I have applied to numerous colleges. However, I am hoping to go to Sault College.

Sault College claims that there are no minimum grades for acceptance into the program, and acceptance is based off of the Grade 12 math course, and Grade 12 english course, as well as a "first come - first serve" basis.

I got a 71% in my math course...not too proud of it because I know I could have done better if I actually tried (which yes, I will do in college so please don't give me the "you won't do well in the program without studying talk").

Based on any of your past experiences, do you think a 71% is fine for being accepted into the program? Also, I've heard that some people received their acceptances to the program the very first day (Feb. 1st), and others got it much later in the month (I applied mid-November if that even matters). Any of you willing to share your experiences of when you got accepted into the program?

Times have changed but i got high 80s 7 years ago and was on the wait list until 1 week before classes started

You should be fine. Now a days they take many more students then they can train.. expecting many of them to drop out after 1st semester beacuase they can’t hold a 3.0 gpa and/or pass every course. First semester you don’t touch a plane so they can afford to have a huge amount of first years to get more funding money from the government.

To give you an idea.. back in 2012 there were 140 first years. By 2nd semester there were around 65. After 3 years our graduating class was 30.

The Zlin was fun to fly, good luck and have fun!

Got in with high 60's and low 70's a few years ago. You'll be ok.

Speedalive wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:12 pm Got in with high 60's and low 70's a few years ago. You'll be ok.

Are you in from Ontario? What level math and English course did you take (University/College)?

g.vianna wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:13 pm You should be fine. Now a days they take many more students then they can train.. expecting many of them to drop out after 1st semester beacuase they can’t hold a 3.0 gpa and/or pass every course. First semester you don’t touch a plane so they can afford to have a huge amount of first years to get more funding money from the government.

To give you an idea.. back in 2012 there were 140 first years. By 2nd semester there were around 65. After 3 years our graduating class was 30.

The Zlin was fun to fly, good luck and have fun!

Was the book work actually very difficult compared to that of senior high school or did the first semester dropouts do so due to laziness?

evand.13 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:10 pm

g.vianna wrote: ↑Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:13 pm You should be fine. Now a days they take many more students then they can train.. expecting many of them to drop out after 1st semester beacuase they can’t hold a 3.0 gpa and/or pass every course. First semester you don’t touch a plane so they can afford to have a huge amount of first years to get more funding money from the government.

To give you an idea.. back in 2012 there were 140 first years. By 2nd semester there were around 65. After 3 years our graduating class was 30.

The Zlin was fun to fly, good luck and have fun!

Was the book work actually very difficult compared to that of senior high school or did the first semester dropouts do so due to laziness?

The most challenging part was juggling the work load, we had somewhere between 6-8 courses first semester. In grade 12 I only had 3 courses and a spare each semester so it was a bit of an adjustment.

evand.13 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:10 pm Was the book work actually very difficult compared to that of senior high school or did the first semester dropouts do so due to laziness?

Laziness isn't quite the right word. Don't forget you'll be among a large group of people who are living and functioning on their own possibly for the first time in their lives, and often priorities get mixed up.

My recommendation is to put your schooling first, complete all daily homework assignments before dinner (from a mechanics of learning perspective this helps 'lock in' the lesson and seriously cuts down on the required study time later), and be reasonably well rested for class. Pay attention in your classes, the instructors often won't straight up tell you but they'll strongly imply exactly what will be on the test with something like, "Let's take up Question 5 from last night's homework. I know nobody said it gave them trouble but I think reviewing it is important." Don't fall for something that looks like the easy way out; in the long run it is easier and less time consuming to just pay attention, do the homework, and review the things you don't understand until you get it. Tutoring used to be free, probably still is.

The above sounds like a lot of work when you could be getting shitfaced and staying out all night but it really isn't as big a commitment as it first sounds. I did what I described and except for around exam time I was free to do whatever I wanted after about 6pm each week day and all day on the weekends.

Would not recommend in the least. Go to confed.

hsilgnepilot wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:01 pm Would not recommend in the least. Go to confed.

Thanks for the reply. Mind explaining your reasoning for this? PM if that's what your prefer.

hsilgnepilot wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:01 pm Would not recommend in the least. Go to confed.

