What was your ATP admissions interview like?

F

flygirl1971

New Member
I'd like to know about the interview. What are they trying to find out about a potential student, and what do you want to hilite about yourself? How can you impress them?

Please share any experiences.
 
They want to know you are teachable: able to take instruction and process it. The course is fast and has a lot of self study. They want to know if you can handle that. They want to know if you have basic coordination to handle the plane.

Believe it or not there are people that can't handle it.
 
They also really want your money. The interview isn't brain surgery. A lot of info about the plane you've been flying, a short sim ride and you get to pay them $100 to go along with it!! What a deal!! It takes a lot to not "pass" an ATP interview...once again, they want your money.
 
SkyHawg said:
They want to know you are teachable: able to take instruction and process it. The course is fast and has a lot of self study. They want to know if you can handle that. They want to know if you have basic coordination to handle the plane.

Believe it or not there are people that can't handle it.
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:yeahthat:

The interview is farily casual... It will start out with an instructor taking your logbooks, medical, etc... and making copies of them while you take a quick 25 question multiple choice test that is mostly on basic PPL stuff with one or two Multi-engine questions thrown in. You are not required to know the Multi-stuff... it's just a guage to see where you are.

Then you will have a basic question and answer session. An instructor will ask basic questions about you, your goals, what brought you to ATP, etc... it's also a chance for you to drill them with any questions you may have.

Then you typically have a quick lesson on some Multi-Engine training. Once complete the instructor may ask you to now repeat the lesson or what you learned back to him/her to get a feel for you understanding of some basic concepts.

Next will be a Multi-SIM ride or a Flight in the Seminole (the flight costs more). Don't worry if you've never been in a SIM before. Just relax and make VERY small movements since the SIM is uber sensitive. They will give you a heading, an altitude to climb to, a power setting to set, an altitude to decend to, etc... remember... relax.

Most of the session is just to see if you are trainable and how you react in those situations. Did I say to relax? Seriously... just go with the flow. It's actually very fun.

That typically concludes the formal interview process, the instructor faxes the evaluation form to a VP at ATP who will go over it and call you back within a day or two.

Next is a more informal part. Now is your chance to ask individual students about their experiences, get a tour of the facility or field, hop in one of the seminoles, look at the maintenance books, talk to maintenance (if they have MX on site), etc...

The order above can change based on how busy they are or if someone is currently in the sim.

Anyway... hope that helps!

Bob
 
Just like Bob said, it's pretty informal. Just be yourself, and study some BASIC private knowledge - stuff like airspace weather mins, engine out procedures etc. After taking that you review it with an instructor before hopping in the sim to do some straight & level, climbs, decents, and turns. And that's pretty much it! I received a call two days later from JAX for a brief phone interview in which I was quizzed a little bit about my specific plane (C172)... Vspeeds, Fuel System, etc. Don't get nervous like I did, because it really is a breeze... they just want to make sure you're committed.
 
If you show up with the jack, you are not going to be turned down. These "interviews" at flight schools are always amusing to me.
 
would this be the same kind of interview going in for the ppl or is the the acpp? i would imagine that some of the stuff mentioned would be a little more difficult for someone going to get the ppl.
 
milehigh,

There is no interview for the 90 day ACPP if you attend the 60 day PPL program. They already know what kind of person and pilot you are by that time.

Bob
 
thanks captain bob! you are an atp encyclopedia. i was looking at two schools. dca or atp. i decided on atp based on alot of the things you and a few others had to say about. im working on the loan right now and i got half from sallie mae and there working on the rest. so hopefully january somtime. i wish i could start sooner but i got to pay off some bills before i go. :mad:
 
