If you are thinking of studying at a college in Canada to extend your stay in the country, you should know that it is very important to pay special attention to choosing the right one to meet the objectives that you have set for yourself.
Probably you have asked yourself: which college is the best for me? How do you know the best way to choose it? What should I consider? But don’t worry, we are going to give you the means to choose the ideal institution for you.
In 6 easy steps, we will tell you how to choose a college in Canada that really allows you to achieve your goals. Pay attention!
Steps to choose the ideal college in Canada
Below we will see the steps you must follow to choose the ideal college in Canada for you. Remember that these guidelines are going to be fundamental for your future, so we recommend you take a note of each step.
Step 1: What is your personal and professional purpose in Canada?
To get to the right place, the first thing is to consider where you want to go. So it’s important that you stop and think about what are your short, medium and long term goals in Canada.
Think about why you are in Canada? What do you want to do next? Are you interested in gaining work experience? Are you interested in prolonging your stay and living in the country? Do you want to get better income?
And with this last question you might ask yourself, why would studying at a college in Canada improve your income? You should know, that studying in a college will allow you to get a work permit, but we will talk about this later.
According to this, you will see that some colleges in Canada will be more convenient than others. So, you should be clear about your goals, so that it will be easier for you to choose.
Step 2: Seek help from an Educational Advisor
Once you know what you want to do, you can easily find help to do it. The best way is to go to an educational advisor to guide you on the best way to achieve your goals.
A good educational advisor who works with international students not only will advise you where to study what you want but can help you with other issues that also affect future such as :
- The best way to continue your studies in Canada and move forward in the development of your professional career. For example, it can help you evaluate the possibility to enter in a specific academic program that improves your professional profile.
- How to get a job that allows you to help yourself financially to live in Canada, combining your studies with a part-time job.
- The steps to follow, and how to meet the requirements to extend your stay in Canada and thus have greater opportunities to permanently migrate to the country.
- It can also guide you on how to make your stay in Canada enjoyable and throughout your adaptation process.
Step 3: Make sure the College you choose is certified by the Canadian government.
It seems obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of people who end up having problems with this. Remember that, as an international student your student visa is based on the fact that you are in a study program of certain characteristics in an institution accredited by the canadian government.
It’s common that the immigration procedures cause confusion for many people. However, you need to be sure that the college in Canada that you have chosen is valid for your visa. A good way is to look it up in this list.
Step 4: Do you want to apply for the post-graduation work permit? Check that the chosen College allows you to apply for this permit.
Another possibility is to opt for the Post Graduation Work Permit in Canada. With it you can extend your stay in the country to work according to the duration of the program you studied.
It’s important to note that not all colleges in Canada allow you to access a Post Graduation Work Permit. We recommend checking it out before registering if you are interested in it.
When you decide to apply to a PGWP in Canada, remember that: one of the requirements is a letter from the college certifying that you have successfully completed your studies, and you can apply for this permit.
Step 5: Check their academic offer
If you already know what is going to be your professional project in Canada, what type of studies interest you and where it’s convenient to do it (certain city or area). You should also verify which college offers a course with the ideal components for you, in your field and with requirements that allow you to apply as an international student.
Step 6: Take into consideration other the opinions of other international students.
Something that can also help you choose one college or other is the experience it offers for international students.
Every college in Canada is different, some have special programs to integrate international students and others don’t focus as much on it. Therefore, knowing the experience of other people already studied there can help you to decide if it is an institution that interests you or not.
Common mistakes when choosing a College in Canada
Lastly, we didn’t want to finish this without telling you about some of the most common mistakes when choosing a college in Canada.
When you choose a particular study project to achieve your goals, it’s very important that you do the paperwork the right way. With the right knowledge, extending your stay in Canada is simple, you just have to avoid these common mistakes:
- Think about applying for a Post Graduation Work Permit more than once. This procedure can only be done once.
- Choose an academic program that is too short. The longer the duration of your studies, the longer your post-graduation work permit can be.
- Do part-time studies to have more time to work. Be very careful with this! The study visa requires a “Full Time” program.
- Ignore the possibility of working offered by CO-OP programs in Canada, we recommend you read: what are they and how do they allow you to work?.
- Choose an unaccredited college. We already discussed it above, but we remind you that it must be on the list of “Designated learning institutions” of the Government of Canada.
- Not thinking about what jobs you can have after graduation. If you don’t foresee this in advance … you could be in trouble when looking for a job in Canada.
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s very important to choose a college in Canada that is suitable for your needs and objectives. With the steps that we have shared you can choose the one that best suits you, and also, you will avoid the most common mistakes.
Remember that the best way to achieve results while you are in Canada is to stop for a moment to think about what you want to achieve and how you will do it.
This is not a path that you have to do alone, since there will be many people willing to help you and advise you. Don’t hesitate to ask other international students about their experience, and be guided by a good educational advisor in Canada.
If all this information has been interesting to you, do not hesitate to share it on your social media so that it also helps other people. Talk soon!
