I recently graduated from the Motion Picture Production Program and I can easily say it was some of the best times I've ever had! The teachers were extremely knowledgeable and well connected in the film industry; most importantly though is that they were friendly! While at PDA, I filmed two short documentaries, two short films, and multiple short art peices, participated in every part of production (Cinematographer, Sound, Director, etc.), and seriously had fun all the while. Now I work in Vancouver and I'm having the time of my life! Highly recommend to anyone interested! Cheers! read more

We came from California to send our son to this school, and WOW are we glad we did. The Motion Picture Production program is world-class. The teachers are highly-skilled and extremely knowledgeable, the director great, and the staff always friendly and helpful. The small classes provided quality personal attention to every student, and the pleasant atmosphere and historic building made it a pleasure to come in every day. (Our son always wanted to show up a half-hour or even an hour early.) He studied hands-on with working professionals in the film industry, learned the full spectrum of skills in all areas of filmmaking, was taught the business of filmmaking and professional attitude, and was introduced to networking in the Vancouver and Victoria film industry. Through it all, he had a rollicking good time! When he graduated with his certificate at the end of the year, it was hard to say good-bye. We can't recommend this school highly enough. Everyone serious about the arts should have the good luck to take courses here. read more

I took the Graphic Media Design program and graduated in 2012. Pacific Design Academy appealed to me because the size and feel of the building and classrooms felt comfortable for me, and the location was convenient. PDA also updates it's curriculum as often as every semester, thus keeping up with the ever-changing technologies and culture. The instructors are passionate, experienced professionals in their fields who for me felt more like mentors. My class had 13 people from very different walks of life to collaborate with and learn from, and we were always encouraged and supported to participate during class. I graduated with a well-rounded portfolio to be proud of, and knowledge in more subjects than I'd imagined going into the program - non-violent communication, conceptual thinking, and social media marketing to name a few! Soon after graduating I landed a full time Junior Graphic Designer job with a local consulting firm that has me designing report templates, project logos and branding, presentation boards, brochures, signage, print and web advertisements, and more. I can't believe I get paid to do what I love! I recommend Pacific Design Academy without hesitation to anyone who values: small classes, hands-on real world learning, constant interaction with passionate instructors, a cutting edge curriculum, and engaging classroom discussions. read more

I'm a second-year photography student at Pacific Design Academy in the Professional Photography and Imaging Program. I absolutely love the program! The program is two years, but the time has flied since we're always having so much fun learning and doing projects that will help us reach new levels in our photography. All of the classes are extremely useful... and the instructors are all incredibly talented, very knowledgable and extremely passionate about what they teach. It's so wonderful learning from them all, they have all taught us so much and have made our love of photography bloom. My classmates and I have come such a long way from the beginning! It's so wonderful to see so much improvement. To me, everyday is a joy attending PDA. read more

Great school.......excellent staff, great courses. check out http://www.jazzbud.ca for details read more

What a joke. Waste of your money and their programs are not even accredited. Teachers don't show up and don't put in the effort and the software they use for the interior design school are not even what the industry uses. Your better off going to BCIT - it's cheaper and a better quality program. read more

WOW...Really rude female answering the phones there...!! I would never have anything to do with this place... Wish I could give ZERO stars...!! read more

I'm a past graduate of the Graphic Design Program at PDA. I had researched many schools in the area and across the country and kept coming back to this choice before I attended it (AI in Vancouver is a joke. I knew several students in the program that transferred from AI to PDA and were much happier, 1 VIU student was also there and didn't speak too highly of the program in Nanaimo). I heard great things about the instructors from many designers. Terrance, the department head, and Jonathan's experiences were the highest recommendations I had heard from other past graduates and professionals. Initially I was worried about attending the college after I heard about some of the issues with other programs there and especially the owner, Oliver. Even though my review is good for the program, I do have similar concerns over the owner and how he treats the staff there. I can confirm other reviews about how it is run by him (I saw poor staff turnover in other programs, and other poor disciplinary practices while I was there). However, if it wasn't for the fact that the graphic design program and it's instructors are highly recommended by the professional community, I would have never attended the college. I found a job pretty quick after I graduated and I am now in a senior position at my company. I got a great recommendation by Terrance and Jennifer who helped me get my job and I cannot thank them enough. Despite how the owner runs his school, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this school to others. read more

PDA, like all schooling, is what you as an individual make of it. And I am making the beginnings of an amazing career. I graduated two years ago from the Interior Architectural Design Program and after working for a handful of well established , highly regarded companies in the industry I am settling down with the right fit. All the education and information you need to start a great career is there and if you happen to need more then take it upon yourself to find out. The teachers I had were very kind and informative. They have all kinds of information or know where to point you in the right direction. Yes, you could do the minimum and maybe get by. But my instructors welcomed people who wanted to make their own rules, break boundaries and go beyond. And if they saw you were at that level, they would help challenge you. I think sometimes people can have unrealistic ideas about what the design industry is like when graduating. PDA gives you the foundation you need to go out there confidently and get a job in the industry. Your first job may not be the one you want. But you have to work up. There is so much more learning after school that you could only get from working in the industry. (Even if it's working retail selling the products you wish you were using to design) And having a positive attitude will get you far. I had an amazing experience at PDA. It was a great environment for me to blossom and I find continual support from the caring staff even now. The world in general will give you back what you put out. So work REALLY hard, be POSITIVE, be your WONDERFUL self. And most importantly: KEEP CLIMBING. You will find your amazing career and PDA will help you get there :) read more

