refund from the preparatory classes

[kevin86]

How hard is it to get a refund from princeton or kaplan if your score is not good.
Does it happen normally or do people just go for the free retake classes

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[medschool22]

I believe you can only get a refund if your actual MCAT score is lower than your diagnostic score (could be wrong).

Kaplan can be a-holes about it. "We want you to turn in your book. We need to make sure there is writing in it to make sure you really did all of the HW..."

 

[Div_MD2B]

To get a refund from kaplan...ur test score has to be lower than ur diagnostic.
Also, for retaking the kaplan classes..i believe u have to contact them within 90 days of taking the test or sumthin like that...i forgot to do that and in january, they told me that if i wanted to retake their course i would have to pay additional $500. so...be sure u ask ur center what their requirements are for retake...'cuz they barely mention it when they advertise.

 

[rgerwin]

Also, you need to have proof that you attended every class and did every assignment.

 

[Orthodoc40]

How hard is it to get a refund from princeton or kaplan if your score is not good.
Does it happen normally or do people just go for the free retake classes

It's pretty hard to get a refund from Kaplan. Reason: they make sure your diagnostic score is LOW. So when you take the real thing, it will be GUARANTEED to be higher than your diagnostic score. The best you can do is show them you've attended all the classes, taken the full lengths, etc. - they will let you re-take the course once for free. If you contact them within a certain amount of time. Then if you STILL want to re-take the MCAT, you have to pay something like $500 if you want to re-take the class. (Well, it didn't help at this point - so why would I give you more money??!!)

Anyway - don't plan on it!

 

[SoCuteMD]

How hard is it to get a refund from princeton or kaplan if your score is not good.
Does it happen normally or do people just go for the free retake classes

Last time I worked at Princeton review - which was years ago - they never offered refunds. If you were not pleased with your score, had attended all diagnostics and class sessions you were eligible to retake the course without charge. I recall that our policy was slightly better than Kaplan's policy at the time, but that may have changed.

 

[medschool22]

Getting a refund is probably out of the question...

Don't retake the course. I can't imagine sitting through the exact same thing all over again. Everything they teach is straight out of a book they have, so be prepared to hear the exact same dialogue all over again if you do that.

 

[Kuba]

It's pretty hard to get a refund from Kaplan. Reason: they make sure your diagnostic score is LOW. So when you take the real thing, it will be GUARANTEED to be higher than your diagnostic score. The best you can do is show them you've attended all the classes, taken the full lengths, etc. - they will let you re-take the course once for free. If you contact them within a certain amount of time. Then if you STILL want to re-take the MCAT, you have to pay something like $500 if you want to re-take the class. (Well, it didn't help at this point - so why would I give you more money??!!)

Anyway - don't plan on it!

I disagree. My friend got a 30 on their diagnostic and ended up wiht a 35 as his highest practice score. I thought my diagnostic was right on the money too. All the proof that you did the work is online in an easy to evaluate system.

 

[EMH]

The guarentee is designed to be very difficult to claim for many reasons. It's hard to attend all but two classes and all exams. There's a ton of online junk that is required. They expect you to have good notes in your lesson book. And most importantly, the diagnostic exam is quite hard compared to the practice tests. If you get money back I'd be shocked.

The guarentee is just marketing, I imagine they even make it difficult to retake under the guarentee.

 

[ND2005]

And most importantly, the diagnostic exam is quite hard compared to the practice tests. If you get money back I'd be shocked.

The guarentee is just marketing, I imagine they even make it difficult to retake under the guarentee.

True. The guarantee is mostly a marketing thing.

At my center at least, they were much more lenient with people who wanted to retake.

 

[MasonPrehealth]

Well, since I process a lot of people's requests for repeats and refunds at my center...

The Kaplan higher score guarantee isn't as hard as you think it is. It's hard when you have to balance it all against your classwork and other things you have to do with your life... basically it means you have to put in the minimum effort and be exposed to the minimum information that Kaplan believes is needed for you to get a higher score (and I'm talking about all their classes).

