Andysawicki,
Not a lie, but not a truthful answer to your question - best get used to that attitude, the truth seems to scare HR somewhat
If you are applying from scratch now, then you've got a long wait. The "nice lady" was kindly referring to the interviews that are currently going on. These people have been in the "system" for 2 years or more now
. Draw your own conclusions on the time scale, don't bank on it and don't drop any of your other plans as it might well be next year, or the next, or the one after that, before you actually get to go to the College.
There are a few threads you should take a peek at - if you look back 6-18 months on this subject you'll find a lot of peeved applicants. I myself applied back in Spring of 2002 and still haven't finished with the process.
Ask the "kind lady" to speak to the person who makes decisions on the recruitment timetable - I doubt they'd give you Summer 2005 as an answer if you asked "how long will it actually take from ab initio recruitment until I could possibly start at the college?". I can't imagine them lying outright to any of the candidates - bet you still think you'll be paid £18.5k plus living costs too..........(interesting thread on that too!)
Best of luck and lots of patience I'm afraid, unless things have changed radically (like they're sending students to be taught at Eurocontrol, DFS etc....... it's a big backlog and you're joining the back of the Q)
Damn, I hate being negative about this - let's hope it gets sorted out soon and improved for all the future applicants/students.
