Zivd, some of the North American schools are comparable in terms of training quality to the best UK FTOs, whereas some others take the sort of shortcuts which leave students disadvantaged and ocassionally out of pocket. Hence I said, don't pay for the course in advance. However, these things are not related to location - it depends on the school you're dealing with.
OAT is an excellent school in the UK and their facilities and instruction are top-notch. The same cannot be said for certain overseas FTOs - costs have to be cut in order to offer rock-bottom prices.
The question is really whether you're after 'cheapest, fastest' licence or quality (slightly more expensive) training. In the world of FTOs, as everywhere else, there is a general correlation between course price and the level of facilities/instruction. However, since some people just want fast and cheap, there are those pilot factories which will happily comply.
I'm not in a position to promote any one school on pprune. Also, many posts on this forum are - by their nature - biased and not representative, since most people never see more than a few FTOs but then think they're experts on the subject. Then you'll read stuff like "xxx is the best school"/"my instructor soendso was without equal"/"the worst school ever"... you catch my drift.
You should ask *specific* questions about the FTO you're interested in on pprune and people will respond. For instance, how did the management/instructors treat you at xxx?
Talk to the FTOs as well and ask very specific questions (so you won't just hear the marketing blurb). But don't be sweet-talked by a marketeer who will have his, not your, interests at heart. You'll get the idea.
Yeah,
KK.