That's all very true, especially the bit where you have a choice! You don't have to chose until you are at that point in your training.
Since the RPL came in five years ago only one student of mine has chosen to do it.
Also there are some schools that are still treating it like a GFPT and have not covered everything in the RPL syllabus, instead telling people that they need more and more real and imaginary endorsements to do things that the RPL syllabus covers. This is why I am reluctant to hire to RPLs.