Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry Bonzack
I'm going to piggy back off many of the comments, but contradict some of the others.
Which is "better" and more "cost effective" can depend on what region you live in. For us in Florida, FTC has 8 qualifiers and a state championship. It would not be cost effective to travel out of state for most teams in this category. I can also vouch that at least Florida FTC competitions carry the excitement comparable to FRC, and are quite "well run."
Your location appears to be Boston, be sure to talk to both FTC and VRC participants specifically in your area to get a better idea of their experiences because this will best represent what your experience will be like.
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I agree with Barry (and others) 100% as of right now the FTC vs VEX debate varies greatly from region to region. I was in RI last year and they are all about FTC, this year I moved to VA, while FTC is still available teams can find 3-4 Vex competitions within driving distance. If I was starting a new FTC or Vex program here I would probably lean towards Vex. In general whichever program is bigger in your area is probably going to be the better of the two.
As a warning (though I haven't really seen it in this thread) the Vex vs FTC debate can get a bit political, if any one tells you that one is absolutely better than the other I would take the opinion wth a grain of salt. Both are good, well run competitions, neither is perfect but both will expose your students to STEM fields and will provide quite a bit of fun and excitement.