Originally Posted by Groundhog
Rick,
I realized I didn’t answer your question about the 80%. I think what you’re saying is that of the people who walk through the doors of the program on the first day, only 80% will ultimately get a job. Some will leave due to grades, funds, personal reasons, family emergencies, poor performance, etc., and will not even make it to the interview. I don’t know what the percentage is. I would just be guessing, also.
Sorry about the late reply. I reread the original post and noticed that my reply was out of context.
Hog
I currently attend MAPD @ ASU. I am also a CFI with the program. I began with no time and have gotten all of my ratings (through MEI) with MPD. MEI is not a required certificate to get through this program.
MAPD is a good program if what you want is to go to the airline and get there in the shortest amount of time, with a Bachelors degree. Just as with any other program there are issues, but for the most part it is workable.
We have Warriors for private and the beginning of the commercial. Then you get into the Bonanza, do some more commercial and begin the instrument. Once instrument is complete you finish the commercial. Then you begin the CFI and CFII. You do the beginning of the CFI in the Warrior to get used to the right seat, then transition to the Bonanza. CFII is done in the Warrior (cheaper). ME is done in the Baron. MAPD owns its own Baron now and doesn't have to borrow from Farmington anymore.
When I began the program they gave me a cost sheet that said if I followed the program and had no extra lessons thrown in the cost for the entire program would be $40,000. Of course no one can do everything perfectly the first time, so my final cost came out to ~ $80,000. That works out to right around $12,000/rating. So, if you have the money and want to get a degree you can use in the future, it's no worse than the other places.
Also, the hire rate for people that go through the program and apply to Mesa, interview and get hired is running about 98-99%. In the four years I've been there only 2 people have not made it because of something in their background that made them ineligible. The washout rate is probably in the 20-30% range of people that start and don't finish the program. Most of the time it is because they really don't want to be a pilot or they run out of money. ASU is notorious for being a pain in the %$^ when it comes to financial aid. The ASU does not require you to have all of the money in an account up front, but you do have to be diligent when using financial aid. It will take on average 1-2 months to get more money every time you need more money.
I have decided not to go to Mesa for various reasons. One of those reasons are the number of people I have talked to that work in the cockpit and do nothing but complain about the company. But, if you want to get into the cockpit just to build time so that you can go somewhere else, get paid very little (BE1900 FO ~$19K; CRJ/ERJ FO ~$23K), and be worked like a dog for the first few years until you upgrade (and even then you're being worked hard) then this is definitely the place for you.
Hope this helps.