three standardized questions about their MCAT score. If they did not answer the phone another number was selected. 621 phone calls were placed to obtain 121 successful survey responses. One person declined to reveal their MCAT score. After sufficient data was collected to achieve statistical power, the data were tabulated.

Included in the survey were all students who graduated from any Altius MCAT course during the 2013-2014 cycle. To be considered a graduate, students were required to complete a minimum of 7 of the 10 indicators of program completion provided to them at the beginning of the program—as verified by their private tutor.

CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

“TD Price & Associates hereby certifies that the ‘2014 Altius Student Score Survey’ was conducted independently by our firm in accordance with industry best-practices and a widely-accepted methodology. All data were collected, analyzed, and tabulated in-house and kept strictly confidential until the certified results were delivered to Altius management on January 2014. In our professional opinion these data are an accurate statistical representation of the population surveyed.”

That's all nice, but there are all sorts of ways these survey results might not reflect the true score distribution of those who took Altius -- and of course, the most meaningful comparison is not "those who took Altius" versus the entire population; it's "those who took Altius" versus "those who had the money to take Altius, spent that pretty giant chunk of change at another test prep provider or for private tutoring, and put in the hours of effort that Altius seems to demand." In other words, the question is, if you're willing to spend that kind of time and money on MCAT prep, could you do just as well without Altius?

I would also add that my own experience with Altius was less than positive and I would not recommend it to a friend. I did take Kaplan (live online course), followed the instructions diligently, and managed a 39 after I'd been out of undergrad and away from most of the prerequisite courses for over 20 years.

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

You are absolutely right that statistics are not "absolute truth" about the entire population. They are just descriptors. However, when done well, with a solid methodology, they can be very helpful. The stats on our website reflect very closely what I've seen in my 1-on-1 students and I know 100% of their scores. I also look around my community and see many students investing the same amount of money in Kaplan or other courses and I'm not seeing anywhere near the output of very high scores. I rarely hear of a Kaplan student who scored 99th or above in my area, but I know many of my own students do that every year as well as many from my fellow tutors.. As far as people who work very hard and invest the necessary time, surely they will do better compared to those who invest less effort, but that's one reason Altius works. We tend to get the most out of our students and use personal coaching and follow-up to get them to work harder and smarter than they would on their own. A $2,300 lecture course is bound to be weaker in terms of that kind of personal attention, follow-up, mentoring, etc. I mean, look at the big picture here...we're giving students an actual 1-on-1 tutor for about 75% less than what they'd have to pay at Kaplan. Every tutor I know cares DEEPLY about their students and works very hard in their behalf. It is very hard for me to believe that me or one of my colleagues fighting our guts out for one of our students is going to produce no better result than that same student sitting in a lecture. I do too much for my students, I see too many Ahah moments. I see too many times where they are falling behind or getting drug down by classes or other commitments and I'm able to steer them back on track, I answer too many texts and emails helping them quickly clarify something they'd have to research on their own without me.

We say in our own materials many times that the survey is just a survey and no one should expect similar results unless they are willing to work. I think students should be impressed, however, that we are at least tracking/measuring our own performance and publishing it. We are the only ones who do. I know that the Altius management would agree in a second to having the same third-party do a similar survey for Altius and any of our competitors at the same time. We'd give our student contact lists over for such a thing, but I'm darn sure no other prep company would agree to...

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

An interesting update. I just found out that bumblebee has never taken Altius, but she posts on here sounding as if she is a former student "my personal experience with Altius." She did apply to be an Altius tutor and did not make the cut, but was never a student and never bought any of our materials. She expressed frustration to me in a PM about being asked too personal of questions on the application and about there not being enough reviews from minorities on the website. That is apparently what she is talking about when she says "my personal experience." Just wanted to clarify as when I read it I assumed she was a former student (and thus why I sent her a PM to ask her for feedback and see if we could make it up to her with some freebies or something).

Sometimes these anonymous online review are not what they appear to be!

 

[bumblebee611]

An interesting update. I just found out that bumblebee has never taken Altius, but she posts on here sounding as if she is a former student "my personal experience with Altius." She did apply to be an Altius tutor and did not make the cut, but was never a student and never bought any of our materials. She expressed frustration to me in a PM about being asked too personal of questions on the application and about there not being enough reviews from minorities on the website. That is apparently what she is talking about when she says "my personal experience." Just wanted to clarify as when I read it I assumed she was a former student (and thus why I sent her a PM to ask her for feedback and see if we could make it up to her with some freebies or something).

