American College Of Healthcare Sciences

I took the test. Never heard from them. When checkin gout prices, WOW!!! $ 10k for a aromatherapist diploma? They try to break it down by course but then add more than a grand to the total course at the bottom of the page. VERY DECEIVING!

Be careful! If you have funding and not cash. I filled out all of the necessary Assessments, applications etc in the beginning of November 2015 and I received a template email from Marion saying she would be my advisor. I didn’t receive a follow-​up phone call with the email so, I decided to follow the link to schedule a phone call myself because I was very excited about finding them online. I am a Psychology major at a more prestigious college, however, I have always wanted to dive into holistic health because it was something that has been a big part of my life and a dream for me to be able to practice.
Marion, seemed nice, however, it seemed that our communication was strained and she actually seemed to discourage me from attending the school. I first noticed the switch in attitude when I mentioned I had Financial Aid. Marion wouldn’t give me all the information about classes I felt I was pulling to teeth, she directed me to look at the website again because I was asking questions regarding the difference between Associates program in Complementary Alternative Medicine and The Associate of Applied Science degree in Health and Wellness. Which she kept saying there was no difference between the two programs and that I needed to make up my mind. So, I finally agreed to look at the website again because she was so unhelpful I thought I missed something obvious.
Again, I thought it was strange that she did not say ‘I will follow up with you in a few days, or call me back after _​_​’. There was no ‘these are your next steps since you have completed everything’, there was nothing and she just hung up like it was our final conversation. I was taken back by this but and thought I would push along regardless of her strange unhelpful attitude because I really wanted this.
After a week I figured out she really wasn’t going to follow-​up me. I rescheduled another phone conversation with Marion because I felt that time was passing and I still was not on to the next steps. But the last conversation with her was so bad that I finally gave up on ever talking to her or receiving help from her again. She was repeating what I was saying as if I did not say it and she was the one say it to me. By the time I hung up the phone I was so discouraged and disappointed that I almost gave up on the idea of going to ACHS.
So, I called and talk to a Supervisor, I told her what transpired with Marion and I was hoping to start Spring 2016 and that I didn’t feel any closer to having real information and I was frustrated. She asked me about the program I was interested in. So, I asked about the two programs of interest AND that is when I found out that Financial aid only covers for the AA Complementary Alternative Medicine not Holistic Health and Wellness. Wow! what in the world! why was this very important information not given to me 3 weeks prior? This is only one of many important bits of information not shared. INCREDIBLE!
Now, the supervisor tried to set me back up with Marion, I suppose not to snatch her lead and give it to someone else, but I was done. I respect everyone’s time and like everyone else my time is valuable also! I really resent wasting it.
So, I was sent to Amy who seemed reluctant to really help (I suppose for obvious reasons) she had a fair disposition, but I had to initiate contact almost always.
Now I only had 8 days left to have everything turned in and it was looking pretty slim for me to get in. I needed all of my transcripts turned in along with another ASSESSMENT called the Wonderlic-​which in my opinion the academic questions were fine but the student questionnaire seems very inappropriate.
I logged on to the Wonderlic and had my transcript sent that very day. ACHS received the transcripts on 12÷14÷15 because I had them rushed. It was starting to feel like they were dragging this out until the deadline which is 12÷18÷15. I was having a hard time getting return phone calls or emails.
12/​16/​2015 I talked to Amy and the Committee had concerns about last semester at the other college which was explained in the beginning in detail in the assessment and again over the phone. Now I have 2 days to retrieve more transcripts, even though everything was already on my current transcripts. Amy said she would resubmit my information and call me back. No phone call. I follow up with her today being the last day. I called twice both times I was immediately sent to voicemail. Then I received a rejection email 2 minutes later referring me to buy 9 credits worth of classes paid with cash.
My good friend has been admissions for 5 years and she has seen this before when colleges (admission advisors) do not want to deal with outside funding sources.
This also happened with another friend a few years ago who also felt she had also been discourage from attendance because of her funding source and the advisor echo of my previous advisor.
* Marion came across as very unprepared and distracted.
Handled wrong.

They do not use SSL on their website and expect people to disclose all of their personal data through it. When I emailed them regarding this I never got a response. Not a good sign.

