[ 12-23-2002: Message edited by: FuffyB ]

To answer your question, ineffective transcriptionists will be at the lowest end of the compensation scale and McDonald's would probably pay better. A competent, well-educated, well-rounded transcriptionist can do very well. Your income level will depend upon your clients. An IC MT will most likely be at the top of the income heap. These people typically have a solid education, up-to-date equipment, an excellent reference library, and a proven track record.

I urge you to check our archives as the questions students have and the advice given will help you in how you approach MT as a career choice. Try not to get defensive or discouraged but heed what you read.

I wish you the best of luck.

Deb

Fuffy also gave you some good advice about brushing up on your grammar and spelling. Good skills here are essential to being a good MT.

Something that would be helpful in boning up on your spelling and grammar skills is to read some good books. Even going through the Readers Digest every month would be helpful. Readers Digest has a section called Word Power that would also help you build vocabulary skills.

I'd rather you have this information up front than wait to find out the harsh reality. You need good training for this job and it does not come cheap.

Patty

Thank you for the responces, I know my GRAMMER can use HELP BIG TIME! I know it will have to be superior in this field- But does anyone find anything wrong with (Education Direct)?
NCNicole

There are a lot of schools out there. I was lucky enough to be trained in-house and later went to an MT school just for the certificate.

I don't know much about the school you mentioned. However, I guess from the posts you realize grammar is pretty important. So make sure your school covers that extensively. There are many good schools out there, not just the ones mentioned here. We have several where I live. Call the universities in your town to see if they offer MT programs. You have to really do your homework with the schools to see what they are teaching. I didn't do that but didn't find it difficult to get work because I trained in a hospital setting first. They want you to have a good education or the experience, preferably both. I know it was my past experience that landed me my first job and not the school I chose.

The biggest complaint I had about my school was they didn't go into great detail with the laboratory. You want to choose a school that covers laboratory, pharmacology, anatomy & physiology, GRAMMAR, as well as the medical terminology. A lot of the bad ones only cover the medical terminology and not much of the other subjects. I would have liked a school that covered foreign accents, and I think that's really important, but you don't hear much about that. How far along are you? If your school isn't covering the things I mentioned in great detail, you might want to switch to a better school. Also, a good way to see if your school is teaching the right things, take a one of the online tests.

I wish I knew more about your school. Maybe someone else will be able to answer that for you.

You are asking whether Education Direct is a good course to take. My personal opinion is that it runs the lines of AHP and PCDI and that is purely from comparing their advertised courses with those of VLC, Andrews, M-Tec.

Visit the websites of Andrews, M-Tec and note how they go into great detail about the curriculum and references you will be required to use. Also visit AAMT's website for some really good information.

I think as anyone interested in MT who has no experience or exposure to this field, you don't have the advantage of knowing what is good and/or highly recommended for learning this field to get you work-ready in the best way possible. Some of the more recommended course offer SUM tapes as their dictation, or AAMT tapes. AHP, Education Direct, PCDI - do not offer these in their course work, nor do they offer the length of time spent doing actual transcription tapes.

One has to do some pretty heavy comparison shopping for almost everything these days and your education should be right up there with that. Be careful and choose wisely.

Good Luck,
Chris

[ 12-24-2002: Message edited by: BizzeeMT ]

Deb

Deb

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You are asking whether Education Direct is a good course to take. My personal opinion is that it runs the lines of AHP and PCDI and that is purely from comparing their advertised courses with those of VLC, Andrews, M-Tec.

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Bizzee, I am curious as to why you would include VLC in with Andrews and M-Tec. Did you go to VLC? My dealings with students from VLC has been less than desirable. They seem to be gaining in esteem virtually by attaching their name to Andrews and M-Tec. I question who is doing the attaching because they are not proven. If something gets repeated enough people start to believe it.

So, if I am wrong, please let me know, but do you personally know that VLC produces the same category of students as Andrews and M-Tec. I do not believe this is true.

Janice

I see that both of you are very, very new here. After you've been here a while, you'll come to realize that the veteran MTs who post have the newbie's best interest at heart and are not trying to show that they are superior. We don't always sugarcoat our answers. We've seen too many newbies try MT for all the wrong reasons, one of which is to be able to stay home with kids. Hey, if you can do it successfully, more power to you. Most fail to realize the it is a job which requires good basic skills even before you embark on an MT education, and if you are not going to get the best MT education available, your chances of succeeding are slim, especially if your basic skills were poor at the outset.

I know Andrews has applicants take an entry exam that tests basic skills, and they do not accept anyone who cannot pass the test. The cheap schools will take anyone who gives them the money. So what we get are a lot of poorly educated MTs who cry about not being able to pass employments tests or find a job. If they do find a job, they lower the common denominator for our profession by putting out inferior work and everybody loses.

I wouldn't offer to hire or mentor anyone who couldn't put together a grammatically correct post without glaring misspellings. If they have not been able to master basic English up to this point, I don't think they belong in MT. This job is not meant for everyone, just as not everyone is cut out to be a mechanic or a science teacher. You have to have the aptitude for these jobs first.

I like to call my philosophy "tough MT love". You might call it being discouraging, but I feel I am performing a service by being totally honest and hopefully helping someone avoid some heartache in the future should they fail because MT was not a good choice for them.

Patty

[ 01-03-2003: Message edited by: pattyB ]

You may be correct, but that's not really what this post is about. I know you love to pick out something someone has said and challenge it. Why not start a new post on this question. I'd also like to know why some think VLC is on par with the other two schools.

Patty

P.S. I'm the one who originally lumped VLC in with Andrews and M-TEC. I only included them because I've visited their website and thought their course sounded thorough. It's got to be better than AHP and all the other matchbook cover courses though.

[ 12-24-2002: Message edited by: pattyB ]

Please email me as your email is unavailable.

Janice

I do not need to be a long-time veteran of this board or anywhere else for that matter to know how to communicate effectively. Something that SOME veterans lose along the way.

Now, if you have something more positive to say, we can talk all day.

Happy holidays to you and your family as well!!

Take care.

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Wow! You guys are "kinda" rough.

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Georgia, the above quote is the only part of your post to which I was responding. I was simply stating my approach and the reasons I respond the way I do.

What we said was not that different, but you responded in your way, and I responded in my way.

You're the one who called me "rough" so I felt a need to explain myself. Then in your second post you say I like an argument. Not sure what I said in my post to give you that idea. You also said I was picking apart an MTs message, Huh? Then you called me rude. You then proceed to suggest how I should have responded.

Looks like you feel you have the right to insult me because I happen to approach things differently and express them diferently. Sorry, we don't all come from the same cookie cutter. I stand by my "tough MT love" philosophy.

Patty

P.S. Janice, my e-mail address is unavailable for a good reason.

[ 12-24-2002: Message edited by: pattyB ]

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I know you love to pick out something someone has said and challenge it.

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P.S. Janice, my e-mail address is unavailable for a good reason.

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Patty B,

As I don't have a problem with people contacting me about things, I really wanted to know if this is really how you see me.

I didn't want to open myself up to being slaughtered by everyone wanting to take a pop shot, I wanted it privately.

If you see me as being antagonistic and challenging, then I am not coming across the way I want to. When I challenge a post, it is because my experience is different not because I want to be confrontational. I thought that all posts were different points of view.

Merry Christmas.

Janice