Simon Fraser University — Attraction in Burnaby

First, I'd like to make it clear that my last review was removed. I'm not sure why, so I am reiterating it again as I feel it is important that people know this:

1. The president of this university is corrupt in more ways than one. First, there is the situation of international students. I was born in Canada & graduated from high school with honours, & my application to SFU was flat out rejected. I had to start at Douglas College and then transfer to SFU 2 years later in order to get in. Once I arrived, there were numerous international students who I spoke to who could barely speak English & who got in on their first try and they didn't even have a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA! Why? Because they pay 4 times more in tuition than Canadian citizens. Hence, the school allows in a massive amount of international students, who are given priority because they pay more, as well as priority for on-campus student housing. Don't get me wrong, diversity is a beautiful thing, but this is a complete inequity to locals' access to education, & the president is taking advantage of these international students. An example of this - when Trump became president and immigrants were fleeing to Canada, SFU stated that they would "waive application fees". This is a $75 fee. In contrast, The University of Ottawa stated that they would help these people by waiving international student fees (a TON of money). What did SFU's president want to gain from this? An influx of international students and a lot of extra cash in his pocket...completely taking advantage of the situation of these desperate people. He was not "helping" them whatsoever.
2. TAs & profs are completely disconnected. There is a complete lack of communication on a) how to do assignments/papers & b) how to grade them. Hence, you have overworked TAs grading in a very haphazard way. The professor rarely ever sees anything that's graded. This makes for many problems when it comes to exam time. Moreover, the TAs are always on strike. I was not able to get into grad school (at a different uni) on time because the TAs were again on strike and withholding grades. Why do they keep doing this? For good reason. The president of SFU (Andrew Petter) pays them in dog food, i.e., minimal wages. They basically do the jobs of the profs &, in my opinion, are almost replacing the profs - grading, teaching, dealing with students' inquiries, all while studying their own higher degrees. Hence, they are demanding a higher wage & more respect, & it is never given to them because Petter is a thief.
3. Many of the profs don't speak English well (I was in the Faculty of Science). Try doing integral calculus with a prof that you can barely understand. It's very difficult. I am positive that SFU hires these profs from overseas & pays them unfair wages (see the theme here?).
4. The grading at this university is crazy hard. I'm not sure if it's because of the disconnect between profs & TAs, or the grading scheme, but you can bet that you won't have a social life while going to this school.
5. WARNING: It will take 5-6 years to get an undergraduate degree. Myself and almost all of my friends took about 5.5 years to complete our undergrads (with no breaks). I found that this is because upper level courses are never offered. Either they don't have enough profs to teach them or the courses are full half a day after the registration system opens and you have to wait another year or more to take a required course. And the university knows this, but does nothing about it because they make more money if you're here longer. Overall, the experience is bad. It particularly worries me about the future of locals' access to our universities. Petter treats it as a business, and is only out to maximize profits at the expense of hard working students. Scary. This university has a complete lack of caring for students' education. It's all about the profit with these people, which makes the quality...

This review is in regard to the graduate admissions process. I found the program and only had a week to submit my materials, so I didn't have time to spare. On the first Monday after I applied I needed to make a change to my online application. I called and was told to send an email to the grad department, and it would get updated immediately. Two days later no change. I repeatedly called the department but could only get voicemail. Eventually I found someone who told me again to send an email but no change. I called repeatedly for two days. Finally, on the following Monday (a day before the deadline) I got through and spoke to someone who said they'd make the change that afternoon. I then received an email from her saying she couldn't remember what change she was supposed to make. I emailed her right away and heard nothing. I emailed again with no response. ON THE DAY of the deadline, I spoke to another woman who told me to email the grad department and that she would cc me in her email to them. Nothing. I did, however, hear back from the grad department that they might be able to make the change but considering it was the day of the deadline there wouldn't be any guarantees. (There is a special circle in hell for people that blame you for their disorganization imho.) It has a happy ending, however. I got the following email, "The academic coordinator has agreed to review your file once your new referee has been swapped in and reference received. I have sent an urgent ticket to the Dean of Graduate Studies requesting for the swap."

Update: Two hours since the last email, I received the following message, "Thank you for contacting our office with your requests. Unfortunately, we are unable to delete a referee who has already submitted a reference." This is from someone that I have not spoken with previously. She's finally responding to the several emails I sent last week.

2nd Update: I have been informed by the dean that they can not change my references, but they are adding a fourth.

I'm in my third year in my program now, and I wanted to be clear that the administrative staff and administrative bureaucracy have made my studies significantly more difficult than they needed to be. Quite the opposite of supporting students -- which is what they should be doing -- they have added a large portion to my stress load. This is not the school to go to, if you expect, as you should, to have a supportive, encouraging environment in which to learn.

Finishing up my program and wanted to add an extra note. As I stated before, he majority of the time I call to get more information about my program or dates for graduate, for example, they people are rude and resistant to be helpful. I find that I have to badger them into giving me basic information, but l still get loads of attitude.

These things many not bother some people. That's up to you. I have several degrees, so have been to several schools, and this one is by far the least welcoming. I can not understand why people in student support services would be so antagonistic toward students. I don't know if I actually hate this place, but I certainly feel that way every time I have an interaction with someone who works there.

Sigh. Here I am fully graduated, and I'm still having problems with this nightmare of a school. I'm now applying for jobs but the downloadable transcripts are password protected, so I can't upload them on to a job site. The graduate office no longer takes phone calls, so I'm unable to contact them to apply for this job I need to submit today. That's right, they do not take phone calls. FFS, am I never to be free of the nightmare that is administration at...

A great university with strong business program. Located on the top of Burnaby mountain, which provides the perfect location for higher level education. Plus, it has more snow days which may cause cancellation of classes, a bonus for some students, I’m sure. It also has a strong co-op program to help students gain some practical experiences before their graduation.

I personally did the co-op program before my graduation, 4 terms of it, a little extreme, but it helped to pay for my tuition fees, which is not getting any cheaper these days, and I believe the experience(Accounting and Internal Audit) also helped me to obtained the job offer right after my graduation (I had 1 week off after my graduation before starting my full time job as an accountant, which I kind of regret a little now, lol).

I wish the sky train could connect from production way station to the campus though, but the bus run is frequent enough. There’s plenty of developments around campus now which provides convenient rental units for students, enable them to walk to school, although price is not cheap. There are plenty of restaurants on the east side of the campus. The parking is a lottery system, and there are a lot of people fighting for it.

Overall, a great school, and I’m a proud...