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Emily (Year 2)
What made you choose this institution over all others? Did the university exceed your expectations?
OCAD had the program I wanted and the university was the closest to home. Compared to the other schools I got accepted to, OCAD had a larger student body as well which I felt was important.
Do you have any lingering thoughts or regrets in your year as a whole (ex; application process, mistakes going into first year). If so, describe them.
I wish I tried to get to know more people in my classes since OCAD is relatively small and not many extracurricular activities are available to socialize and network after the first week.
Briefly describe the academic rigour of your program (in terms of competitiveness, courses, professors, etc.)
Course grading depended on the profs and art is relatively subjective so I can’t exactly pinpoint how they grade. However if your work showed technical skill and thoughtfulness in how it related to the given prompts, you would do well.
Describe the social life at your campus based on your own experiences (making friends, clubs + extracurriculars, party culture etc.)
Like I said earlier OCAD doesn’t have many clubs, so unless you go ahead and try making friends in the first week of each semester, it’ll be hard later on to meet new people.
What are some of the best and worst parts of your university experience so far?
There were classes that are mandatory in first year that expose you to a lot of different forms of art and design regardless if it related to your program and it helped me realize that I wanted to switch programs, which I ended up doing post-remaking my portfolio and getting re-accepted. Probably the worst part was that since OCAD doesn’t have dorms or many clubs I only had made a few friends in school.
List three effective study techniques and/or habits:
Planning ahead (projects etc)
Attending lectures and actually writing notes
Talking to profs
List three pieces of advice for first-year students:
Try to get out of your comfort zone
It’s okay to want to change your major
Good luck!