Columbia College

Heather, Victoria, and Joan were very helpful and accommodating when I took our course. You know it's a good course when you meet fellow international dentists coming from all over Canada to visit Calgary just for this course. Totally worth it.

The instructors at Columbia College, Calgary have a wealth of knowledge about the continuing education programs available at the college. They also make sure the learning environment is conducive, dispelling all fears or doubts about one's ability to be successful during the course. It's definitely worth it.

I was in their employment program for people with disabilities, and was very disappointed with the lack of respect, understanding, and patience to find the right job.they never did.

After much consideration of being afraid to post my review and knowing what I know now. I wish I had someone prevent me from applying with more honest reviews. I’m sure this won’t get me liked very well, but I’m being completely honest as people want that!

I think the worst thing they chose to do was have this program fully online including exams which they are not monitoring either …. Secondly, don’t waste you’re money unless you have no other choice, because I truly believe the practical nurse program is not worth the 40k I paid and I would argue as to why it cost that when it’s all online…. I felt little to no support and for pretty much several classes I had to work even harder to prepare and study because I had no choice but too over work myself. We didn’t get the in class hours promised, not enough lab time, and yes, we calculated everything to prove that when brought up to facility managers and administrators. So many broken promises…. It’s also sad we don’t get graduation photos like other nursing programs, thankfully my best friend saved the day!

I gained no confidence in myself I was hoping for tbh during that time and the facility didn't really seem to care either, trust me - there is many others in past classes from specifically the pandemic portion that have said this and voiced it too. They will tell you they do but they don’t, all you get is nothing but gaslighting during a meeting with those that did choose to speak up and the other half of the class were too afraid to speak up for fear of being removed from the program. All because we advocated about our education and choose to voice ourselves. It wasn’t until the end did we get one amazing teacher I wish I had the whole time. Our clinical instructors were amazing though, they really helped you out and understood what we were feeling.

Just make sure you really weigh your pros and cons before applying! Only bonus is free upgrading if you need it I will say which is amazing!

The LPN program was well done overall. The support was there and I enjoyed having a small class to learn in. I am glad I went there, however, I wanted to point out that if you plan on getting your RN in the end, don't go to Columbia because this school is only "recognized" at Athabasca, which is an online way to get your RN - so if you don't want to go through Athabasca, then don't go to Columbia because that is the only place you can get some credit for your schooling. I personally want to be in a classroom setting and had a bad experience with Athabasca, so this was upsetting for me, as I will now be doing the full four year RN degree. So for future students - please keep this in mind.

My experience with Columbia College was very pleasant. I have done dental dam module with them. They organize the study modules at timed intervals with very friendly and supportive staff members. Detailed email instructions and demonstration of study modules were very helpful in resolving all doubts. I feel grateful as a student that they take their time out even on weekends for conducting such short courses.

I was lucky enough to get into contact with Heather who is a RDH as well as one of the instructors/coordinator. She is such a delight, helped me through the entire process of getting my CPE’s done, as well as getting me the documents needed for the CADA. I highly recommend this school.

I attended the RDA II and ortho refresher course. (I came from out of province— Manitoba.) I was so grateful that Heather Nelson was so helpful with coordinating with the MDA so that I could attend their refresher course. If I had stayed in the province I would’ve had to wait a few more months until I could take a refresher course locally and be licensed again. I was impressed with the course setup, I loved the access that was given to the training videos and the instructors were extremely friendly and very approachable!

It's a very comfortable and nice online course to practice writing an essay in class. In addition, feedback is really helpful for me to understand what I make a mistake.

I graduated with Diploma in Practical Nursing. I have great time with my Facilitators. I felt supported all the way untill the end.
Definitely my recommend this College to anyone looking to go back to further their studies.

