I personally recieved all of my civilian flight ratings in college and thought the training was quite good. The dropout rate was astronomical. Most people said it was due to money (even though we all had student loans) but the reality is that they just couldn't keep thier perfomance level up. Either in the classroom, in the cockpit, or both.
Having $30,000 in student loan debt I decided that I simply could not just flight instruct and then PAY FOR TRAINING after graduation. It would simply be too much debt for me to be comfortable with.
So I set out sending resumes, transcripts, and copies of my AFOQT to Every single Air National Guard Unit in the country. Yes sure I looked into Active duty....but I never desired to be in South Korea as a 10 year indentured servant. Especially if there was a better option.
I did UPT at Vance Air Force Base and basically did all my training over again in a tweet and talon. Then from there, went to the airlines.
The bottom line of what I learned is this... There is an ego based debate over who is the better trained pilot (and therefore better pilot) that has very few qualified people to voice objective opinion.
Do you know anyone who has been through both programs? There aren't many of us.
Here it is.... The equipment is better in the military. The jets, the sims, the briefing rooms, etc. They spare no expense. The instructors are typically FAIPS. So depending on the day.... I might fly with a Lt Colonel who could teach me some things. But mostly, I had more flight time, experience and airmanship than my first assignment instructor. Talk about afraid? They were afraid to leave Oklahoma. A cross-country is terrifying! Unfamiliar airports. A civillian controller system. What is ramp control?
In university programs.... you are typically instructed by a CFI who has been a pilot for 4 years or more. All the training took place in college, and now they have 500 hours or more and they are flying 8 hours a day ... so 1000 hours is not a long way off. These guys new their stuff and could teach it really well. Incidentally....all the ones I knew are at Major airlines. Most from UPT arent pilots anymore.
The distinction that should be made is a pilot with a college degree verses nothing more than a highschool education and a few summers cropdusting after banging out a commercial certificate part 61 with the farmer.
Please understand me. There is a virtual tie between FAR 141 University trained pilots and Air Force Training in Undergraduate Pilot Training.
Where there isnt much debate is which service produces the best pilots. The only time the navy ever gives the airforce even a hint of a challenge is when the carrier is ramping up for deployment. Other than that brief moment in time, the Air Force lives up to its name and thanks to a huge alotment of sorties.... is without question the best service branch in aviation. IF you want to storm a beach....the marines are for you. If you want to row a boat...the navy. If you want to fly the best airplanes in a tactical environment... the AirFoce and reserve components are IT.
IF you want to operate under FAR part 121 then either get all your ratings through either a military program or in a university FAR 141 Aviation program.