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Diploma Mills Make The Unthinkable Real
It just blows the mind: doctors, clergymen, police officers, teachers, federal employees, such as White House staffers, National Security Agency employees, FBI agents, and a senior State Department official, purchased bogus degrees to seek employment, promotions, higher positions, and better pay.
Nowadays, almost anybody can become a doctor, or receive college level and advanced degrees with almost zero effort. Even medical assistants can find gray area online medical assistant programs without any special pre-enrollment conditions, qualification screenings, or passing grade standards... for just a few hundred dollars. Cool??? Not so!
Potential students should do their research before signing up for any program, especially online, to ensure the certificates and degrees they seek are genuine. Also, at the same token, employers who hire should also take appropriate steps to screen their applicants in order to determine the true nature of the credentials listed on their applications.
How to Do Your Research. . . Example:
National Certification Board Accreditation
The National Accreditation and Certification Board serves as an example for your initial evaluation process. This is a private, non-government organization that is not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and advertises its accreditation offers for alternative health programs, colleges, and graduates on the Internet at www.acertification.org.
Once you have noticed that a learning program you are interested in is accredited by an unrecognized private
accreditation organization you should immediately ask yourself the following questions: Who are their chairmen,
advisors, and committee? What are their requirements? How is the application process handled? Does the organization
allow accredited status to be purchased for a one time fee?
What is their protocol to assure quality? What are the requirements to maintain the accredited status? Can accreditation be revoked? How often is it reviewed? Who votes for approvals? Is there a summary of their latest reviews? What does their accreditation mean to my training and education? Who recognizes it?
This type of critical pre-evaluation and questioning process is important, because the word accreditation is often used as a key selling point (a sales tool), such as in: "We are an accredited online Medical Assistant university", or "Study online with our accredited Medical Assistant certificate program".
REMEMBER:
The purpose of a certification exam is to
certify that a person is proficient, and qualified to perform a certain job, which earns them their professional
designation.
Certification trough a national certification body attests to the individual's specific set of knowledge, skills, and experience in the view of the issuing organization.
A non-recognized, no-credit medical assistant online course certificate is not the same as the documentation received upon graduation from a vocational medical assistant training program, and passing a national certified/registered medical assistant exam.
A certificate issued by a gray-area, unrecognized online program, or worse, a diploma mill it is by no means confirmation of conferment of an individual's knowledge, academic excellence, or qualification for a specific job. Most employers will not recognize, or accept it.
Read more:
Warning signs that an institution may be
offering fraudulent or substandard degrees.