In the two years of attending the college, I must let it be known about one member only and specifically. I was able to experience not only an excellent teacher and facilitator, but most importantly, a very special mentor in my journey. I have never learned concepts so well and easily until with Ritu. Her support in the learning process enabled so many positive outcomes that I am eternally thankful and grateful for. She is the definition of a passionate teacher and nurse, the reason why teachers should be teachers. Ritu is absolutely excellent and a large part of my successions today and what’s to come. Thank you Ritu, you were the best to learn from! Forever one of my favourite mentors.

It was a great experience learning with Columbia college online course
They are very well trained and well designed program and very helpful at each and every step of the course
I am old school person going to class and physically appearing at examination centre
This was a new experience but I love it
Thanks every one at Columbia college once again

I would like to recommend this school Joan is very supportive especially those who want to pursue their dreams to become practical nurse and all of these school Than I've been inquired it took me a lot of pressure coz I need to get some subject back in the highschool even I have my college diploma here in canada I am so excited to be part of your college as a student I am taking my Practical Nurse hoping I will start this coming september as long as early they can I will give 5 stars

My experience with Columbia College was nothing short of amazing. I took my orthodontic and prosthodontic modules here. Heather Nelson, the coordinator makes the process simple and seamless from the day you enroll until the end. She is very prompt with answering any and all questions over e-mail. Everything is very well laid out on the online platform, it gives you step-by-step of what you need to study, simple videos and PowerPoints to help you understand the theory and clinical. All procedures have a written step-by-step guide to prepare you for clinical evaluations as well as practice quizzes to simulate the theory exam and prepare you. I am from out of province so for me the fact they could make the process so easy was extremely helpful. I completed all theory exams online with a proctor prior to flying out and grading is done immediately, so no stressful waits for results like most schools. Heather submitted forms for me to simplify adding my modules to my license with the CDSBC and even let me complete multiple modules at once to save me from flying back and forth from BC. My main evaluator was Char and she was simply amazing. Very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I was with her for both days so it was amazing getting someone so easy to get along with. All of the instructors were very helpful, approachable and there to assist if you struggle at all. I would say the main thing I loved about this school was the organization. Makes everything easier and a stress free process! I would highly recommend this school to anyone.

I finished my Practical Nursing Diploma at Columbia College. All staff were very helpful, kind, and understanding. They would make sure students will get the support they need. Ritu Sidhu is a great facilitator to have. She guided us on our practicum and provided a great atmosphere for learning. It was a great experience overall.

I had the pleasure to attended the dental assisting program. I met many amazing facilitators who care about your learning. Dana Parkson, is helpful, caring, and amazing Head Chair at Columbia College. She helped me out a lot during my practicum. I recommend attending the dental assisting program.

I am really proud of my second term of learning English at Columbia College. I had the chance to meet Ms. Tammy Biickert who transmits with an unprecedented methodology. It's very encouraging and I just have to say thank you to all the people who have so far helped me improve my English level and I promise to work tirelessly to deserve your work. Thank you again.

Thank you, Heather Nelson & Joanne Briske for being such great mentors & amazing instructors for the Dental assisting upgrading courses I have recently taken at Columbia College. Even with the challenges of working with the new protocols around Covid-19, Heather was in constant touch with me & the other students to make sure that the courses were well coordinated & went smoothly. I would highly recommend Columbia College, Calgary for Dental Assisting upgrading.

Having numerous friends in the healthcare field that wont write reviews about their school simply for fear of not being hired, getting in trouble by the school, or simply because they have tried and nothing has been done I am choosing to write this review.
Administration here has little to no care for their nursing cohorts and multiple complaints about teachers have come to light with little to no action taken except for faculty inflating student Marks to give them all 100% for assignments (is this legal?), due to their unprofessional attitude and clique like mentality they believe they can do anything with little regard to consequences, including messing with the future our healthcare and not teaching our future healthcare workers certain parts of their education ie; parmacology.

I would implore people to search elsewhere or simply look into what school you are attending. Ask previous students from the nursing cohorts their experiences and what has happened when they bring up issues. The only accountability ever offered by this school is mark inflation and knit picking messages send by others to find irrelevant issues the staff can scapegoat off of.

