Monthly Archives: August 2012

ACC Open House RECAP: Featuring ACC-Ontario’s Campus

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On August 23, 2012, the Open House event at the Ontario campus created an exciting atmosphere as people interested in ACC’s programs rushed in to learn more about how ACC can train them for their chosen career. Many came with supportive families as they made the difficult decision of choosing a program that is right for them. Children were also able to participate in the festivities while their parents spoke with Admissions Advisors.

We would like to thank the ACC staff, students, and community who attended our Open House. We had a great night, with the AMP Radio Street Team DJing while participants spoke to our knowledgeable Program Directors, current students, and Admissions Advisors. ACC students were able to stop by the social media hub and give a shout out to their programs and teachers, and discuss why they are happy that they chose ACC. We also provided candy apples and popcorn, which you can see in the pictures below.

If you missed the ACC-Ontario Open House and are interested in a program at any of our southern California campuses, please contact an Admissions Advisor at (877)-674-6152. They can answer all questions you may have about ACC. 

ACC Open House August 2012

American Career College Welcomes Lani Townsend as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Campus

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Tom McNamara, President of American Career College, announces the appointment of Ms. Lani Townsend to the post of Executive Director at the Los Angeles campus.  Ms. Townsend has over 20 years of experience in post-secondary higher education executive leadership in ever increasing roles of responsibility. Ms. Townsend’s primary responsibility will be to ensure that all institution activities are performed in accordance with the criteria of the accrediting and state regulatory agencies of American Career College.  Ms. Townsend will continue in the proud 34 year history of the institution and focus on key initiatives of the college including building relationships with clinical and hospital partners to ensure ACC students have the best in clinical extern experiences, and that its graduates obtain the careers they work so hard for in the classroom. Ms. Townsend will also be focused on the ACC GED Preparatory program which has been a part of the American Career College educational offering for more than a decade – helping thousands of students prepare to earn their GED. This effort is particularly important in the Los Angeles area where Ms. Townsend is based.

For more than 34 years, American Career College has been working to serve the SoCal community with quality educational offerings. ACC has more than 35,000 graduates, many of whom are working in hospitals, pharmacies and clinics; helping the residents of Southern California on a daily basis.  American Career College has not only helped individuals have more rewarding careers, but has helped the entire SoCal area by producing prepared health care workers. ACC welcomes Ms. Townsend to the LA campus, and look forward to her partnership with ACC’s extraordinary students.

Memorization Tactics That Can Boost Your Test Preparation

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Memorizing information for a test can be challenging and sometimes frustrating. But memorization is a skill that every student needs to master. Whether you’re preparing for a test or preparing for the professional world, there are certain facts, principles, and ideas you need to remember in order to succeed.

For example, if you decide to attend a Dental Assisting program, you’ll have to memorize plenty of dental terms that will help you pass your tests now and perform effectively in the workplace in the future. A few things you would need to memorize are: the types of teeth and their assigned numbers, the names and purposes of dental instruments, the types of dental procedures, the symptoms of dental problems and diseases, the equipment used and practices involved in taking X-rays, and more.

Memorization is the foundation for your education, and the work you put into your studies now will pay off later. So focus your efforts on using the following memorization tactics to boost your test taking skills.

Grouping

One of the challenges of memorizing information for a test is that you usually have many terms and ideas to commit to memory. That’s why organizing individual elements into related groups can be an effective technique.

In the Pharmacy Technician program, students learn the names of many drugs. One way to memorize generic drug names through grouping is to learn common suffixes. For example, drugs that end in the “-cillin” or “-cycline” groups are antibiotics. Understanding groups will help you quickly categorize and identify a large number of elements.

Association

Memorizing through association involves connecting unfamiliar ideas with familiar ones. To practice this technique, try to relate each concept you want to memorize to a personal example, story, or analogy. For instance, if you are studying to become a Vocational Nurse and you wish to memorize the body systems, you can personify those terms to create a silly story out of them, allowing you to more easily remember each term and identify it on a test.

Learning Style

By using the learning style that suits you best, you can make memorization an easier and more natural process. Here are the three learning styles and a few ways to employ them.

  • Visual – learning through images. To learn visually, create flashcards that allow you to look at terms and their definitions. Look at images, photos, and models of your subject material if possible.
  • Auditory – learning through sound. If you’re an auditory learner, memorize while listening to music. You can also try reciting facts aloud or even singing them.
  • Kinesthetic – learning through movement. Recite the names of movements while you perform them. For example, to memorize “dorsiflexion,” practice the definition by flexing your toes up in the direction of your shin. Many people who are training to become Massage Therapists use this technique.

Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices involve learning acronyms, numerical sequences, or other patterns that help you retain a list or sequence of information. Once you commit a mnemonic device to memory, it can be extremely useful in improving your recall of the associated information.

Respiratory therapy students can use the acronym BAD TOMCAT to diagnose a cough:

Bronchitis or pneumonia
Asthma
Drug side effects

Thyroid enlargement
Other
Malignancy, e.g. lung cancer
Cardiogenic
Aspiration or Achlasia
TB

Repetition

Repetition is perhaps the most familiar – and effective – way to memorize before a test. Repetition takes time and creativity, so try the above techniques and reinforce them by performing them repeatedly.

