Visual College of Art and Design (VCAD) - Calgary

This review is for Priyanka in Student Services. She listened to my many issues and escalated as needed. She gets things done for the students and genuinely cares about students having a good experience.

Not a very good school/education system, went and did their online course for Graphic Design and it was a terrible experience, I do still thank them anyway for trying, though the tools they use aren't all up to code and administration isn't the easiest to deal with and get honest answers from. I got a busted Apple MacBook Air from them and had to get rid of it as it wasn't useable for my courses and programs for my classes there.Please be advised that these private institutions aren't all what they are cracked up to be.I even got discrimination used on me alongside lots of cyber bullying and the school here has yet to fully own up to everything and or take responsibility for their actions.I was told even by a friend of mine to not attend this place and I should have listened to them.Be safe and do take care and study before getting into any places like this because they won't tell you the whole story/truth anyway.I wouldn't recommend this school and it's programs to anybody really who's looking for greater education.

I inquired about a program at this “college” in early January. I was bombarded with emails and calls immediately asking me to come in for meetings and to get my application started. I was interested in the program so I agreed. I was pressured into sending in my application in so I could make the winter intake deadline, after I repeatedly and explicitly stated I was interested in the Fall intake. I was told to send in my application anyways, and that it would still be okay for the fall intake. That was a lie. After I was accepted I was extremely pressured into paying an insane tuition for a 1 year program. I was bombarded with calls constantly and pressured into signing a bunch of paperwork, that they did not give me the proper time to look over. I decided to pursue higher education elsewhere, and I am still getting calls to this day. I have closed my application, declined all their offers, and have made it clear in every way possible that I do not want to pursue my education with them. They are extremely unprofessional and I would not recommend this “college” to anyone. There are far cheaper and better places to go.

I thoroughly regret attending this school. Right from the get go, the admissions team uses predatory, disingenuous, and frankly manipulative high pressure sales tactics on potential students, when considering signing up with VCAD Calgary, the admissions person I was speaking to said that all students would receive a scholarship of $5000 upon graduation via cheque and that it would go directly to the students. Upon finishing my final term at VCAD, I came to find out that I would see none of this money and that it would be going straight back to Alberta Student Aid. While this information was written vaguely on the scholarship certificate, we as students were not notified in any way that we would not be receiving the $5000 directly. This is incredibly unprofessional and deceptive. It is clear to me that the admissions staff are able to say whatever they wish to students in order to get them to enroll. Furthermore, dealing with administrators as a student was painful, and turn around with staff was insanely high. I never had a relationship with my student advisor, because I went through FOUR of them in the less than two years I spent at the school. Teachers are overworked and under paid, some clearly inexperienced at teaching. Please please spend your money elsewhere. ACAD or Sait would provide a much more stable and transparent experience.

AVOID AT ALL COST!!! TRUST ME. Graduated from this school last year. They teach the students using YouTube videos. There were genuinely good teachers here that taught good lessons but now they have all left because they probably know how much of a scam this school was. Don’t attend unless you like paying 30k + to learn something off YouTube. They also will charge you for textbooks that you can find online FOR FREE, and try to charge you 900 dollars. Save yourself the headaches and money. They say when you graduate they have a student council to get in touch with to help you find a job, that is absolutely false. There are several graduates, like myself, that have not found a job. Please don’t go here, save your time!!! I wish I listened to reviews but I was hard headed and still attended. I am now paying a student loan that wasn’t worth it. Trust me, you can find somewhere else better to learn. The graduation ceremony was so unprofessional and once you graduate, they will never ever check back on you. This school is 100% scam!

All you have to do is check out the reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed from former employees to know that this place shouldn't even be called a college, it should be called what it is: a predatory business designed to accept anybody, keep dropout rates high, and keep the money from students that fell for their scam.Students are told that once they graduate, they'll be given $5000.00 to put towards whatever they wish. They encourage" students to put it towards their students loans

I love this school the employee's and instructors are amazing and the student services people are really helpful. Today I had excellent help and one on one time with my Monday morning instructor about the assignments for the class.I want to say thank you VCAD employee's for your help and your positivity and helping me with moving forward to achieve my goals that I have setup for my future.YOU ALL ARE AMAZING !!!!!!!

Hello to whomever this may concern. I am a student at this school, and I have learned some odd things about this college. Teachers at this college don't have to be able to teach. Teaching qualifications go as follows: talk about a made-up up subject for 15 minutes in front of other staff. Thats it! Then teachers can just read lessons and students are left to figure everything out without any further explanation or assistance. When you first arrive, you'll be introduced by surprised looks from the administration and release forms to sign. We don't get a student card to get into the building for class on weekends. Takes almost a month to receive online text books for classes you're currently doing. Don't waste your money here. Go somewhere where they actually want to teach instead of this place where teachers do the bare minimum and collect checks.

When signing up for School I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be a fit for this school or if I wanted to apply for this fall due to a lot of anxiety that came out of not knowing if I was ready. Anyways when I signed up for information, I was quickly contacted by one of the admission directors. When a call was lined up, I was nervous, but when talking to Jeff Chan (Assistant Admission Director), he made sure I was informed and the least stressed as possible. Super cool that the school has people who are real and easy to talk to! Even my Finacial advisor has been super pleasant to talk to and work with. School has been great so far even with being online and the class load is easy to manage with a good schedule.

I would like to express my sincerest appreciation and admiration for the outstanding customer service and recruitment experience I recently encountered. The level of professionalism, efficiency, and attentiveness demonstrated by the staff (John Dacanay) exceeded all expectations and left a lasting impression.He was very detailed and knowledgeable and at the same time we were able to crack some jokes and have a little banter and still stay focused at the task at hand, which all in all to me was a full service of customer appreciation and he made feel welcomed