Just as it is in any field, networking and connections are everything. Also, just like it is with any school, there are good students and some bad students. Flight training is regemented by the FAA so you will see much of the same things wherever you go and you will have the opportunity to make of it what you will. I did a lot of research before going to ER (after attending and earning ratings from another unnamed school) and there are a lot of great schools out there. Are all the stats and hype true? That's for you to decide. As for *********s in the industry--sorry guys (and gals) that's a pretty good generalization for our whole (or should I say "hole") industry. There are a lot of cocky, arrogant pilots who believe they are God's gift to flying and they don't all go to ER. I'm convinced that ER attracts a fair amount of them simply because ER trains a large quantity of students and ER has such high esteem in the industry. There are an awful lot of people outside (and inside) ER that are frustrated by the preferential treatment that these *********s seem to get. Also, ER gets a lot of attention because the university if always doing something--the training environment around here is very dynamic as it is constantly under review to meet the needs of the students and the industry. This dynamic state is what qualifies the school as an (notice I don't say "the) industry leader on many levels. Bottom line, your education is what you make of it no matter where you go and, regardless of where they trained, the people that make the best career pilot are the ones who are well rounded and don't lose sight of the world over the nose of their airplane.