Horrible! Holy shit do not waste your money, your parents money, your time, your life attending this "institution" as they like to call it. I just made one of the worst mistakes of my adult life my coming here, and my only goal is prevent others from doing the same.

At least one other student in class made his decision partly from the information on this site, so I am now compelled to set the record straight.

APA sucks! Plain and simple.

I actually cooresponded with one of the students who gave those glowing reviews a few years back that you see posted. And the real deal was that he was a rich kid who wanted to travel, and he learned so much at APA he went to four more years of film school in New York. Wow, thats six years of paying for film school. About 100-150K? He must be some Steven Spielberg by now. Look him up on the web, I'm sure his next film is coming to a theater near you - NOT!

My reasons were:
1) I wanted to travel
2) I wanted to get out of the US and have experience a different culture
3) I wanted to study film
4) I didn't want there to be a language barrier
So after looking around APA seemed like an okay choice. It was in Australia which certainly sounded exotic and there would be no language barrier.

Sydney:
Okay, now say what you will, but Sydney sucks. British people seem to love this place because it's like London but with more sun and no culture. Other internationals don't really care for it. Frankly, there are much more interesting cities than Sydney, unfortunately it gets most of the hype. The Gold Coast and Queensland is where you want to be if you are visiting Australia. You can really skip Sydney; it's dirty, the clubs suck, and there really is nothing here.

The "institution" is run by a "Mom and Pop" team: one teaches, and the other is the secretary. Now this setup might work for a day care center, but an international fucking film school?! It's nestled between a bunch of auto-repair shops in a crap suburb of Sydney.
There are no other teachers except for the venerable Ted, who heads the Australian Cinematographers Association, and he is just a part-time tutor. He is underused, and the best APA moment I remember is when Ian, the "Pop", is lecturing us on Cinematography while Ted is trying to fix a $50 printer that were all were yelled at for breaking.

Oh yeah, they are cheap bastards. There is no copying, no printing, no transcripts without a self-addressed stamped envelope. Oh your money goes far here!
The equipment is ancient. We actually use wooden tripods. I remember when we first used metal ones everyone was fumbling on how to use this modern technology. The only thing they have that is close to being up to date is the editing software, which is only about 2 or 3 versions behind the current versions. Yay.
Oh and while we're on editing, the suites closed at 5pm every day, and are not open on weekends. This is the "industry standard' they keep trying to impose on us. In reality, they just wanted to go home. No one who knows anything about the "industry" knows editing suites are going on all night. You don't leave at five, you stay until the job is done!

The main problem is you don't really spend enough time making films. You sit through hours and hours of lectures by Ian on subjects you really are not interested in. There was actually a guest lecturer who came in to give a lecture on British cinema. We sat and watched movies and every once in a while she'd ask "So what did you think"? Hell, I coulda taught that! And you are PAYING for this!

Most of the students there didn't like the school. I never heard anyone say they" loved" it. Everyone fights and bitches at each other. During productions, there was always someone who didn't show up, because they didn't think their role was important enough. People had the attitude that if they weren''t directing, they didn't care. They literally screwed the other students. This happened all the time!

At the end of all this, you get a "Diploma". A pretty worthless document. Now Australia has a very different educational system. And this "Diploma" is somewhere between a High School Diploma and an Associates Degree.

At least a few students dropped out. Internationals can't because their visa will be canceled. Oh yeah, there are no refunds. None! Don't like it? Too bad! $14,000 down the drain!

So if you want to goto school in Bedrock and learn from Wilma and Fred Flintstone, APA is the place for you.
To recap:
1: The Diploma is worthless
2: You'll HATE APA.
3: It's too expensive
4: Your "showreel" will suck and will only get you more school - not a job.
5: You're better off taking a few graduate courses at other institutions in Australia (if you insist). At least then the work you do will be recognized internationally and can transfer the credits.
6: You're better off studying in Europe, India, and America; Cheaper, and the film industry there is much, much larger, and people know what the hell they are doing. Australia's industry is really very small. (Do the research, look it up yourself)

Now after all this you still insist on going to APA. Fine, you've been warned.

But do yourself this favor:
Sign up for the six month program. Don't be suckered into saving a few hundred dollars, just do the 6 month certificate program and if you like it, THEN go on to the Diploma program. At least then you won't be as bad off as I was.

Good luck!

(And remember to "google" all those glowing reviews by people. If their name doesn't show up attached to any film credits 5 years or more after they attended...then you know the real deal!)