01
Dec
INFORMATION FOR STARTERS (SCHOOL APPLICATION)
Once you are here, you should make it a responsibility to read and keep every vital information here because succeeding in this process requires a lot of sacrifices, reading, and research
I am new to the school application process. What do I have to do?
Answer
You have to first of all plan. The planning requires you to consider the following:
1. The province
2. The school
3. Tuition fee deposits and refund policies.
4. Tuition fees
5. Admission Requirements
6. Post Graduate Work Permit Eligibility of the programs in the institution
1. Provinces
It is not economically advisable to apply to schools in every province that is why it is important to settle on 1, 2 or at least 3 provinces you want to go to. Then you can now narrow down your search further. The institutions are located in these provinces, so deciding on what province to go to will be helpful in your school application process.
The provinces/territories that have Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs that is universities and colleges) in Canada include the following Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Yukon.
With this in mind, you have to know where you are now heading towards.
2. The School/DLI
There are several universities and colleges in Canada and in these provinces. Searching on IRCC's website for the list of DLI's will give you every name of each institution in the province you are interested in going to. It is just a simple search by using their website like. Link attached for reference
👇👇👇👇👇👇 (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/study-permit/prepare/designated-learning-institutions-list.html)
3. Tuition fee deposits and refunds
A peculiar mistake most of us make in the process of applying to a school is not checking the tuition deposit required by a particularly school and what their refund policy says. Most schools in Canada take a tuition deposit now due to the Provincial Attestation Letter issues which is now a requirement for people coming in for a diploma, bachelor's, graduate diploma, graduate certificate or post graduate diploma programs. Even before the Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) issue issues, schools were still taking tuition deposits. So before you throw your hard earned cash away in applying for a school, check very well to confirm if you can pay the required tuition deposit before you proceed to apply. Again, check the refund policy of the school in question and weigh it well before making a decision as well.
Doing this before applying gives you a clear information on what preparations to make after gaining admission.
I didn't touch on Master's and PhD programs because only some few schools take tuition deposits for such programs, but with most schools, you actually do not pay a tuition deposit for this level of programs.
4. Tuition fees
Before you also apply to a school in Canada, ensure you check the tuition fees and see if it is something within your budget before you go in for it. Tuition fees are high for international students, so it is therefore necessary to check for that in order to know what fits into your budget. Do not just jump into the bandwagon due to the fact that everyone is applying because there's an application fee waiver. The affordability is also important unless it is your goal to Jakpa in order to Japa.😁
5. Admission Requirements
Also, some of us do not check thoroughly for admission requirements before applying to the school in question. For undergraduate programs, it is a little bit flexible, but for graduate programs, it's requires impressive and outstanding application materials. Understanding admission/program requirements is key because it helps you prepare required documents tailored towards the departmental requirements. Do not check only generic requirements and proceed to apply. Look out for what your departmental requirements say and put in an outstanding application. A good CGPA is great, but only a good CGPA won't get you admitted into a serious graduate program. Other factors like your statement of purpose/personal statement, academic CV/ resume, writing samples, research statements, recommendations letters and any other document required by graduate school will help you get admitted when these documents are competitive enough and outstanding. Attach every required seriousness to this process as it will determine whether you can proceed to the next stage (visa application) or not.
5. Post Graduate Work Permit Eligibility
Per IRCC's information, you can stay and work in Canada after you are done with school, provided you meet certain requirements. One of such requirements is pursuing a program that is post graduate work permit eligible in any DLI in Canada. So when choosing a program, kindly confirm if that program is post graduate work permit eligible or not. You can simply check that on IRCC's website.
When you come Study in Canada for:
1. 8 months to 1 year program which is not a master's program, you get a 1 year Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) after school.
2. 16 months (1yr 4 months) masters program without any scheduled breaks, you’d get a 3 year PGWP
3. For 2+ years program also gets you a 3 year PGWP.
4. 8 months to 1 year program which is a master's program, you get a 3 year Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) after school.
It also doesn't mean that finishing the program will automatically get you the post graduate work permit as we have heard of cases whereby noncompliance to the study permit conditions led to the denial of some people's post graduate work permit. Also, there are also cases of noncompliance of study permit who also got their post graduate work permit. This is just to give a fair idea for you to choose what to do when you get to Canada to study.
I will end my long piece here, ignore any typos made as I was typing faster.
May we all succeed in this journey 🙏 🙌