Now you should be familiar with a variety of memorization tactics. If you wish to learn more about test preparation, contact ACC’s Student Services Department.

Do Your Research: Is American Career College Right for You?

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As a potential student, you face choices in your everyday life that are difficult to make. Questions come up, such as “What is the best college for me?” and “Which program should I choose?” At American Career College, we would like to help you navigate these questions. American Career College focuses solely on preparing you, with extensive hands-on training, for an allied health care career after college. Unlike many traditional programs, you can complete a program at American Career College’s three convenient locations in Los Angeles, Orange County, and Ontario, California in as little as ten months.

At ACC, our programs are designed to be a pathway to your success after college.  Depending on your program, our training and instructors have a wide variety of methods to teach you the material you need to know. We strive to assist all of our students in succeeding in their academic endeavors. Our Student Services Department is dedicated to its students and is there to help you every step of the way. Our programs start frequently and we have a simplified enrollment process, so qualifying students can start as soon as possible. Each of our programs works with your schedule; if you are concerned about balancing your life and work, don’t worry! ACC will work with you to register for classes and construct your schedule so you can complete on time.

Financial aid is available for those who qualify, and new students can participate in the ACC Advantage, a 30-day trial that allows you to experience ACC’s classes, facilities, and programs first hand at no tuition cost. If you have attended another school and are interested in transferring to ACC, then you may be able to transfer credits from your current college program. And if you have not completed high school or taken your GED, ACC is there to help! ACC offers a no-cost GED Preparation Program to those who qualify, and you could be eligible to receive a scholarship to attend one of ACC’s diploma programs after you have completed the program and passed the exam. You are not required to attend ACC if you attend the GED program.

If you are wondering about ACC’s accreditation, then don’t look any further! American Career College carries various forms of accreditation, both institutional and programmatic. We are institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau for Health Education Schools (ABHES), which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If you are worried about a particular program’s accreditation, state approval, or career-specific licensure requirements, ask your Admissions Advisor and they can help guide you to the information you’ll need for your future career, or check out our Academic Catalog at http://americancareercollege.edu/pdf/catalog.pdf.

American Career College also has competitive graduation/completion rates. To view our “Student Right to Know” completion rates, visit the National Center for Educational Statistic College Navigator website; you can find our page by clicking here. We encourage you to use this tool, created by the U.S. Department of Education, to compare all your potential college choices.

American Career College’s Career Services Department is dedicated to assisting ACC’s graduates in finding employment in their field. Though we cannot guarantee employment, Career Services uses many tools to connect with possible employers and holds workshops for students so that you have the best chance at getting hired. They will help you with your employer connections, résumé, interview tactics, and more.

Our student life is very colorful, and our Student Services Department holds many events such as Student Appreciation Days and Perfect Attendance Rallies,* which are filled with food, fun, and activities. Our Admissions holds an Open House that showcases ACC; there, you can check out American Career College’s facilities and get helpful information on upcoming sessions. ACC’s facilities offer a dynamic learning environment with advanced labs and collaborative classrooms. You can view our photos below to learn more about our Open House event. Our next Open Houses are at our LA, OC, and Ontario Campuses and will be held on August 23, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

At American Career College, we are constantly changing to create an innovative learning environment for our students. We suggest you do your research: shop around, compare schools, visit the local community college – we want you to make sure that American Career College is the choice for you. Please contact an Admissions Advisor with any questions at 877-674-6152.

*Events may vary by campus.

ACC OH

American Career College Responds to Cal Grant

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Dear Students,

We were recently notified by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) that they are eliminating new Cal Grants for ACC students for the coming academic year. We are deeply frustrated by this news, not only because the information provided by CSAC is outdated and not indicative of ACC’s student success, but because of the impact it will have on our students, and thousands of other students in California.

The Governor’s budget for this year contained many deep cuts to programs that affect our students and their families. The cuts to the Cal Grant program will impact 154 colleges in California, and countless students. The Governor was looking for cost savings to reduce the state’s budget shortfall, and unfortunately, those cuts are disproportionately impacting low income students who are seeking an education to change their lives.

We believe CSAC is unfairly applying the budget regulation, and looking at data that is no longer current. If you go to this link: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=american+career+college&s=all, you can view the information that ACC reported to the National Center for Educational Statistics for the current year – the key federal data source for higher education outcomes – and you will see student completion rates above 70%. ACC’s three-year students default rate was over the 15.5% for the 2008 cohort year that CSAC is looking at for eligibility purposes, which we acknowledge. However the CSAC has refused to consider more up-to-date information which clearly shows that the rate in question has been reduced to 12.9% and 5% for our campuses for the 2009 cohort, well below the 15.5% eligibility threshold. We believe this budget cut is wrong and unfair, and completely ignores the success of thousands of ACC graduates.

Additionally, to allay some concerns raised by students this morning, this announcement from CSAC is unrelated to ACC’s accreditation, nor does it impact our students eligibility under the Title IV Federal Student Aid programs, including Pell Grants.

We will keep you all updated as we fight this cut, but in the meantime, please speak with a Financial Aid Officer on campus to talk about whether this impacts you, and to discuss your financing options.

Thank you,
Tom McNamara
President
American Career College