Please PM me as to why you think this, I’m having a hard time deciding between the two

Sault College is a very respected place

hsilgnepilot wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:01 pm Would not recommend in the least. Go to confed.

Sounds like Dougie claimed another victim

8895 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:12 am

hsilgnepilot wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:01 pm Would not recommend in the least. Go to confed.

Sounds like Dougie claimed another victim

hahaha

A question for recent graduates or current students - I noticed there are 8 courses in the first semester.. is the work load hard to keep on top of? How difficult was it to have 8 different courses in one semester?
Any information about this would be great.
Thanks

Yeah its a lot of work dude... if you're determined and passionate enough to become a commercial pilot then you'll be fine. Hopefully you took calc and physics in high school.. if not it's going to be even tougher.... I didn't but still managed... how many hours a night are you willing to do homework for? Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Good luck

g.vianna wrote: ↑Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:00 am Yeah its a lot of work dude... if you're determined and passionate enough to become a commercial pilot then you'll be fine. Hopefully you took calc and physics in high school.. if not it's going to be even tougher.... I didn't but still managed... how many hours a night are you willing to do homework for? Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. Good luck

Are you required to stay above a 70% in the math and physics courses as well?

No you’re not which is nice but I wouldn’t go into first semester thinking it’s fine to get a 55% since you need to take what you learn first semester and continue building on it 2nd 3rd and 4th semester

evand.13 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:09 pm

Speedalive wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:12 pm Got in with high 60's and low 70's a few years ago. You'll be ok.

Are you in from Ontario? What level math and English course did you take (University/College)?

Negative, I came from Alberta. I took the equivalents of English and Math 30-1. Can’t remember what the Ontario equivalent is. I would strongly suggest taking physics as well if you haven’t already done so.

I wasn’t successful in the end because I mixed up my priorities, but I still think very highly of the program and I would take the Soo over Confed any day. The school deserves its reputation. It’s a big adjustment doing 8 classes a semester, so don’t let yourself slip. You need to be self disciplined to make it through and you may have to do some growing up quickly. Make sure you surround yourself with people who are driven and motivated! There’s some good tips above. All the best.

Some pretty good solid advice here! Stay on top of the work, or you will find yourself at the bottom of a pile of paperwork.

I am a current student, came to Sault based on past years reviews. The academics is not easy at times, so you have to stay on top of it.

So, unfortunately the school over the last few year has fallen on some pretty serious issues regarding flying hours. Its REALLY bad, and I hate to say that on here, but its the truth. I just wish someone took the time to post on here, before I accepted the spot. I had my pick of places/programs , based on my grades

There are many who are starting to post on here as well Reddit. Fair to say for every post here, 10 more wanting to, but perhaps fear of repercussion perhaps if others find out who they are.

Anyway, for those of you reading this, debating on coming, here is what I know being a student here.....

I, and most of my friends in the Sault college aviation programe, have at times waited up to..... MONTHS to get a flight in I know one that waited....3 months. Most of the time we were waiting 3 weeks or longer to fly. If we got in 2 flights in a month, it was like winning the Lotto. We are suppose to be flying 2 times a week.

some of us got together and we did an average of our Semester 4 and 5.. of the 15 of us and we average 1.5 flight/month!!

NON of us after finishing sem 5 of the 7 Semester program, have finished our PPL, we still working on the flight lesson plans. Our year wrote our private transport exams 12 months ago.

The worse of it is, the academic classes are as well a full year ahead of the practical flight lessons. As you may have read on other posts here, we just finished Sem# 5 which takes us to the end of the commercial CPL lessons. So, at that point we are suppose to do our commercial written exam, and flight test shortly after. NON of us even have our Private yet!!!!

Some of the 2nd and 3rd years students just quet...packed up and left the school. I talked to a 3rd year and he said he just had enough waiting.

Now, we all have been told last month, we are so far behind in flying, most of us are at risk of NOT being allowed to continue our last year education.. Seems unless we at least finish the flight training for Sem #3, we can not continue academics for the last year. Just to be clear, Sem 3 was April/July 2018. Ya, 90% of us have not done any flying lessions yet for sem 4 or 5!! Some of the students were so upset, they had to go home to work to pay for the last year. Now, they have to wait to Sept 2020 before they can do there last year classes....so out for a year.

