Hi there everybody,
I was in your positions this time last year, wondering if I would be getting an offer. Now, I am at RMC in my first year of aeronautical engineering having been offered a position as a pilot. I have a few bits of advice that I will dispense, and then one warning that I want every one of you to take very seriously.
Tips:
1. If you have been merit listed and you are waiting for your offer, be patient. I don't think I received mine until April 15th, and that was the first day that any offers were sent out (that I heard of). It will be a long wait yet.
2. Enjoy your time that you have left at home. You will miss it. No matter how much you will love your new life, you will miss home, so be sure to spend that extra little time with mom, or go out with friends a little more often than you thought you would.
3. Realize that everybody has a different story, and each recruiting centre does things a little differently, so you won't all get offers the same day that people start posting on here saying that they got one.
Okay, now for my warning(s):
When you first leave home and start with the CF you have a very important decision to make. You can either choose to love your new life, or you can choose to hate it. Whatever you choose, you will do. I can not count how many cynical people there are at RMC that hate it here. Alternatively, there are a number of people who absolutely love it here, and I am inclined to believe that these people will be the truly great officers. So, you can choose to hate it, and you will always find something to hate. You may hate the accent of your roommate, or you may hate the lack of sleep, or you may hate your school work. If you choose to hate your new life, you will do just that, and you will not have a difficult time finding things to hate. This is a tough rut to get out of. If you choose to love the new life that you are getting into, then you will find a way to take all the things you could have hated, and instead appreciate them as challenges you must overcome. Sure, you may not like them, but you will be such a better person and officer for overcoming those challenges that they are worth it to endure. You will also find it easy to love the friendships and camaraderie that the CF enjoys, as well as all the other really cool experiences. If you find a way to love your new life, you will be making it so much easier on yourself (compared to someone who hates their new life) because you will be so much more motivated and you will find worth in everything that you do. I am determined that if a job or task has absolutely no apparent purpose or benefit, then it must be done to build discipline. Some people laugh at this philosophy, but it truly does help with daily life, especially at RMC (as long as you understand the purpose and benefit of discipline).
Life in the CF is not easy, nor should it be. It is easy to hate, and easy to love. It is up to you what your experience will be like. This decision may be a self-conscious one, or a completely thought out and deliberate choice. I choose to love it here, and I am convinced that nobody wants to be here more than I do, and that is a very reassuring and motivating attitude to have, whether it is true or not.
Also, another piece of advice: do not expect things to be easy. Do not expect that you will get through everything with flying colours. Expect to be challenged! When I came, I knew that I would be challenged more than I could ever expect to be, and that made things quite easy on me, because I was always asking "okay, what are they going to throw at me now?" Other people had certain expectations, and things turned out to be much more difficult for them because they didn't expect it to be so hard. Instead, they were asking "I've had too much, when will this stop?" and when another thing was thrown at them, they had difficulty adapting.
So, to wrap things up, have fun while you are at home, be patient, choose to downright love the next phase in your life before you ever get there, and do not have any expectations for how difficult things will be, except that they will be more difficult than you can expect.
I will stop now, but if any of you have any questions, feel free to post or to PM me, and I will do my best to get to them eventually. Good luck with your future ambitions.
