A 2022 SDS applicant with strong academics (B.Sc 87%, M.Sc Chemistry 84%, no backlogs, consistent work experience, IELTS 7.0+) was refused a study permit for an advance-diploma in Food Science Technology at an Ontario college. The two refusal grounds were the classic pair: purpose of visit inconsistent with a temporary stay, and proposed studies not reasonable given qualifications and prospects. The thread's guidance:
- Officers read your file as a story — your SOP has to tell it. The key advice: explain how you went from your last qualification to your current job, then why this specific Canadian program is the logical next step from that job, and what it leads to back home. Any gap in that chain (here: M.Sc Chemistry → textile-lab colorist → food science diploma) is exactly where a "studies not reasonable" refusal comes from.
- Bridge the field change explicitly. The applicant's work (dye selection/optimization in a textile lab) and target course (food science) are adjacent but not obviously connected. Members pressed on the work-experience question first because that connection is what the officer needs spelled out — don't leave it to inference.
- Level of study matters too. The refusal cited "level of establishments": moving from a master's degree to a college advance-diploma reads as a step down unless the SOP justifies why the credential (e.g. a co-op, applied specialization) makes career sense.
- Revise and reapply rather than argue. The consensus path was a rewritten SOP addressing these points, not a challenge to the decision.
Historical note: this thread is from the 2022 post-COVID backlog period, when refusal rates for college diplomas after completed master's degrees were especially high.