I took the graphic design program at PDA, which I just graduated from this June. I found the program to be very well rounded, teaching a broad spectrum of everything one would need to know about graphic design to be able to go out and get work in the field after graduation. Having known absolutely nothing about graphic design when I started, I came out with an excellent eye for typography, pretty awesome photography and Photoshop skills, great web design knowledge (html, css, jQuery, Flash), digital illustration skills, video and audio design, as well as the basics in marketing (which not a lot of other comparable graphic design programs offer). The instructors are all very knowledgeable, having been working in the field for 10+ years, and they are super easy to get along with. The class sizes are very small, making it much easier for the students to get the help they need from the instructors. My favourite part of PDA, was being able to get to know the like-minded people I was there with, and to see the talents that came from them over the time of the program. It amazed me to see the amazing work that came from my classmates. Everyone learned so much over the two years. So much talent. Overall, I would recommend PDA as a post-secondary school to anyone who has an eye for design. It really is a great school. read more

One star for the 3 instructors who actually did their job properly! Be wary of this school. First of all, if you want to get a job after completion, go to a FIDER accredited school...PCTIA means nothing to employers! I had a horrible experience with a few duds as instructors and the people who run this place only care about taking your money. And if you should be brave enough to request for your money back because a course did not have proper instructors or turned out to be anything else than what they have advertised, then you will be threatened with "failure to complete the course". Consider going to AI in Vancouver if you want to go into graphic, fashion or interior/building design. read more

I am currently attending the fashion program at PDA and while I do enjoy it and am learning quite a bit, I don't feel like I am reaching my full potential due to the extreme lack of organization. It's a big downfall in this school and after 20 some-odd years I would expect more. The teachers I've had have been, for the most part, exceptional and willing to help but there are some classes I feel are a waste of time and are just "fillers." All in all I will leave PDA with the ability to draft patterns, sew and use illustrator (all of which I will use and have improved in greatly) but if you have the finances to go to Vancouver, I would suggest that. read more

I graduated from Pacific Design Academy's Interior Architectural Design program in 2011. I have held in my extreme discontent and lasting disappointment until now. Whats changed? I've recently moved to Calgary Alberta where I am undergoing the painful and expensive process of "upgrading" my recently acquired knowledge from Pacific Design Academy. You are told many things while attending this school both by faculty, past students and professionals, but when warned by professionals that Vectorworks is a program mostly used on the Island and the Island only... I would listen. After paying $20,000 in tuition only a few very short years ago, it seems that I come up quite shy of being competitive in this industry. I am having to pay $2,500 to upgrade to a computer aided design program that is actually used and recognized industry wide. I wish the grievances stopped there however that is simply the cherry on the cake... Over the duration of my schooling at PDA there were multiple instances of extreme frustration that my class fought through. Ranging from Instructors not taking their classes or their students serious enough to actually build and follow a curriculum, to completely wasting a semester on learning Vectorworks only to have a new Instructor the following year and completely relearning what we were told was "improper" and taught the year before... trust me, that is simply the tip of the iceberg. When any and all of these issues were brought up directly with the owner of the school in an entire class vs. administrative situation where grievances and concerns were meant to be heard and solved... that was not the case. All grievances were simply cast aside, nothing was done or offered as compensation for the lost time and knowledge. When you start adding up how much money you yourself or collectively as class has been generously putting in this owners pocket, blood is sure to boil and questions loudly arise as to why exactly he has no care and concern for the actually well being and happiness of his clients and customers, the students. Again, this is only a small part of a whole story, the list sadly has simply never ended. I would never recommend this school. Although some of the schools faculty is absolutely amazing and worth their weight in gold... they are far out numbered and many times silenced by the person standing at the top of the totem pole who cares only, and I'll repeat again, ONLY about the well being of his pocket book. I would however strongly recommend looking into getting your bachelors in Interior Design at a recognized school with consistency and that is under regulations... But you weren't looking for that advice. Again, this is one persons opinion. However I'm sad to say I have heard it echoed more times than not. It is only now, that I'm having to upgrade on my already pricy diploma that my frustration has boiled over and I feel the need in this day and time when we are all struggling to build a solid foundation that we can grow upon, borrowing and spending more and more money to do just that.... That I feel I have to voice my opinion and experience. read more

Ultimately I enrolled at this institution for the Building Tech. course because I couldn't afford to spend the time on a wait list for BCIT (2 year wait at the time). There were a number of 'signs' early on that this was not a professional environment but as I had committed myself, I thought I would wait to see if it picked up. The criteria for this institution to be accredited with the PCTIA is that they provide a minimum of 20hrs of instruction/ week. They attained this by including 'supervised' lab time each week, sometimes the instructor was there but more often than not he was off doing work related to his personal company that was outside of PDA. In the first semester we had 2 courses that were dropped due to blatantly incompetent instructors who were removed only because of numerous complaints from multiple students. These courses were not replaced nor credited to us, when asked for refunds from the school, we were denied. This course has the same tuition fee as BCIT!! It is barely accredited, very unprofessional, credentials of instructors are weak, course content is weak, CAD instruction was actually decent. Compare the course content between BCIT and PDA and judge for yourself. When concerns were personally brought to the head administrator (Oliver Drew), he put on his used car salesman grin and said what he needed to get you out of his office and then promptly did nothing. This institution is only concerned with keeping their heads above water and really don't concern themselves with student success. They are completely unaccountable. PCTIA is also not concerned with institution performance. Save your money!!!! Go elsewhere!!!! read more