superpilot: Bitterness seems to be the order of the day from you, who applied and clearly didnt make it. Where are you now? hmm... probably not in a 737/757 It would seem.
The market has changed, grow up and face it. One has to indeed bite the bullet, as the 'good old fashioned way' no longer cuts it for the majority anymore. I know of airlines who no longer consider fATPLs from modular training. Fact. I also publicly heard Willie Walsh explain that integrated students are preferred. In a market where employers can afford to be so picky, its an understandable point.
Financially, it is stated that starting salary is 18k with the same again tax free... My maths isnt the best, but that is 36k a year. Not unreasonable for any low hrs FO. BA give 28k.... but then they do pay the TR. Oh wait, so do Excel on this scheme! Coupled with the fact that 18k is tax free... that is surely one of the highest take home pays going, the tax saving alone must be pushing 35k over 5 years (lets not forget the 18k or so for the TR which is provided). This could mean a saving over time of over 50k. Surely this is a much better position than the modular guy whos spent 30k and is still struggling to seek employment. Also bear in mind that the loan is still over 11 years (excel have just set payments so they can be covered in 5), so after a few years, having paid the loan minimum (probably around 600 a month) - if you would be better off joining Cathay or one of the other 'big boys', go for it.
Nobodys making you take a 60k loan, if this is too much of a risk in your eyes, then dont do it. Go in knowing what level of debt you'll be getting yourself into, if you don't like the sound of it, then dont take it. Equally, if successful, you'll understand that you're probably in the best position in the business to deal with such a loan.
I met someone off a previous OAT/Excel scheme which was nigh on identical to this who is now in his RHS, and from what I can gather (and indeed what he said) he is leaps and bounds better off than his 'ordinary' FO colleagues.
Of course like the TCX scheme and indeed the Tfly one at FTE, there is no absolute guarantee that there is a job at the end, after all it is a cylcical and volatile industry we are part of (or want to be part of in this case). However, should no vacancies be available post-training, then rest assured those would-be excel pilots are about as high calibre as any other low hours jobseekers out there, and would no doubt have little difficulty getting into some other company's RHS thereafter. I would also assume that OAT would recognise this also, when forwarding names to airlines.
If you want it, this is as good a chance as you can get, and in my opinion (bearing in mind the calibre of those it involves) equally as good as CTC.