Fanshawe College — Attraction in Ontario

I would rate this faaaarrr lower, but they don't give the option. Honestly, worst school you could invest your hard earned money into. To start, if you plan on doing YOUR share of the assigned work, think again. Anyone who has bad English skills, their partners in the group or paired work are expected to correct their work and if not then the whole group will end up suffering for that grade and have to share the same grade as the group members who did not finish their share of the work. They love to say that "Fanshawe Cares", but when it actually comes down to trying to deal with them, you get shut out or told, "well this is a business so...".

Residence is just a money grab and IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY. More holes, molding issues, problems with mice, broken amenities and objects in dorms/houses, stains and dried up spills, and bodily fluid stains in the places than their are positives. Not to mention, roommate pairings are utterly disgusting; I got paired with a clinically diagnosed psychopath that caused a few of my roommates to move out and management will do nothing about this even though they are aware.

Security does not protect the students, rather they protect their jobs and do minimal work to help the students. When my roommate falsely accused me of being suicidal to security, they came to my house and who decided to leave the house? That same roommate-that same clinically diagnosed psychopath. They wrote in their notes that I was rambling on when I explained how my roommate has caused numerous issues among the rest of the house and asked how it was fair that she can have a serious alcohol problem and drink everyday and do hallucinogens almost every weekend. Not to mention, they wrote that I hadn't eaten since Tuesday (and this was a Sunday-I would not be able to survive if that was the case), that I had crumbs in my hair (my hair was in a neat bun and I just showered that day), and that I was born in 2017 (and it is 2019????). Even our foreign exchange student couldn't stand to be around her because of the repulsive and rude things she would say. She even would come home and say, "if __ does anything to piss me off today, imma go homicial on her." Do you think she said it just once? Of course not. She yelled it multiple times in the kitchen and then turned to me and said, "I'm serious. If she does ONE more thing, then imma go homicial on her."

When I went to the Fowler Kennedy Clinic, I had multiple doctors try to push medications on me and, after leaving Fanshawe, had found out that I should not have even tried those medications because the side effects I received caused more issues with my mental health than when I first came into that school (not on any medications). The doctors at the hospital were confused why I was even put on such heavy doses as well!

They also say, "theft is taken very seriously here at the college," but I had over $800 worth of belongings (that were secured in my room with the window locked and the door locked and secured) by someone that was hired by the residence and was on parole. Somehow he managed to steal everything, they ask my psychopath roommate about my belongings and take her word on that they "were never there" and that "she has never seen any of the described items ever in the house." Their security did a door audit and said that nothing was tampered with after a month, but tell me that they "cannot view cameras after 12 days because that is all they have." Additionally, they took their sweet time until dealing with my case, even though I reported the theft immediately and kept asking them to help me. I was just told "we have lots of time to deal with this" by the head manager of security. They never actually dealt with anything and I spent from mid March-mid July trying to deal with them. Once they don't want to hear from you, they WILL ignore your emails.

There is so many sketchy things going on here and I would seriously reconsider going here, take it from someone who wasted 2 years at...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE FOR DRIVING SCHOOL!!!!! I was registered for DRIV-9025: the M2 motorcycle course. The first bike that I chose was a Honda CBR bike. I stalled the bike a few times while learning how to use the clutch. It turned out that after a few times, the bike would not start anymore (guessing it was the battery). The instructor decided to give that bike to another student that was more experienced and was able to jump start the bike and use it. I was then given another Honda CBR bike. Turns out that the bike would not shift into neutral. The instructors were well aware of this issue. They had also mentioned that most of the Honda CBR models that the college provides had this issue.

The first day started at 7:30am and ended around 3:15pm. Due to the fact that the bike could not be shifted in neutral, I had to hold the clutch the whole time I was operating the bike. Now I am not sure if you know, but that is extremely extenuating on the left hand. I felt that my hand/arm began to go numb in the afternoon.

My hand as well as arm were numb the whole rest of the day. So from 3pm until night time. It was so unbearable that I had to take multiple pain medications to be able to get some rest. I was unable to attend the lesson the next day. Even if I was to “push through the pain” it would have put my safety at risk and that was not a risk I was willing to take.

