NFC vs AFTA
I'm very late to the party here but some of the things said in this threat have really pissed me off so I thought I'd offer my insight.
Having done parts of my training in both Atlantic and NFC (I left AFTA for NFC), I will say that the schools are very, very different. I much preferred NFC but appreciate that AFTA is a good school too.
AFTA's class sizes are huge. There were around 40+ people in my ATPL classes, mostly cadets from Astana, Turkish etc. I found it was very hard to get a word in and if you aren't integrated you aren't paid attention to. Standard of teaching was good, huge focus on the question bank and learning off answers. Flying was non-existent due to Cork's weather being terrible 80% of the time, and a massive focus on the airline cadets. As an Integrated student, the school is very strict. Employment opportunities seem good however a lot of the students that got jobs when I was there didn't make it through their line training at a well known European low cost airline (I'll let you guess who).
NFC on the other hand is extremely relaxed, more like a flying club than AFTA's academy approach. The standard of teaching ATPL classes was very inconsistent- some teachers were excellent and some were awful. Flying, on the other hand, was fantastic. The instructors know what they are doing and do everything they can to help you to learn and get your CPL, even stay in late after class to go over everything with you. I don't feel like AFTA was that personal. There was 10 in my ground school classes.
It bothers me that you've said that NFC is in trouble as that is simply not true. Tell that to the integrated class that's running at the moment, the one I finished up in and the next one starting in October.
In terms of employment opportunities, the majority of the people I met at NFC are now in airline jobs, including a few of the instructors, so I don't know where you are getting that information from but I assume it's just hearsay to fit your agenda. The same goes for my old classmates at AFTA, I know a few of them who are happy in employment now. Bottom line seems to be pass your ATPL's first time around and get placed from your MCC.
Hope this clears up some things for any prospective students of either school!