Bow Valley College, South Campus — Local services in Calgary

I had a horrible experience here. I started going to this college in 2019 right after graduating from High School. The first semester was bad. I had a hard time making friends. People were mostly nice to me here but when I tried to make friends in my class, they worked with me for 3 months and then they all ghosted me and weren't interested in hanging out. Also the following December of 2019 I got in trouble for Plagarism which since I was new in college I had no idea that you can get in trouble over that. It's not like I intended to do that. It was by accident and I got in so much trouble. So moving on to 2020, I was only in class for 2 months and then the pandemic started so I didn't come to college for almost 2 years. Online classes were okay and the only class I really liked was my health and fitness class. However I hated how every time I new semester started, we had to buy a textbook which is ridiculous, why not just give one to us to rent for free instead of wasting 80 dollars ? and then when the Semester ends, the book is useless and you have to sell it. Anyways, in 2021 my classes were horrible, some of the online teachers were rude. I also had one online class where we had to work in a group the whole semester and we couldn't even switch groups and I was stuck in a group with one girl who was extremely rude to me for absolutely no reason, she kept telling the teacher I'm not contributing and doing any work when I did most of the assignments. My group member tried to make me fail the class even though I did tell on her. The only good thing about online classes it was much better than being on campus and I was at a different city where I could attend online class which was nice. So the following late 2021, I returned to campus although it was annoying wearing face masks. My classes were so expensive and it was annoying how much money I had to waste. I also had my Ethics teacher Justin and he seemed nice but then December 2021 I got in trouble for Plagarism a second time which I think is just ridiculous. I referenced my assignments, I used quotations, I just forgot to use Citations and I got in trouble for plagarism and almost got expelled. I think this college is very strict with their APA format and Plagarism, considering the fact it was not my intention to Plagarise. Some teachers were very nice but a few I didn't like. So moving on to 2022 my final year of college, I had to take a YCJA class and the teacher was annoying and she would pick on me in class to answer questions even though I didn't know the answer. I hated that. She also gave us a huge final exam and only gave us 40 minutes to complete barely anytime and I didn't finish my exam on time and as a result I failed the class. After that for 4 months I was homeschooled since my classes were anytime online. I did however love my classes FASD and Psychology. Late 2022 was by far the worst experience I've ever had in college. I returned to college and I had this one teacher who completely gave us a wrong assignment and I finished it and then she told me it's the wrong one and I had to do another assignment. Also I was talking to a girl in my class and the teacher ruined my conversation with her and made me pair up with someone else. She also invited us to a field trip but expected us to get there ourselves. The final month of 2022 was the worst. I had 3 classes and I had so many finals and I was extremely stressed out. I was scared about failing my class and the final exam was extremely hard. I've never felt so stressed before. Also I had a class in late 2022 and they said it's anytime online and it turned out that it was an in person class and for 2 months I didn't go to that class. So December 2022 I left college and never came back except for my graduation in June 2023 and so much money has been spent and I've been out of college for more than a year and I never found a single job related to my diploma. I'm unemployed and don't have a job and I tried looking for a Justice Studies job and never found one. This college was a...

Currently on my 1st year in Bow Valley College taking the Justice Studies diploma. I did my research before applying as I wanted to enter an institution that would prepare me the best for a career in the Justice field as a law enforcement officer.

Right now I can say with utmost confidence that I made the right decision based on a number of things:

*Most of the instructors are either current, or former law enforcement professionals (Corrections Officers, Police Officers, Community Peace Officer etc) and you can see how they are passionate about it. This isn’t necessarily true for other colleges and universities and in my opinion it makes a lot of difference.

The program staff are hands on and efficient when it comes to assisting students that are in need of help, and this goes beyond in-class time.

Instructors give advice on how to properly set yourself up for a career in the Justice field.

Instructors give real life experience as examples too instead of just textbook examples which to me makes the lessons more relevant and engaging.

Since the college is very diverse, I’ve had classmates whose English isn’t their first language struggle at times to express themselves. I have yet to see one instructor shut them off or give less effort in trying to understand or help them. To me this shows a lot and you can see how it gave greater confidence to those students and made up for a better class atmosphere.