I attended the CPE Practice course and it was the best decision I made for exam prep. My confidence increased in folds afterwards and this helped during the exam as i knew what to expect and was able to identify and work on my weak areas/points in time for the CPE. Alexis is the best facilitator ever, super gentle, nice, patient and knowledgeable. Will certainly be back for other advanced courses. <3

Heather was great to deal with & always responded so promptly to emails and answered any questions I had. I took the Prostho Module & Maralee was my instructor and found her very helpful and personable. I really enjoyed having her as my instructor.

Very excited about my future, starting with Columbia College! Small class sizes, more intake dates, ample support, small campus, makes future career attainable!

I have taken a few continuing ed courses for dental assisting, at Columbia. They have all been great, very helpful in registering, getting info back to me right away, answering my questions. Then attending the actual course was great, the instructors have been professional and so helpful. Good teachers. I felt confident in the skills I learned. I would highly recommend this school.

I would like to give a shout out to Heather Nelson and the other teachers who run the Dental Assisting program who put together a class to help study for the NDAEB exam. I am a student from Nait who took my dental assisting there, and my school had no study tutorials or help for the exam. And to find this course and have the teachers welcome me to join the class even tho i am from edmonton was amazing. I found this course very knowledgable and helpful for studying for the exam to just picking apart the questions and giving you another way to look at a question that try's to trick you or confuse you. I found this helped me a lot on exams since i get very bad test anxiety this helped me slow down and understand the questions better and to pick apart the exam questions to making it the best chance for me to succeed. I did pass the board exam and i think a lot has to do with me coming to this class!

I took two continuous education courses at this college in dental assisting field, The staff were very professional; they made me feel confident of myself and they were efficient in making me understand the test environment and procedure. The environment around was organized and harmonized which made I felt no confusion.
It was a great experience, and I would definitely love to take more courses
- when required in the future - at this college. Although I live in Gatineau QC, I will select Columbia College first if I a course I am required to take is a one I have to fly to.

Had a very good experience doing course with Columbia college, they managed to register me in a short notice, highly recommended for continuous education.

A wonderful place to work and study. I see many grateful students. Management is understanding and supportive. Tom Snell greets each and every student individually. I had students stay in the program after they have heard his inspirational speech. Thanks to Fariba`s integrity and professionalism the language programs are thriving. Columbia College is the best employer, in my opinion.

I want to personally say thank you to the continuing educators at Columbia College. Specifically Heather, Maralee and Joanne. I recently found myself in serious predicament in regards to keeping up to date with CADA's membership requirements to hold my license after 3 years of being on leave of absence.
The course I needed was the clinical refresher course to be able to reinstate my license before December 1,2019. The next course was being held December 6,2019 which would have been 6 days past the deadline.
Heather made this happen for me, if she had not changed her schedule around and asked Maralee and Joanne to come in on a long weekend (something they do not usually do) ; I would be without my license and would have had to cancel my membership with CADA. In turn I would have had to reinstate after letting my license go past 3 years mark. I cannot express enough gratitude to Heather and Maralee for going out of their way to come in just for me. The course itself was not at all what I was expecting, I was nervous and unsure if the skills I inherited in school (8 years ago) would be sufficient enough to demonstrate in the refresher course and prove myself competent. I had no reason to worry, in fact I had a great day and thanks to Maralee I felt more at home in the clinic then I did when I went to CDI. It was like riding a bike, you never forget your skills. Thanks to Maralee's guidance during the course I quickly became confident in demonstrating my capabilities as a dental assistant. Thank you again to these wonderful women who are dedicating their extra time in helping others! I would highly recommend Columbia to any of my fellow RDA's. I also would gladly jump to any opportunity to help Columbia College, please keep me in mind if you ever need anything that I could possibly help you with.

