Under the law there activities are legal. Anyone in the US can open a university. There is more than 3000 universities in this country. You pay and take the course and they give you a certification. Now it the responsibility of everyone enrolling to check if the program offered is accredited by the state you live in. If you did not too bad for you and you cannot even sue them. You are only left with a piece of paper employer will probably will not recognize.

This certificate is not essential to have a CRA job. Big compagnies will offer this kind of traning. I never had this certificate and I am in the interview process to apply for a job. They never asked me if I have the certificate.Cereprotec, Pharmalef, espoirbridge and Kriger are pushing to let us take the certificate. What a shame. When you call pharmalef it's a general answering machine (Tel/fax). I sent a big E-mail to Espoirbridge to let them answering about all this Sh... but I never received any.I asked to stop sending their reference code because I don't need it. But with their electronic system, they can't stop. I don't know if their is humans behind this company. Strange .....

Anute, if you curently work at a university, I would suggest the following: contact professors at the Department of medicine, health professions, Psychology/Neuroscience & Nursing to see if they have any research going on for which they need research assistants. You have better odds since you already work there.

About training, I would recommend you volunteer a lot. You need practical experience. Just helping out in a clincial study for 1 month goes a long way. Check if your university has a centre for clinical research - they would have training programs each month on different aspects of clinical research b/c the professionals need to stay up to speed too. The programs are free, though registration is generally required since seats are limited.

You only become a certified CRA after 2 yrs work experience. At this point, mentioning "CCRP or CCRA" on your resume will set you apart. Otherwise, you basically begin at an entry level position and work your way up.

Lastly, be proactive! Tell everyone you know that you are looking for work in this field. Search job banks, use google, set up career alerts, send out resumes even when not sollicited. Make sure you target your search and apply for positions for which you qualify.

yes Kim, I am in the same situation. This is how some people make money, by selling hope and untruthful promises. Disgusting. I hope to go back to school soon and to get rid of this kind of people.

MAURICE

Hello there:
I have been following the discussion and would like to reflect on my experience with Kriger. The CRA course offered by Kriger is very helpful in getting in depth knowledge of clinical research, GCP and practical application of theoretical knowledge during the clinical trials. The flexible arrangement of the course allowed  me, working  full tim,  to succeed.  The final exam is very comprehensive and tests all the areas necessary for the professional to know and function in the field of clinical research. I had to attempt three times before successfully completing final exam. It was not easy and it was a real test of my knowledge. All the material, sources and articles available to students throughout the course are excellent! The projects require practical application of possessed theoretical information. Communications with the instructors, always in a timely way and individualized to specific needs of a student, are very valuable as a source of learning as well.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the course offered by Kriger and I am making use of it, working as a nurse.
Alicja

Thank you folks! keep this thread going. Like most of you I also, called the Cereprotec phone number and got no response. This is all a scam to get the Krieger company to make money. I am a recent Graduate from York University, Toronto, and no way in hell can you get a job offer right away without the initial grind. Stay away from EspoirBridge, Kreiger and cereprotec. They are simply bad news. I am calling my local news companies to bring an end to this scam.