I was going to apply for UPTFC in Texas, but a friend told me that it's not worth going to and the one in Mississippi is better. He hasn't gone, but he knows others who have. Can someone who has been recently (2014-2015) tell me if there is a significant difference between them?
And, a more general question about NCSAs:
Does the priority of the activities affect the chances of being accepted to an activity?
MS is hot and humid in the summer. TX is hot and hot in the summer.
No one can tell you which is better because no one has ever attended both to fairly compare them.
I would think that both are equally rewarding in their own ways.
What do you mean by the "priority of the activities"?
Quote from: FlightNut on January 14, 2016, 05:59:27 AM
And, a more general question about NCSAs:
Does the priority of the activities affect the chances of being accepted to an activity?
No. The system will rank all of the cadets. It will then get to you and look at your list and it will put you in the first activity with an open slot in your rank order. The rankings are about where you want to go the most. If you put a flight academy first and COS second, you'll most likely get into the flight academy (since there are lots of them and it's not as competitive). When the second wave of slotting comes (after everyone has been slotted once, if available) you can be sure that there won't be any slots available in COS. But if you had reversed your rankings and put COS first, there still might be a slot open for the flight academy.
Choose the activity that you want to the most as the first choice and so on.
Since they just restarted TX last year with a new staff, all of the old stories don't apply. See which fits your schedule the best, and then decide that the State of Texas is much better than the state of confusion err, I mean, Mississippi. Unless you like saying "peepee!"
So and so told you a story about one course being "better" than another even though that person has never been to either course...and you're considering basing a decision from their info?! Ugh. ::)
Listen, find an NCSA that interests you and go for it. Experience it yourself.
Quote from: FlightNut on January 14, 2016, 05:59:27 AM
I was going to apply for UPTFC in Texas, but a friend told me that it's not worth going to and the one in Mississippi is better. He hasn't gone, but he knows others who have. Can someone who has been recently (2014-2015) tell me if there is a significant difference between them?
And, a more general question about NCSAs:
Does the priority of the activities affect the chances of being accepted to an activity?
Past performance of an encampment is not an indicator or guarantee of future results.
If it is the same course, and the only difference is location, I'd choose the one with a climate I could deal with better than the other.
Quote from: lordmonar on January 14, 2016, 06:37:45 AM
No one can tell you which is better because no one has ever attended both to fairly compare them.
I had a cadet a few years ago who had gone to both. According to him, one was more realistic (intense) and the other was more about orientation to the career. I don't remember which was which.
Quote from: Offutteer on January 14, 2016, 09:15:19 PM
Since they just restarted TX last year with a new staff, all of the old stories don't apply. See which fits your schedule the best, and then decide that the State of Texas is much better than the state of confusion err, I mean, Mississippi. Unless you like saying "peepee!"
All of this right here.
Thanks for the replies, I will definitely keep those in mind!
Quote from: lordmonar on January 14, 2016, 06:37:45 AM
What do you mean by the "priority of the activities"?
By priority, I meant the order of the activities on the application. (It numbers them 1, 2, 3, etc.)
Quote from: Offutteer on January 14, 2016, 09:15:19 PMSee which fits your schedule the best, and then decide that the State of Texas is much better
... have you ever been to Del Rio? Not that Columbus is a wonderful place either, but...
WIWAC - when the earth cooled and dinosaurs roamed the earth - I attended what was then called ATCFC (Air Training Command Familiarization Course) at Laughlin AFB. It was mostly an orientation to UPT and Air Force flying careers. We sat in on some of the academic classes and saw some of the practical side of things. Toward the end of the week we took a side trip to the sister city across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Ciudad Acuña. Fast forward about 25 years later when I stayed at Laughlin to support a CD mission... the base hasn't changed much and Acuña was pretty much off limits.