When you qualify for a refund, there are reasons why Kaplan would ask for your course materials back, but for me, I'd rather not waste my time seeing if you actually took notes in your book; the only time I am required is to confirm that you did assignments that you recorded on your online syllabus as complete or incomplete (and it's because the student doesn't record that they did the assignment). But the criteria for the higher-score-guarantee are outlined in black-and-white in your enrollment agreement. It's designed to make sure each student understands the commitment required to take the course and do well on the exam. Believe us, we want you to take the test when you're supposed to; giving away lots of free repeats or online extensions doesn't make any money for Kaplan (at least so far as I know).

 

[mintendo]

To get refund from TPR:

1) you attended every class, did all the homework, did all the diagnostics

2) your actual MCAT score is lower than your first diagnostic, which is highly HIGHLy, unlikely.


TPR used to not have refund policy. It finally started one because Kaplan had a refund policy.

 

[Orthodoc40]

I disagree. My friend got a 30 on their diagnostic and ended up wiht a 35 as his highest practice score. I thought my diagnostic was right on the money too.

So - how is that different from what I said, other than that your diagnostic score will likely be LOW? Your actual score was higher than your diagnostic, right? Most people get a diagnostic score in the high teens - low twenties. It's pretty hard to not raise your actual score from there. Kaplan isn't going to make any money giving people their money back. They make it hard to get a high score on the diagnostic test. It's a business.

 

[PBandJ]

ok, as someone who actually HAS used kaplan's higher score guarantee (to retake the course, not to get a refund), i'll speak from experience.

i took the kaplan online course last summer in prep for last august's test. i didn't anticipate having to take the test twice, but just to make sure, i did everything that the online course listed as REQUIRED. i took the test and was not happy with my score (only 4 points higher than my diagnostic). i called kaplan the next day (i think it was Oct. 15, a little less than 2 months after the august test). they had to go through my course sylabus to make sure everything was completed. the only thing that wasn't completed in their system was FL 5. they told me i wasn't eligible for the HSG b/c i hadn't completed that assignment. i told them i had completed it, but that it was so close to the exam that i didn't want to waste time putting my scores in their system and i just scored it myself. they had to check with the manager, and once they got the ok, they re-enrolled me in the course.

moral of the story: the higher score guarantee can be used if you meet all the eligibility criteria. just make sure to do all the required assignments.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I don't know about refunds but TPR was pretty accomodating when I wanted to retake the course. I told them I wasn't happy and they wanted to see the paper score that AAMC sends you. They saw the score, vomited with extreme disgust and put me in the class. And when you retake they give you new diags...which is better than ice-cream. 😀

 

[Kuba]

The guarentee is designed to be very difficult to claim for many reasons. It's hard to attend all but two classes and all exams. There's a ton of online junk that is required. They expect you to have good notes in your lesson book. And most importantly, the diagnostic exam is quite hard compared to the practice tests. If you get money back I'd be shocked.

The guarentee is just marketing, I imagine they even make it difficult to retake under the guarentee.

Retake is easy, I had friends who took the course in the summer with no intention of an august mcat, and retook it in the fall because "they weren't ready"

 

[Orthodoc40]

ok, as someone who actually HAS used kaplan's higher score guarantee (to retake the course, not to get a refund), i'll speak from experience.

i took the kaplan online course last summer in prep for last august's test. i didn't anticipate having to take the test twice, but just to make sure, i did everything that the online course listed as REQUIRED. i took the test and was not happy with my score (only 4 points higher than my diagnostic). i called kaplan the next day (i think it was Oct. 15, a little less than 2 months after the august test). they had to go through my course sylabus to make sure everything was completed. the only thing that wasn't completed in their system was FL 5. they told me i wasn't eligible for the HSG b/c i hadn't completed that assignment. i told them i had completed it, but that it was so close to the exam that i didn't want to waste time putting my scores in their system and i just scored it myself. they had to check with the manager, and once they got the ok, they re-enrolled me in the course.

moral of the story: the higher score guarantee can be used if you meet all the eligibility criteria. just make sure to do all the required assignments.

Yah - retaking is relatively easy. Its the reFUND that the OP was asking about, though.