Is it worth it to go to school for ATC?

ajmezz said:
Since when does a USAF controller get lumped in with OTS? Unless you were talking about prior to the experienced bid?
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Dunno, he applied to the same bid I did last time around. He's been out for a while, he's on JC maybe he'll chime in.
 
ajmezz said:
Since when does a USAF controller get lumped in with OTS? Unless you were talking about prior to the experienced bid?
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Since not long before this thread was created and Chasen replied, which was about 6 months ago.
 
The way I understand it they're only lumped together on the ots bids. They have put out previous experience bids as well.
 
surreal1221 said:
Dayam!

So rated AF Controllers are being lumped in with the OTS shrimps?

Oh boy.
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Thats the was it was when i was hired in back in the day,i was X USAF ATC and most military ATCSs were hired as OTSs, their were some direct hire bids but those were few and far between.
 
I know 5 guys who went to schools like UND, ASU, and Embry Riddle for CTI School. 2 had perfect scores on the AT-SAT. None are doing ATC today. They drive trucks, work on the ramp, and deliver packages. I also know two women with associates degrees not related to aviation, never planned to be ATC, that just randomly applied. They both went to the academy and are currently employed by the FAA as ATC.

If you are not a women or a minority, find a backup plan fast!
 
based said:
I know 5 guys who went to schools like UND, ASU, and Embry Riddle for CTI School. 2 had perfect scores on the AT-SAT. None are doing ATC today. They drive trucks, work on the ramp, and deliver packages. I also know two women with associates degrees not related to aviation, never planned to be ATC, that just randomly applied. They both went to the academy and are currently employed by the FAA as ATC.

If you are not a women or a minority, find a backup plan fast!
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Good advice. My son graduated with honors from UND, never less than a B in ATC classes, but was knocked out on his first attempt by the BQ.

So Monday he's starting a great new job with Microsoft. Let the FAA stew in the mess of their own making.
 
Flyboy57 said:
Good advice. My son graduated with honors from UND, never less than a B in ATC classes, but was knocked out on his first attempt by the BQ.

So Monday he's starting a great new job with Microsoft. Let the FAA stew in the mess of their own making.
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Heard from a buddy that only 2 people made it through the latest Enroute class at the academy....glad they've "Opened the Aperture" for Academy seats instead of putting people that have invested years and have an actual passion and interest in doing this job.
 
I've said this before but in all reality, I think CTI was a joke. I didn't learn anything at my CTI school. Of the 10 that were in my OKC class, together we represented 5 schools. Only one student actually stood out and appeared to have learned something during CTI and he was the only one from his school. The rest of us were all equally clueless. It got me the job so at the end of the day, I guess I can't complain too much about it but it still doesn't change the fact that the only thing I can thank my CTI school for is sending me an e-mail with a code in it. I can thank plenty of other people for getting me past Day 1 at OKC but nobody at my CTI school would be one of them.

The CTI people who get on Facebook and rant never cease to amaze me. You know, if I were a CTI kid who never got picked up, I would probably try to stick to more relevant issues. If it were me, I probably would try to emphasize how there was little to no warning that CTI was going to be ending. I would not, however, be calling up the news and telling them how I was this super, duper qualified guy "ready to go" and there are thousands more like me around the country. The further suggestions that the sky is falling because all of these unqualified candidates are getting picked up are equally nauseating. It's as if they are trying to suggest that you get hired on a Friday, get told to report on a Monday, and you're plugging in ready to go.

CTI didn't qualify you for anything. If it did, you would have skipped more than 4 weeks of basics. That's what it did. Let's be honest -- it let you skip 4 weeks of basics. 4 years of college got you out of 4 weeks at OKC. The reality is that it always was a gamble. There were never any guarantees that you were going to be picked up and actually, when I went to CTI, there were both CTI & OTS bids and even back then, not everyone got picked up on the CTI bid while people on the OTS bid did. At the end of the day, they should just learn to be more professional on Facebook when writing on the FAA's page. I mean, some of the stuff that they say while also wanting a job blows my mind. It's like the trainee -- when your supervisor tells you something stupid, you just nod your head. After you check out -- it changes things.

In case you didn't pick up on me stressing that I didn't learn anything -- my opinion is NO. It's not worth it now that there is no CTI bid.
 
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Simple answer: No.

More complicated answer: There are a billion things that can go wrong after graduation and if you don't get selected, you just wasted your money. Even if you do get on, there are a billion more things that can wash you out in training. And even after you get through training, there are a billion more things that can end your career prior to retirement.

Do yourself a favor and study something totally different from ATC. Have a back up plan just in case things don't pan out.
 
The biggest benefit of the CTI program would be due to how federal hiring is supposed to work. In theory you would get more point towards being hired than someone with the same experience level simply because of your degree. My suspicion is that there will be a CTI and VRA hire in the future. The evidence I've read suggests that those candidates perform better.
 
I believe the washout rates at the academy are pretty much the same now as they were when it was CTI/VRA only bids. Odds are more likely that they'll stick to OTS bids and have another experienced bid along side of that. I have heard that they're looking to make the experienced bid revolving, so that will be better for people with 52 weeks atc exp and ease the stress on HR as they wouldn't be processing a group of people at once and instead they would trickle in over the duration of the bid.
 
If it went back to the way the screen was back in the mid 80's we'd all be better off. Very high washout rate, but those that passed had a high certification rate at their facilities.
 
A80TRACON said:
If it went back to the way the screen was back in the mid 80's we'd all be better off. Very high washout rate, but those that passed had a high certification rate at their facilities.
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Did you have to walk uphill both ways through 3 ft of snow to get to class back in the 80's too?
 
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