I have been working with one of the most amazing admissions counselors ever. Her name is Amanda and she has been one of the most helpful people I have ever dealt with at a college. She has pretty much held my hand throughout the entire process and has been a source of encouragement. Anytime I call, I always receive a friendly and happy voice on the other end of the line from all of the office staff.
I have been searching for a college where I could get an ACCREDITED graduate degree in Complementary and Alternative healthcare, and this is the ONLY one that I know of that is distance learning. I look forward to starting my classes in May!
And for the record, this school is completely affordable and has multiple payment options based on the needs of the student.

As there are very few actual holistic health campuses to attend in the US, ACHS offered me the best education I could possibly obtain while still tending my four children. I attended ACHS for three years and graduated with honors with diplomas in Herbal Mastery, Aromatherapy and Holistic Health Practitioner. Currently, I serve clients in the Las Vegas valley and am so excited to be able to offer the wealth of education I received from ACHS to my family, friends and clients!
Just so readers understand, I have many years of healthcare experience including medical research. Not only did I research many online holistic health schools prior to attending ACHS, but ACHS was the ONLY school that had the Federal Distance Education accreditation. My recommendation is to not accept a state level accreditation as the only accreditation. Also, their professors and teaching materials were excellent, engaging and easily understood. Final exams are proctored, so I feel that I am ready to take the National examination to become a Registered Aromatherapist.
With regard to the staff, sometimes it is difficult to appropriately convey what it is that we as potential students need. I filled out a FAFSA online, which took about 20 minutes of my time, and received the funding that I needed in order to complete my education. The staff was very good about emailing me potential learning schedules and kept up with me throughout my attendance. I frequently call and check to see if they have added a Bachelors program. As soon as that is available, I’M THERE!
I’m sorry for those of you who had a less-​than-​great experience, but I notice that Dorene has done her best to reply to you on those issues. Now, THAT is dedication!
Thanks so much to Dorene, who has decades of experience in alternative and complementary therapies, as well as all the wonderful and experienced professors!
Gigi

I am unsure why there were bad reviews about the initial process because I did not have any issues at all. I started applying in May and am all set to start my accelerated classes in July. I did what they asked and got all of the paperwork together quickly, so being efficient and proactive is important. I was able to receive financial aid and a pell grant to help out with my courses, so I am good to go and beyond excited! Can’t wait to start as I know this is the best decision I have ever made! Thank you to everyone at ACHS for all of your help and quick responses :)

My experience so far–
I want to start off saying that there is not a perfect school out there. I am currently a student at ACHS working on my Masters and I am very happy with the program. This is an online ACCREDITED college for holistic health education programs. I cannot express how important this is! ACHS seems to me to be a college that is always trying to improve and to provide students with a holistic health education that has high standards. These are not easy certifications and degrees, one has to read, participate, research, and do the work! If you are a person who values education and high standards, one who enjoys the learning process and wants to do the work and reap the benefits-​check out American College of Healthcare Sciences.

My experience thus far has been good, but I have not started classes. Everyone I have spoken to has been very nice, receptive and answered all of my questions. The process has been very easy compared to other traditional universities and I have always gotten a quick response back to my questions. It is almost shocking how easy it is to get in touch with someone and how easy they make the application process compared to the big university in which I got my bachelor’s degree and the other school which I applied to. This is a breeze.
One review mentioned that the intake questionnaire took quite a while, but they must have trimmed it down because it really took no time at all. Also, I am also a veteran and I was told that the post ⁹⁄₁₁ GI Bill will take care of everything except books.
My only complaint, if any, is the website. It offers a lot of information, but there are no course calendars and they don’t tell you what a typical day in the life of a student looks like. I wish they had a bit more basic info about those sorts of things up front. But it’s really not that big of a deal.
I am planning to attend the college based upon the positive interactions that I’ve had with the people who work for ACHS and I’m excited to begin. And I will give a complete update once I start. :)
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**UPDATE: Attended for two semesters. It’s a joke. I had great grades, but it’s easy to do if you are self-​motivated. There is not a lot of help from your professors or even good details for your assignments. You just have to kind of figure it out. If you are not good at being independent, then this is not for you.
You will not get any more out of this than what you find in a book and what you can memorize. There is no teaching by any professors– just a ton of reading (including a lot of busy work reading). If you are an auditory learner or think there will be video classes, then this is probably not for you.
If you want to learn how to use your skills in a practical application, then this isn’t actually that great at that either. Again, this is all just reading books and then figuring it out for yourself. There is very little support from professors or faculty in terms of learning skills. I felt like I was paying a lot to read books that I could have bought for half the price on Amazon. I was basically paying for a piece of paper at the end of my degree to prove that I read the books. I personally felt like I would be a fraud if I continued.
Another reason I ended up leaving my program was that ACHS seems to be all about money. If you want to switch majors, it costs money. If you want to buy books somewhere cheaper, they won’t let you. If you want to add a minor, there is a fee. If you need anything, it costs money. It really felt like they were all about the $$$ and not about the students.