BrianNC said:
If you show up with the jack, you are not going to be turned down. These "interviews" at flight schools are always amusing to me.
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MusketeerMan said:
They also really want your money. The interview isn't brain surgery. A lot of info about the plane you've been flying, a short sim ride and you get to pay them $100 to go along with it!! What a deal!! It takes a lot to not "pass" an ATP interview...once again, they want your money.
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Not true. The interview is intended to assure trainability and knowledge retention. It is, as mentioned above, a casual, low key conversation about the applicant's level of training and knowledge of the aircraft they've flown most often. There is a lesson on one area of Multi Engine aerodynamics, (usually critical engine) and a few questions of the applicant to determine how well they retained the information. The sim ride is, again, to evaluate trainability, retention, and basic flying skills. Straight and level, constant speed/rate climbs and descents, etc. The $100.00 fee? Well, most of our interviews last 1.5-2 hours and a good 30-45 minutes of that in the sim. That's a couple of hours of an instructor's time and instruction and use of our sim.

By the way, nothing is 'a given' here. I've turned them down in the past, most recently last week. Your money is no good to ATP if you cannot be trained.
 
Pfly said:
By the way, nothing is 'a given' here. I've turned them down in the past, most recently last week. Your money is no good to ATP if you cannot be trained.
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Cannot be trained? Sorry but I don't understand that statement. Can you clarify please?
 
Sure. If you demonstrate an inability to follow simple direction in the sim or to retain simple facts recently discussed, ATP's pace is probably not a good fit for you.
 
Pfly said:
Sure. If you demonstrate an inability to follow simple direction in the sim or to retain simple facts recently discussed, ATP's pace is probably not a good fit for you.
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Got it. I understand. Accelerated Courses are not for everybody and they take some discipline to stay on top of things.
 
Hey there DD...

The fact is that ATP is a 90 day immersion program. Not everyone responds as well to that type of training. If they don't do very well on the test, don't respond well to a basic Multi aerodynamic lesson, can't hold a heading within 50 degrees while performing a constant rate climb and level off within 1000 feet of their altitude, and don't respond well to the helpful instruction while in the sim to help them them perform better, then... those are times when an instructor may not recommend a potential student to the program.

This is not just an arrogance issue on ATP's part. It is to the benefit of the potential student as well. If they aren't ready for an intense immersion program then they won't feel comfortable about spending that much money on it.

Ultimately though, the decision lies with the higher-ups that an instructor forwards the eval too. A student will always get a call from the VP and then he will have several additional questions for the student. Based on that conversation the student is either accepted or asked to go back and review some basic PPL items and maybe get a refresher at their local FBO of a few hours before coming back to interview.

The instructor is just the middle man perfroming a standardized interview.

Bob

Edit: Doh... I see Pfly and you already responded while I typed this up! :)
 
Brian,

I have no idea... Over a years period of time at the DFW location I personally have seen only two people asked to get a bit more knowledge and instruction prior to coming back. One of them did just that and returned within 30 days a totally different student. I never heard from the other one again.

Don't know what the overall rate is... I doubt there really is an "average" as to how often they turn someone down, it's all based on the individual... after all... as mentioned above it is a business and of course they would like the money... but if a student isn't ready or prepared for such a course then it's not a good idea to just take their money and throw them to the wolves as it were. This would be bad for the company and the student.

Bob
 
Like Captain_Bob said, there really is no average. I can tell you that I know of only two this year that I've recommended against. I have found, however, that most people that go as far as scheduling an interview have done quite a bit of research and are serious about their goals. They come in prepared and with a lot of good questions. Perhaps that's why the perception exists that "if you show up with the jack, you are not going to be turned down."
 
Pfly said:
Like Captain_Bob said, there really is no average. I can tell you that I know of only two this year that I've recommended against. I have found, however, that most people that go as far as scheduling an interview have done quite a bit of research and are serious about their goals. They come in prepared and with a lot of good questions. Perhaps that's why the perception exists that "if you show up with the jack, you are not going to be turned down."
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Well, you have to admit, with 50 grand on the line, a person would have to be pretty inept. And I'm talking about them all, not just ATP. After all, they are in business to make money.
 
Agreed 100%. But as I quite ineloquently said a few posts back, a student who seems as if they wont be able to be successful in the program is a poor bet and a lose/lose situation for both parties.
 
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