Decide Aviation College

[kohdc1723]

I'm planning to go to Canada and study in aviation college next year. Since I'm an international student who needs a diploma in Canada, private flying schools cannot be my choice.

I applied for 3 colleges
BCIT - commercial pilot fixed-wing (Interview left)
Mount Royal University - Aviation diploma (waiting for the result)
Algonquin College - aviation management (got an offer)
So, now I'm thinking should I enroll algonquin? or just drop it and wait for others.

Anyway, here are my questions.
1. I don't have much information about the pilot programs of BCIT and Algonquin. Could anyone share experiences or information about these two colleges.
2. My plan is to start my career as an instructor in the college. Given my plan, which school do you recommend the most? I mean are there schools or regions which hire more instructors than other schools?

[200hr Wonder]

Do you have a Visa that is going to allow you to work? If you are only coming on a Student Visa, there are restrictions to working. The most important being that you may not work prior to or after your courses are complete. So even if you were to complete your instructor rating, you would no longer be eligible to work in Canada the moment you get it. Additionally, as far as I am aware, none of the college programs offer an instructor rating as part of your degree. I know for sure, BCIT, does not, and because of this your Student Visa may not let you complete an instructor rating as it does not fall under the provisions of a Student Visa.

Now regardless of the Visa you have, there is also going to be a pretty substantial slow down in the need for low time non experienced pilots. You are going to see instructors staying put due to COVID.

Before choosing a prospective school it would be rather important to understand if you can or can not work post degree. Also you need to make certain you are complying with conditions on the Visa you have.

[kohdc1723]

Do you have a Visa that is going to allow you to work?

I don't have it now, but that's not a problem.
I can legitimately work in Canada for 3 years after graduating from the college which is called Post Graduate Work Permit(PGWP). This is the most common way for foreigners to have legality working in Canada and also try getting the PR during the period.

[dash8driver]

Did you look at studying in the US? If you desire to establish a career in the place you study there is a lot more going on there: Both activity wise and much better pay!

[kohdc1723]

Did you look at studying in the US? If you desire to establish a career in the place you study there is a lot more going on there: Both activity wise and much better pay!

Sure I considered, but the problem is my legal status or VISA in the US.
As far as I know, it is almost impossible to get the PR or Citizenship of the US. I can go to flight school in the US, but working there legitimately after training is totally different issue. So I guess studying in Canada is the most feasible plan for me. (In my country, pilot job market has been dead end even before COVID.)

[Cessna 180]

Did you look at studying in the US? If you desire to establish a career in the place you study there is a lot more going on there: Both activity wise and much better pay!

Sure I considered, but the problem is my legal status or VISA in the US.
As far as I know, it is almost impossible to get the PR or Citizenship of the US. I can go to flight school in the US, but working there legitimately after training is totally different issue. So I guess studying in Canada is the most feasible plan for me. (In my country, pilot job market has been dead end even before COVID.)

you can work for around 2 years after training in the US with CPT and OPT. You can stay even longer if you combine your flight school with a STEM degree on an F-1 visa (instead of M-1).

[200hr Wonder]

Do you have a Visa that is going to allow you to work?

I don't have it now, but that's not a problem.
I can legitimately work in Canada for 3 years after graduating from the college which is called Post Graduate Work Permit(PGWP). This is the most common way for foreigners to have legality working in Canada and also try getting the PR during the period.

Well in that case I would suggest you skip the instructor rating and go north. Get some actual flying experience and if you lived in a prescribed zone in the north it will fast track your PR application.

[mmmike]

Just really interested in the BCIT program myself but I don’t know if it’s hard to get in. Does anyone know from experience and can you give me a overview of your experience of the programs and getting in? Thanks

[gooseinbc]

Just really interested in the BCIT program myself but I don’t know if it’s hard to get in. Does anyone know from experience and can you give me a overview of your experience of the programs and getting in? Thanks

Did BCIT in 2016.

