I applied for ATC, the day after my furlough in Jan. Took the AT-SAT a month or two later and then waited. About 5 months later I get the paperwork for the background check, medicals, drug test, etc. Finished all of that in a month and then just waited for a class date.

When I was at college, I did the CTI program as a backup just in case something like a furlough happened. So I got to apply through the CTI job opening and not the PUBNAT. I started at the academy Oct. 5th and I'll be done Jan. 12th. I got assigned JAX center. (enroute training is the longest) Because I'm a CTI grad, I get to skip the 5 weeks of Basics (what's a sectional, identify aircraft, etc). I think I would have gone crazy if I had to sit through basics.

I've noticed a bunch of people got the area they requested but some don't. You can turn down the first offer and hope the second one is what you want and doesn't take too long to get.

You can't transfer facilities until you are fully checked out at your current one which can take up to 2 years. Then you can put in a transfer request which could take a while and depends on many factors.