I would say it is a widespread view.

Just try and find the thread where it was first announced last year, lots of people were disgusted before it even materialized it was a paid for course!

I'm not sure what kind of image you are imagining life on the line will be like for the cadets but everyone from captains, cabin crew, TCO's, loaders etc that I have talked too werent too impressed that people can effectively buy their way up the career ladder.
The guys working at the exhibition were acting the way they were for their own career prospects and couldn't care less about the cadets.

As for saying the successful ones were fantastic for beating off 1000's of other applicants, do you really think all the other applicants had £119000 or a credit rating to get it? Obviously not, you are realistically talking 100ish people who can buy their way in.

But of course you can choose to live in blissful indebted ignorance and take loads of selfies in your uniform for your FB friends who will have assumed no money was exchanged during your hiring process and you earned the job on merit!:ok:

Code93 - It is clear that your opinion of the Virgin Atlantic MPL is a negative one, a view which some may or may not agree with. Regardless of whether or not you support the scheme, let's not forget that this particular thread is intended to assist those who are considering applying for the scheme and a place to bring together information that will benefit them. Whilst one message stating objective reasons for disagreeing with the scheme may be appropriate, a second message denouncing the achievements of the first twelve to be selected and making references to people taking selfies in uniform serves only to highlight your own levels of immaturity and jealousy.

I too have spoken to many Virgin pilots, the majority of whom are not linked to the cadet scheme in any way. Whilst some are apprehensive of the scheme (I certainly didn't encounter a single one that was 'disgusted' by the scheme), the vast majority were keen to assist their soon-to-be colleagues once they reach the flight deck. As for the notion of 'buying' into the company, although starting on a reduced pay scale, the bond is paid back in full to cadets upon completion of training over a 7 year period. As such, this has the potential to rival the best cadet schemes currently available. In addition, current VAA staff can apply for the scheme (some of whom were successful in securing a place on the Virgin MPL) so in no way are current staff disadvantaged by the scheme.

Best of luck to those that apply, and hopefully we can now move away from this negativity and back to what the thread is intended for.

@PolarOps. The only demographic I have seen regarding the successful candidates last year was an age range of 22-32 (and that was somewhere on this forum so can't 100% verify). Obviously the official criteria merely says you need a right to live and work in the UK, given the relevant EU free labour market laws. What do you stand to lose if you go ahead and apply? Some time certainly, plus maybe a trip to the UK and the circa 300 Euros they charge you for the assessment. On the other hand, you get some practice with applications, and maybe assessment and interview experience.....ça dépend de toi

PolarOps

Regarde dans tes messages privés. Je t'ai envoyer quelques infos untiles :)

More to the point...
 

..has anybody actually heard anything back yet? At this same point last year (i.e. 10+ days since opening) there were already plenty of reported rejections as well as people reporting scheduled assessment days. I'm curious about the complete radio silence on that so far this year. Has anybody heard anything back?

CTC did make it clear that nobody would find out the outcome of their applications until Dec 7th at the earliest.

OK, that explains it, thanks!

Are any of you applicant's going to ask for an itemized cost breakdown of where your money will be going? Don't you have any questions as to why this scheme seems to be incredibly more expensive than other similar schemes(of which they them selves are considerably more expensive than cost price of training received

Corruption indicators | Bribery & Corruption | SFO - Serious Fraud Office

Code93 it's because the base training touch and go's are much more expensive in an A330 than those smaller jets!

But, seriously Code93 take you pessimism and shove off!

Code93 that’s ‘virgin’ on the ridiculous. (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

Deadline extended to 20th November.

Stratopause Lol! Loving the sense of humour there, so cheesy, but love it :P


FlyVeryHigh- Yeah I saw that too this morning. Wonder why? Give people more time?

---

Good luck to all for when you do hear in a couple of weeks :)

I'd imagine they haven't filled their quota of applications.

They want to make sure they have more applicants than the NASA astronaut selection programme opening up next month:

"Between 4,000 and 8,000 people apply during each round of NASA applications, but only eight to 35 are selected. And the next round is opening soon.". Significantly better odds actually!

I can't wait for Virgin Galactic's MPL programme:)

If it's to do with application numbers, I wouldn't be surprised, maybe the money is running out? 109k's can't keep changing hands forever, or can they?

Maybe it's a mix between that, and the fact that they were closing the deadline a good while before responses were due out to people, and they've realised they've probably got nothing to lose in keeping the application window open a little longer.

It's hard to imagine this being done for any reason other than disappointment with the number of applications, isn't it?

I recall that last year they received more than 7,000 and had made statements about hoping for 9,000 this year? Doesn't the BA FPP average more like 4-5,000? Last year Virgin got a lot of publicity via TV and national newspapers which probably caused a spike. It's hard to do that a second time around because news outlets are interested in, well, news.

By their own admission, a good portion of the applications last year were incomplete. The fact of the matter is that for a programme like this you are probably going to get about 4,000 serious applicants. I would also venture to say that any serious applicants who are going to successfully prove an established interest and commitment to aviation (i.e. pass the selection) will have already applied.

Perhaps they have set themselves an unreasonable goal and are now fixated on achieving it, even though the benefit of all those additional applications is arguably marginal.

Closing date.
 

Saying those who are serious applicants would have already applied is a bit silly.

There's no prize for the person who sent their application im first, so why not take your time to construct a professional and polished application.

This is just an extra week to proof read and edit my application. Which is fine by me!

last year, I did the written questions part of my application in about 45mins

one online spell check, clicked send

didn't try and use loads of buzz words, was totally frank and to the point and only probably used 60-70% of word allowance

too much waffle and you will lose the reader at the first major question

be articulate, be smart and be efficient with what you write!

You miss every opportunity you don't take.

@tfn25: Fair comment, I take that part back. I do think they must be disappointed with the numbers though.

@volunteerpilot: somewhere buried in last year's thread there was a report of an age range of 17-43 at one of the assessment days, if that helps. You even have another week to do the application!