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Any suggestions for me?...

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SeanAucoin

Active member
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Posts
37
could you maybe help me out...

what would your thoughts be...

Option #1: I live in MA, they have a community college up here (north shore community college) Where I can get my associates in aviation and all my ratings... total cost would be about $35,000 for everything then I would probally instruct and do the riddle extended campus deal online...or maybe transfer to an aviation school?...

Option #2 Move to florida (already sounds nicer then MA) go to broward community college, get the training from delta connection academy, get all the ratings/degree, then instruct there (guranteed) and work on the riddle extended campus deal down there..then get that guranteed job interview... total would be about $50,000 with the apartment...

any suggestions on that?
 
Hey Sean,

I'm just north of you.

SeanAucoin said:
any suggestions on that?

Yeah! The cheaper one! I'm not really familiar with DCA and how they operate, but from what I've heard, you probably ought to take the term "guaranteed" with a grain of salt. Perhaps those who have gone that route can contribute to this discussion. I mean, in the end it's you that'll have to make that call, but it never hurts to get all the facts.

Granted this was out west, but I ended up spending about $18K of my own money for a 4 year degree and all my ratings pvt-cfi. $50K is way too much to spend and there are ways around sinking that kind of cash into your flying career. Do some research and see if you can figure something else out. There's got to be something better than going to Florida! (Horrors!)

Seriously, GIA, hurricanes, Disney, no mountains and no snow? Do you guys have anything good down there? ;)

-Goose
 
Last edited:
hey goose,

thanks for the reply...how did you get a 4 year degree and your ratings for 18K??

are you an airline pilot?

Sean
 
I didn't go to DCA so I can't tell you anything about that. However I have heard some bad stuff about DCA on here. If I could start over knowing what I know now this is how I would do it. Go to a non aviaiton college. If that college has an aviation dept then thats cool, but look for a degree in something other than aviation as a back up. (I didn't do that so if I lose my medical or something like that then its off to Home Depot for me) Get your ratings at a local FBO. Try to get a job at the FBO (be a line guy or something like that) most places will give you a discount if you are an employee. I did that and my FBO gave 15% off of the flight time and 10% off of the pilot supplies.

Since you asked the other guy I just upgraded at a regional so I guess you can call me an airline pilot. I was a CFI CFII MEI and towed gliders in order to build my time.
 
i've known people who spent upwards of $80k at DCA.. this seems like more the norm than the exception based on what i've heard. Try doing a board search on DCA.. you'll probably be surprised..
 
hey..DCA in sanford is definetly upwards of 80K. the one at the broward community college is just run by there flight department and you get an associates degree also... so its 10 times cheaper
 
LOL! See Sean ... I got the low-down here years ago, myself. :D

Get your ratings at an FBO, and a practical degree in something besides aviation. That's the best possible plan . You'll save tons of money, and you'll have something to fall back on when you lose a flying job. :)

Minh
 
Just curious, what do you guys think of getting all my ratings at a local FBO, and then getting a degree in Aviation Management from CSULA? I personally think a degree in aviation administration would be fun, but I have recieved both criticism and praise, what's your opinion?
-Thanks
 
Run a search on "degree" ... I'll bet you'll find hundreds of admonitions to get a degree in something useable, practical, and most importantly ... non-aviation-related.

You'll need it one day. It's the nature of the beast. :(

Minh
 
Personally, I think people worry way too much about which degree to get--just make sure you have one. There are scores of people out there that are working in areas that have absolutely nothing to do with their degrees. That's how life goes. So just pick something that you are interested in, and go with it. Heaven knows that you'll be putting a lot of time into studying, so make sure that it is something that you like. I majored in aviation because it was something that I was interested in. Could I have majored in psychology, meteorology, communications, business, accounting, engineering and been ok? Yeah! And actually, some of those majors would have been a lot of fun, and believe it or not, I wish that I had a little more training in statistics so I could interpret them better--that's sort of coming into play with my masters program. But I majored in aviation because I thought it would be the most interesting.

People make the incorrect assumption that a major field of study is limiting. That may be true in very technical fields such as engineering or accounting, but as a general rule, you can pretty much go wherever your interests take you.

In short: pick a cheap school with an interesting major and go too. You just need a degree, not an aviation degree per se.

-Goose
 
If you can afford this - I would reccomend going to the college of your choice for a few semesters, take a summer and do the 90 day career pilot program at ATP, come back to school and get a job as a flight instructor while going to school.. rack up some hours during your last 2-3 years of school and then start looking for a job..

Wish that is what I had done...

Also, a degree in aviation is about as useful as a degree in flower arangements. :)
 
Tram said:
Also, a degree in aviation is about as useful as a degree in flower arangements.

Probably less!

But then again it did help get me admitted to a non-aviation related masters program, and I haven't been prevented from doing anything that I have wanted because of my degree choice. Like I said, I think people worry about this way too much.

-Goose
 

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