I recently enrolled in the Princeton Review's Hyperlearning course. It should be pointed out that their "education advisers" at the call center employ very deceptive tactics in order to lure students in. When I tried to enroll in a class that had started just a day before, I was assured by the lady (Kate P.) that everything would be fine, that I'll be brought up to speed and that Princeton Review would be there every step of the way to guarantee my success. It was sweet, until the second week of the course when I asked about the Money Back Guarantee. Their tune changed almost instantly; apparently, Kate had conveniently left out the fact that the Guarantees are not applicable in my case because I 'skipped' the first class. A simple "by the way, you understand that you won't qualify for the Money Back Guarantee" would have sufficed during the registration process. Common sense would also say that the first class would have no effect on your final score, especially when the student has made up all of the work and has digital copies of the lecture that was missed due to the 1-day-late enrollment. If PR truly believes that their program is going to increase students' scores, why shut hard-working students out of the Guarantee due to this technicality and deceptive practice? So much for the "we'll work with you" spiel.
After exchanging a few emails with people at Princeton Review, the decision stood. I ended up contacting Kate again explaining the situation, and from her response, it was obvious that she knew that she was withholding information (as she was most likely trained to do). And remember: this was at the very beginning of the course; in all likelihood, I would never need a tuition refund, yet this is the level of hostility that I faced for asking about a hypothetical concern. Imagine being a student who actually did score lower! Expect them to go through every technicality to find a way to disqualify you. Because they will. Princeton Review does not care about you; they only care about your tuition. Once they get it, they will do everything they can to keep onto it. Common courtesies and decency be damned!
In order to qualify for the Guarantee, you must attend all 12 hours of class every week for the entire duration of the course, complete all homework assignments and readings and do at least 5 practice tests (each lasting 5.5 hours) during the course. Sounds easy? All of this easily adds up to about 30+ hours of work per week (expect to do ~30-50 pages of reading, plus upwards of 20 passages for a single lecture). And no, these 30 hours do not include Facebook browsing! If you miss something, expect absolutely no leniency from PR. This program is designed to be as student-unfriendly as possible, just so they have an excuse to disqualify you. If you truly want to benefit from the Guarantee, make sure you keep a clear copy of your work, and make sure you either record or get in writing any promises they make. You'll need it, otherwise, don't be surprised when they decide to screw you over.
Even if you are willing to put up with all of this deception and bureaucracy, you should know beforehand that for $1999, PR's Hyperlearning course offers surprisingly little value. I won't say anything too negative about the teachers, because the ones at my center were all well-meaning, and they do respond pretty quickly via email if you have questions. Unfortunately, the teachers you get are by no means "experts" as the "education advisers" at the Call Center would so boldly claim. During class, they are forced to regurgitate information that is already present in the review books. Most of the time, the book actually does a better and more thorough job of explaining the concepts. This is made worse by the fact that the classes only move as quickly as its most unprepared student. Because of this, it's not uncommon for lectures to not cover even most of the material. The result? You often sit in class wondering why you're there for 12 hours a week, when you can study more efficiently at home.
Everything they tell you in class is something that you can get from their review books. To their credit, their review books are well-written. You can easily find full sets of their review books online for a few hundred dollars (word of advice: if you're buying used workbooks, make sure you're buying UNMARKED copies of the books). You can also buy the AAMC practice tests (the best part about their online center) separately for ~$400. There is simply no reason to pay the extra $1000+ premium, especially given the complete lack of customer service you can expect to receive from Princeton Review after they receive your tuition! Hopefully this review will help someone else avoid making the same mistake I did.
To summarize:
4/5 Stars for their Review Books
1/5 Stars for the value of the Hyperlearning courses
0/5 Stars for the company's integrity and classless tactics
Overall: 1/5 stars (not an average) read more