Hey guys, I've been looking into IAOD and they seem to be an alright school. They are located in Toronto, and I was curious if anyone knows anything about them? I am about to apply but would like to know some things about them first...like are they actually a good school?

Any thoughts?

Although I never attended as a student, I did take a tour about three months ago, a friend of mine is a student there and he wanted to show me some of the facilities. Hopefully I can give you kind of a first impression rundown...

The school is located in the CBC building, and the entire school is on one floor (graphic design, video game prog., film school, fashion design,), so there were a lot of students moving around in those halls. The film school has a few old CBC soundstages at their disposal, although they were kind of in a state of disarray and I didn't see any student productions going on, so I'm not sure if they use them just as classrooms or for any practical experience.

The post-sound suites were remarkable. Students have a lot of high-end equipment at their hands, however I think they share these suites with a few other programs (Sound Design Tech.?). Film students are taught to edit on Final Cut NLE's, I don't know if they learn AVID, and certainly not Premiere. The cameras they use are Canon XL1s's and I think Sony PD-150's although I'm not sure. I believe I also saw an Arriflex 35mm package of some sort, but I was told students don't touch a film camera until their last 3 months of the program.

From the way it appeared that the International Accademy has packed students into the program I wouldn't expect a lot of freedom of access to the equipment.

I don't know what you personally are looking to get out of a film school, but from what I saw I would seriously question if the tuition is worth it (the tuition is very expensive). However if you have the money and are not looking to go anywhere else, at least at the Academy you're persuing your dream. On a side note, my friend did not have very successful high school grades, so I wouldn't worry to much about acceptance. In fact, if you're capable of signing a cheque, I think they guaratee you a spot.

Well from my knowledge of schools in Canada, my oppinion is to stick with government funded schools or institutes of technology and advanced learning, e.g. Humber, Niagara, Sheridan. Or Universities, e.g. Ryerson and York.

Here's why.

IAOD is a privately funded institution like Vancouver Film School(which the whole world knows is terrible) and many others like it. These schools make you pay $20 000+ for their program. Sheridan College might make you pay $30 000 or more for the full blown college experience. However, the main difference is the IAOD program duration lasts only 10 months, and Sheridan's lasts 3 years.

Sheridan means more time, less money in the long run, more projects, more job opportunities, and the one great thing everyone has in college, more fun.

Man...
that certainly does suck...

I REALLY appreciate the replies though.
Now i have to REALLY start thinking about stuff.