Sometimes these anonymous online review are not what they appear to be!

Thanks for delving into private information revealed in a PM that I wrote in order to clarify my position in a way that is sincere and respectful to you. Not to mention, you've distorted what I said. Feel free to quote me in my entirety--oh, wait, that would require honesty and transparency on your part--guess you've proven my point that Altius isn't the kind of company I wish to do business with, and I'd warn my friends as well. PS you hardly know that I "didn't make the cut," what I supplied you with was evidence of employment discrimination. Should I assume you work for Altius because you didn't make the cut to become a doctor? PPS I wrote to you months ago, when this thread was fresh. And you just found out I didn't hand over a few thousand dollars to Altius? Sounds like you fell down on the job of shilling for Altius.

 

[Roscoe11]

Well if it helps at all, I am a minority lol 🤣

needless to say...from "my personal experience"(as a minority) the program worked for me

 

[bumblebee611]

Well if it helps at all, I am a minority lol 🤣

needless to say...from "my personal experience"(as a minority) the program worked for me

Of course, that has nothing to do with the concern I expressed to Altius tutor, but you wouldn't know that from his distortion of my PM.

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

@Roscoe, thanks for the positive feedback. I of course had no idea you were a minority...and couldn't care less, but isn't that how its supposed to be?

@bumblebee, I think we've both shown our true colors and readers can decide for themselves. Yes, we care about our students and their constructive feedback and do our best to follow-up and help however we can (that's why I reached out to you and how I found out you hadn't taken Altius). Yes, we care about transparency and honesty so much that we publish independently-collected stats surveys and we seek to correct online reviews that seem to portray on their face things that aren't true. Yes, we work our butts off for our students and that is why, as an Altius tutor, I don't "keep up" with SDN regularly and have to update an old post occasionally. And, YES, we don't even THINK--as in zero ounces of brain power or time investment--about someone's skin color. There are black, brown, pink, white and all hues of skin color among my students and that's about as relevant as the color of their hair. If there aren't a ton of minority reviews on the website it is probably because people who genuinely don't care about race would never notice such a thing--I know I didn't. Would you rather we start labeling students by their skin color and say, "Hey Bob, Bill is s black student.. Get his review up on the first page of the website so we look like we like black people"? ... As for me, I'll just keep thinking of Bill as "Bill"and not as "black Bill."

 

[bumblebee611]

There's a difference between not caring about race and caring about persistent problems like racism. But again, you are implying that I said all sorts of things I didn't. If you want to rudely and publicly debate what I said in a PM, which I'm pretty sure is considered at least a little uncool, at least be honest enough to quote me.

 

[Roscoe11]

@Roscoe, thanks for the positive feedback. I of course had no idea you were a minority...and couldn't care less, but isn't that how its supposed to be?

@bumblebee, I think we've both shown our true colors and readers can decide for themselves. Yes, we care about our students and their constructive feedback and do our best to follow-up and help however we can (that's why I reached out to you and how I found out you hadn't taken Altius). Yes, we care about transparency and honesty so much that we publish independently-collected stats surveys and we seek to correct online reviews that seem to portray on their face things that aren't true. Yes, we work our butts off for our students and that is why, as an Altius tutor, I don't "keep up" with SDN regularly and have to update an old post occasionally. And, YES, we don't even THINK--as in zero ounces of brain power or time investment--about someone's skin color. There are black, brown, pink, white and all hues of skin color among my students and that's about as relevant as the color of their hair. If there aren't a ton of minority reviews on the website it is probably because people who genuinely don't care about race would never notice such a thing--I know I didn't. Would you rather we start labeling students by their skin color and say, "Hey Bob, Bill is s black student.. Get his review up on the first page of the website so we look like we like black people"? ... As for me, I'll just keep thinking of Bill as "Bill"and not as "black Bill."

@Altius Premier Tutor thats exactly how its supposed to be haha I just found it laughable that race would even come up in the same conversation as an MCAT review program....

 

[Altius Premier Tutor]

This will be my last post on this topic, but since you are continuously calling me dishonest for accurately summarizing the main points of your message rather than quoting it, here you go... I originally felt it disrespectful of your privacy to quote your PM to the world, but I NEEDED to clarify your post--a simple clarification of the facts seemed to satisfy both. Students make decisions based on feedback from users on boards like this who report having "personal experience." Students would see your "review of the Altius MCAT Everywhere Program" (What the OP asked for) much differently if they knew you never in fact took the program you were "reviewing." Most people asking for a review expect that people giving the review have bought or used the product being reviewed.