I started with course bookkeeping and it was bad experience.the teacher deal with me without any respect and he is not able to answers the questions about the course bookkeeping. It was unsuccessful teaching.

Even though I was only enrolled in very short courses, I had complete communication with the staff which was very helpful!

It's so funny how they advertise this school with how the teachers and students look but when you get here it's like your in a 3rd world country worse then the slums of Calcutta!

COLUMBIA COLLEGE RAISES THE STANDARD OF QUALITY THAT EVERY SCHOOL SHOULD LEARN FROM!

I will be starting the Dental Assisting program in two weeks and my experience with Columbia College so far has exceeded my expectations.

It’s important to mention I’ve never been particularly good at school and hesitated to do this program for a long time since I didn’t feel confident in myself I could do it.
I’ve been to college before and felt like there were so many things that I could have used a lot more help with throughout the whole process.

Columbia has an Advisor (Leslee) that has literally helped EVERY student with EVERY step of the way. She encourages us to message/meet with her if we need absolutely any help with anything, including student loans. (which in my experience, most schools just want the $, and you are on your own for the rest)

It’s very obvious everyone that works there is 100% dedicated to help you succeed and be the best student you can possibly be. I’m so happy I decided to go to Columbia because I feel like I’m not alone and that there is a team of staff who loves their job and will help me to be successful.

This program is condensed so they have given us fair warning that it will be quite stressful and given us the tools to do it. A month before the program starts they have their first orientation to introduce the staff etc and they assigned an online course that is all about HOW to be a good student. (How to take notes, how to read and remember, taking tests, how to succeed with your personal learning style etc etc etc!)
I feel SO prepared to start school and not nervous like I would have been otherwise.

I feel confident that I will do well in school with their help. You are never alone and they are always asking what they can do to help and be better at their jobs. I’m very excited to start and am thankful I chose Columbia.

Is there anything as a honest school? Because it sure isn't here so many other fees and things you have to pay for like using software for your schoolwork for $90 it's unreal the rip off. It's the greatest scam in history when it comes to school fees and student loans. SMH!

Columbia college has some of the most amazing staff/teachers I've met. Throughout my online course Heather had coached me through the whole way making sure I was on top of my game including helping me work out a schedule for the course. She was ALWAYS available to answer emails and I've honestly felt she went above and beyond my expectations as a mentor.

Pros: inclass teachers knew what they were doing and usually had tips and tricks to help students understand the how toos of the topic. (I took your orthodontic theory and clinical course)

Only con I had for this school is their building (especially washrooms) are a bit outdated.

I am ESL student and I am very sad today. I come to school after break and my lovely teacher Joanna is not here. They tell me she not working here any more. Student love teacher and we write always good about teacher Joanna. She very good, she explain clear, best and excellent teacher. Friendly and care about student, treat everyone the same. Every body say she is best. I miss Joanna, evrybody cry today. School no good when they keep bad teachers, and good teacher go. I want diffrent school next time.

Go diferent school. Teacher no explain good in columbia College. Manger fariba always angry and screeming at Students. We are adult no childrens.we come here to learn, we no need screeming. Parking no good when snow.we need better, we pay.thank you.

Columbia College was a miracle for me! I was a dental assistant in Montreal, Quebec, and I moved in Calgary this year. When I did contact the NDAEB, I was only recognized as a dental assistant level 1 and they told me that I had to take upgrading courses. I was so scared and lost because I'm a french spoker and I had no clue how everything was going to be. But Heather, from Collumbia College, took care of me, explained everything in detail and guided me though the process. All this work seemed so much easier and was so much fun. The upgrading class was amazing, all of the teachers are sweetheart and patient, I had so much fun. I had the best experience ever and I highy recommend Columbia College for their involvement and professionalism. I am very grateful, thank you from all my heart. Wish you all the best.

