gosh and I hate how everyone says that pilots are cocky. That's so false! : P As far as ATC programs... In my experience colleges/universities that offer ATC programs just pretty much grease the wheels for you to take a test to become an air traffic controller. You study whatever the program has you study (a lot of the time it's rules/operating procedures or training material from a local tracon. Or a tower somewhere where your instructor knows someone and is able to get an old training manual. Remember every center,tower,etc has different procedures) Then when you graduate, you take this test with the FAA (ATSAT...sp?) and they decide whether or not to hire you and ship you off to OK. city for the real training. So It's kind of like training on all of Nissan's policies to hopefully get a job working at whichever vehicle plant you can get your hands on when you're done. So when you start at Ford, you have to learn all of their rules instead. Bad analogy but you get the idea. As far as I know, joe-Schmoe off the street can go take the ATSAT if he wants (as long as he's not over 35.... the age limit for becoming a controller). So it's not like you NEED a college/university program to become a controller. You'll also find that the biggest program is a 2yr program and even that's a stretch.