It isnt really made public how many in total apply, but I think out of the people who made it to the interview only like 6 got turned down. Seemed to be the same for the class that started the next year. Based on some of the people that made it, you dont get vetted too hard.

The flight training was good, however near the end of the program experienced instructors were hard to come by. I know it got way worse in 2018/19 cause of the crazy pilot hiring. Not sure what the roster is like there now.

They were trying very hard to make people stay after the program as instructors but not too many people were interested.

You get priority access to planes/instructors over the other students at PFC. It is a fast paced program and is easy to fall behind if you dont stay on top of making lots of booking incase you have a few days of bad luck weatherwise or whatever. Gotta be available pretty well 7 days a week. About 50% of the students wash out because they cant keep up flying.

The BCIT side of the program was meh. A lot of the courses in that diploma are pretty well useless. “history of airlines” bullshit and lots of group projects. Almost impossible to fail, but very time consuming and hard to take seriously. Lots of good flying days wasted.

There is some good though: the multicrew course, inrat/iatra aerocourse seminar, first aid, underwater egress, high altitude training(hypobaric chamber), and survival course were my highlights.

Where you get your moneys worth is in the connections you are almost forced to make, the priority on bookings, being done within 18 months, and having the diploma box ticked on your resume.

[mmmike]

Just really interested in the BCIT program myself but I don’t know if it’s hard to get in. Does anyone know from experience and can you give me a overview of your experience of the programs and getting in? Thanks

Did BCIT in 2016.

It isnt really made public how many in total apply, but I think out of the people who made it to the interview only like 6 got turned down. Seemed to be the same for the class that started the next year. Based on some of the people that made it, you dont get vetted too hard.

The flight training was good, however near the end of the program experienced instructors were hard to come by. I know it got way worse in 2018/19 cause of the crazy pilot hiring. Not sure what the roster is like there now.

They were trying very hard to make people stay after the program as instructors but not too many people were interested.

You get priority access to planes/instructors over the other students at PFC. It is a fast paced program and is easy to fall behind if you dont stay on top of making lots of booking incase you have a few days of bad luck weatherwise or whatever. Gotta be available pretty well 7 days a week. About 50% of the students wash out because they cant keep up flying.

The BCIT side of the program was meh. A lot of the courses in that diploma are pretty well useless. “history of airlines” bullshit and lots of group projects. Almost impossible to fail, but very time consuming and hard to take seriously. Lots of good flying days wasted.

There is some good though: the multicrew course, inrat/iatra aerocourse seminar, first aid, underwater egress, high altitude training(hypobaric chamber), and survival course were my highlights.

Where you get your moneys worth is in the connections you are almost forced to make, the priority on bookings, being done within 18 months, and having the diploma box ticked on your resume.

Thanks for your response
Were you and others offered jobs immediately and did the program and diploma help you at all or was that a ton of bullshit to get you lured in. How many people were in your class and how was the testing and interview process and general questions. Also what time does it start and end? Thank you

[Turboprops]

I’m not sure if you qualify for MRU, I thought you need a PPL for MRU.
I know a few people that went to BCIT and I myself did some training in PFC. The pilots that came out of that program are usually good, but the only downside is the lack of pathways program, which isn’t that big of a deal since you finish in 18 months.

[gooseinbc]

[/quote]
Thanks for your response
Were you and others offered jobs immediately and did the program and diploma help you at all or was that a ton of bullshit to get you lured in. How many people were in your class and how was the testing and interview process and general questions. Also what time does it start and end? Thank you
[/quote]

No immediate flying jobs came from the program when I went. There were visits from Air Tindi trying to sell you on their ramp program, and Porter trying to sell you on their mentorship program (talk to us until you have 1000 hours then maybe you get job).

You could win an award for a CMA interview to work the ramp (lol), and an air canada interview award that really isnt worth anything until you have 2000-3000 hours. About 9 people out of the 24 that were in my class actually made it to flying jobs.

In 2018/2019 a couple people went direct to flight line at CMA, not sure if that was an evolution of their “ramp award”.

The interview and testing was simple. Program starts in May and ends October of the following year.