Kaplan, To Me, Your Name is Scum

The other day, I came home for lunch and checked my email, as I often do.  In my email inbox, I had a message from Kaplan, a law school study guide/bar review prep course supplier that has sent me emails all through my law school career.  I opened the email, expecting to find grand promises of discounts on study aids and bar review courses, but I was wrong.  Here is what it said:

"You may have heard that BarBri is up for sale (read this article by the ABA Journal for more details) and have concerns about your upcoming bar review experience. Kaplan PMBR wants you to know that you have options. In fact we will honor any deposit that you have with BarBri up to $250."

 Well, I already booked my bar review course with BarBri over Christmas break.  My parents gave me some money for Christmas and, after extensive research, I decided to go with BarBri.  One of my friends who just recently passed the bar had used it, so I was thinking that it was a super good idea.  It's expensive--$3500--but I get in-class lecture review classes at William and Mary as well as multi-state and state-specific review, essay practice, real questions, and a guarantee in case I don't pass.  Anyway, I convinced my parents I was right, and they agreed to pay for it, so when I saw the email from Kaplan, I was more than a little upset.  As I may have mentioned before, I am under a lot of stress right at this moment with graduation and the bar coming up in my very immediate future, and I am prone to meltdowns with almost no provocation.  I feel a ridiculous amount of guilt already because my parents are paying so much money for a review course and to find out that my review course wasn't happening or that we were losing a lot of money was more than I could handle.  I read the ABA article and called BarBri immediately.  They assured me that there was no problem and that, even if I was a 1L (that is, a first year law student), they would guarantee me the same bar prep class that my parents already paid for.  Luckily for them--they would not like to see a third year law student freak out on them.  I was pretty furious, though, that Kaplan would do something like that to me, knowing (as they probably already do) how fragile is the psyche of a law student on the eve of graduation. 

BarBri sent out an email the following day which pretty much summarized my thoughts. 

"Regrettably, Kaplan is treating BARBRI's potential sale as an opportunity to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt in the minds of law students like you. It's unfortunate they've chosen this sort of marketing tactic, since they know that BARBRI has changed ownership twice before with no change to the BARBRI course."

Idiot jerks.  How DARE they sow fear, uncertainty and doubt in the minds of law students who are about to graduate in the worst recession we have seen in a decade?  I think it's low.  Very low.  I can't really effectively verbalize exactly how upset I was when I got the email from Kaplan.  I was really scared.  It has been a very big deal for me to pick a course and for my parents to pay for it--and for about ten minutes, I thought that I had made a huge mistake with my well-meaning parent's money, which is worse than if I made a mistake with mine.  Not to mention it would also jeopardize my ability to pass the bar.

I was already annoyed with Kaplan because my school decided to use their materials to provide stuff for our bar review class.  I decided not to take it because it was like $100 worth of materials and BarBri had assured me that I didn't need any additional materials to pass the multi-state portion.  And Kaplan didn't have anything West Virginia specific (I'm not taking the bar in West Virginia anyway, but why would I pick to take a course that is obviously much less comprehensive than the course I selected?), which made me pretty convinced that it was an inferior product anyway.  I was annoyed that, in order to take a bar review class for my school, it would cost me $100, in addition to all the other books I had to buy and the real bar review course I signed up for.  Kaplan, nice guys that they are, would apply my $100 towards a bar review course--but the representative told me that to take the West Virginia bar I would need ANOTHER bar review course to study West Virginia law.  Why get two bar review courses when I only need one?   Why not cut Kaplan out entirely?  And now I see that they also employ unfair tactics against law students as well.

I'm considering writing a letter, an email, or making a very, very nasty phone call to Kaplan.  I will never buy anything from Kaplan from here on out.  Why do I tell you, you may ask?  Well, for one thing, it's a dramatic story.  For two, if there was any doubt, I hope you will never buy anything from the manipulative idiots at Kaplan, either.  Kaplan, you guys are jerks.