The least you would expect is to get motorcycles that are in working conditions. I understand that the motorcycles do get significant physical damage from being dropped but mechanically they should be operating as intended. The least that can be done is fix these motorcycles or replace them. Upon further review, I had noticed that there are multiple complains online from various students about this issue so it seems it has been going on for a while.

If I had known the conditions of these bikes before registering for the course, I would have gone to another driving school. Honestly, I would not recommend this course to anyone that I know. As I had mentioned before, it is unacceptable that instructors are aware of these mechanical issues and no one is doing anything about it. This is affecting the safety of student and is making the learning experience very difficult and unpleasant.

After sending the college an e-mail, I was called by Robert from the corporate training solutions department who did nothing but deny the issues that I had brought up to him and blame me for not having the "finesse" required to shift.

Funny thing is...I spoke to one of the student in another section for the course and it turns out that the faulty bikes had been switched the next day after having that conversation with Robert. WHAT A COINCIDENCE....

I decided to submit a fee appeal. The college's policy is to respond to fee appeals within 14 calendar days. I had to call them 3 times before I got a response 1 MONTH LATER. The first two times I called I was told to send an email. I sent 2 emails that no one responded to. The third time that I called I told them that I would like to come to the college to speak to someone in person and finally got a decision letter that same day. Turns out that it got denied as it wasn't a valid reason without a medical certificate.

I got another call from Robert telling me the same things that he told me during his initial call and again blaming me. He also told me one of the options was to retake the course at fanshawe and pay for it again. As if anyone in their right mind would pay for the same bad experience again. I was unable to determine the purpose of the second call. Seems like it was just to blame me some more.

Filed a...

I'm reviewing all the things related to Fanshawe college: education, quality of teaching, schedule, campus, social activities as well as a brief review about the London city and part time job situation.

Firstly, the quality of education is above average. My program is Practical elements of mechanical engineering (PEM). So the review is be based on this program. The biggest issue is that there is so much to learn but you don't have enough time to go through the lecture slides and books even for a single time. The course is hectic. The lecture hours are 26 per week for semester 1 and 23 for semester 2. On top of that, you have to do lots of assignments every week, which makes it even more difficult to study and learn your subjects. In short, there is less learning and more assignments involved in this course. Situation is mostly similar for other courses as well. So think twice before getting admission in this program particularly. If I knew this is the case, I would've definitely selected another course. So my frank advice is: STAY AWAY FROM PRACTICAL ELEMENTS OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. I took this course and I'm disappointed, and I don't want others to waste their money and time on this course.

The professors are knowledgeable and helping. However, there are a few who don't teach well and always look disinterested. This is a big problem, particularly in semester 2, because subjects are quite difficult and you can't do it on you own because of assignments and busy schedule. So overall, quality of teaching is good (but not very good).

Another problem is schedule. It's difficult to get an alternate schedule unlike most of the other colleges in Ontario, where you have a few options regarding days and time. So flexibility of schedule is definitely a problem for most of the people.

Let's talk about campus. The overall campus is good considering it's a college. It's really big. But don't compare it to universities like western (it's phenomenal). However, it's always crowded and you barely find a quiet place to study (library is always overcrowded!). Classrooms are usually dirty, so don't expect cleanliness in Classrooms. On the other hand, practical labs like machining, welding, automation, robotics are neat and clean.

Social activities: there are NO social activities in fanshawe like other colleges or universities, and that's sad considering fanshawe has 20,000 full time and 20,000 part time students.

So all in all, fanshawe is an average college for most of the part. I had high expectations, and I'm regretting my decision of studying in a college.

Now, let me give you a brief idea about London. The city is quiet, unlike Toronto or brampton where you see indian and pakistani communities. There is literally NOTHING interesting in the city. There are 2 shopping malls and a few parks. That's it. Transit services is not so good. Sometimes you have to wait for an hour.

Lastly, part time job situation: NO PART TIME JOBS. if you are available full time, you might get a job, but part time is very difficult. Also, jobs are seasonal. So your last option is working in a factory. London has a terrible economy and job situation for newcomers. You might need references to sweep the floors!

So if possible, avoid Fanshawe and London city. Toronto, Scarborough, Ottawa are much better options. UPDATE: instead of reducing fees and supporting students financially during COVID19, fanshawe has increased...