*The program itself was affordable. I took student loans as a safeguard in case I couldn’t save enough by the first semester, but still ended up paying my tuition fees from my own savings.

To me it is relatively affordable, especially when you consider the quality of the education that is provided. They do have specialized help desks regarding loans and fundings which is great.

*The program does not just focus on laws like what most would assume. They also require you to take classes that will sharpen your interpersonal skills, note taking, report writing skills, public speaking, acknowledgement of inclusiveness and the societal impacts of any given action and so on.

These life skills transformed me into a more well-rounded individual and benefitted me even outside of my Justice field related endeavours.

*The college itself in general has a good atmosphere and the staff (cafeteria, library, security, and help desks) are very helpful and easy to approach.

NOTE:

Since I am still on my first year - I will update my review after I graduate from the program a year from now, but I anticipate my experience will only get better.

I cannot invalidate or speak for anyone else’s experience/reviews for other programs. This is simply my personal experience with the Justice program and BVC.

EDIT: I officially graduated on July 2021 and got a seasonal job as a bylaw officer on June 2021, a month before I even officially graduated. My performance in that seasonal contract eventually helped me secure a full time permanent position and in great part, due to my education and the advice my professors gave me - especially Scott and Dean.

This is not to promise you’ll have an enforcement type of work as soon as you graduate, like everyone else they will look at the totality of your life experiences.

FINAL REVIEW AND SUGGESTIONS: Overall, this is one of those programs where what you’ll get out of it is what you put in. You got to have a genuine interest in justice and enforcement otherwise you’ll find many of the legal stuff boring or not interesting.

My only suggestions are to inclue more topics regarding the municipal government act, gaming liquor and cannabis act, peace officer act, provincial offences procedures act and traffic safety act. I find that whichever type of law enforcement one will get into in Alberta whether it’s peace officer or police, you will need to be familiarized with some of these acts.

I would also suggest having a practicum working with the...

Honestly, the online program started out great. First semester was a breeze and the instructors were helpful. As soon as second semester hit it was a disaster. First, the final exams were no longer chosen by you as they were first semster. It has to be when the school said. Working fulltime and trying to do this doesn't work. This is why I had chosen online in the first place.

Secondly, some of the instructors didn't do anything. You'd get something wrong on a test and ask for clarification and they'd be like "that's the answer". I wanted to know why that was the answer. Or things wouldn't actually be in any of the readings. I was told multiple times that " Online has it's challenges"..No, that's not the problem here. I know for a fact the online and in class students have different books, the in class having more to study from. So I'm assuming the in class modules are just copied for the online students. Not helpful. Especially when we don't get the lecture part of it, which is probably also where the extra information is told.

Lastly, tests and exams.. GAH! Some of the learning modules were newer and updated compared to the exams on them. For example SCM or Clinibase tests used old versions which some of the icons didn't even resemble the new ones. I brought this up to my instructor and she was like " Well you did well so it's not really an issue"..I friggin guessed and was lucky. So frustrating. Other tests were cumulative which wasn't told before hand. So you'd read and study say Module 3, go to the exam and there would be things from Module 1 on them. This was also frustrating as it was something you hadn't looked at in a while. You'd spend all your time studying the one module, having absolutely no idea you should be studying all three. Or the best part (like I mentioned above), things wouldn't be in the readings. I'm sorry but you can't test me on something that wasn't taught. Just because the tests are based on the in class versions doesn't mean online is the same.

The practicum component of my program wasn't any better. The coordinator for this was horrible. She rarely replied to my emails. I had to go above her to get a reply and even then she was rude. I'm sorry but this is part of your job. She frequently lost the documention I had to email to her and I had to resend multiple times.She placed me somewhere that had never taken students before, nor were even looking to hire on anyone new. So that landed me nothing after finishing it.

The really bad thing is, my preceptor who graduated a year before me said all of this happened to her as well. You'd think the school would be trying to improve, not stay the same. Really...