Bow Valley College, South Campus - Calgary

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 vulnerable population.

They don't care about plagerisim. When my group mate plagerized her entire project and I alerted my teacher I didn't even get an email back. When it happened again my other partner plagerized half of her section and flat out refused finish the rest. I was forced to do her citations for her. By BVC's own standards, it was still plagerisim, as her work was entirely citations and she had not written a single word. We got 100% on that plagerized, unfinished assignment. I told the teacher and asked to be graded separately. I had screenshots of the direct plagerisim and chat messages of her refusing to finish her work. The teacher didn't care. The teacher became defensive, she accused me of being angry and told me it was MY FAULT and that since it was past the due date there was nothing she could do. So good news to students who don't want to do anything. If you refuse to participate and plagerize, once that due date comes around it's totally fine and the teachers won't do anything about it. They say APA style is required, we had to do workshops and tests on it, but out of 10 group partners in a semester, only 3 knew what it was. The rest just copy pasted paragraphs from wikipedia. In any other school those students would be accused of plagerisim. At BVC they get A's. I told the teacher about this issue but never heard back, when I reached out again as I was having to do everybody's citations and references for them, she told me if I didn't receive a reply the first time it was because she though I could deal with it myself. I should not be having to teach my classmates. Half of the people I work with can't understand the assignments, the content or the process. Instead of doing my own work I have to play the role of teacher.

I took my bio class here, i feel like the teacher has her favouritism personality. Students cannot even review what we did wrong from our test. We cannot view exams weve taken! A classmate from my class complain to her and said that it's the only course that does not allow us to look at our exam after getting the results. Which i think is very shady! I dont recommend taking bio courses here!

Really wish I would have read the reviews or just taken the hint the first million times they were rude to me. Admissions is useless and have unreasonable standards for getting accepted. It was easier for me to get into University of Calgary. Seriously. Most instructors are not passionate about teaching which makes them not only mediocre teachers but horrible assignment makers and markers. Their methods are antiquated and useless for the real world and where the world is headed. This institution is a joke and it's hard for me to take them seriously when instructors can't even put any effort into the courses they teach; yet they have higher standards for being accepted than most other institutions. Definitely would not recommend this institution to anyone and debating quitting and going back to university where you can at least learn something without the stress of dismissive instructors. The way they make me jump through hoops for no reason is actually insulting to my intelligence and creative energy. Come here if you can let the bad attitudes and lack of support roll off your back, but I wouldn't say it's worth it.

I cannot speak for other programs, but the Social Work Diploma is amazing. All the instructors have years of experience in various parts of the field. They are very supportive and understanding and they work with you if you need anything. There is a great variety of courses specifically related to the field. I graduated and got registered as an RSW and found multiple jobs right away. I felt better prepared to enter the field than my friends who went to MRU. I would recommend everyone start their social work education here, and transfer into a degree program if you want to go further. The two open studies years of the degree at UofC are a joke. I accessed many resources at the college and they were all great, including accommodations and counseling and tutoring. I think they just need some more space with how big it is growing.

Alert, if you have anything in your life outside of school, don’t go here. They have zero empathy and understanding for people. Both my self and my wife have had extremely unprofessional and unpleasant experiences with the school. My wife is taking the Interior Decorating program. The program chair has been directly rude to my wife in front of other students. This behavior is uncalled for. The planning/organizing of the entire program is minimal and all the teachers incredibly under qualified (or just too aloof) to even show up with class materials. Content isn’t online when stated, including quizzes and tests. Bow Valley College does not care about you, they just care about taking your money and leaving you with nothing.

I was in Justice Studies, they have a lot of morally questionable people considering the program. Not only do you get written up for unfounded things, but when you reach out asking about the situation they won't inform you of anything or even get your side.... I got reported for plagiarism for not sourcing my essay properly. I can understand losing marks for that, but really? Then when I reach out and question it, no response. Not to mention, you could be actively dying and they'll still want their work done on the deadline. They do not have any sort of empthy or understanding that some people do have full time work/ lives outside of school. You don't get grading rubrics 90% of the time so you cant correct your work and for some reason the Criminolgy instructors specifically act like your assignment is life or death. My friend in the military even said it's not that strict for him Highly recommend NAIT instead if you're able to. I've never in my entire life been penalized for not responding to an email on time, yet the instructors wont respond to your email even over the span of several days. This school is beyond unprofessional and their behaviour is disgusting.

I applied in 2020 June and got accepted in December 2020. Started the process for everything. However, my visa got refused because of financial issues. I asked to be deferred to a later date. That's from July 2021 up until today heard nothing from the school. They provided me with a school email I got blocked from the email and no responses to calls or other emails about me being deferred. My 1500CAD just gone. I'm very displeased with this. This said to be reputable college have left a nasty impact on me.