Same boat, hopefully it's floating
I'm looking very intently at Jerez at the moment. They seem great, cheaper than CTC and OAA.
It seems incredibly difficult to get into contact with past or current students. As far as I can see only one has posted on this thread and this was some time ago.
I have heard the pitch over the phone from OAA, CTC and Jerez. I was least impressed by OAA who mentioned "teething problems" when I brought up CAE. When I inquired as what kind of dental issues Oxford had, the answer was "general stuff"...
OAA is also the most expensive school at £92k (inc. accomodation) and £84k without but as I understand it, it's hard, rare and distracting to attempt to get a better deal than that.
They also offered no concession from the price for having a PPL - I have a PPL and was duly informed that I'd have to do the whole thing all over again. No thank you.
95% employment rate with self-sponsored cadets (they quoted)
CTC was a while ago but they boasted a 98% post-graduation employment rate. However, I do need to check with them if this includes their dubious flexicrew course. As far as I can tell, this basically means being hired by an airline (sort of) without much job security, having a limited term contract that can be terminated abruptly. However, this is my interpretation of what they've said on their website, I do not have the solid facts. But everyone in the industry who I've talked to repeats the same "once you're in, you're in" attitude so once you've gotten a position with one of these temporary contracts (if that is indeed what they are), it shouldn't be too hard to find subsequent employment. On the website, the intergrated cost is, near as makes no difference £90k. I also did a bit of checking and their incredible figure of 98% does include MPL students. If you don't know what an MPL means, under my understanding, an airline has practically already guaranteed a cadet a job prior to starting at the school as the training will be tailored to their own airline. So it would appear that CTC cannot take full credit for its 98% mark, but all this means is it's worth trying to apply for this mentored scheme.
FTE Jerez has, according their training adviser, an 80% employment rate not including their MPL students, I believe this is only the self-sponsored pupils but do not take my word for it, I still need to double-check. They also said that they were not in contact with all of their graduates so the statistic could well be higher.
If it sounds less than encouraging, I don't blame you. However, the man I spoke to seemed to be the most honest. The fact that it looks like, at the very least, CTC has included its mentored students into its statistic, Jerez has not.
The other thing is the cost. Around 112k EU = £87k (rounded up). This includes room and board, making it by far, the cheapest FTO out of the three.
The class sizes are apparently no more than 14, making it the smallest school out of the three. You can decide for yourself if this is an advantage or not.
OAA and Jerez train on PA-28s and Senecas; CTC uses the more modern Twin-stars and gives you more multi-engine hours. This is a point in CTC's favour.
However, with every training adviser I have spoken to and practically everyone who I've met, they have all encouraged me to visit the schools and to do my homework on them. The other thing they have all said is that there is no huge difference between the schools - at the end of it you end up as a graduate of an integrated course at one of the big three schools, which is the key thing. It's not a case of Indiana Jones, picking the right cup - you live, the wrong one - you die. What it does seem to be about is picking the school that you most approve of, that you feel is best for you. For me, that is Jerez: I like the small class size, the lower cost, their honesty, the location, the campus, the fact that I won't have to train on the other side of the world. However, this could easily be different for you. There is an expo of different schools on 1st November at Heathrow, if you want to hear them tell you why you should sign up for them, you could try that but if you want an unbiased opinion, try to ask around at an airfield for any CPLs, ex-airline pilots, current airline pilots or even people studying for their frozen ATPL, desperate for a job.
In my experience, you have to take everything that a school tells you with a pinch of salt, you have to find out their disadvantages and then ask them about them, challenge them.