I trade at TST and I can personally vouch for Micahel Patek and everyone else at TST on the CME floor such as John Hoag. The profit target that they set you is highly realistic, and on top of that, before entering the combine test you can request a custom combine with a lower profit target that's more suitable for your personal trading. Also even if you don't hit the profit target, providing that your account is in profit at the end of the test, even if it's just a couple of dollars, you can either be refunded the fee you paid for the test, or roll over the combine and start again for free.
The above poster obviously has had a reality check in terms of their trading ability and obviously made a trading loss while on the test, otherwise you would of got your combine fee back. Also for the fee that you pay to do the test, which is only roughly a couple hundred dollars depending on the combine you choose, you're getting a fully professional front end and a news feed service live from the CME floor as well as well as full trade repots with all your stats which you are evaluated on. Eddie the broadcaster is between the DOW pit and the S&P pit. If you wanted to have all that for yourself you'd be looking at a hefty overhead each month. News feeds and professional front ends don't come cheap. When I traded prop in London I was paying $1500 a month just for my front end TT X Trader, then ontop of that I had my news feed etc. So my desk fee's each month where substantially more than the refundable deposit that topstep ask of you, and this is before we factor in that you're getting the chance to prove you abilites to get funded on account sizes from $30k - $150k. Also, when I first started trading I was on a 50/50 split. Topstep straight away put you on 60/40 split in your favour even if you just do the test and pass. Just like any other professional firm, your profit split increases up to 80% if you build your captial in your account so you have skin in the game too. In all honesty, reading your post made me angry because it just sounds like you're after a free ride with everything on a silver platter.
Also, the fact that you're saying save that $200-$300 to open a forex account and trade micro lots. With all the all the respect in the world, you've simply discredited yourself and embrassed yourself. Find me a professional trader who wouldn't laugh at you for saying you can realistically start trading with $300... Yeah maybe if it's just a side hobby and you just plan to buy a couple of beers with your profits at the end of the year...
Have some maturity and take responsibility for your own trading. Instead of spitting your dummy out you should of used your stats to see where you're going wrong so you can work towards being consistent. No one is going to let you loose with their money if you can't prove you're a consistent trader.