So, there you have it. The good and the oh so bad of it. My advise, as much as I like the instructors who are hard working, I would go to another program. If it was not for the fact that I have already spent . As so many have posted here and other sites......stay away!!

One last thing.....there is a growing number of students that have failed or had to redo their schools pre flight test for their PPL. If you fail your preflight tests....you have to repay for Sem 3..What does this mean....

You lose your integration
You have to redo Sem 3 flights...
Pay the school about another $3700 for sem 3 ..and I think another $3000for Sem 4/5 flight classes.

My 2 cents...the school should acknowledge there is a problem...hardly no one flew in sem 3 and 4 etc. Students should NOT have to up to $5000 more...to repeat a flight semester. This because inconsistent flying training...and class work is 1 year ahead of lessons plans.

And..you can not continue your academic classes till the following year.

This is happening over and over again.....again..why..well..flying every .waiting to fly....2..3..4..5. weeks what do you expect!!

Just look on this site for other posts....as well here..
https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comment ... _licenses/

There is now a Twitter account someone started up ...I read here that even the mayor posted on it ....is about the issues of the Sault aviation program.

Stay away from the program, its a real mess. To many students, not enough plans, bad management decisions.

Just finished our second year and still working on our private pilot licence. Waited about 80 days last semester to get a flight as did most of our class.
No help from management at all, we are all a full year behind now in flying.
The Director of the program/ Mapp, does not seem to have any empathy for the students, changes the program with what is almost complete disregard to how it will effect us.

Just chiming In
I live in a house with 3 other Sault College aviation students. All of us going in to our last two semesters next month, September 2019.
All of us have not done our Flight Tests yet for our PPL. Pretty much the same for most of our class
Pretty sure we are not suppose to be going into our 3rd year, trying to finish a Private. PPL.

Hey, for all you students with the issues trying to get flights in:

What was the issue? Was it too many students, not enough planes? Not enough instructors? Were the planes out for maintenance? Was it consistently bad weather when you were scheduled to fly (if that was the case - were you rescheduled to fly for make up flights?)

Do you guys (aside from the above mentioned issues getting in flights) fly much in the winter, or is it too cold/weather bad?

How are the instructors? Facilities? Are the planes maintained well? What is the schools plan for the next upcoming year with regards to COVID?

Thanks, just trying to get a good lay of the land!

Stay away from Sault Aviation. You only have to read the more then a few post here, and on other sites as to just how badly the program has become.
You have a 50/50 chance of finishing on time at best. Many/most of the class of 2020 at times went a month or longer between flights last year.
Most if not all did not even have their private license at the end of their second year!!!! It was/is a real mess. Students were leaving the program, as well many doing poorly on rides because of inconsistent frequency of flight training.

It would help if the school did not take in so many students. They get government funding per student, so you can see why they may do this.

This is your future, so spend and hour and search here, as well other sites like Reddit. Why take the chance and spend your education savings with so many saying the same thing. If you have time and money to waste, this is the school for you. Even the chair of the program left the school for another last year.

jetstreams wrote: ↑Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:28 am Stay away from Sault Aviation. You only have to read the more then a few post here, and on other sites as to just how badly the program has become.
You have a 50/50 chance of finishing on time at best. Many/most of the class of 2020 at times went a month or longer between flights last year.
Most if not all did not even have their private license at the end of their second year!!!! It was/is a real mess. Students were leaving the program, as well many doing poorly on rides because of inconsistent frequency of flight training.

It would help if the school did not take in so many students. They get government funding per student, so you can see why they may do this.

This is your future, so spend and hour and search here, as well other sites like Reddit. Why take the chance and spend your education savings with so many saying the same thing. If you have time and money to waste, this is the school for you. Even the chair of the program left the school for another last year.

Yeah, I got that from the other posts... I was looking for the reasons behind not being able to get flights. Is there not enough planes (or the planes out for maintenance)? Not enough instructors (or are they not motivated to fly)? Is there consistently bad weather? Do they or do you have the ability to reschedule you for makeup flights? How are the facilities and aircraft?

Thanks.