Yes we are talking different courses and University's. Thankfully I have never studied at or worked at a Breeze block establishment (And please lets not have a debate about the current policy of pumping youngsters through degree courses for no job at the end, although it is very similar to this discussion). Please give me an example of a proffessional course who's Uni (for that subject) is in the top 5 in the country who doesn't Interview. It was learned very quickly that as soon as you increase the apparent difficulty of gaining a place not only did you get more people applied for the course but you also got a higher quality of applicant. The year we started it at the one I worked at the number of points each person had applying went up by 3-4 and the number of conditional offers accepted increased by 15%. Which meant the course instead of starting 10 low which it had for the previous 6 years started 5 over. Which is perfect because you always get about 5% drop out in the first term due homesick, not mature enough to live away from mum etc. After 2 years most of the students had better school grades than the RA's running the labs. And I don't think anyone failed the interview.
And actually I already know that I have no chance of changing the mind of a 18-24 year old. But my posts are actually directed at the parents who are going to have to stump up the rest of the money and who arn't as focused as the wannabie on I must fly whatever. If I can get them to see through the marketing BS it really doesn't matter if the wannabie thinks its a good deal. I can remember wanting to apply to the cabair sonsorships which I think involved you working as a FI for 3 years. It was quickly put to bed when i discovered that my parents house would be used as security. I didn't even need to ask to know the answer. And thank god I didn't 3 years living in a caravan.
Myself included at that age if a sponsorship deal came up that you could get you striaght into a 747 after 18 months of training but it required your sister to work in a sweat house in India making Teatowels for a year. There would still be people applying.
And I also know that OAT isn't raking it. It has to scrabble for every pound which is why they are now suddenly realising that these pesky modular types have money to spend as well.
I have in the past promoted the waypoint program. If you want the OAT on your CV I think it is a reasonably priced course. Your taught by the same instructors, you are flying the same planes, you have to stick by the same standards, your progress checks will be graded to the same level as an intergrated student. How come it costs 35K less?
Last edited by mad_jock; 1st Jul 2006 at 09:37.