Complaint Review: IADT Toronto Film School - Toronto Ontario

I was a student at IADT toronto. The initial tour of the school was full of lies and exaggerations, at the end it was a very high pressure situation, where I was alone with a "Counselor" although she acted more like a used car salesman. She urged me to apply that day and that only a certain number of applicants could be accepted. they also said over 90% of people find job placements (one of the many lies). I said i wanted testimonials from past students. they sent me a message from a "Student" that was obviously a draft letter probably not even written by a student. Upon gaining acceptance to the ridiculously overpriced program ($20, 000) I found immediately that a lot of the students were not happy with the education they were receiving. I found that the teachers were not really in the industries they were teaching, contrary to what the tour assured. The training I received was sub-par, and upon graduation I did not receive the job search assistance i was promised. I felt that i did not have the knowledge i needed to start in the industry. A lot of the courses seemed to be fillers and were marginally related to the actual area of studies. For one quarter of the price i could have recieved a far superior education, with real help to find placement. It is so criminal that these corporate con-artists have been able to prey upon the vulnerable youth for so long. I always felt more like a customer than a student. If you are a prospective student, do your self a favour and stay with public education. Iadt sucks!

I was an instructor, (part time) at IADT in Toronto (CBC building), having worked at several other post-secondary institutions in the past (private and public sectors). IADT is a CEC school (Career Education Corporation) based out of Chicago and is a 'public' company which means that it's on the stock exchange and caters to shareholders (mostly American). Here in Canada, corporations like this have free access to a market of innocent young people (and clueless parents) who generally come in for a 'tour' knowing nothing about what's really going on, having seen a flashy advertisement on TV or on the internet. IADT tour guides are head hunting 'recruiters' who are rewarded for each student they sign up and have little or no knowledge of the programs, courses, teachers or facilities; often conning potential candidates with false information (outright lies) about the courses and their futures as graduates, indicating high success rates that are totally inaccurate. The corporation inflicts great pressure on these recruiters to gather new herds in (high turn-over, in and out), and to convince them to sign student loan paper work under the guise or pretense that their applications are carefully scrutinized. When applicants finally get the good news that they are 'accepted' it's because their loan application was approved by the Ontario Government (OSAP) and really only for that reason. On average, programs (one year) run between $20,000 and $25,000 CND. Once IN; young people are successfully lured into the corporate mandate which is money driven, lacking in focused curriculum and access to proper, functioning, up to date equipment. Many (if not most) teachers are unqualified 'hacks' who preach the word of a prosperous "entertainment industry" fueled mostly by the corporations mission and the media ... a profitable "deception", at the students and publics expense. After an over-priced education in the private sector (almost double the cost that of the public sector), graduates are left with little hope, having been educated in a "field of dreams" where real jobs are few and far between. I am speculating that fewer than one in five graduates (from IADT and schools of this nature) actually find meaningful 'legitimate' employment in the field in which they were haphazardly trained and are led astray after graduating by IADT's cosmetic (non existent) "placement assistance" department, clearly indicating the corporations lack of accountability and responsibility. What's worse is that these grads (lost souls) now have a hefty student loan to pay off, most grads finding non-related menial labour employment for years to pay it off, never integrating successfully into their chosen vocation. In closing, I would suggest that those looking for quality education dig deep and SERIOUSLY research schools carefully before deciding. It's a massive commitment that if set up properly could launch a successful career or render one to financial despair/hardship for many years with little or no outcome.