Midwest College of Oriental Medicine - Skokie

"Rating: 1/5 I attended Midwest College (Racine/Skokie campuses) thinking I was investing in a legitimate acupuncture and herbal medicine education. What I got instead was a front for a predatory for-profit operation run by the Dunbar family and enforced by Kris LaPoint--a toxic trio that treats students like ATMs. The Ponzi-like financial model is blatant: * Tuition skyrockets mid-program with no justification. * Clinic shortfalls? They bill students for "lack of patients." * Hidden fees appear out of nowhere--$500 for "clinic supplies" that are just dusty needles. * Graduates are saddled with $150K+ debt for a degree that barely prepares you for NCCAOM boards. But the real scam is the review manipulation. The Dunbars pay third-party services to scrub Google, Niche, and RateMyProfessors of negative reviews. I posted a detailed 1-star review with screenshots of billing fraud--gone within 48 hours. Multiple alumni confirmed the same: truthful complaints vanish, replaced by generic 5-star posts from "verified students" with zero history. It's not organic--it's paid suppression. And then there's Daryl, Kris LaPoint's personal intimidation enforcer. * He looms in clinic meetings, staring down anyone who questions fees. * Students who complain get "private talks" with him--veiled threats about "ruining your future in the field." * One classmate was cornered in the parking lot after filing a formal grievance. Coincidence? Hardly. Kris LaPoint isn't an administrator; she's the Dunbars' door mat while Daryl is the pet dog. She laughs off abuse allegations, mocks crying students in staff meetings, and brags about "handling" whistleblowers. The culture is cult-like: dissent = expulsion or financial ruin. ACAHM accreditation? A rubber stamp. They ignore the dozens of formal complaints because the Dunbars wine-and-dine the reviewers."

"If you're a patient you might be better off finding community acupuncture elsewhere but this place can work for you if you want cheap ish acupuncture from acupuncture students who might not be good yet. If you are a student, there are better schools but this one is good for if you need a schedule you can plan work around (I haven't had a weekday class yet but clinic is on weekdays and you can go two shifts on one day a week) or if you want the admin to basically not care/communicate much here you go. I don't think I've ever been at a school less communicative/competent in admin as this, it's basically on the student to get in touch more often than other schools like for clinic hours. They probably teach basic tcm and needling ok. And honestly, tcm school prepares you to be able to needle and to take boards. Continuing education and learning other chinese medical systems besides tcm seem to be more effective but you need tcm for licensure. Tcm has enough basic principles right though so it's a long memorization thing that's helpful to learn all the points and herbs for use with other medical theories like shang han lun. Basically different schools of thought treat certain diseases more effectively and so you can get different results from different practitioners because they're using different treatment theories. It's the same in any medicine, get the diagnosis right and treat right Daryl can be mean but he's not bad if you know how to not take things personally. I always thought of it as like "if you practice anything you will have difficult patients/clients" so Daryl to me is like a way to toughen people up if they're oversensitive. I understand why people dislike him if they're not used to dispassionate people, but he is upfront about it. when i met him he did say some people don't like the way he is but we're welcome to be the same way to him. Not usually my style though. I personally haven't experienced him as terrible but I also don't know the details of what other people experienced. I did like the teaching better at pacific. I think needling teaching is difficult and it's nice to have nicer people doing it but Daryl does teach location in a very interesting way with feeling for dips in the skin and such as well as looking for anatomical landmarks. He sometimes acts as though some things should be as obvious to you as they are to him, which makes me think "come on, that's ridiculous" but I get over it. Maybe it's effective for remembering his advice on point location "

"After years of wasting my time at RUSH hospital and hearing, "Your labs are normal." despite feeling chronically ill, I am finally seeing improvements in my health. This place has changed my health and given me my life back. I speak as a patient from their community clinic, not as a student."

"Awful school and an utter disrespect of the Medicine. If you truly want to get an education in Chinese Medicine or receive a through treatment with supervisors that really care and students that know what they are doing, go to Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Better school, better teachers, better curriculum. Wasted 18 months worth of time and GI Bill money at the Racine campus before I got fed up and left for PCOM- Chicago. Its amazing they still manage to maintain their accreditation, and have not been audited by the Board of Ed, the IRS, and Health Department, its that bad...and don't even get me started about the A-hole Darrel that's still there bulling and intimidating students at the Evanston campus. The entire staff is about 10yrs past retirement and the ones who aren't have no business teaching finger paint let alone TCM."

"The Monday instructors are toxic, with one, Darrel, even proudly admitting he knows he's, he said, "an ass," Like that gives him fair game to get away with his abuse. Definitely don't go Monday. The two instructors, Darrel and "Dr" Moore are self-absorbed bullies who harbour an abhorrent culture of abuse and violence, get away with a gross abuse of power and have no respect for a patient's physical needs nor the student's passion for learning. It's hell. You can see the misery in the students. The instructors never smile. Thecadmins are rude. Darrel loudly berates and puts down all the students. It's abhorrent. There's no accountability here. At a patient's most vulnerable point, ill, sick, in pain, etc., the patient hears these two instructors being so horrifically mean and condescending the students. Also, note to not go Friday's, either; as Darrel works Friday's, too. Horrific. If your a student, find another school. This place is MISERABLE and DANGEROUS. At the end of my treatment, this female Moore character tried to boss me around in front of three children and an adult. Moore threatened to remove the needles from my ears because I had to stand, for I could not sit. She lied that it was dangerous for me to stand bcs the needles could fly out of my ears and hit someone. There was a 5 foot perimeter around me. They don't flout when your sitting. She was on some power trip because Darrel had corrected her earlier. Ironically, the needles I had in my ears were for anxiety. The other adult paitient in the room with the 3 children and I noticed how upset and in shock I was, and asked me if I was OK. I said, "no, " and raised my hand up to show her how visibly shaken I was from Moored violent and controlling behavior. Also, both Darrel and Moore blatantly lied in front of all the students there, this other adult and the 3 children. For a year, the protocol was for me to have the needles in my ears while on the table - This is how it was for a whole year and for four times in the prior two weeks!!! And Moore was actually the one who created the protocol, a year earlier, for me to receive the needles while flat on my back, which is what I needed to relieve my sacrum pain. Also, in the prior 2 weeks, I had gone four times and Darryl was there each of those days, and knew I was receiving the ear needles while on laying on the table. But, on that Monday these two were violent, the two had something to prove, and used me as their target. Now you know. Be forewarned of these predators."

"Appointments are $35 (unless you're ex-military or work for the City.) Appointments can last ALL afternoon. I always leave there more relaxed, but then contend with rush hour traffic to get home. There are "Community Acupuncture" places that cost the same or less and it won't take the entire afternoon. So, the jury's still out on whether this is such a great deal."

"This is a great resource for people looking for an alternative to existing health care. My treatment treated nerve and muscular issues as well as mental emotional health I've read all the reviews and I feel like Google needs do separate the "student experience" opinions from the patient experience The overall cumulative rating does not do the center justice in regards to the affordable health care offered"

"For some reason I didn't find the college faculty list on the MCOM website. I think it is highly important to know who will be your teachers and what level of medical degree they have."