I needed to complete the tooth whitening module for my RDA re-certification and I emailed Columbia for help. Heather went above and beyond from the start of the process to completion. Her responses we very prompt and very helpful which made my experience excellent. She requested that my certificate be delivered as quickly as possible which was much appreciated. Thank you Heather! I wish everyone I dealt with would be as dedicated to client satisfaction as you are.

Just completed the Orthodontic Module this past weekend and it was such a great experience! The instructors were super friendly, helpful and their lessons and demos were very clear and easy to understand! I would recommend doing the Ortho module at Columbia to anyone I know!

Just finished a fantastic weekend at Columbia College doing my Orthodontic Clinical Module. The facilitators are amazing, full of knowledge and energy! They take that extra minute for the one on one time that you may need which made for a seamless weekend! I would recommend this module to everyone, specially with the flexibility and date range options they have to complete the course!

Unfortunately the washrooms were awful, I personally try to avoid them but that becomes impossible when you spend a full weekend there. Knowing this made me curious and could of been my decision factor in to going to SAIT instead.

Would like to share my great experience with continuing education team for dental assisting for the amazing orthodontic module. Heather nelson you are the great and your team was wonderful.thank you so much for you hard work and help. Natia Goniashvili

I just learned from my brother who is currently an ESL student at Columbia College that, apparently, one of the teachers has been let go. And it's not just "a teacher"; it's someone who has made a huge difference in many people's lives. I was a student there, myself, about 6 years ago, and attended a PFP course. This course had 3 levels in one, but the teacher did an excellent job, attending to the needs of each and every student. She prepared me for a college, and actually, thanks to her hard work, I was one of the 3 top students in the college's program. I was afraid before that while not being a native speaker, I would have to struggle and may not even finish the program. As soon as I started the program, it turned out that I was way ahead of the others, even though most of the students were Canadian-born, and had completed grade 12 in Canada. I was so proud of myself, it all made me realize that no matter where you were born or what your first language was, you could still excell if you have had a teacher like Joanna. She put so much individual time and attention to my progress that now, a few years later, I just cannot find words to express my gratitude. She gave me confidence and showed me that anything was possible as long as you followed your bliss and believed in yourself. My brother always tells me that every student that has ever had Joanna as a teacher felt like a lucky winner because each and every minute of her class time was very meaningful and added up to the student's progress. No time was ever wasted in her class. Plus; she is a very compassionate person who is not only a teacher, but a mentor to her students. Even though she made the students work very hard, she was also their best friend. She did not hesitate to put her personal time into helping a student. She even once drove my classmate home because this classmate had no money for a bus ticket. So now, when I hear, that apparently Joanna was dismissed, I want to believe that it must have been some other Joanna, and not Joanna Wysocka that used to teach me in the past. NOT THE SAME Joanna who has helped so many of us to regain our confidence and be successful in our lives. Please tell me it's someone else, otherwise I will never tell my friends or family to enroll in this college. I have had a great job as an Ed assistant for the past 3 years, and I cannot deny that a bigger portion of my success I owe to this amazing teacher and person. God bless you, Joanna. I will never forget you, and my prayers are and always will be with you.

A great place to work. Enjoy the hard work of our students and watching them grow and be successful in each of their programs.

The staff and faculty at Columbia College are very professional and helpful. They supported our cohort from day 1 and continued to do it even after we graduated and needed help with resume making and interview. It was pleasure to study at Columbia and most of our cohort got jobs less than a month of our course completion. I would strongly recommend Columbia College for any of your career paths.

It is one of the worst school for LINC and ESL program. All they care is to get Government's subsidy and they fail students on purpose even if they perform well on assessment. They find excuses to not pass you on assessments as they pre-determine who they want to pass to next level and who not. It has happened to me and many of friends and I am definitely going to complain to the Government to do an inquiry on the deceptiveness! Please DO NOT go there if you want to advance in your career!

Columbia College is a spectacular College.
The staff and instructors are helpful and friendly. Upon completion of the course you are attending, they will help you updating your resume. I had an amazing experience with instructors and classmates.