REVIEW OF Braemar College BY Alum, Frank Nguyen

(4) Overall Experience

My experience at Braemar College was terrific, it was filled with a lot joy and education purposes. What stood out for me at Braemar was the community that the school was able to build, even after my 2 years studying at the school, I was able to make a lot of friends that I am still currently in contact with. I liked how the teachers and administrative people made the experience very enjoyable. If there is something that I would have changed was to add with further extracurricular activities for students. I felt that the school prepared a lot towards my post-secondary education due to how the teachers were teaching with a lot of passion. A prospective student should expect a well-rounded education with chances to choose what they want to study for post-secondary life.

(4) School Leadership

The school administration played a huge role in helping me when I first came to the country and as I graduated, they assisted me further with guiding how I can choose my career and which post-secondary institution was the best choice for me. Those were factors that were outstanding for me in my time at Braemar. From my experience, the attitude towards the administration was very positive and they were high regard in the school. They treated the students with a lot of respect while listening to the students' ideas. Administration always responds to our problems and instill a lot of confidence in the students with effective communication and disciplinary measures, those two factors really played into how students rely on them for a lot of assistants especially students about to graduate.

(4.5) Teaching

I was pleased with the instructions that I received at Braemar. The quality of the teachers overall was very good as a lot of them did leave a mark on how I develop throughout my adolescent years. Most of the time the dynamic between students and teachers are on point, the teachers are always there to answer any questions that students have and are willing to listen to students point of view on a plethora of topics. For that, they are able to provide a lot of constructive feedback and guide students to add further in the future. With all the teachers that I have studied from, they have all inspired me to become who I am today because of the communication and challenges that they gave me. To conclude, the teachers of Braemar College did have a big impact on my academic life.

(4.5) Academics

The academic program when I first arrived at Braemar was somewhat limited but by the time I graduated from the school, they were able to provide a lot more classes. The strengths in the academic program were the teachers as they put a lot of efforts in their classes. The academic culture of the school was built by the teachers and in the end, as I remember in my graduate class, they were a lot of students who enrolled in a lot of good post-secondary institutions in Ontario. The students were competitive but it was a healthy competition in order for every student to feel that they are contributing to the class. As mentioned before, I truly felt that Braemar was able to prepare for my post-secondary life and a huge thanks to it was to the teachers and administrative people who have guided me a lot in Grade 12.

(3.5) Extracurriculars

There were some opportunities for some extracurricular activities at Braemar. Whenever I participated in those activities, the atmosphere was very joyful and competitive for physical extracurricular activities. There were opportunities to participate for fun but also provided a lot of development outside the class where people have met new friends. Overall it was a good job developing extracurricular activities for students to enjoy.

(4) Students

The students size grew and by the time I graduated, it was one of the most diverse group of students that I have been in. Due to that, the general atmosphere of the student bodies were very multiculturalistic as people brought it ideas from different cultures and enhanced the students' learning. There is no exact way to describe a "typical" Braemar student but most students at Braemar are quality hard-working students, and because of that qualities a lot of students respect each other and enjoy the small competition between them. Even with a large diverse group of students, all of them get along well and were able to learn a lot of different skills/knoweldge from each other. With that, Braemar was a very good school to develop international knowledge similar to the Canadian society.

(3.5) School Life

I really enjoyed my time that I spent at Braemar College. As mentioned above, the student body and teachers were the big factors that I enjoyed my time studying at the school. There were many ways that Braemar could improve the quality of life for the students. One of them being have more extracurricular activities, even though the school provided a lot but it was still limited due to the amount of students in the school then but having more of those activities will connect the students more with each other. Overall, I think that most students will find that Braemar will provide them with a very good time, especially for international students who are coming in. They will be a very good guide to what you want to do in your future.

(4) Community

Before becoming an alumnus at the school, the community at Braemar College was quite astonishing since everyone works for everyone in the community. Students and teachers have a lot of respect for each other and are willing to learn from one another. Now being an alumnus, I still am in contact with other school alumni, some even go to the same post-secondary schools together. Alumni still hang out with each other and continue the friendships that were built during the days studying at Braemar. Since it was an International school when I was there, parents were not really there but I have seen during graduation that a lot of parents came to see their child and enjoy the accomplishment. Parents do have a committee at school and work together with the adminstration.

(4.5) School Location

Since the school was at a downtown location, it was very easy to travel to school. Surrounding the school was the University of Toronto so there were a lot of chances to venture beyond school grounds. Furthermore, there was a library near the school as well as many shops nearby for students to go to and hang out after school.

(4) Admissions

When I applied to Braemar College, it was a really new experience for me and I did find it somewhat stressful but the admission officers at Braemar College really guided me through the process from top to bottom. They contacted me on a regular basis when I was applying to the school in order to check with me if I had the correct documents as well as guiding me through with the immigration process. In term of advice that I would give for new applicants, I would say to do your research about the place that you want to live, see if the city is a right fit for you, and always ask the administrative people for guidance since they will have a lot of experience towards the questions that you may have.

(4.5) University placement and counselling

The university counselling program was an amazing part of the school as they truly did guide alumni to which school and program that they should choose and what would be the best for them as well as checking on when they need to do it. During my grade 12, I would have counselling meetings every month to check in if I have made any decision towards the program or school that I wanted to go to. I think university placement and counselling were a huge part of the school and I truly think they could not have done it any better. I felt that I have given a lot of appropriate guidance with a lot of checking in. The school really guide us to apply successfully towards the post-secondary institutions and program of our dream.