I had similar experiences and reviews about this school. When I first spoke with a woman I asked the question I’m sure everyone wanted to know, will I be able to afford this? So I ask SEVERAL times an open upfront question after my military funding what will I be paying out of pocket? Seems like a simple question. right? Well the woman continued to «beat around the bush» and kept dodging my question and answering with «this class will cost this much., and this book with cost this much., and WOULD NOT give me just an up front price! I was getting so upset at that point, not only was she not answering me she was making me feel SO dumb for even asking the question, literally talking to me like a dumb child. «Do you understand… awkwardly laughs»… I felt so uncomfortable at this point I literally said «you are making me feel incompetent and I’d like to speak to someone else». She brought me to tears at this point, I was so upset. After that my red flags were up, and then going through the whole «Intake Assessment»… wow I felt like I was being interviewed for some major university! Even the smaller schools I have attended never did anything like that. I felt like they were giving you these questions to make you feel like you were going to this huge accredited university. I told them «I don’t want to take this Intake Assessment before I know how much the school is going to cost me out of pocket and they insisted it would only take «15 minutes» HAHA. It took me an hour!
The «fees» they have is also alarming… I have never seen a school with SO MANY fees! They have a entire page with fees listed… I wish I could find a few people that have attended this school for some feed back!
I have been doing a ton of research trying to find a good school to attend for holistic nutrition, I have not found any reviews on this school from alumni or current students. I’m not completely shut off but my red flag is certainly up.

I found out about this distance learning program when I was surfing the web. Though I had lived in PDX for a few years and heard about the Naturopathic School and the TCM school and am very involved in alternative medicine, I had never heard about ACHS. I was interested in it as it seemed to have some alternative funding to make it possible for me to attend and add to my credentials.
Weeks ago I called to find out about funding to attend their school. The first red flag was that my message failed to be relayed to the right person over the course of a couple weeks.
I initially spoke with the registrar who I recall, in my opinion, failed to convey a good feeling. A couple weeks later, the relevant person called and left a message when I was out of town. I had asked that the information I requested be left on my answering machine.
Today I called back and spoke with a woman who sounded perky, impersonal and crisp which was my second red flag. I felt like I was calling a temp agency rather than a healing arts school. When I find I am dealing with a one dimensional business person it has been my experience such people with little life experience and superficial relationship skills are put in positions of power and responsibility can be problematic as you can see it was.
I repeated to her that I was looking for information about funding to attend. What follows is the third red flag: I had to go through what felt to be an interrogation before she would relent and provide the information I had been waiting for these past weeks. She asked how I was employed, what exact program did I want to attend, exactly when I planned to attend and more.
I was just trying so see if attending was a remote possibility and instead I felt invaded and pressured. Do all schools do this nowadays? When I was unable to answer her question I repeated again that I was calling to find out information about funding for tuition which she finally shared.
Being that I have had these two unpleasant experiences with their administrative folks and there fails to be any student reviews here on Unilocal (what… not one of their past or present distance learning students are on Unilocal or would be willing to do a review?), I really have some reservations.

I was really impressed by the wealth of information I received while attending 2 free classes at an open house at the College. Master Gardener and ACHS Senior Vice President Erika Yigzaw gave a great presentation on how to get your seed garden started as well as the key concepts of organic gardening for the home gardener. The classes were filmed and I was informed they’d be available on
in the near future.