Your exact quote is below; I think I represented it fairly...you did not take Altius as your original post seemed to suggest, you applied to be a tutor, were not hired, did not like some application questions, said all of the testimonials were from "five white men," (not actually true), and this made you feel unwelcome as a black female LGBT. Oh, and you called us "bozos."

Little long. It's not your entire PM--but what's here is unedited and uninterrupted. Let the masses decide how gross was my "distortion" of the facts.

QUOTE:
To clarify, I did not actually sign up as an Altius student. My negative experience actually relates to applying for a position as a tutor with Altius. I emailed to inquire and the person who responded to me urged me to fill in an application immediately as they would be considered shortly and then tutors would be trained in a few days. I did fill out the fairly lengthy application immediately ... and (1) never heard a word back from him -- when you ask someone to make this effort, it is good business at least to say "Thank you for applying but we have chosen other candidates" or similar and (2) the application asked numerous questions which, as a former management side employment lawyer, I would counsel clients against asking. In other words, my experience is not on the side of plaintiffs denied a job who sue big business; I worked on the side of big business defending against employment discrimination lawsuits. And nobody smart in big business asks the kind of questions that Altius asks on an online application thatis widely distributed as the first step in the job application process. Again, this behavior just makes me feel like not supporting this business -- if they seem to be run by bozos who aren't interested in obeying the law, I wouldn't encouragemy friends to hand over a big chunk of money to them. I recognize that this probably seems harsh, but combined with the fact that you go on the Altius website and the testimonials are from five white men who mostly go to BYU ... it just doesn't seem that welcoming to me as a nontrad woman of color and member of the LGBT community.
END QUOTE

 

[bumblebee611]

This will be my last post on this topic, but since you are continuously calling me dishonest for accurately summarizing the main points of your message rather than quoting it, here you go... I originally felt it disrespectful of your privacy to quote your PM to the world, but I NEEDED to clarify your post--a simple clarification of the facts seemed to satisfy both. Students make decisions based on feedback from users on boards like this who report having "personal experience." Students would see your "review of the Altius MCAT Everywhere Program" (What the OP asked for) much differently if they knew you never in fact took the program you were "reviewing." Most people asking for a review expect that people giving the review have bought or used the product being reviewed.

Your exact quote is below; I think I represented it fairly...you did not take Altius as your original post seemed to suggest, you applied to be a tutor, were not hired, did not like some application questions, said all of the testimonials were from "five white men," (not actually true), and this made you feel unwelcome as a black female LGBT. Oh, and you called us "bozos."

Little long. It's not your entire PM--but what's here is unedited and uninterrupted. Let the masses decide how gross was my "distortion" of the facts.

QUOTE:
To clarify, I did not actually sign up as an Altius student. My negative experience actually relates to applying for a position as a tutor with Altius. I emailed to inquire and the person who responded to me urged me to fill in an application immediately as they would be considered shortly and then tutors would be trained in a few days. I did fill out the fairly lengthy application immediately ... and (1) never heard a word back from him -- when you ask someone to make this effort, it is good business at least to say "Thank you for applying but we have chosen other candidates" or similar and (2) the application asked numerous questions which, as a former management side employment lawyer, I would counsel clients against asking. In other words, my experience is not on the side of plaintiffs denied a job who sue big business; I worked on the side of big business defending against employment discrimination lawsuits. And nobody smart in big business asks the kind of questions that Altius asks on an online application thatis widely distributed as the first step in the job application process. Again, this behavior just makes me feel like not supporting this business -- if they seem to be run by bozos who aren't interested in obeying the law, I wouldn't encouragemy friends to hand over a big chunk of money to them. I recognize that this probably seems harsh, but combined with the fact that you go on the Altius website and the testimonials are from five white men who mostly go to BYU ... it just doesn't seem that welcoming to me as a nontrad woman of color and member of the LGBT community.
END QUOTE

Love the fact that you assume the only women of color are African-American ... or maybe you're assuming that the only people who care about diversity, inclusiveness, and fair employment practices are African-American? I happen not to be.

Also, I never stated in my original post that I had been a student, or even implied it. Plenty of folks comment on threads on this site without having had precisely the experience that may be sought. That's why I respectfully wrote to you, when you asked me about it, to explain that my experience was not as a student. I notice that you left out the bit about my positive experience as a Kaplan student, and earning a 39 after having taken most of the prereqs over 20 years ago. Pretty impressive results, I'd say, for far less money than Altius, most likely in combination with scheduling that is way nicer for most nontrads.