Several classmates of mine have asked for my opinion about Dr. O....'s USMLE Review in Atlanta. Many of you know that I signed up for this review that started on 8/18.I am very disappointed with the review and here is a list of items that you can use to make a decision if you would like to attend it or not.
1) I signed up for the 3 week USMLE review with Dr O.... that started in Atlanta on 8/18/08. I paid for the course a $500 initial deposit followed by a $2,500 check.
2) Dr O.... never provided a receipt or a contract for the services that he was supposed to provide.
3) After the first day of the course I expressed to him my concerns about the course notes he provided for the course. They seemed inadequate and disorganized. His response was that he does not provide the detailed information in his notes fearing that students will copy and distribute them to others and he will loose future clients. I expressed to him my disagreement with that statement and that since I have paid for a complete product I must receive a complete product. He asked me to be patient a few days and that everything will "come together" and that I will be satisfied.
4) I decided to be patient and see how the process will go on. I became overly dissatisfied with his teaching process. Because the notes he provided to the group were inadequate and disorganized, he jumped from concept to concept and from the middle pages to the last pages and back to the first pages without a logical sequence. At the same time I had to take so many notes of my own that made it impossible for me to pay close attention to what he was talking about and I started missing the concepts.
This became overly frustrating to me and when I asked him questions his approach was, "we will cover this later" and when I would ask later, his response was: "we covered this already, why didn't you speak up earlier".
5) At the same time I found totally unprofessional the lateness of Dr O... for class. During my last day in class Thursday 8/22/08, the students got frustrated because he had not showed up for class. Half hour after the starting time of the class, we called him up and as he admitted that we had just woke him up.
6) His excessive use of cell phone text messaging during the class was also very distracting.
7) I approached Dr O..., again on 8/22/08 and expressed to him my concerns and got once again as an answer: "be patient and everything will come together". I decided to leave the course and asked him for a prorated refund. He denied & he stated: "my policy is no refunds". When I asked about his written policy, he responded: "It is in my brain".
He further stated: I have dealt with the courts before and nobody can force me to refund any money back.
OVERALL EVALUATION:
- Dr O.... is a very knowledgeable physician especially in the are of Neurology
- The course notes are very incomplete and disorganized
- His teaching is disorganized (not because of lack of skill) but because he jumps from concept to concept and from page to page
- His professionalism is below average (see above)
- If you have taken one or more course reviews before then it may be worthwhile taking this one but if this is the first review you will take, then it is very inadequate. Most people who take his course, have taken other review courses previously.
- He does not provide a contract nor a refund.
- The Atlanta accommodations are below average and make sure that you know exactly what you are getting before you sign up for the room.
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NEW INFORMATION I JUST RECEIVED:
THE PLOT THICKENS - Dr O....COMMITTED BANK FRAUD !!!!
A member of this forum sent to me the following message. You can go to Page 18 of the pdf file or you can read the text below for more on Dr. O...
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Hi Dimipt! I'm also an SMU student. I took Kaplan this Summer 08 (you were most likely in my class). Thank you for saving me 3000$. Actually the price recently went up to 3500$.
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you. Most students are crazy about his program. Before registering to his program I wanted to search his reputation online. While searching, I found out that he was sued for fraud not too long ago. I read bits and parts of the .PDF file. This really made me skeptical about his work ethics. This is why I became reluctant into starting his review course. He was sued for collecting student loans by pretending that he was a medical student. This is serious federal offense. I hope that you will get your money back soon. Let me know what you think about this. I haven't checked him out in the BBB.org website yet. But I sure will.
Here's the information below.
www.ftc.gov/os/2008/05/collegescholarshipfraudpreventionrpt.pdf
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HERE IS PAGE 18 FROM THE PDF DOCUMENT (Names Removed):
United States v. H O , Case No. 6:05-cr-06042-DGL-JWF (W.D.N.Y.)
The defendant submitted two Federal Stafford student loan applications to Citibank
Student Loan Corporation, one on about July 5, 2001, and the other on August 8, 2002. Each
application was accompanied by a certification page that contained fraudulent representations
that it had been completed and certified by officials at KM University of
Medical Sciences in Pozan, Poland. The applications also falsely stated that the defendant was
attending the university. The defendant was charged on March 3, 2005, in a two-count
Indictment for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (bank fraud) and 20 U.S.C. § 1097(a) (student
education loan fraud). On June 21, 2007, the defendant pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea
agreement, to a superseding information charging two misdemeanor counts of education loan
fraud. On July 19, 2007, the defendant was sentenced to time served, followed by two years
probation, and a $50 special assessment. The Court granted the request of the government for a
two-point enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2B1.1(b)(8)(D). This case
was investigated by EDs Office of Inspector General.
