Columbia is one of the cheapest schools in Vancouver. An associate degree allows me to save money that i can put in the future for my bachelors at universities such as SFU or UBC. Columbia also has a good amount of international students ( mostly Indian). Columbia college also had a pretty chilled out schedule with about 3 days a week of classes during my 1st and 2nd sem which was great for any international student working to earn a living.
Course Curriculum :
I have to accept that the curriculum somewhere didn't meet my expectations. I personally think that the program is a bit more hyped than required. The good thing was the cut down on math when compared to other schools in BC but the data structures and algorithms are mostly same as other universities. When it comes to relevance, yes the course content will be useful for someone to make a beginning leap in the field of CS.
Exams :
The only standardised test necessary was IELTS. I scored 7.5 overall, minimum is 6.5.
Placement :
Most of the students opt to complete their bachelors after an associate's degree since they can spend only two more years and complete a bachelors with co-op at universities such as SFU or UBC. Even if a student opts for their work permit, students can find decent work positions with the knowledge gained in the associate's. People do find great placements at job fairs depending on the student's profile. I have personally seen people find great placements since CS is very in demand field in Canada.
Events :
Despite being a small college, Columbia offers every resource needed by a potential student so there is 24 hour on campus WiFi to complete assignments or just surf the internet to pass time as well as sports facilities such as a couple of Volleyball courts for students and the list goes on. The campus life was great for me since I was engaged with people from different communities and countries specially people from Asia such as Indians and Pakistanis which was fun and we got to celebrate all the festivites together as well. The campus infrastructure is adequate for the size of the college.
Scholarship :
No
Faculty :
Faculty to student ratio is about 1:30 and varies from course to course depending on the demand of the course in question can go up and down +-5. I personally am satisfied with most of the faculty I have had an opportunity to study under. It was hard to keep up with a couple of professors since they were fast paced and were teaching complex courses apart from that I was satisfied with the quality of faculty.
Hostel :
No, i live with two of my course mates in an apartment about 10 minutes from Columbia which sets us back about 1200 CAD per month. It seems on the higher side but it's justified for an independent Bath and Bed for each.
