The head referee at SVR which I had the honor of refereeing at was great. He was consistent and asked us all for our input all day long to make sure he was being as fair as possible.

refs ARE people too!
 

That's one of the reasons I got started with reffing in the first place. We all have had calls made against us that we disagree with, sometimes it helps to see things from the other side. :D
Good luck to you! Your situation is almost identical to Ogre's, and he reffed in Philly this year. You shouldn't have much trouble getting in.



As for comments that only Head-Refs have any power... well.
When it comes time to make the hard call, the head-ref has final say. However, (in my experiences) every ref has a responsibility on the field. Everyone is watching SOMETHING, because the more sets of eyes focussed on the field, the more likely you are to catch something. The head-ref trusts the other sets of eyes. For example, in the event of a robot getting flipped, if the head-ref did not see the flip himself, he will consult with another ref "Was it legal?".



UTC is always a highly competitive regional.
The officials there do the best they can (just like every regional).
I'm not sure what the meaning of the above comment is.
Solace- what did you mean?