I spent ages deciding what to say on my application, but then I haven't filled this sort of application before.
A work colleague, who is extremely well qualified, worked hard on his application, and wrote excellent answers, was rejected by CTC having applied at the last minute. He has it on 'good authority' that CTC simply mass guillotined late applications without considering them, as there were so many.
Whether or not this is the case, I strongly suspect that if I had applied to CTC then mine would have been rejected too, and this factored in to my decision to apply to FTE (where I am going for assessment next month).
While I realise that there are many variables in play, and one can really only speculate, I feel that there is a very strong case for the invitations to assessment to be carried out by BA rather than the FTOs, as there cannot possibly be equivalence in selection outcomes.
I feel better going forward as I believe that, in the forthcoming stages, my fate is much more in my own hands.