Not like a bunch of Europeans just got on a boat and started sailing... Or like we have a national space program...

The thing is (as implied by the OT) most of these programs (including the European expeditions centuries ago) are made of trained and useful people who can actually contribute to the colonization and the travel there.

If you're pointless on this trip, you're wasting oxygen and food. It's as simple as that and even Andromeda's story hint at limited resources a few time.

Also, we're not talking about a new continent or planets we know things about. If shit happens in the Milky Way, Mass Relays are there to save the day.

They all threw themselves on a new galaxy they know nothing of and were promised habitable lands. I probably missed it, or not, but I just wish Bioware developed a little bit more on how these Habitats were found and how long they were studied, because so far none of them has been habitable outside our intervention so it just show how flawed and unplaned the whole thing seemed.

So I'm just surprised so many families were let aboard this trip.

Hell, even Mars One's mission require trained people.