Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts)

I've continuiously taken the part time acting for film courses with Julie Howgate, and occasionally having Mel Tuck, Brent Stait, and Chilton Crane teach when Julie is out of the country. I have to say I really enjoyed it. I love working with Julie because she helped me learn how to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Also, I enjoyed learning how to do instead of pretending to do on stage/camera. The few classes I had with the other professors were amazing, so I can definitely recommend VanArts. I have taken a 4 month course outside of VanArts with Tanya Elchuk (who currently teaches at VanArts), and I learned so so much and really enjoyed her way of teaching!

Loved studying Web Development at Vanarts! The faculty members were super kind and helpful. The instructors are industry experts, awesome people and are ready to help you go further. Moreover, I met incredible people from different countries and backgrounds and learnt a lot from them. The Department Head is open-minded. He listens to suggestions and complaints and tries to implement or solve that, if possible. Also, always encourage the students to be professionals at all times. Some school resources could be improved, like having some IOS/Mac experience in-class, since not all students can afford to buy an Apple product. The program overall is very intense, and dedication is a MUST, but anyone without any design/development background can learn. I've learnt more than I expected and without a doubt, I recommend Vanarts.

I done the into to acting and the level 1 here. During both courses I gained so much confidence, and was pushed by my teacher Julie. She really goes into detail, and helps you improve of your performances. Julie is one of the greatest teachers I have ever met, and I am very privileged and honored to have met her. Great classes, the into was really fun and helps you with techniques for acting/learning scripts and getting into the mind of the person you are being while acting. The level 1, is tuffer and further breaks down all walls so that you can let those emotions out naturally. I will be back to do the level 1 once I have some cash.

Horrible school DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY Well I did the web development and design program which costed the same as some of the other programs which doesn't make any sense since all you need is a computer and some web applications.... We had one teacher for the first 2 semesters who didn't even TEACH. He just would give us repetitive in-class assignments to do while he left the classroom multiple times to take phone calls for his other businesses Then had another teacher who only talked about his success in his business and only had that to share with us when talking about business but none of went in-depth. Everything was on the surface The computers were breaking down all the time. Our classes would get have to stop to wait for someone to repair someone's computer. Our keyboards and mouses were taped together and not even ergonomic friendly which it should be if your spending over 8 hrs a day on a computer. 70% of the people of my class who I did the program with all thought it was a waste of money. Half of them stopped showing up to the classes because you didn't learn anything and just came in after hours to use the facilitates and learn on their own. Most of the teachers have other business / jobs so they are too busy to help you with your work after hours except for 2 teachers out of the 7 or 8 we had. And then we got a few teacher to teach graphic design who never knew how to teach and only knew how to use a mac so the first month with her it was actually us students helping her do her job. Which is fine if it was a normal school but for the fact I paid an arm and leg to be taught by the most professional people this was not the case. They robbed me and I learnt nothing from them

DO. NOT. FALL.FOR. THIS. TRAP. I wish I had done my due diligence before enrolling to Web Development diploma at Vanarts. It was a huge mistake that I paid deeply in financial terms and mostly in terms of wasted time. And this review is about the web Development diploma only. I can not comment on other diplomas. First of all, the structure of the program is absolutely ill-conceived. They want you to believe they can make you developer, a designer and a marketing professional. That is not possible. That’s not how the market works, That’s not expected by employers. You will end up a low-qualified professional that won’t be able to find even a junior position. It’s like want to make you a dentist, an optometrist and an audiometrist in a single diploma. Again, they will try to convince you that is good, but that only will make you capable of doing amateurish websites for family and neighbors. You will not make it to a development job. Second, instructors are bad. Most of them really bad. There are exceptions of course. And really good exceptions, that tried to make up for the ill-conceived course structure. For those, my apologies if you are reading this. But for the bad, they were harmful to my learning and my professional path. I had to learn absolutely outdated concepts and workflows. Not outdated now, but outdated even before the course started. All that led by an apathetic head of department (and instructor in many courses) which always tried to make it clear he did not like to be there and forced down our throats his outdated concepts. And that is bad bad because now I have a double work: I have to unlearn and get rid of bad habits, to learn what I should have learnt at first. Third, the reputation. If you plan to stay in Canada, no one knows about that school. When you say you are a developer, they will ask: BCIT? Langara? When you say Vanarts, there’s that “pitty” face. Vanarts is seen as just one of those “private for-profit” colleges. It won’t help you. If you are local, just don’t go for it. You will not end up a developer. You will have a school in your CV that is not recognised as a reference in IT. You will have substandard education, structure and diploma. If you are an international student, then it is a NO GO in capital letters. NO. GO. Besides all the drawbacks I already mentioned, you will not even have a chance of working (and then actually learning something), because that school makes you ineligible to a post-graduate work permit. They will try to hide it. Not to mention it in the hopes you do not ask. But that’s the true. If you want to pursue that career, first, don’t go to Vanarts. Second, the best way today is self-learning. Udacity, Udemy, YouTube, FreeCodeCamp, EggHead, etc. Those are way more effective and way cheaper. And you will be more updated. If you really want a brick and mortar school, the ones that are really reference in Vancouver (that employers know about) are Langara and BCIT (specially if you are foreigner and plans to stay after) and Red Academy and Lighthouse Labs (private shorter bootcamps) If you have any additional question about the program, don’t fall for the marketing team (they are good at hiding the dark side) or the two alumni that they direct you. Yes, from the big number of students, only two accept give good testimonials, and those were students 4 batches ago. From my group and even the one before, no one would accept to give a testimonial. Specially a positive one.